Am I Using The Correct Size Mcb?

Is there anything that actually stops me from wiring a 2.8kW oven in 2.5mm twin and earth? Done the cable sizing calculation and voltage drop and it's all legit, am I missing something though? I know a few people have said it better to wire it in 4mm/6mm incase a differemt cooker etc is ever put in, but is it dangerous for it to be wired in 2.5 for example could the cable overheat?
      

Hello All,

Hopefully I am posting this in the correct forum!

I am new to the forum and I have a question I would like to pose.

I am trying to make an extension cable for my telescope hand control.

I have had good results with the 25' length  but it is to short . So I made another one 50' in length but it give me connection error codes. The cable is correct as it worked for a while .I am using an rj12 6pin connector with cat5 cable(24awg). The power supply is 12V DC with 2.5 amps running on house AC.

The question is: If I put a different power supply on that is 12v DC using 5.0 amps will the increase in amperage effect the DC current flow?



Thanks,

Don
      

Hello again Gurus,



Will a double pole 15A 277v light switch work as a shut off for my air handler? I had to run all the electrical prior to them installing the central air and I wired a double pole switch from my 15A double pole breaker. I ran to the line/load ie black/white to the bottom posts on the switch. Thinking they can just run black/white from the air handler to the top. When the switch is UP> Live power to air handler. If it it's down (OFF), it means they can service the unit. Is my thinking correct on this? I couldn't find any other switches.



Thank You



~S
      

I'm trying to fix a problem with a track light installment over the a bar I've just put in. I've done it before. never had issues. but this particular problem is driving me nuts. It just defies logic.  The electrician who actually installed the associated dimmer switches with this dining room area was called as it seems it may be a flaw with his wiring, but he's blown us off and I have to try and solve this myself.



This is how it's all set up. I've been rehabbing our home from top to bottom, and converted our old kitchen into a dining area. Within this dining area are four sets of lights, all controlled from one box containing four dimmer switches. I set up all the new wiring and installation of the lights in the ceiling, and we paid an electrician to come in, check everything out, set up the multiple switches, and connect it all to the board. It's all new copper wiring from beginning to end, as I didn't want to connect or splice in to the old aluminum wiring that was in place. All the new wiring and lights are on a dedicated 15 amp breaker. Three of the sets of lights were set up to be available from the day the electrician came around. The fourth, for the track light over the bar, was left hanging from the ceiling capped off and with the switch off, as I still had work to do installing an overhead wine rack, under which the track was going to be set.



Two days ago I finally got around to putting the track up, but after setting it in place and connecting the power up the lights wouldn't work. I took the lights out to our kitchen, where I installed another track light system some time ago, plugged one of the lights in, and it worked just fine. I then went back to the bar area and used a spare track, then a spare connector, to see if I could isolate the fault, yet neither of the items provided a solution. Now here's the weird bit - every time I tried checking the system out, I'd get 120 volts showing from the wiring and from the track when I'd test with the multimeter. But the second I'd put a light into the track, the multimeter would drop to zero on the voltage reading on either the wiring or the track. Take the light fixture back out, and the voltage would pop back up. Inserting the light was thus completing some kind of odd loop. It wasn't just one light - I double checked by grabbing working lights from the kitchen track and inserting them into the other track - the same problem would pop up. Finally, having come to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with the track at all, I took the whole assembly over to a nearby wall outlet, used some spare electric cable to connect up to the appropriate slots - presto, the light came on! I even double checked all this by grabbing another light fixture destined for our bathroom, and tried connecting it to the wiring over the bar. Nothing. Yet as with the track light, the minute I took it over to the wall outlet and connected it, the light worked.



So everything logically points to the fact it has to be something to do with this individual circuit, right, because a) the light fixtures work when plugged into another circuit and b) the other three dimmers and lights hooked up in the same box work fine and draw power from the same wire cable/breaker combination. The only things left that I can think of is that the electrician has either wired the dimmer switch up incorrectly or that there's some kind of flaw inside the switch itself. Does this make sense?



A friend also told me to double-check to make sure that the black wire feeding power to the light was indeed the hot wire, and it is.  If I touch it with the black test lead from the multimeter and put the red one to the neutral I show 120 volts. If I keep the black test lead on the black wire and put the red test lead to the ground - I also show 120 volts.



A final point. I know I'm not overloading the circuit - not even close. With all four dimmers maxed and every light on - including the test light on the track - I'd only be drawing 8 amps on a 15 amp breaker, besides which I'm only using one set of lights while I'm working on this problem anyway. This is a dedicated circuit, so there's no additional power being drawn away by something else.



So how am I getting 120 volts from this wiring, according to my multimeter, yet it won't light up ANYTHING and keeps giving off the indication that some kind of loop or short is being created every time I actually plug a light into the track? It's got me totally stumped.



Anyone have any ideas?
      

wanted to get feeback on my crude wiring diagram i put together for my small bathroom remodel. does it appear to be sound or am i way off base??



details:



* 20A dedicated circuit

* 12/2 wiring

* outlet's will be GFCI

* double gang box will contain:

* timer unit for exhaust fan

* double switch for heat lamp and lights

* Ground wiring is not shown but each fixture/outlet/switch will be connected to ground wire

* by calculations, the 34cu box is fine for the number of conductors/size of wiring. per box specs could handle 15/12g wires.

