Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!

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devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Rocko Bonaparte posted:

Be careful. My wife has me replace all the outlets and light switches when we move into a new house now because I've gotten the routine down.

Teach your wife how to do it, problem solved!

# ¿ Apr 22, 2018 23:33

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 20:42

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

Thanks, y'all. I'm pretty sure that my pipes are old; the house was gradually decaying when I got it and that was most of 10 years ago. As for gizmos, I'm really not sold on "smart house" tech, so about all I might want is network cable, and TBH wireless is just so much easier to deal with on that front. Mostly I want to upgrade the main panel to 200A, get better outlets, and make my circuits actually make some goddamn sense.

Guess I should start thinking about a wishlist for "well, I'm going to have the walls open anyway..." though. Might be time to take a look at my insulation situation.

I paid $2k for a service upgrade + new panel (100A -> 200A) in NJ. The only thing I'd really do differently is have them install a whole house surge protector at the same time. Eaton has a panel with it built in, so it shouldn't be too much extra.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2018 01:26

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

H110Hawk posted:

I mean he was using VGA in 2018. ( Brand new servers which don't even support bios mode booting still use VGA ports as their sole output. For the love of god go to mini displayport.)

If they remove VGA, then you get remote hands techs that complain they can't access the server because they don't have the adapter. It's great when it's a Dell tech accessing a Dell server that doesn't have any sort of adapters with them.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2018 01:05

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Comrade Gritty posted:

Next question!

I'm planning on plugging two UPSs into this dedicated outlet, and I want to make sure I'm not going to overload it. I'm not 100% sure on what numbers matter here and what doesn't matter, so hopefully someone can correct me where I'm wrong.

The two devices I'm looking to plug into it, is a APC Smart-UPS 2200 (Do not own yet, plan to find a used one), the data sheet for this states that the max capacity is 1980 watts. The other device I already own, I'm not there at the moment, but I *believe* it is APC BackUPS 650, which the data sheet says that the max capacity is 390 watts.

As I understand, a 20 amp circuit should be able to provide 2400 watts of power, so 1980 + 390 = 2370, which is just under the 2400. I think that in each of these devices, is a breaker just like in the electrical panel, which will trip if the load plugged into either UPS breaks 1980 watts or 390 watts respectively, and then if the combined load breaks 2400 the 20 amp breaker in the panel will trip. I believe that those loads should *only* be peak loads, and for continuous loads I have to derate the capacity to 80%, so that gives me a dedicated circuit with 1920 watts of power, and two UPSs with 1584 and 312 watts of power respectively.

If that all is correct, then I *think* I can safely plug these two UPSs into a single 20 amp circuit, as long as the continuous and peak loads for each device match the 80% and 100% numbers from above.

Is that correct? If not, should I install two dedicated circuits one for each UPS?

In practice, I don't believe that this is going to be an issue at all. This outlet is being installed in a corner of my basement for my networking gear, and I am using two UPSs because one will be mounted to the wall for the wall mount "house" specific items like the cable modem, VoiP adapter, etc, All of which is likely under 50 total watts. The other UPS will be a rack mount UPS installed into a network rack that has all of the network gear, some rack mount servers, and such. I don't have all of the equipment so I don't know what that is going to look like yet, but I'm trying to establish the limits I have to work with power wise, to make sure that I stay well within them.

It sounds like this is a pretty short run. Running two new circuits is not much harder then just running one, and then you don't really have to worry about it.

I think you could also do a multi-wire branch circuit, which would get you 2x20 capacity in one 12-3 wire. (not an electrician, do your own research here)

# ¿ Dec 18, 2018 01:33

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

BIGFOOT EROTICA posted:

You can�t just grab power out of the cat5. There�s a negotiation that happens between the end point and your PoE switch (in this case, your injector) as part of the 802.11at/af protocol

You�ll need a PoE splitter

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MOIDXZ0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_qeSgCb600D8V7

Ubiquiti uses a weird non-standard passive 24V POE

# ¿ Dec 19, 2018 23:16

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Rocko Bonaparte posted:

In that case, I wish Home Depot would change their name to "Nice Shoes! Are You Interested in Solar Panels or a New Air Conditioner Installation Today?"

Just say "I rent"

# ¿ Apr 12, 2019 13:42

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

DaveSauce posted:

I'll be cutting and splicing, so it's almost guaranteed that I'll short something. We don't have phone service, or even DSL since we have fiber now, but I presume it's still powered?

