What is the proper way to ground a 20a/30a/50a rv pedestal? It is technically a 125A 8 space subpanel (seimens tl137us(spelling?)) With 4 spaces being used for the 120v 20/30a outlets and double pole 50A). I know with a standard subpanel you would run a unbonded neutral and drive two ground rods but saw some mentions online that there may be code specifying the ECG be shared with neutral. Something about long runs outside and lightning. Thread linked below:

https://forums.mikeholt.com/threads/grounding-electrode-for-rv-pedestal.2572727/

Anyone know for certain any rv specific grounding requirements? Plan currently is treat each pedestal as a standard subpanel i.e. 2 ground rods with unbonded 4 wire feeder at each pedestal.

In regards to installing a 400A meter box and outdoor main panel,, are there any code specific (either in relation to RV or 200a vs 400A outdoor main) requirements outside of feeder/ground sizing?

I’m currently in a E.T program and about to graduate and still have not landed a job in the Los Angeles area but everyone is looking for people with experience any advice?

I read that aluminum electrolytic capacitors stored without being energized for a long time present many types of failures

Does the energization time of the aluminum electrolytic capacitor influence the time it can be stored without being energized safely? For example, I energize the aluminum electrolytic capacitor for 30 minutes vs. another aluminum electrolytic capacitor I energize for 60 minutes, can both be stored for the same amount of months or years? For the same temperature and same humidity, for example, 35C 58-67%

The ceiling allows for two different light switches controlling parts of the overhead light. It has two live wires (black/brown, we are in Germany), one blue wire, and one ground.

I have an overhead light to install that is a normal three-way ceiling lamp (i have installed these before). My best guess is that the best thing to do is to cap off the second live wire with a plastic cap or electrical tape, and then plug the rest in (and then just use one light switch).

The only other idea was to put both lives into the same live switch and tie them together... but I'm guessing this is quite a bad idea if one switch gets turned on and the other is off, and that just capping the second live is better.

Currently, I have two switches that control a bathroom fan. These are wired as three -way switches, such that either switch toggles the fan when flipped, as expected. Switch one sends travelers to switch two, which outputs to the fan.

I'm looking to install timers for the fan in these bathrooms, and the desired behavior is that the fan should continue running as long as either bathroom's timer hasn't finished.

My plan here would be to convert the two switches to both be single pole, and join their outputs before sending to the fan, such that either or both can power the fan (i.e have the switched hot lines out to the fan in parallel). I'm mostly curious about whether this is reasonable/safe: the load wire of both switches would be hot if either were hot.

Is this a reasonable option, and if not are there better alternatives to achieve this goal here? Happy to provide more details as needed!

I think I may want to be an electrician so what is the best way to begin? I think I would want to Install the electrical on a construction site rather than fixing problems in residential homes so what field would that be? Should I take classes near me or try to just seek an apprenticeship? Any advice helps!

Thanks!

I recently got a shiny new Klein receptacle tester and found a LOT of problems in my home and fixed all of them (most of the problems were either hot/neutral flip, or daisy chaining multiple GFCIs on LOAD instead of LINE)

Meanwhile I found that of my outdoor GFCI s won't trip when I press its TEST button. The button is pressed but does not click or trip (nor popping up RESET). i thought that the GFCI was bad but there was no problem on tripping it by pressing TEST on the receptacle tester; It trips and RESET popped up. Does it mean that the GFCI is bad? Then how come the receptacle tester could trip it?

Thanks in advance!

I’m selling my condo and was told by the inspector that I need a GFI installed where a non-GFI outlet is and need to replace a smoke detector.

I was curious what that would normally cost so I have a general ball park of cost. I’m pretty gullible when it comes to these things and want to make sure I don’t get taken advantage of.

Thanks!

I have a 1500 watt space heater which I normally run on low so I believe 900 watts and around 7.5 amps. Is it safe to plug into a powerstrip/outlet extender. There is a medium sized freezer plugged into it as well. I believe the outlet extender I have is 15 amps at 1800 watts. If its possible to keep the heater plugged into a powerstrip should I upgrade to a more industrial 20amp 12 gauge powerstrip and just have the heater (on low) and freezer plugged into it. Is this safe?

