A Bored Electrician to Answer Your Questions

IAm5toned said:

i wanted the 1000th post for myself on this thread

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nice.. good job

OK IAm5toned I got one for you for #1002. I started a new project with a fridge. It's on my sig link, and I want to put a red light (and a green if it's not a PITA) in the freezer door to signal if the sun is out in there. I have a couple ideas and a power strip and hole for a sensor in the back of it. Any cheap ideas would be appreciated. Here's a couple things a have to start with. I know they are different V and W but it's a start. I have a bunch of power adapters.
Daniels

iIm having a fuse popping problem its a Murray wall mounted indoor fuse box the majority of switches have the #15 or 20 .For the room im using the switch has a #20 on it the room has plenty of outlets like 6 with 2 sockets in each .What should I do?

Danielsgb said:

OK IAm5toned I got one for you for #1002. I started a new project with a fridge. It's on my sig link, and I want to put a red light (and a green if it's not a PITA) in the freezer door to signal if the sun is out in there. I have a couple ideas and a power strip and hole for a sensor in the back of it. Any cheap ideas would be appreciated. Here's a couple things a have to start with. I know they are different V and W but it's a start. I have a bunch of power adapters.
Daniels

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for 25$ in parts i can tell you how to do it pretty easily using a photocell, 2 led indicator lights, and a relay.
the photocell controls the relay, which makes either a red or green LED indicator lamp come on, depending if the light is on or off.
you dont need any adapters at all, all the parts will run off of 120v. the photocell costs like 7-8, the indicators are 6 apeoce so 2 for 12, and the relay 5-8... a few peices of wire that can come from an old extension cord, or you can just buy it too if you want.... pretty simple project

staychiefn said:

iIm having a fuse popping problem its a Murray wall mounted indoor fuse box the majority of switches have the #15 or 20 .For the room im using the switch has a #20 on it the room has plenty of outlets like 6 with 2 sockets in each .What should I do?

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well what is making the fuse pop? probably running too much wattage on it... a 20 amp breaker is good for 1440w @ 120v. eliminate some wattage, and it will stop tripping, unless you have wore out the breaker, if thats the case, it may need to be replaced.

buggin69 said:

nice.. good job

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thanks!

IAm5toned said:

for 25$ in parts i can tell you how to do it pretty easily using a photocell, 2 led indicator lights, and a relay.
the photocell controls the relay, which makes either a red or green LED indicator lamp come on, depending if the light is on or off.
you dont need any adapters at all, all the parts will run off of 120v. the photocell costs like 7-8, the indicators are 6 apeoce so 2 for 12, and the relay 5-8... a few peices of wire that can come from an old extension cord, or you can just buy it too if you want.... pretty simple project

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I knew you were the man to answer this one for me.
I assume this photocell is obviously the wrong one to control the relay. I have a Radio-shack near, so I could get stuff there. What cool red LED could I use? The green could be plainer. If you could throw me a spec or 2 I can get it together. I have a bunch of wire from all these DIY projects The first 3 pics show 2 possible spots to mount stuff on the back. The door is where I'll wire the LED's. I'll get a thermometer sensor in the back also.
Could I put 1 or both of these green 12VDC bulbs in the face of this remote ballast? I was thinking if it was with the comp fan it would be great. Would that slow the fan down? A different power adapter? Could you check out the green CFL bulb I was gonna use for the night time? Obviously for only under 30 min. will that work?
Daniels

personally i dont use the colored cfl's for night lights, i use led's- the difference is that the green cfl is filtered white light, the green led is actually green light. tho alot of people seem to use them anyways.
these are some of the cheapest ready to use LED's i could find... 120v or 24v:
http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/Pushbuttons_-z-_Switches_-z-_Indicators/22mm_Plastic/Plastic_Monoblock_Indicators/LED
you can take them apart, the led's in them are tiny, or keep the lens on it if you want.
i use green ones of a similair model in my cabs. they work pretty good and are cheaper than most cfls.

this is perfect. I appreciate you helping out, very very useful.