I assume disconnecting it at the incoming service is sufficient?

What are you doing with phone lines if you have fiber?

# ¿ May 5, 2019 02:00

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Twerk from Home posted:

I've got a GFCI nuisance tripping problem, and I'd love to try and reason through what could be going wrong before I start throwing replacement hardware at it. I'm also concerned that even if I replace all of the hardware involved with new, I'll still get ghost trips and continue tearing out my hair.

My air handler is in my crawlspace, and needs a condensate pump to drain condensation. The condensate pump is on a GFCI outlet that tripped once our first year in the house, and four or five times so far in our second year in the house. It's a real pain in the rear end, because I have no way to immediately know that it trips until the overflow pan fills up, which cuts power to the air conditioning. The pump can't drain the overflow pan, so I have to get the water out of there myself.

I think it could be:
1. Bad GFCI Outlet - I thought these were supposed to last 5-10 years at least? House is 2.5 years old.
2. Dirty condensate pump - My dad's theory is that the pump is internally blocked. This looks like a pain in the rear end to remove and clean.
3. Bad condensate pump - If it were bad I'd expect it to trip faster than the weeks or months it takes to trip.
4. Excessive moisture causing trips - It's a ventilated crawlspace in Nashville, mine gets humid when it storms but at least I don't have water flowing through it like my neighbor with a 2014-built house. Will humidity alone make these trip? For some reason, the GFCIs on the outside of my house don't trip, and they get actively rained on.

The pump and air handler looks like this:

Uhhh... "humidity"? Is that what you're calling that 2 inch deep puddle of water? Is that a duct running down into it?

Consider something like this. If you don't think you'll be able to hear it from where the outlet currently is, you can always swap that outlet to a standard one, and install a GFCI between that outlet and the panel.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2019 01:34

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Qwijib0 posted:

not code though-- they need to communicate with all the other detectors

There are wireless ones that can interconnect with wired ones, like https://www.firstalert.com/product/interconnected-smoke-alarm-with-hardwire-adapter-included/

# ¿ Oct 4, 2019 00:01

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

So I have a pair of 12V UPS batteries that are attached via 10 gauge stranded wire to a grey anderson connector. I need to add about a foot of wire to these to be able to fit the batteries in. What should I use to splice some extra wire in?

This is what I have currently:

It came from the factory this way, I don't think I have the necessary tools to be able to crimp another anderson connector on.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2019 02:27

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

ItBreathes posted:

I've got a light socket in my apartment for which the pull cord is gone and there's no switch so it's constantly on. I'm not terribly inclined to do any repairs on this place myself and while I could probably get the landlord to do it but . Is there a safe / proper way to close off an energized light socket so I don't have to deal with having one just above head hight?

Don't just take the bulb out or the electricity will leak out

# ¿ Feb 24, 2020 00:48

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Ashcans posted:

I'm trying to do some wiring in my old house. I read through kid sinister's post on upgrading outlets (thank you!), and I think I have this figured out but I want to ensure I'm not screwing everything up horribly and burning down my house.

The initial problem is that I have a room with only one outlet. This isn't generally a huge deal because it's a small bedroom and the only things plugged in are a clock and a lamp, so it's fine. But I'd really like to put a small AC unit in the window to take the edge off the heat in the summer, and the one outlet is on the opposite wall from the windows:

It's a first floor room, the basement is great for access to all the wiring, so I went down and mapped out the circuit to make sure I knew what I was dealing with. It's a 15A circuit that essentially only serves two outlets (the one in the room and one attached to a junction in the basement that isn't used for anything) and a single light (also in the basement), so I think it's fine to add another outlet here given that the unit I am looking at is very small (plug is labeled as 10A). So this is the circuit laid out in the basement.

I hope that's clear. The circuit leaves the panel and then passes through three different junctions, the last one pretty much directly below the outlet.

I opened up Junction 2 to see if I could add a branch to cross over the basement and then run up in the other wall, and discovered that there are only two wires coming in and out; no ground. This is where kid sinister's post came in extremely useful, because I went up and tested the existing outlet and figured out that it's grounded. So I went back and re-checked the whole circuit; the wire from the panel to Junction 1 is romex, and inside it ties to older wire leading to Junction 2, including a ground; but at Junction two, they left the ground wire outside and wrapped it around the clamp at the knockout to connect it to the box. There is conduit running from Junction 2 to Junction 3, and then metal flex running from Junction 3 up to the current outlet box that is grounding that circuit (the flex run is probably less than 3ft, if it matters). I checked the current outlet is grounded with a multimeter, and Junction 3 has a lovely pull-light attached to the box that I confirmed was grounded to the box and conduit with the multimeter as well.

