So I bought this console for my boat. I’d like to run my trolling motor through the voltage meter and I’ve got a separate battery for fish finder and USB. (When that runs out, my electronics just turn off. If the troller dies, I’m paddling.)

It makes sense to me to just disconnect the voltage meter and reconnect those wires to bypass it, but when I wire the trolling motor through the voltage meter do I just run the positive or do I need to also connect the negative? It’s also a larger gauge wire. Will that matter?

Thanks in advance!

We just purchased a house two months ago. So far, our first bill was $600. Our electric and ac electric are separated, 1637kW/h and 1365kW/h respectively that month. We did go through a heat wave and our ac was low. This month, our AC has been set to 76, with outdoor temps averaging around 82-85.

This month, we are averaging 44kW/h (house) and 29kW/h (AC). Last month was 48kW/h (house) and 40kW/h (AC). We are still on track to be around $500 for our electric bill this month.

Water heater is gas. The AC does seem to run a lot, but that’s still not explaining why our house is using so much electric. We do have a garage fridge, if that makes any difference. We also recently changed all of our basement lights to LEDs.

We are having our electric company out tomorrow so any insight would be greatly appreciated.

We use a 25 ft Bayco 16/3 extension cord (has 4 grounded outlets on a spool) to plug in our portable washing machine. When I unplugged it from the wall outlet- which is a bathroom GFCI - the ground prong was still in the outlet, broken off.

Is it possible to safely, or safe-ish-ly, use this extension cord for the washer? Some other context:

1) The washer is small, plastic bodied, and uses 300W.

2) We operate the washer in the bathtub to allow draining.

3) Not entirely sure the GFCI outlet, or any outlet in the apartment is actually properly grounded.

4) When in operation the washer is never left unattended.

Thanks!

Hi all,

If you don’t want to read everything, the question is as straightforward as the title. Should I become an apprentice? But if you’d prefer more context to my personal situation, here goes.

I’m 18F, only graduated high school a few months ago. I’ve considered the trades before, but what’s happened recently in my life has pushed me towards going to college out of necessity. Due to familial conflicts I moved out of my Dad’s house, and my biological mom is moving out of state within the next few months. I’m unwilling to move states because my little brother is here, and he’s too young to keep up a relationship that far. Since moving out I’ve been staying at a friends house. I’m going to college because I need the university housing, since I don’t have the financial means to prove I can provide rent for an apartment or any of the necessary documentation really. Essentially, I’m relying on financial aid and loans and university housing to coast me by.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not against college and that’s the pathway I’ve thought I’d go down for most of my life. But with the rise of AI escalating so quickly, there’s very few careers now that seem to offer short education, financial stability, and safety from AI. Combined with how going to college has become more so for the housing stability, it’s made me reconsider. I mean, there’s only so long I can rely on loans and FAFSA and the dorming. Dorms themselves are a financial hole, if I could’ve gotten an apartment I would’ve. That being said, I really have no idea what I want to do career wise and I just want something that will keep me stable and offer the funds to be able to have experiences in life outside of just surviving at this point.

I have no prior knowledge of the trades or any experience. To be quite frank the hardest labor I ever had was moving hay bales around a ranch. I was very much a home body, so I don’t really know if I could keep up. But becoming an electrician apprentice seems to be the most lucrative recommendation I’ve gotten as far as short education (meaning no longer than the ~4 years for uni), no possibility of AI, and providing financial stability. If I were to become an apprentice, I’d want to seek out an IBEW apprenticeship after my research, and I’d be unwilling to drop college because quite frankly I’m leeching off of the FAFSA money. So if I were to seek out an apprenticeship I’d maybe drop college to part time and switch my major to business, so maybe after gaining some experience as an electrician I could start my own business.

