/r/electrical
Welcome to /r/Electrical!
Rules:
Tips:
Please include your country if you have an electrical question. Systems, codes, and infrastructure vary wildly.
If you see an answer or suggestion to an electrical question that is dangerous or unsafe, please message the mods or select "Dangerous" from the "report" menu.
/r/electrical
I want to add a camera/floodlight outside of my house. The location I want to install it on the exterior is directly outside from an interior outlet. The interior outlet is only using one side of its connections.
With the breaker off: Can I drill through the back of my interior outlet box (slightly offset) and through the exterior sheathing?
I’ll run the Romex through the sheathing, silicone the hole and romex, add a one piece - junction box/siding mounting block and connect to the interior outlet and exterior camera.
If so, are there any additional steps to take to ensure there are no leaks and the installation is up to code?
Thanks!
We have this LED fixture from Lowe's in a closet. It has previously worked. Now when I turn the switch on, each LED will light up with the faintest glow, but it will not emit any real light. It's just enough to see them change, like a 1/4 lumen each. I replaced the switch, no change. I then replaced the fixture, and the new one did the same thing. I've reached the end of my electrical knowledge. Please help.
Need some help. Lights keeps flickering in the whole house. Nothing else seems to be affected though. TVs, internet, & appliances all keep running. Any ideas?
Disclaimer - I am not an electrician nor expert in this field, trying to DIY
In wall gang box, seems like I have 14/3, 2 black, 1 red, 1 copper, 1 white - https://ibb.co/tznYhzg. There's no existing setup
Cooper = ground. White = neutral. How do I go about figuring out what black and red are? Trying to install https://www.getzooz.com/downloads/zooz-s2-double-switch-zen30-ver1-manual-online.pdf
Per wiring chart in PDF, there are 4 I need to connect (line, dimmer load, relay contact 1, relay contact 2). How do those match up with the 2 black and 1 red?
Also, FWIW, I don't really care to use dimmer, so for the sake of this reddit post, let's say I have 0 dimmers.
Hi, need help on connecting this thermostat. Thermostat will turn a fan on and off to remove hot air from a room. Neutral in to #5 Neutral to the fan #2? Don't normally connect the Live to the thermostat as in #4? Thanks
I had an electrician rough in this box for an outdoor light fixture. I was originally going to put in a fixture but I've decided to do string lights instead so I want to put in a GFCI outlet. I got this cover and thought it would work. However, the spacing of the screw posts doesn't line up and they're a larger sized screw than the standard electrical machine screws that come with the outlet and cover. Any idea what I need to adapt this box into an outlet?
Hello, the sockets in my house in London have just blown. I see that socket 3 is the issue so I flicked down fuses 1-5 and tried to flick them all back up again. However, every time 3 is up, fuse 5 flicks down. But when only 1,2 and 4 are up, 5 stays up alright. First of all is this a fuse that needs replace or is there a wiring issue? I turned off all known sockets connect to 3 but still seems to short circuit, please help, thanks!
I've got a 100a (rated) Square D Homeline subpanel that I'm feeding with a 40a breaker and 6 AWG THHN.
After torquing down the wire into the lugs in the panel, the strands are a bit splayed out from under the nut, and after letting it sit for a day, I noticed that I could move the wire side to side a bit. This is sub-optimal to me.
I'm thinking of crimping a copper ferrule on the end of the wire to hold the strands together, but I am waiting on the parts.
Is there a better/proper way to get a solid, clean, and tight connection for this case?
Thanks.
I asked this on AskElectricians sub and got zero.
Grid and solar from one main feed 2 separate sub panels. so the feed to the subpanels is one line that switches from solar to grid as needed. i am trying to figure out how much grid power only the 2 sub panels are using each month. The numbers i do know are total kwh of the main panel. What other numbers do i need and what are the calculations?
I have run out of spaces in my main panel. It is 200 amp service with 20 spaces. All the spaces are currently full. I need to add:
So I figure I could either replace the panel with a larger one, or add a subpanel. I just sent an email to my city permitting office to see if replacing the panel requires all new afci/gfci. Im hoping not. We are on the 2023 nec, it sounds like previous versions have had grandfathering clauses to not require it on just a panel change.