So, absent the actual grounding wire I was hoping/expecting, can I still add this branch by running romex from the new outlet, to Junction 3 and grounding it in the junction with a screw or clip? Or do I need to go all the back to Junction 2 (or Junction 1) so that I can tie the new run directly to the ground wire? I guess I could bring the wire into the box at Junction 2, and then run a proper ground through the conduit to Junction 3 and the current outlet as well as to tie in the new one, if that is specifically better than relying on the conduit.

I have pictures of all the junctions and stuff, if that's important, it just seemed excessive to post them all.

Do you have room in the panel for more breakers? It's really not much more effort or cost to just run this as a new circuit entirely... then when you decide later you need a bigger air conditioner or want to plug in a freezer to that basement outlet you don't have to rerun it.

You also avoid messing with the mess you're currently dealing with.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2020 15:43

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Ashcans posted:

Just checked and yes, there are still more than a half dozen open spots on the panel. It's a 200A panel.

I guess that might be the easiest way to go, then I'm not messing with the older circuits. I've never installed a new breaker, but it doesn't seem more complicated.

If you're comfortable doing the rest of the work, adding the breaker is nothing special. Just make sure you know what parts of the panel are live even when the main breaker is off.

If you do a new circuit, I'd suggest a 20amp breaker and 12 gauge wire. That would handle anything you can shove into a window with no problems.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2020 20:07

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

skylined! posted:

Thanks. The company I hired to do the service upgrade put in a 40/80 panel inside and a 16-space panel outside under the meter. I'll start reading about Square D panels for outside.

I think I'll make a thread, where I can be appropriately derided for my dangerous hubris.

I'd suggest a whole house surge protector too. Easy enough to install, extra layer of protection for stuff that doesn't usually have a surge protector (like your furnance)

# ¿ Aug 17, 2020 23:36

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Nevets posted:

Thanks for the suggestions to look into fiber, I never imagined it had gotten cheap enough to compete with regular copper for short runs.

I may still have to use copper anyway though, I can't seem to find anything that will also work for our ancient PBX phones without spending a boatload.

fs.com will sell you all the stuff you need for this for super cheap, for example: https://www.fs.com/products/17237.html

Note: their SFPs are dirt cheap - this means you should buy a spare or two for when one inevitably dies

# ¿ Aug 19, 2020 18:55

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Hubis posted:

Home Server Room Power Upgrade + Multi-Room UPS

I'd have used different colored outlets for the UPS protected stuff... how long before someone forgets and plugs a vacuum cleaner into one and blows the breaker in the UPS?

# ¿ Sep 12, 2020 16:17

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Bioshuffle posted:

If this is a contest, I installed a 3 way switch and realized I mixed up the traveler wire and common because the screws are located in different spots on my new switch. I should try reading things sometimes.

Thanks for the help about the yaw orientation! I don't think I'll get it perfect, so I'll just settle for good enough, but tucking in the wires definitely made a huge difference!

While I'm here, what's with this middle switch? I just assumed I could unplug it and replace it with a regular one, but this was what was behind it. As far as I know, the only function this light switch has is turning on the porch lights, which are super bright. I didn't want to start unplugging stuff without knowing what I was doing, so I've put it back. Does this mean my porchlight is not wired into the house and is connected by this Insteon network, whatever that means?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Insteon...wE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Insteon is home automation stuff - however the switches also act like normal switches, so your porch light is probably connected to that red wire.

If there's no other Insteon devices in your house, you can just replace that with a regular switch if you'd like.

An easy test here is to turn the porch light on, then pull that little button on the bottom of the switch out - it should come out like a quarter inch or so, and the light on the switch itself will go off. If your porch light goes off, that means it's hardwired directly to that switch, and you can replace it with a standard one.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2020 18:59

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Elviscat posted:

Wait a sec, I know you said "ignore the orange wire" but why is there an orange wire (cable) coming out of your junction box?

