Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Around The House). This thread is read-only.
Here’s what I’ve been doing today. I’ve researched how to do these and figured I’d give them a try. Let me know if you see anything wrong with it, I know I mixed 12 gauge and 14 gauge wire, but I worked with what I had. I started looking at how to do these because in a few weeks we will start doing this in school, once we finish roofing.[External image (images.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied][External image (images.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied][External image (images.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied][External image (images.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied][External image (images.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied][External image (images.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied]
1. Switch
2. Two outlets in series
3. Light with switch
4. Half hot duplex
5. 3-way switch setup with 2 switches total
6. Soon-to-be 4-way switch with 4 switches total
Looks good, you just need to use yellow wire nuts instead of red. In the real world you need as much space in the box as possible
Yeah, I had yellow, but with the 14-12 gauge mix they were tight so I used the red, I don’t need red for anything else so I just used them
acm0719 wrote:
Yeah, I had yellow, but with the 14-12 gauge mix they were tight so I used the red, I don’t need red for anything else so I just used them
I’m not an electrician, however from the start of our house rebuild room by room I have been installing all new electrical ( done by my brother, certified electrician) he says never skimp don’t use what you have make sure you have the proper stuff not worth make shifting/jerry riggin….
Looks like you got the right idea. How old are you? what type of school are you in?
it is hard to follow some of the wires in the photos, but looks like they are all correct.
the 2nd photo- the outlets are wired Parallel ( i recommend this way) Series would mean you use 2 screws instead of a wire nut.
only change i would recommend is use a 3 wire for the switch leg. This way you do not have to code the white black. abandon the white, you may need it in the future for an occupancy sensor.
on the 1/2 switch hot duplex did you break away the tab?
a couple pointer-
work on stripping the perfect amount of wire. be sure to never have any insulation under the screws. (yours look perfect in the photo)
make sure the wire goes on the right direction (yours are correct) i cant tell you how often i see people put the wire the opposite way the screw turns.
use quality wire nuts. ( i only buy the 3m with the rubber skirt)
be careful going from 12g to 14g as you can damage the wire if you clamp down with strippers set to 14 on a 12 wire.
yeah, I’ve been on a few jobs with friends, and he made sure everything was correct. I only used what I had to get an understanding on how to do these circuits. I knew exactly how to wire a switch/outlet, but not a 3/4-way or half hot outlet. Just wanted to try my hand at these circuits and get a little feedback from some people who know more than I do. These circuits will never receive power, I was just trying to learn something new.comp56 wrote:
I’m not an electrician, however from the start of our house rebuild room by room I have been installing all new electrical ( done by my brother, certified electrician) he says never skimp don’t use what you have make sure you have the proper stuff not worth make shifting/jerry riggin….
gotcha a mock of the wiring………awesome……good job!
I’m 16, I go to a local vocational tech school for general building construction. We build a 25×50 house and it goes to a veteran from the wounded warrior foundation. I just marked the wires because that’s all I had. I broke the tab on the hot side (brass) and left the tab on the neutral (silver). I like to put the wire in a clockwise bend so when you tighten the screw, it pulls the wire in, not pushes it out. As for wire nuts, they’re probably as old as me, lol, figured I’d use them for this instead of throw them away. I will try and remember to take some pics of the house tommorow and maybe post a pic of my tools so farPaulE wrote:
Looks like you got the right idea. How old are you? what type of school are you in?
it is hard to follow some of the wires in the photos, but looks like they are all correct.
the 2nd photo- the outlets are wired Parallel ( i recommend this way) Series would mean you use 2 screws instead of a wire nut.
only change i would recommend is use a 3 wire for the switch leg. This way you do not have to code the white black. abandon the white, you may need it in the future for an occupancy sensor.
on the 1/2 switch hot duplex did you break away the tab?
a couple pointer-
work on stripping the perfect amount of wire. be sure to never have any insulation under the screws. (yours look perfect in the photo)
make sure the wire goes on the right direction (yours are correct) i cant tell you how often i see people put the wire the opposite way the screw turns.
use quality wire nuts. ( i only buy the 3m with the rubber skirt)
be careful going from 12g to 14g as you can damage the wire if you clamp down with strippers set to 14 on a 12 wire.
thank you, was wondering how to wire a three way and found an awesome video how to, will try to post it later, once I understood how the switches work, it makes a lot of sensecomp56 wrote:
gotcha a mock of the wiring………awesome……good job!