Which do you think is the better option?
I thought it was the power strip bc I turned that off and the noise stopped. I got a new power strip and same noise.
So it must be the outlet itself. It's driving me insane. Can anything be done?
For now I'm using 2 Powe strips in another wall outlet on other side of room to string everything over from there. However, I still hear it. So I'm guessing it's the wiring.
I tested both outlets with an outlet tester and if I'm reading it right, it's in the "correct" position. Eg nothing is hot or interchanged.
I am replacing my living room light fixture and when I took down the old light, I saw it was only connected to one wire, the white wire. The white and yellow wire seem to both be neutral wires because when I use my voltage detector, I get nothing. The orange wire was inside the electrical box and not connected to anything but the voltage detector does go off when I hold it to that wire so I guess that means it’s the live (usually) black wire.
I am thinking that I could wire my new light connecting the two white wires together and connect the orange and black wires together. But I thought I’d ask here first to see if I’m missing anything.
I was replacing outlet in bedroom that wasn't working and discovered this mess. I couldn't even guess what is going on. There is a 12/3 or 14/3 wire feeding into the box. It looks like the red hot was not connected to anything. I drew in red a connection that broke as I was pulling outlet out. Also, on side profile pic, it looks like the tab was broken off. There is no ceiling light fixture in the room so my only guess is that this outlet was controlled by the light switch at entrance that currently doesn't do anything.
I know I need to get in crawlspace and confirm where lines are coming from and going to but thought I'd post to get likely scenarios. Specifically, when would a ground and natural be pigtailed together, if ever...was person that wired this out of their mind? :)
Hey all!
I recently bought a house, and in the basement, there is a spot where I'd like to install an Ethernet wall jack. The spot is in between two power outlets (which, given the basement being finished after construction, are not on studs themselves). I thought I was in the clear, because I imagined the power to the outlets was running vertically, but they are chained together so that the romex cable is running horizontally. See the following (poorly done) diagram:
This presents an issue, as, ideally, I would like to make sure there is no crossing of power cables and data cables. I understand small 90 degree crossings aren't as bad as running data parallel to power, but it's still less than ideal.
To that point, here are the four possibilities I am considering:
Replacing some siding below my electrical panel and wondering if I need to keep this access? In Arizona.
[switch on the left] Broken, 4 wires in 4 ways switch Now I have a spare switch but with 3 ways in only. Can I plug the 2 bottom red into 1? Thanks
can anyone give advice ? all the lights will go off at once but power is on, i just turn the lights back on
DID I DO ANGOOD JOB?
My guess is something to do with an alarm system or the LED lighting they installed on the ceiling?
Was going to replace a ceiling fan in my house (built in late 60s) and noticed there are only white and black wires in the box. The black wires were tied together and taped off - not used, and the white wires were tied together with two going to the fan. I have not verified but am guessing the black would be neutral and the white would be power, it just doesn’t look right to me. The ceiling fan had blue/ black tied together to one white and white to white, the green wire was not secured to anything.
Should I go back together with the new one the same way and just ground the green wire or was this wired wrong from the start?
Hi! I am a reptile keeper & as I’m starting to upgrade some of my reptiles into larger, adult enclosures now, I have found that it is probably necessary to upgrade the power strip in my room.
My house is poorly made, it’s an old farmhouse and there is exactly one double-outlet in my entire room. In order to adequately accommodate the needs of my pets, I will probably end up needing about 8 plugs for them. I also need to use approximately 4-5 plugs at most for my own personal needs from time to time.
In the summer, an AC is necessary occasionally, and I know that ACs are not to go into power strips, so I figure that’s where the other plug on the outlet in the wall can come into use.
My house already has some difficulties in parts where we have to go to the breaker and re-start it if even a hair-dryer overtakes the circuit. That has not happened with my reptile’s heating pad’s and basking lamps (at least not yet), but I fear that with this amount of electrical need going through this one outlet, something not good might happen.
I honestly have no clue and I don’t want to be sorry by being ignorant.
Could anyone enlighten me? I would greatly appreciate it!
Thanks!