Looks like an extension cord to me

# ¿ Oct 10, 2020 15:07

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Meow Meow Meow posted:

Im putting a subpanel in my garage and will need to run a #6 to my main panel (pictured). The garage is on the other side of the wall on the left, so it should be a pretty easy run. Do you guys have any advice on how to pull the cable without doing too much damage to my walls? I've shown the joist direction in black and the ceiling heights line up in this picture and the garage.

I guess Im wondering if Im better off attempting minimal holes in the drywall and it likely being a more pain in the rear end or cutting out bigger chunks that would give me work space but be slightly more annoying to patch? Please guide me.

What's on the other side of that wall? If it's the exterior, you could always do conduit between the two and not have to deal with fixing drywall at all (assuming you're ok with conduit on the side of the house).

Is there an attic above it? I'd expect you could effectively shove #6 down the wall by itself, and possibly get it into the panel that way.

If you do have to cut the drywall, cut the width of the stud bay, and like a foot tall... it's much easier to fix a nice square hole versus some ragged oddly shaped hole.

I've never worked with #6, but I'd expect it to be a huge pain in the rear end to get to do what you want.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2020 02:26

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Jenkl posted:

What counts as terminating?
Ive got coax waiting to be hooked to a plate post-basement-remodel. Ive noticed slower speeds. Could that be related?

https://www.amazon.com/Type-75-Ohm-Terminator-Pack/dp/B000AAN76Y

You'd have to look at modem signal levels and error counts to tell if there's a problem. Disconnecting the other end of that's probably a good idea though.

# ¿ Nov 26, 2020 16:31

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Weird sort of electrical question... when I put the amp clamp of my meter on the ground wire for my cable television line, I see about 0.1a.

Is this normal?

# ¿ Dec 18, 2020 02:51

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

floWenoL posted:

Thanks! What you said solved one mystery -- my strippers only have only one set of numbers on them, but looking up the model online revealed that the newer models now have two sets of numbers on them -- I guess I was reading the stranded numbers this whole time!

Yeah I've found it to be super awkward -- that's what I get for trying to save money by buying all-in-one tools I guess...

Thanks, I'll probably get this!

I have one of these and it's been great. Only downside is you can't really reach into a cramped box with it.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2021 16:24

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

movax posted:

Speaking of low- / line-voltage never meeting, are there actual UL listed solutions for AC/DC supplies in a junction box? Thinking about security panels and just wanted to avoid the eye wart and literal wall wart of the supply that goes along with them.

Now that I think out loud, a little PoE supply that could go into a junction-box could be neat � all "low" voltage still (48 VDC in) but could source a decent amount of current for 12 and 24 VDC loads. Could tuck behind the panel and call it a day.

e: to be clear, either AC/DC, or DC/DC, just mostly looking for an existence proof. Low-voltage stuff is still plenty capable of letting the magic-smoke out / making sparks and fire, so the important thing to me seems to be limiting current that can flow + putting it inside a box.

Doorbell transformers?

# ¿ Jan 21, 2021 02:04

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

MrYenko posted:

So I�ve done a fair bit of electrical work, and I�m confident I could run a proper receptacle for the TV I want to wall mount, but someone please play devils advocate and talk me out of this.

It's the right way of doing it actually... I'd just suggest the two gang one instead.

Edit: Mine came with just some 14-2 romex, not a weird "power connector"

# ¿ Mar 2, 2021 18:51

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

giundy posted:

This probably fits into dumb question territory. I installed a pool heater last year on a dedicated 220V 50A line. This was originally put in our house for a hot tub. Thinking of putting another hot tub in, is there an A/B switch / relay that can be used so only either the hot tub or pool heater are on? This would maintain the dedicated circuit for one or the other and prevent overloading, but I assume its such an odd case it wouldn't meet code. I know in an industrial setting this work work, but not sure for residential.

Put a L6-50 connector and plug in?

# ¿ Mar 14, 2021 19:40

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

PageMaster posted:

Am not certain the AC doesn't have it's own dedicated breaker, so I'll be sure to ask the inspector. This and the fact that electrical consumption may actually be smaller with more energy efficient devices and appliances was not something I thought about, so that might be worth holding off on until I check it properly; I automatically just had the idea that we were going to be clearly undersized after our last couple of houses.

Did your homeowners insurance say *why* they'd give you a $500 discount for replacing it? How much are you paying for insurance? My entire homeowners + umbrella insurance is only $1k a year, so that would be like a 50% discount for me.

