Electrician here...If you need advice or help

http://img819.imageshack.us/slideshow/webplayer.php?id=imgp8416.jpg

Standing where the Halogen lights are you walk in the room the door being on the left side.

Walk in closet is all the way in the back with the door on the left side as well.


When stading at the door from the room looking at your right corner you will see 8 outlets in total 4 outlets per wall.

This corner will be where my PC desk will be at. 8 outlets is not enough but I have a surge protector as well seperated.

When you walk in the room you will see the tank being against the closet wall in the center of the room.

On the wall the tank will be against on will have 8 outlets in toal 4 outlets in seperation of 4 foot. My stand is 4 foot long so this will work for me fine.

There will also be a ceiling fan with the room light having a dimmer as well.

Standing from the entrance of the room on the left side big wall my TV will be hang on the wall so there is 4 outlets near the ceiling and 2 extra outlets below it.

I don't have an TV yet but planning in getting a 51" LED TV :D

Looks like my room will end up having 2 20A circuit breakers which I am fine with and should be enough for my electronics and tank system!

BTW it is not plugged in the panel yet and I am missing the outlets as well. They guy will be coming back to placed them after the wall have been sheetrock and painted etc.. Not sure why he has to wait for that to be done first.
 
Last edited:
Paul
I have a simple question for you
I need to ground my LEDs drivers it has three wires
Brown
Blue
And green
The power cord the comes in the kits only have 2 prong
Brown and blue

I am trying to find a three prong plugs with same color wires but I can only find
444eafbc.jpg

Which one is what? is it universal ?
I am buying multimeter later on today
Will that tell me which one is which is ground, positive and negative ?
Thanks
 
Thanks I figure it out
It seems like the mean well driver uses euro color wires
Brown is hot
Blue is neutral
Green is ground

The us wire color
Black is hot
White is neutral
Green is ground
 
Great Idea BigDaddyStar to help us out. I appreciate it!

I have a question. I just had my electrician install 2 x 20amp outlets behind the tank. 1 GFCI and one regular. My question is: If I plug all my water pumps into an american DJ power strip and then into a surge protector and then the GFCI receptical, will it all still be GFCI?

I appreciate it. Thanks
 
I need help. I'm going to be attaching some string lights for the patio. They need to be hardwired. I have an outlet that has one outlet controlled by a switch on my gazebo. I wanted to hardwire the string lights into this outlet.

The string lights have 2 wires. Is it simple enough that I just add them to the correct colored wires on the outlet and still be able to use the switch? Or do I have to reconfigure the wires in the switched outlet?
 
GFI Breaker vs GFI Breaker

GFI Breaker vs GFI Breaker

I am installing two 20 amp circuits to my 120 Gallon aquarium. Is there a better fit when it comes to using a GFI break or outlet? Also is it permissible to share a netrual between the two circuits?

Thank you.
 
My system is in the garage. All the garage receptacles are wired through a GFCI receptacle. All work is permitted and inspected. I tried dropping a grounding probe in the tank today and the GFCI tripped. Reset and repeated with same result. According to other postings, other people are using grounding probes with GFCI. Your thoughts?
 
I found my answer on another forum. These facts indicate a problem! Through process of elimination, I found that my skimmer pump had exposed wires right where the cord enters the pump. Once I got rid of that pump, all is well. I guess the GFCI by itself doesn't really do the job.
 
Sounds like he did a good job, and yeah should be just fine. 2 20a circuits dedicated to a tank is a little overkill but when I am running it for someone I always reccomend it since all its costs is more material. Its a better safe than sorry because its twice the price to come back and do it again.

http://img819.imageshack.us/slideshow/webplayer.php?id=imgp8416.jpg

Standing where the Halogen lights are you walk in the room the door being on the left side.

Walk in closet is all the way in the back with the door on the left side as well.


When stading at the door from the room looking at your right corner you will see 8 outlets in total 4 outlets per wall.

This corner will be where my PC desk will be at. 8 outlets is not enough but I have a surge protector as well seperated.

When you walk in the room you will see the tank being against the closet wall in the center of the room.

On the wall the tank will be against on will have 8 outlets in toal 4 outlets in seperation of 4 foot. My stand is 4 foot long so this will work for me fine.

There will also be a ceiling fan with the room light having a dimmer as well.

Standing from the entrance of the room on the left side big wall my TV will be hang on the wall so there is 4 outlets near the ceiling and 2 extra outlets below it.

I don't have an TV yet but planning in getting a 51" LED TV :D

Looks like my room will end up having 2 20A circuit breakers which I am fine with and should be enough for my electronics and tank system!