Hello.

Renter, prev homeowner (12 years). NO electrical experience. NO minisplit experience.

I have 2 ductless minisplits. One has been making a random and intermittent humming sound for about a week. Last Tuesday, I came home to a hot wire smell. I unplugged everything in the house, unsure of what caused it, and the smell dissipated after ~2 hours. It has not returned. The minisplits are in a bedroom (3rd floor) and kitchen (2nd floor). The smell was in the 3rd floor hallway.

Tonight, the minisplit began humming again. I turned it off and back on, and within a few moments, the humming began. I can hear it on the third floor. It's around 25° here, the minisplits are on a warm setting at 70-72°. I googled it and found out it could be a wiring issue. Landlord has been notified.

IF this is an electrical issue with the minisplits--I'm just wondering if powering off the minisplits is good enough until a tech and / or electrician can get out here? Should I flip a breaker?

Unrelated (maybe?) Ive been here for 1.5 years. 2 LED light fixtures have burnt out here within 2 years of install. I think they should have a 15 year lifespan. Also, several upstairs electrical outlets feel loose and won't consistently charge phones / lamps flicker. Maintenance checked the output 1.5 years ago, said it was fine directly at the outlets in question.

I've unplugged most unnecessary item to cut down on electricity flow also. I also asked Landlord to evaluate the electricity here but clueless on what that entails. Are these signs of an electrical issue? If so, how serious/dangerous?

IF I am at risk for an electrical fire, what can I do to reduce that risk until the electrician gets here to evaluate? Beyond unplugging things and turning off the minisplits.

Every few months my parents internet goes out and all the surge protectors melt and pour black smoke. The lights and things plugged right into the wall are all unscathed. They call Comcast first for some reason and the Comcast guys touch the cable box and it shocks them. They say there is a short and so my parents call an electrician. The electrician pokes around the house and can't find anything, at some point the short resolves itself and they replace all the surge protectors. Seems like a major issue to me, should they just keep trying different electricians?

screwless switch plate size

So I decided to replace a few of the standard switchplate (with visible screws) in my house in the dining room and now find that the screwless switch plates I got (Lutron) are a wee bit smaller in size than the standard older ones. this would normally be ok except the drywall is kinda messy when I remove the old one and put in the new ones and it shows the exposed drywall as the new plates are smaller.

Does anyone know if I can get slightly larger screwless switch plates? they are expensive to start with and i hate to create a mess with exposed drywall when i can merely eliminate this problem if the new and old switch plates are the same size.

Are there std sizes?

So I got a cheapie nofaya 826 cable locator off of amazon... well like $130 bucks cheap... it seems to work well enough. I was able to find general location of buried cable... did get a couple strange findings though (at least strange to my rookie ass.)
So I turned off all incoming power at meter panel pedestal (live in a mobile home). I injected the signal into the bad service leg at inside panel. I grounded it on the ground wire in panel. I turned off the main breaker above the connection, thinking that would keep the signal from shooting into everything else in house. Service leg injection transmitted well and was easy to follow... but... was picking up signal from a big pile of old coaxial cable that is under my front deck. That stuff was from hughsnet satellite internet, which we no longer have hooked up. I also noticed I was getting a signal coming from our CURRENT satellite provider (starlink) ethernet cable. But the starlink has no power while I'm doing this... can anyone explain this? Do I need to disconnect the cable at the inside panel end and pedestal panel end to isolate it for best results?

Hi all. Just wanted to ask if this setup would be okay for use for about 12hrs per day. In our country we have 220V sockets. And I would like to use a 120V light fixture for about 12hrs/day. I would basically pair the plug of the fixture with a universal adaptor (the plug of the fixture has an earth pin, but does not quite fit the socket of the step-down transformer), then plug it to a Singway SW-S12 step-down transformer that is said to be able to convert 220V to 120V. Will this setup be fine and safe?

https://preview.redd.it/3s0yxmb4a64e1.jpg?width=1524&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfcb2dc9f3fec1e6937e1c94651dd13e7000b5ac

https://preview.redd.it/1y2q5725a64e1.jpg?width=2032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c7609cd3eec519af328058e4adaed90d3e660b72