* the scanner cut off the bottom part of the picture, the 2 lights on the right are fed from the same switch, neutral's connected together.



F = Exhaust Fan

L = Light

HL = Heat Lamp

T = Timer switch

S = Switch

H = Hot

N = Neutral

Wire Nuts are in the box connecting the pigtails



Thank you for your input.
      

Greetings all.



This is my first post here, I hope it goes well.



My name is Joe and I have searched Google. and this forum for my answer but have not been able to find a definitive answer to my question.  I have seen many replies talking about getting a tone generator or a line tracer but my experience is that tone generators are for Data and phone cables rather than electrical cables and the line tracers I've found online all seem to be about tracing the line back to the breaker panel so without knowing more I'm hesitant to purchase a line tracer in case it cannot do what I want.

My dilemma is very likely very simple to anyone with electrical experience so I hope it's not too trivial for this crowd.

I have recently purchased a house that is over 120 years old and have a motion sensor light on the porch that is supposedly connected to a switch inside but does not turn on.  I've opened the wall plate and used a voltage indicating pen to see where the electricity is.  In this case there are two light switches, one that has lines that have been spliced and another that supposedly leads to the porch light according to a long time tenant in that unit.  It all looks like a bit of a mess and the connections don't make sense.  In this scenario the black cables have the electricity and the white cables complete the circuit.  The switch to the porch light has a black cable coming from the top of the box going to the switch and a white cable connected to the other screw that comes from splitting the white cable from the other switch.  What I would like to do is know which cables in that wall box correspond to the cables to the porch light.  Can anyone give me an idea what I should do?

Do I need something like the Amprobe advanced wire tracer (http://www.professionalequipment.com...0/wire-tracer/) and can it do what I need, or is there something simpler I can do?

All help is appreciated.

Thanks



Joe
      

Is it o.k. to use 12/2 to make a pigtail off 14/2 wiring. Have hot feed coming in to switch that feeds ceiling fan/light (14/2). It is also hot feed for receptacles. I am replacing manufactured home style switch and installing normal switch and remodel box into wall. I just don't have any spare 14/2 laying around bit do have some 12/2. I was pretty sure can go up in wire size especially just for pigtails but wanted be 100% certain.



           Mike
      

I am installing 200 amp residential service.  From the meter socket I am doing a very short run into the crawlspace to a 200 amp fused disconnect switch. From the disconnect switch I am doing a 60 foot run to the 200 amp panel. The run between the disconnect and the panel is all within the crawlspace interior ( heated ). Do I have to use ACWU cable or is there a cheaper alternative? I also need to isolate the bonding so is 4 wire configuration very common ?   This is a Canadian question specific to British Columbia codes.
      

I have a small 19 gallon water heater in a small garage space, that was installed by some questionable handymen a few months back.  I just had the plumbing and septic finished so tested the hot water, only to find the element was already burned out.



I noticed however, that this 120v unit is wired via 10 gauge wire to a 30 amp double breaker.  This is questionable because I thought a 120v appliance would be wired to a single pole on the hot wire and run neutral to the neural panel area.



My question is, can I run the hot wire out of one side of the double breaker without safety issues, or should I definitely replace it with a single pole breaker?



I would normally not question the work, but everything these guys did already had to be adjusted, so I'm only naturally assuming this may need to be also.



If its safe, I would like to simply things and just connect the one hot and leave an open space in the other half of the double pole... Is this possible?



Thanks for your advice-
      

I have an outdoor light fixture that I am trying to replace.  The house was built ten years ago.



When I removed the original lamp, I noticed one of the two leads was wired to the ground, and one was wired to the black wire, which is hot per my current sensor.  There are three wires in the box - black, ground (bare copper), and white or neutral, all from a single romex cable.  Unfortunately, I do not recall where the white was when I removed the original. 



I wired the new lamp per the instructions, something I have done many times before - black to black, white to white, and bare copper ground to ground.  Nothing.  The lamp and bulbs are brand new, and I have tried four separate bulbs.  I checked the black and neutral with my current sensor and with the switch on and the lamp installed this way, both show as hot. With the lamp not installed, the switch on, and the wires disconnected only the black shows as hot.  The switch is single pole, and appears to be wired correctly with a black to each screw on one side and a copper ground on the other.



Assuming the new fixture was bad, I reinstalled the old fixture correctly -  black to black, white to white, and bare copper ground to ground.  Still nothing. No light, and I confirmed the bulb is good by putting it in another lamp.   The only way to get it to light is to connect the neutral in the lamp to the bare copper ground.



I capped the wires, turned the circuit back on, and identified all the outlets, switches and fixtures on the same circuit.  I opened every one of them up (four lights and eight outlets) and found three (one switch and two fixtures in another room) where multiple commons connect.  All were properly connected.  My outlet tester shows all outlets as "correct".  I found no instances of grounds connected to commons or vice-versa.



Any ideas?  Is it proper to wire this thing the way I found it?



Thanks for any and all advice!