I am trying to power a closet with a hardwired outlet. I have a GFCI and a regular outlet at my disposal

However, Ive run into a situation with a 3 way light switch. I have 3 switches in a hallway that control the hallway lights...
the middle switch is located in the hallway but I cut a hole in the closet wall and pulled the wires through. I thought I could hardwire a outlet in there so there is no extension cords and it is safer.

I am testing it out right now and I cannot get it to function normally with the outlet hooked in. I have it hooked up right now where the lights work as normal with the switches but the outlet doesnt work when I shut the hallway lights off the outlet works but the lights come on very dim.

Is there a way I can get this outlet inside my closet?

There are 2 sets of thick shielded cable each contain 4 wires of their own. Red, Black, White and Ground. I understand white is neutral, black is hot and ground is well ground.

I am hoping you can help me figure this out.

I got a question for you.
I have a Hydrofarm 6" inline fan.
It recently stopped working, ie, it hums when on, but the blades will not spin.
Can it be fixed or should I just toss it.
My 2nd choice is to drill out the rivets and replace the unit so I can keep the inline container and continue using it to suck the heat out of my DayStar unit.

Thanks for any info.

IAm5toned said:

personally i dont use the colored cfl's for night lights, i use led's- the difference is that the green cfl is filtered white light, the green led is actually green light. tho alot of people seem to use them anyways.
these are some of the cheapest ready to use LED's i could find... 120v or 24v:
http://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/Pushbuttons_-z-_Switches_-z-_Indicators/22mm_Plastic/Plastic_Monoblock_Indicators/LED
you can take them apart, the led's in them are tiny, or keep the lens on it if you want.
i use green ones of a similair model in my cabs. they work pretty good and are cheaper than most cfls.

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Thanks. I'll use the CFL one cause I already got the socket in and I'll only use it for a few minutes at a time. Is the 120V better than the 24V for $1 more on the LED's? I'll get those coming. What relay and photocell do I need?
Daniels

You are unreal. This is wicked!

SolRosenberg said:

this is perfect. I appreciate you helping out, very very useful.

I am trying to power a closet with a hardwired outlet. I have a GFCI and a regular outlet at my disposal

However, Ive run into a situation with a 3 way light switch. I have 3 switches in a hallway that control the hallway lights...
the middle switch is located in the hallway but I cut a hole in the closet wall and pulled the wires through. I thought I could hardwire a outlet in there so there is no extension cords and it is safer.

I am testing it out right now and I cannot get it to function normally with the outlet hooked in. I have it hooked up right now where the lights work as normal with the switches but the outlet doesnt work when I shut the hallway lights off the outlet works but the lights come on very dim.

Is there a way I can get this outlet inside my closet?

There are 2 sets of thick shielded cable each contain 4 wires of their own. Red, Black, White and Ground. I understand white is neutral, black is hot and ground is well ground.

I am hoping you can help me figure this out.

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what you have done is tried to hook up a dedicated outlet of an existing 4-way lighting circuit.
4-way, not 3-way. a 3-way circuit consists of 2 3-way switches. a 4-way circuit consists of 2 3-way switches and 1 4-way switch. the 4 way switch is normally the one in the middle, so thats where you tried to pick up power. unfortunately, the wires in the box will not have a neutral. the 4 wires besides the ground will be travellers between the 4 -way switch, and the 2 3-way switches. there is no neutral in that box.... so you wont have the 3-wires required for a receptacle. sorry to bear the bearer of bad news. and for future reference, you shouldnt try to run a dedicated outlet off of a lighting circuit, 1, its not dedicated. its being fed from a circuit that has other devices on it (lights). 2) lights use a shitload of wattage, so you will probably run into thh issue of not having enough power to begin with to run a grow op.

nubiebud said:

I got a question for you.
I have a Hydrofarm 6" inline fan.
It recently stopped working, ie, it hums when on, but the blades will not spin.
Can it be fixed or should I just toss it.
My 2nd choice is to drill out the rivets and replace the unit so I can keep the inline container and continue using it to suck the heat out of my DayStar unit.