Awesome seeing younger guys learning the trades. Stick with it. Even if it does not end up being a career for you, the things you learn to do with your hands will be very beneficial to you.
Nice little bag of tools you got there, like everyone mentioned above good work on your wiring, practice makes perfect. Good to see some of the younger generation take something upon themselves actually useful other than playing video games or whatever, not that there’s anything wrong with that but good to see someone your age trying to learn a skill.
Jimbo
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yeah, I knew I wanted to learn to do electrical work, but the school didn’t have just a course for it, so it was between hvac and building construction. Hvac does a lot more complicated work,(i.e., three ways, four ways, 2 phase,etc.) but building construction has a hands on job site setting, and I get to learn framing, roofing plumbing drywall and other things along with electrical. I also work sometimes with a family friend who learned to do electrical work in Vietnam ( I believe) and he’s been doing it since. He’s taken me to jobs where we ran wire thru a whole house, going back to trim sometime soon, and I’ve helped him at his house wire a light pole with multiple circuits (light switches, outlets, switched outlets) all in one pole, and a few outlets on a porch. He’s taught me a lot and I’ve learned a lot on my own. I still don’t know everything, but I’m willing to learn new things and methods. Any help from anybody is tremendously appreciated. Thank you!Poisonfangs85 wrote:
Awesome seeing younger guys learning the trades. Stick with it. Even if it does not end up being a career for you, the things you learn to do with your hands will be very beneficial to you.
yeah, that’s just my bag of electrical tools. Lol, someday I’ll take a pic of all my tools, I have sunk probably more than a grand just this year in most of them. Did a lot of work over the summer and bought them all myself, so nobody can tell me what to do with them. If anybody has suggestions on tools that I could add to my collection, please let me know, thank ypujimboslice wrote:
Nice little bag of tools you got there, like everyone mentioned above good work on your wiring, practice makes perfect. Good to see some of the younger generation take something upon themselves actually useful other than playing video games or whatever, not that there’s anything wrong with that but good to see someone your age trying to learn a skill.
Jimbo
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acm0719 wrote:
yeah, that’s just my bag of electrical tools. Lol, someday I’ll take a pic of all my tools, I have sunk probably more than a grand just this year in most of them. Did a lot of work over the summer and bought them all myself, so nobody can tell me what to do with them. If anybody has suggestions on tools that I could add to my collection, please let me know, thank ypu
Your in the right place my friend, keep an eye under the tool deals section lots of posts on some good deals on tools.
Jimbo
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Here’s the link to how to wire a three-way and how it works(watch this first)- http://youtu.be/4HJPjvGFbsw
Here’s the link to hoe to wire a four-way and how it works- http://youtu.be/YGA6YLZPqio
thank you, and I try to keep my eye out for good deals, like my Klein line mans, blue strippers, and the larger multi bit, got them for $42 on Home Depot website. A pair of the same linesman run you $32, and the stripper and scewdriver are $25 each, that is $62 separate.jimboslice wrote:
Your in the right place my friend, keep an eye under the tool deals section lots of posts on some good deals on tools.
Jimbo
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Amazon Deals Permathread
Bmack does a good job of posting some good knipex scores, there’s a good link to a search for Amazon warehouse deals too. I do a decent amount of eBay shopping, there’s some good stuff on there just know what your buying. If you don’t have one for electrical make sure you get a good multimeter and a non contact voltage detector, those are very valuable, trade electricians on here will tell you flukes, they run a large chunk of change but are worth it.
Jimbo
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I do have an el cheapo twenty dollar multimeter I rarely use, but I want to get the flir nvct on Amazon for $30 and some change, but I don’t know if I need one yet, going into winter.
I checked some of the links out but nothing really caught my eye, I’ll keep checking back though. Thank you!jimboslice wrote:
Amazon Deals Permathread
Bmack does a good job of posting some good knipex scores, there’s a good link to a search for Amazon warehouse deals too. I do a decent amount of eBay shopping, there’s some good stuff on there just know what your buying. If you don’t have one for electrical make sure you get a good multimeter and a non contact voltage detector, those are very valuable, trade electricians on here will tell you flukes, they run a large chunk of change but are worth it.