For your potential car charger, you may be able to get away with putting a smaller panel before your current one, so you'd have potentially 100a to your existing panel, and 100a to the car charger. That would significantly reduce the scope of a service upgrade, as you wouldn't have to touch any of the existing stuff.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2021 01:53

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

surivdaoreht posted:

Fluorescents that look jankily wired into that area, above the switch and receptacle

The fact that the splice there isn't in a box is a huge red flag - you'd really want to start at the closest place to to the panel you can find, and go through every junction/fixture and review what's actually happening.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2021 01:04

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

hooah posted:

Yeah, I wish they had. But then I'd be up a different creek because I'd have to pay a professional to install the correct outlet, because that seems out of my league (which is mostly ceiling fan installations).

If you can install a ceiling fan you can certainly install an outlet in an existing box... there's not really much difference.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2021 01:50

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

SpartanIvy posted:

Unfortunately in the "easy" spot to put it I don't, as illustrated with the frowny face. I would have to go to smiley face route, which would require bending some conduit.

Can you just move your air conditioner connection, and go on the bottom?

# ¿ Apr 9, 2021 00:27

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Boxman posted:

Thank you! I got it without a problem. Weirdly, though, I have a completely unrelated question for the thread. Hopefully battery questions are within scope.

My cordless electric lawnmower - a hand-me-down from my parents, who have moved onto the "gently caress it just pay someone" phase of their lives - no longer takes a charge. Thats fine, its, like, 7-10 years old at this point. The manufacturer doesn't sell OEM replacements anymore, of course, but I open it up and it looks like they're fairly unremarkable batteries:

The mower advertises 12v, 40 amp hour batteries, so figure those are 2 20 amp hour dealies lashed together. And I get to batteries plus, and yeah they have replacements that are almost perfect. Except...well, see the terminals on the replacement? The fact that they're perpendicular and sunk into the battery a bit actually means the wiring provided with the mower doesn't work. In particular, the wire on the bottom there wouldn't reach with the replacement batteries.

Obviously buying a new lawnmower to replace some generic batteries is insane. While i'm sure just replacing that wire is an option, i feel like the fail case is "now your lawnmower is on fire," so i've once again come to the thread for help for what I'm hoping is a very simple solution. What sort of wire do I buy? What do I need to do to make sure I don't set my lawnmower/my lawn/my garage on fire?

If you pull a battery out, is there a model number on it? Those look like a pretty standard size battery - I'd be surprised if you couldn't find a drop in replacement.

I'd probably take one out and bring it to whatever local auto parts store you have and ask them if they sell a replacement. Alternatively, I've had really good experiences with this place - I'd see if you can get a model # or something from battery and reach out to them, they've been very helpful to me in the past.

Assuming you have the vertical clearance, I don't even think you need to rewire anything - you can just get some nuts for the ends of the screws, and use the holes on the new battery terminals. If you do need new wiring, that's probably an anderson 50a connector on the right. You can't go wrong with using 8 gauge wire for everything.

PS: Don't buy from batteriesplus, they have a crazy high markup on everything.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2021 00:55

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

SpartanIvy posted:

Bird update!

What did they find to use for nest material? it almost looks like paper?

# ¿ Apr 25, 2021 02:31

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Gaj posted:

Labels, switch? This my unit, parents unit just has 2 more slots.

Though there is a "Union Made" sticker so I guess its somewhat better.

The labels are clear enough to me! There's a 1, 2, 3 (L), and 4 (AC). What more do you want to know?

How do your parents get insurance?

fyi these are a thing, which would at least prevent having to interact with the innards

# ¿ May 21, 2021 02:23

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

GreenBuckanneer posted:

Not sure what "circuit" these are on, to be completely honest. I think the upstairs might be split over two breakers, tops, but I'm not sure which is which offhand.

There's 7 outlets upstairs, one outlet is pretty much an AC in one plug + surge protector in the other (mostly LED desk lights and charging block for various devices) and where I want to move the AC to is currently 1/2 sockets being used for a "on at night pointed at the bed, 8" fan" + alarm clock. (the others are, which isn't on all the time 3. anti mouse speaker thing 4. 5" fan + heating pad + phone charger 5. xmas led lights 6. few electronic devices (router and such, into a UPS) 7. computer/tv/consoles also into a different 1500va UPS (6/7 are spread out across each other basically)

As for what I'd like to plug in where the AC is now, is an LED lamp that needs an actual two prong plug instead of USB power, and sometimes be able to run a glue gun, airbrush compressor (very small, about 1/5 horsepower), spray hood fan, heat gun, though, not all at the same time.