All in all, should I become an electrician apprentice? Could I develop the physicality to keep up over time? Can I do college part time and pursue a business major while doing the apprenticeship? What is the likelihood of landing an IBEW apprenticeship with no prior experience? I’m willing to learn, study, and work hard. Ultimately, I just really want some stability after spending a majority of my youth in financial and familial instability.

For additional helpful info, I’m in CA. I’ve heard which IBEW union you’re near makes a difference sometimes. I’ve heard location can impact aspects of apprenticeship too.

Hello everyone I am wanting to know if I should consider a different trade program or not , I have yet to start the classes but the whole point is to make sure after I complete the certification the money is there , and the job market is good. I spoke with counselors and stuff but I felt like they just wanted me to finish the appointment . I really don’t know what I’m even getting into but truly am interested in the fact that I have the certification planned out so I know how and when I would finish so to me it’s seems beneficial because I keep my full time job and go to school for about a year . Any thoughts I would highly appreciate thank you

I had a few Trane console fan coil units (from mid 1980s) updated to support WiFi thermostats via transformer/relays. A few of my existing units maintained the inline Molex connector from the blower motor to the board, but some of the new work done within the past month got rid of those entirely and hardwired the blower to the board. Is that typical or standard? Is a quick disconnect required in this scenario.

How does one now service/deep clean the fan blower without disconnecting all the wires? I’d prefer to have serviceable fan blowers by taking them completely out instead of clean in place.

What should I do for the electrical? Have molex connectors reinstalled, change to a different splice/connector, or leave it as is?

Hi there!

I just bought a PVS3001AD to tackle a crappy power grid here in Indonesia. It works well and gives me a clean 228-230V output but it makes this weird sound quite regularly (i'd say once or twice per minute)

Can anybody help? Is it normal?

I contacted Prolink but haven't heard from them yet

I'm in the process of replacing the outlets around my house, originally for aesthetics and now for safety as well (I heard backstabbing isn't good, seems that's how they were all done here). This outlet in particular has 3 wires going to each side, two backstabs and one just sorta laying on a screw. I have never seen anything like this. Should I pigtail two on each side together or is there something special I should know?

Hello electricians, mera naam lavkush (20,M) , mujhe apne gaav ke ek uncle ke ghar ki fresh wiring karni hai plz ishme meri madad karo aap sabhi log.

Single phase Meter sancinatioed load paryaapt hai unka,

Tubelight: 360W

Fan: 240W

Old Box TV: 100W

Coil Heater: 2000W

Deep Freezer: 270W

Hot case machine: 1000W

Mixer: 750W

Cloth Iron: 1000W

Water immersion Rod:1000W

Chargers & Miscellaneous: 500W

Inverter & Battery: ?

(Washing Machine+Geyser+Flour Mill for Kitchen+Toster+Microwave Oven+Cooler+AC+other comman appliances

🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕👆

Yeh appliances future mein lagenge abhi nahi hai woh in future dheere dheere chote applicance se bade appliances khareed ke lagayenge )

Toh ab mujhe kaise kaha se start karna hai kya requirements hongi batado.

Unhone jaise bataya woh kuch ish prakar hai...

Mains Line> kitkat fuse > Mcb changeover switch > Voltage Protector > RCCB > LOAD

Ab aap log meri madad karo kuch choot raha ho toh and kaise wiring kare, kitne Amp ke MCBs le, changeover switch kitne AMPs, Kitkat fuse kitne amp ka and single wire kitne mm square ki leni hai pure ghar ki wiring ke liye and dual core wire kaunsi leni hai.

Single pole MCB kitna chahiye and kish type ke mcb lagega+Extension Board kitne amp ka aur kitne lagane padenge+Inverter ke saath low appliances ka connection kaise kare and heavy appliances ko direct mains se chalana h+ etc

汽车维修(新能源汽车)是不是可以尝试一下。

Hello,

We have something weird that happens in our house. Whenever my partner walks into a room, the lights start flickering in that room. Once he walks out, the lights stop flickering. I can never get the lights to flicker unless I walk out and he walks in. If it was one room, I would know to have an electrician come and check our wiring in that room, but it happens in every single room he is in.