Jimbo
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For mock-ups they’re almost all correct 🙂
The one thing I saw that would be a violation is the white relabeled and used as the return from the switch. Any time you repurpose a white as a hot, it has to be used as a feed – IOW, it has to be hot all the time. In some cases you can’t use a two wire as a switch loop anymore, so it wouldn’t be an issue anyway, but it’s important to remember (new code requirements may dictate this so there’s a neutral at the box for occupancy sensors – check the code for details). This also applies to three-way circuits. If you’re allowed to use three wire instead of four wire you need to use the white in the three wire to feed the three ways. This usually means that your feed gets applied at the far end of the three way circuit and the load gets connected at the near end.
acm0719 wrote:
I do have an el cheapo twenty dollar multimeter I rarely use, but I want to get the flir nvct on Amazon for $30 and some change, but I don’t know if I need one yet, going into winter.
Don’t get the Flir. Get a Fluke. The Flir will beep from miles away, making it impossible to tell which wire is hot. I’ve tried a bunch of different NCVTs and the Fluke is the only one I’ve found that performs properly.
I’m gonna switch that out to a 12-3 in a bit, ill post picsPetros wrote:
For mock-ups they’re almost all correct 🙂
The one thing I saw that would be a violation is the white relabeled and used as the return from the switch. Any time you repurpose a white as a hot, it has to be used as a feed – IOW, it has to be hot all the time. In some cases you can’t use a two wire as a switch loop anymore, so it wouldn’t be an issue anyway, but it’s important to remember (new code requirements may dictate this so there’s a neutral at the box for occupancy sensors – check the code for details). This also applies to three-way circuits. If you’re allowed to use three wire instead of four wire you need to use the white in the three wire to feed the three ways. This usually means that your feed gets applied at the far end of the three way circuit and the load gets connected at the near end.
which do you recommend? I’ll check the, out.Petros wrote:
Don’t get the Flir. Get a Fluke. The Flir will beep from miles away, making it impossible to tell which wire is hot. I’ve tried a bunch of different NCVTs and the Fluke is the only one I’ve found that performs properly.
Here’s the updated version of number 4 [External image (images.tapatalk-cdn.com), not copied]
acm0719 wrote:
which do you recommend? I’ll check the, out.
This is the one I’ve been using for the last 7-8 years.
http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-1AC-A1-II-VoltAlert-Non-Contact-Voltage/dp/B000EJ332O
It’s ok to use 3-wire for your switches, but it’s even better when you know when you need to and when you can get away with 2-wire 🙂 Either way, remember that repurposed whites can only be used to feed.
ok, thanks for the pointers, any othe circuits you would suggest mocking up?Petros wrote:
This is the one I’ve been using for the last 7-8 years.
http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-1AC-A1-II-VoltAlert-Non-Contact-Voltage/dp/B000EJ332O
It’s ok to use 3-wire for your switches, but it’s even better when you know when you need to and when you can get away with 2-wire 🙂 Either way, remember that repurposed whites can only be used to feed.
Any electrical meter buy a Fluke. If you’re on a budget, buy a used Fluke(try pawn shops). I’ve tried other meters, they work but none compare well to a Fluke. It’s worth the small investment and it will last and be accurate for as long as it is treated in the way it was intended, even with the occasional drop. If you look at how long you will use it and figure out how much it costs per day to use, they’re dirt cheap.
ok, I’ll have to look around thank you!BMack37 wrote:
Any electrical meter buy a Fluke. If you’re on a budget, buy a used Fluke(try pawn shops). I’ve tried other meters, they work but none compare well to a Fluke. It’s worth the small investment and it will last and be accurate for as long as it is treated in the way it was intended, even with the occasional drop. If you look at how long you will use it and figure out how much it costs per day to use, they’re dirt cheap.
Nice work ACM, keep it up.. When you get a chance check out the Electrical Books written by Carol Fey, P.I.G Press…. She is a very well respected Instructor in the business.
ok, I’ll check them out. Any suggestions for other circuits? Thank you!MikeyB wrote:
Nice work ACM, keep it up.. When you get a chance check out the Electrical Books written by Carol Fey, P.I.G Press…. She is a very well respected Instructor in the business.
Low Voltage circuits are pretty cool. Always remember. You need the following— Power Supply, Switch, Load, for a circuit.
Look into Carols books and she explains all of this in great detail and very easy to understand. They are very inexpensive books. You won’t find books like hers in any Trade school…
ok, I’ll see what I can findMikeyB wrote:
Low Voltage circuits are pretty cool. Always remember. You need the following— Power Supply, Switch, Load, for a circuit.
Look into Carols books and she explains all of this in great detail and very easy to understand. They are very inexpensive books. You won’t find books like hers in any Trade school…
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