Is there a reason you're not using the extension cord for the other things instead of the AC?

quote:

3. anti mouse speaker thing

FWIW, there is a very strong chance this is nothing more then an LED in a fancy looking case

# ¿ Jul 3, 2021 02:05

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

SpartanIvy posted:

Opened up my breaker panel to run a conduit out the back of it but realized it wouldn't fit where I'd hoped.

Then I noticed that one of the neutrals in my panel had the insulation sliced off on part of it and was exposed so I had the pleasure of rerunning that whole length of wire which went to an outdoor outlet and required chiselling the old wire out of mortar on the back of the box.

Then when hooking up the new wire, the breaker wouldn't clamp down properly on the new wire so I swapped it for a new GFCI/afci breaker.

And there goes my whole day!

Why not just cut out the bare part and put in a new section of wire within the panel?

# ¿ Jul 5, 2021 00:07

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

The Bananana posted:

Recommendations on the following situation:

Just moved to a new house, and my washer uses a normal* looking 15 amp 3 prong plug.

*normal in that, it basically looks like it could plug into any of my wall outlets.

-

In this new house, the washer area has a plug for the dryer, and a plug for the washer. The washer plug is a 20 amp with a t-blade(?).

Anyways, the question for yall is, what's the best course of action:

1. Change wall outlet from 20amp to 15 amp

2. Buy an adapter from 15 fml to 20 male

3. Replace the washer cord

4. An option I don't know about

Mind you, I have no real knowledge handling or working on wiring/electrical.

The current solution was running an extension cord to the next room, and a compatible outlet.

Pls advise, thanks.

Electrical stuff is designed in a way that it's nearly impossible to plug something in to the wrong kind of outlet if you're just behaving normally (not hitting poo poo with a hammer or cutting off prongs). I can't think of a case where you can have a plug and outlet that are physically compatible that would damage something.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2021 00:58

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

DaveSauce posted:

We have this:

We're upgrading our deck to a screened porch, and with that comes lighting. We wanted a switched outlet as well, so all said and done we are adding 3 switches to the whole setup. Problem is, there's literally nowhere else for them to go. This is the only logical place to put them.

What's the cleanest solution? The contractor's electrician says adding another 3-gang box above/below is about the only option. There's a ton of studs in that little section, so side-by-side isn't workable.

We COULD make this box bigger, but I don't know how feasible that is. Given that there's going to be 6 switches, I'm not sure much can be done. I asked about 6 gang boxes and they said that that's a super expensive solution. I suggested a 5-gang box with one of the gangs being a double switch, but they were pretty sure that this would exceed wire fill capacity of the box.

We might be able to drop it down to 5 switches, because one of them controls an interior fan light and is pretty much never used (it's a remote switch, there's another switch on a different wall). But even if we do that, I'm not sure if a 5-gang box is feasible or still way too much/expensive.

Is this just going to be stupid and ugly, and is this typical for additions like this? I suggested a 5 gang box with one of the gangs being a double switch, and they said it'll probably exceed box fill capacity.

Follow-up: would it be worth having the box outside in the screened area? I know weatherproof switch boxes are a thing, but I also know they're ugly and aren't exactly desirable. This also makes it awkward because some of your switches are inside and some are outside.

6 gang box looks like it's only $20: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Southwire-Smart-Box-6-Gang-Multi-Mount-Adjustable-Depth-Device-Box-MSBMMT6G/203343456

# ¿ Jul 15, 2021 22:12

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

floWenoL posted:

I'm having trouble with the simplest possible circuit:

Basically, there's a shed in the backyard of this house that I moved into a year ago that had some lightbulbs in it, and a plug that was on the outside. Since the shed is pretty far from the house, and I've only now just gotten a portable battery, I haven't tried getting the lights to work until now.

So basically the wiring is shown in the diagram. The portable battery has a built-in inverter, so I plug in the outlet outside into it, and the plug is on a 12-gauge romex wire that's run under the shed, up along the wall and the ceiling, down to a light switch, where the positive wire is cut and attached to the two terminals, and up along the ceiling to a lightbulb. (There are also two other lightbulbs, but I've disconnected them from the circuit, as I'll talk about below.)