Thanks for any info.

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the fan probably has a locked rotor. you should trash it.

Danielsgb said:

Thanks. I'll use the CFL one cause I already got the socket in and I'll only use it for a few minutes at a time. Is the 120V better than the 24V for $1 more on the LED's? I'll get those coming. What relay and photocell do I need?
Daniels

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the 120v is a better buy, as you wont need a voltage adapter to run 24v.
every component you add to a circuit = 1 point of potential failure. elimate as many points of failure from your designs as possible, and you will love yourself for it

Caribbean Hippie said:

Hello guys here is a diagram of my diy subpanel. Can you tell me what’s the proper contactor size for this sub panel? It is 20amp or 60 amps? Also the proper wiring size between the quad circuit, the contactors and the 240v outlets. Thank you

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need more info.... like how many watts your planning on using.

(W/ E) x 120% = FLA
where W = wattage, E= Voltage, 120%= continuous duty demand factor, FLA= Full Load Amperage

solve that equation and then round up to the nearest standard breaker size for both your lighting contactor, and your wire size. wire size is good for runs shorter than 300'. if your wire is longer than that, than you have to get bigger wire, typically 1 awg larger for every additional 250'...
ex- 1000watt lamp/120volts=8.3333ampsx 120%=10 amps of Full Load Amperage. closest standard breaker size would be a 15amp breaker, which the smallest size wire you can use on a 15 amp breaker is #14awg.

napps said:

You are unreal. This is wicked!

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thanks!

IAm5toned said:

what you have done is tried to hook up a dedicated outlet of an existing 4-way lighting circuit.
4-way, not 3-way. a 3-way circuit consists of 2 3-way switches. a 4-way circuit consists of 2 3-way switches and 1 4-way switch. the 4 way switch is normally the one in the middle, so thats where you tried to pick up power. unfortunately, the wires in the box will not have a neutral. the 4 wires besides the ground will be travellers between the 4 -way switch, and the 2 3-way switches. there is no neutral in that box.... so you wont have the 3-wires required for a receptacle. sorry to bear the bearer of bad news. and for future reference, you shouldnt try to run a dedicated outlet off of a lighting circuit, 1, its not dedicated. its being fed from a circuit that has other devices on it (lights). 2) lights use a shitload of wattage, so you will probably run into thh issue of not having enough power to begin with to run a grow op.

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yeah i figured that.

I am going to put everything back to normal. thanks for the reassurance and expertise!

IAm5toned said:

the 120v is a better buy, as you wont need a voltage adapter to run 24v.
every component you add to a circuit = 1 point of potential failure. elimate as many points of failure from your designs as possible, and you will love yourself for it

Click to expand...

While ALL baked and following a pretty new Honda for way too far I noticed it had a LED third brake light that would be perfect for the door. I went to Radio Shack and got lights that I think might work. I was on my way to my last stop at the Rescue Mission to get the power adapter. I passed a salvage yard and thought "Fuck it,might as well check". The guy said to go look and I asked the price range he said $35-50. he told me an area to check out and I found one on a Hyundai Tiburon. I went back to see a price. He said $25 and gave me a screwdriver and a wire cutter. I had to cut the fiberglass apart to get to the screws. It would have been much easier with the right socket set. Oh, well. I won and took the tools back. He saw what I had and said $10. Gotta love that. Now I just have to figure out if I can use it. It's 12V 3.5W. Could I use it and a different green light? I could ditch the green and just go with this if it's possible. The other lights I got are 272-0712 and 272-0708View attachment 923868
another ? for ya.
I have a 12V 1.25A power adapter and wanted to make sure I can use it to run two 120mm comp fans. they are 12V .6A (both the same fans) That will be fine right? Only.05A over so it's OK right? Thanks again
Daniels