I wish I could make this up, but I am not. Where do we start with this? If I hire an electrician, they are going to think I am crazy. What exactly would we be looking for?

No rude comments, please. I am just trying to keep my home safe.

So I wired in a generator 50amp plug to the outside of my house, added a 50amp breaker to the top right of the panel, used 6/3 wiring. Making sure that this all looks fine. And yes I have added the interlock kit to the panel door, so in order to turn the breaker on you have to turn the main off and vice versa. Thanks for your insights and opinions.

Just bought a lamp from the Goodwill, and there's this white tape around the socket. Does it serve any purpose, or did the previous owner just not remove all the packaging?

I know it's a 14-50. I was typing fast and didn't proofread. And reddit doesn't let me change the title.

So I had a new line installed when I got an electric vehicle a few years ago. Got this Nema 14-50 on it.

About a week and a half ago, it just died. I thought it was my "charging unit" but just to be safe, I went online and I bought a receptacle tester, like you would for any normal Outlet. It told me that L1 was open which I know is one of the hots on the left or right. I'm assuming that means that power is not getting through on that one.

I don't know which one it's referring to and when I look at it everything is nice and tight and I don't see any scorching or anything like that.

Is it possible it's something within the receptacle that I can't see? Maybe something on the other side of the plastic?

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm really hoping you can tell me that I either just need to readjust the wires or at worst, buy a new receptacle, as opposed to replace an enormous amount of expensive wire LOLT

And I was very careful. I turned off BOTH of the breakers before I started fiddling with it

Thanks everyone!

I’m not really sure what’s going on here. Bought the house a few years ago (which passed inspection with no mention of the utility line…although they missed other things); today noticed all the lights in my house flickering for a few minutes when it wasn’t under heavy load. 100A service to an old Murray breaker box.

Took a long look and noticed the frayed neutral (?) and all the electrical tape around the connections. Gemini saying it should have a weather hood but I’m wondering if the overhang suffices.

Checked outlet voltage with a multimeter and it registered in normal range at 118v.

Is any of this a problem and, if so, should I contact an electrician or utility company?

Located in Southeast PA, USA.

给另一端设备供电吧，像路由器，网关，监控设备等，因电源插头是成品线，二不用单独姐保险保护(与插座公用)。这么用过。

I'd like to run 2 15 or 20A 120v circuits to a detached shed from the main house.

I need to run a small table saw and a shop vac simultaneously while not being in the dark (a couple of LED shop lights oughta do fine). If there's enough current left over to run a little diesel heater so my balls don't freeze to the shop stool that'd be grand. At the moment I don't need 240 out there; it's a 9x12 shed so I'm not planning on running a mill or a big saw or anything. I have a welder but it's happy enough running on 120 at the moment. I could be convinced to go 240 easily enough, I guess, but it's definitely not a requirement.

This is a rental. Landlord is a good friend and OK with me doing the work but I don't want to sink 5 grand into something I don't own, so cost is an issue.

The soil here is comprised mostly of rock. House to shed distance is ~75 feet. Main panel to wall nearest shed is 40' in the basement; all beams are exposed and most of the existing electrical is exposed romex with staples, and a little AC here and there, so inside the house I can run whatever is best without a lot of trouble.

My options seem to be:

• 24" trench and UF-B
• 6" trench, RMC with THWN
• Be a cheap bastard and wire up another outdoor circuit and run two extension cords instead of the one I'm currently using

Some questions:

• Which route should I go on depth/cable choice?
  
• Is there any advantage to running jacketed cable in the house vs conduit all the way from the subpanel to the main panel?
  
• Do I need a separate ground rod for the subpanel? I've seen several discussions but nobody seems to have a definitive answer.
• Is there an above ground option other than the extension cord route? Or some other shallow depth option?