However, the lightbulb doesn't turn on, and using a multimeter, I get an AC voltage drop of ~30 V, which I'm assuming should be 120 V.

Here are some of the troubleshooting steps I tried:
- The battery itself works fine, I plugged in a lamp and it lights up.
- The existing plug was pretty old, so I replaced it with a new one. Incidentally, the plug has a green LED that lights up when I plug it in, but I'm assuming that it's just indicating whether there's some voltage, and not the full 120 V.
- I snipped off the existing copper off the wire used in the existing plug, and stripped some more to put in the new plug. (Incidentally, there's also a ground wire, but I didn't bother drawing it since the lightbulb terminal doesn't have a ground terminal.)
- I did continuity testing, and verified that the positive and negative terminals on the lightbulb are connected to the positive and negative plugs.

Speaking of which, the reason why I disconnected the other two lightbulbs was that continuity testing revealed that the positive and negative terminals were connected when they were connected, so there's a short somewhere there (I haven't figured out exactly where, yet.)

So my question is, what does a lower-than-expected voltage indicate? Seems like I've eliminated everything but the wire, but that's a bit surprising since the insulation seems in good shape as far as I can tell, and the wires connected to the plug is freshly exposed. However, the shed has been exposed to Texas weather for at least a year and a half, so maybe that's had some effect on the wire.

I guess one thing I haven't tried yet is just connecting the two wires in the lightbulb directly, but my feeling is that it's improbable that that's the problem.

Thoughts/ideas for anything else I can try?

Throw all the existing wiring away, buy something like this if your battery has a 12v output (or figure out what voltage it can put out other then 120v) and just be done with it. Dealing with isolated 120v to power 3 lights is fairly pointless these days (since LED bulbs are converting it back into DC anyway)

# ¿ Jul 19, 2021 03:00

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

Inner Light posted:

Hey wiring thread denizens. Motronic has been helping out and calling me dumb when I propose dumb poo poo in the home threads, in your opinion is wiring one of these 3 way switches ok for an amateur to do if I read up on all this beforehand and feel confident enough to attempt it?

Note: Said dumb poo poo involved connecting a random wire to the fixture ground because he thought blue and green went together, and only noticed when he blew the breaker by hitting a "phantom" switch.

# ¿ Jul 19, 2021 03:11

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

PageMaster posted:

Anyone know what this wire is or what clues might tell me what it is for? It's in the garage wrapped around a nail in the ceiling joist above the furnace and water heater but not connected to either. Is the only way to tell to open some walls and follow it through the whole house?

That looks an awful lot like a poorly spliced together extension cord. Is it live?

# ¿ Jul 20, 2021 04:03

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 20:42

devicenull: May 30, 2007; Grimey Drawer

movax posted:

Away from home at the moment, so don't have a picture, but wanted to ask the question while I have it fresh in my head.

We have an oven we rarely use, that's on a 40 A, 240 V breaker (I forget if 'tandem' is the word here... it's not two different breakers, it's a 2-pole breaker with a single toggle that sits on 2x 120 V lines). I want to put in an EV charger (probably a JuiceBox), and will also be having a mini-split system put in. I'm thinking of removing / sacrificing some of my old resistive kickbox heater spots for the mini-split, but for the charger and keeping the oven running, can I do the following?

* Remove old breaker, replace with appropriate new breaker (80 A probably, need to calculate. I know the Juicebox lets you limit current in SW for installations with lower supply current)
* Put in new, small box on wall next to it where I can add the oven-specific breaker and charger specific breaker. Run whatever required gauge through conduit through this box

I can have the JuiceBox only charge during certain hours, so I'm not too worried about simultaneous oven / charging operation.

I have another subpanel already that is for the new kitchen / new bathroom, so I'm not worried about leaving a ton of room for expansion in this little guy -- it'll be (hopefully) be a quick 2-3ish hr job for me.

I'd run a new circuit from the breaker box to the charger. You definitely can't take the existing oven circuit and change it to an 80a breaker and call it a day.

I'd also run the biggest possible wire you can. It looks like the highest JuiceBox can take 60A, so run that assuming it'll work with whatever model you have.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2021 01:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Wiring Thread: This stupid safety device started alerting that there wasn't safety!

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