BTW it is not plugged in the panel yet and I am missing the outlets as well. They guy will be coming back to placed them after the wall have been sheetrock and painted etc.. Not sure why he has to wait for that to be done first.
 
Yes it will, the dj strip will have a fuse built-in to protect overcurrent, the surge protectors true intention is only to prevent against lightning or to much incoming voltage from your utility provider (edison here) the gfci's ONLY purpose is to protect you from being electrocuted. They all serve very different roles and will all work together just fine.

The only thing you can never do is put a GFCI inline with another GFCI unless that is its purpose like say a hair dryer which usually hace a gfci built-in.

Great Idea BigDaddyStar to help us out. I appreciate it!

I have a question. I just had my electrician install 2 x 20amp outlets behind the tank. 1 GFCI and one regular. My question is: If I plug all my water pumps into an american DJ power strip and then into a surge protector and then the GFCI receptical, will it all still be GFCI?

I appreciate it. Thanks
 
ok, first off there is no difference between the breaker or plug GFCI, but there is a pretty decent difference in price. I would say go with the plug unless it will be hard for you to reset behind the tank.

Second part, Yes they can share a neutral like say for instance you are using 12/3 romex (2 hots, 1 neutral, and ground wire) The important part is to make sure it is wired correctly the neutral must be pig-tailed before it hits the plugs and you will only use the LINE side of the GFCI. Stay away from the yellow taped up side that for protecting normal plugs, only use it if you will have multiple plugs on that circuit


I am installing two 20 amp circuits to my 120 Gallon aquarium. Is there a better fit when it comes to using a GFI break or outlet? Also is it permissible to share a netrual between the two circuits?

Thank you.
 
Yup, if you read back on stray voltage on my thread there is a demonstration which everyone should be doing from time to time, pump get old, break, and fray. The GFCI should have caught that though, You may want to check that GFCI with a GFCI tester.

I found my answer on another forum. These facts indicate a problem! Through process of elimination, I found that my skimmer pump had exposed wires right where the cord enters the pump. Once I got rid of that pump, all is well. I guess the GFCI by itself doesn't really do the job.
 
Thank you for the information.

Thank you for the information.

ok, first off there is no difference between the breaker or plug GFCI, but there is a pretty decent difference in price. I would say go with the plug unless it will be hard for you to reset behind the tank.

Second part, Yes they can share a neutral like say for instance you are using 12/3 romex (2 hots, 1 neutral, and ground wire) The important part is to make sure it is wired correctly the neutral must be pig-tailed before it hits the plugs and you will only use the LINE side of the GFCI. Stay away from the yellow taped up side that for protecting normal plugs, only use it if you will have multiple plugs on that circuit

I have run two 12/2 lines to the tank location that will be connected to a sub-panel in the garage. I already have two 20 amp GFI breakers, so I guess that is what I'll use. I didn't even think about how difficult it might be to reset an outlet behind the stand.
 
Yeah, then I would run with it, the gfci breakers have to be installed a very specific way but it sounds like they are properly wired. Each breaker requires its own neutral and the neutral lands into the spot on the breaker then the pre-wired neutral from the breaker goes to the neutral bar in the panel.

Be warned though gfci's often have a nuisance trip on tanks. You might want to use one regular breaker and one gfci. Its a gamble between personal safety and a dead tank from the trip.

I have run two 12/2 lines to the tank location that will be connected to a sub-panel in the garage. I already have two 20 amp GFI breakers, so I guess that is what I'll use. I didn't even think about how difficult it might be to reset an outlet behind the stand.
 
transfer panel

transfer panel

Bigdaddystar,

So I really want to get a generator but I hate the extension cord thing. However the home dumpster transfer switches are junk and make a mess of the panel.


I have a 200 amp main with a 30 amp sub right next to it. Both in my garage. My garage tools were like 8 different outlets so I needed a sub as there is no space left in the main panel.

I also added a 60 amp sub in the basement to handle the deep freezer, electric dryer, the heating system, the kitched refridgerator and my reef... So what better that to just replace that panel with one with a built in transfer as everything there is what I need on the generator.

I was looking at the Reliance XRC0603C X series panel... If I am not mistaken it can just replace my current 10 circuit sub panel am I correct? The literature goes on about:

"The New Reliance Panel/Link X Series is a double-pole manual transfer switch with an exclusive third-pole for the neutral that switches sequentially. The X Series is perfect for use with generators having GFCI protected outlets, bonded neutral generators and installations requiring a separately-derived system."

But I dont know what any of that junk means. Can you comment on if you think this is a good plan?
 
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