Im no electician but i need one any thoughts?

[ItsGrowTime]

For shits and giggles in case anyone wants to see one....
My 30amp dryer plug panel installed and running. The standard 120v timer controls the box thru the trigger cable but the current obviously doesnt run through the timer itself.

 

[cocktail frank]

one problem with that pic mapleboy that you can run into.
if the dryer plug only has 2 hots and a ground, that ground shouldn't be used as a neutral in a 120v setup.
thats a big no no.
if you happen to have 2 hots, 1 neutral and 1 ground in the dryer plug (4 wire setup)
than it wont be a problem.
a neutral is an insulated wire that carries imbalance thru uneven phase loads or linear loads.
a ballast is technically a linear load.
now, if you are unlucky enough to get caught up on that wire with the imbalance, you WILL get knocked on your ass.
that will be a shock that you won't forget for the rest of your life.
basically, you will be using your ground as a nuetral and counting on the metal housing of your ballast as a ground.
if any short happens in the ballast, that short will now ENERGIZE the housing of the ballast.
which means when you grab that ballast and find a way to ground yourself out via any cu pipe or steel in your house, you will now light up like a christmas tree.
you will basically become a conductor, just like the wire feeding your electricity.
a little fyi, grounding is a huge part of the nec.
every piece of metal or pipe in your house must be bonded thru your panel to the utility/ earth.
years ago these things were not thought to be important, in the beginning of elect times when people were still learning electric.
ask any oldtimer (like soilman ) about horror stories of pipework being "hot" due to poor grounding, and some schmuck leans on something thats conductive. 90% of the time, that poor fella never got home that night after work or ever again.
i cannot preach enough the importance of things being done the right way.
it's your safety that is at risk and anybody else that might be around bad wiring.
now i know that this will work for you, it will work super smooth until something happens that shouldn't.
then and only then, will shit hit the fan.

mapleboy, i am in no way trying to call you out or disrespect you in any way shape or form.
i'm just stating the facts, for this is what pays my mortgage

 

[Guest]

Good info,to simplify the hot/hots and neutral wires are considered to be current carrying conductors,the ground wire is considered a non-current carrying conductor.Only in fault situations will the ground ever be energized.Although the ground and neutral are spliced at the service entrance,they have totally different functions.The ground and neutral although spliced in the main panel or service entrance should never be spliced or bonded together in any subpanel,they must be kept seperate.

 

[cocktail frank]

they are officially seperate after the first means of disconnect on a service.

 

[mapleboy]

Interesting...did NOT know this....have been runing this for about 4 years... DUE to an older house w/ NO plugins in the area this seemed the ticket as my 2 400's and accessories of ONE plug was a bit taxing... have been running a 1K off this and accessories off of the regular wall plug. Havent had an issue as of yet... keep my fingers crossed!! Received form someone in the profession... I have to take it as GOOD info. Many thanks for the reply.
MB

 

[cocktail frank]

as long as you walk away learning something, i did my job.

 

[Guest]

Now thats some good to the point plain english cocktail frank,service entrance smentrence..

 

[mapleboy]

Many thanks and K sent... FORTUNATELY I'm pretty electricity resistant.. as was my grandfather... can grab a 110 line... look at the guy next to me and say YEP.. its hot... had a guy called BS on me... SOOO.. held onto the 110.. then shook his hand.. kind of a FUNKY look in his eyes lol The only time I've really had a HARD jolt was one time I slid down a wet shake roof at my former business to see why the neon letters werent working... wet do to a cloudburst... kinda slick so I grab'd onto WHAT I thought was a tie/down wire.. THINK the guy said it was like 1440 volts??? Now THAT DID put a serious hurt on the end of the old... "you know".. Was a "tad" wobbly getting off the roof...lol
MB

 

[Guest]

Yea,you sound fried alright lol

 

[Guest]

To be clear you can use a three wire dryer plug circuit to run HID loads at 240V,a neutral is not needed.If you want 120V circuits you are out of luck.mb are you running your lights at 120V using the dryer circuit?Nothing wrong with that if you changed it in the panel.Now i've done went and confused myself.What were we talking about?

 

[mapleboy]

I'm running it at 120v off the dryer circuit...NOT changed in the panel. It's "working" but obviously NOT the best way to do it. Have also used the 2nd plug outside for misc other things... welder, grinder etc w/no ill effects. hmmmmmmm...
mb

 

[cocktail frank]

those neon transformers do hurt like a mother fecker boy.
cut a hot lead once and happened to ground out. i didnt know it was still on.
it was a rookie mistake.
never did that one twice.
my hand hurts even just thinking about it.
thats one of those "good ones", hit so hard you're scared to work for a few days after.

 

[mapleboy]

YEA... puts a tingle and hurt where it SHOULDNT hurt... The wet wood/shake roof didnt help much SOOOO... what type of "issues" could I encounter w/the way this is set up?? feedback..shorting..etc
mb

 

[Guest]

It HAS to be changed in the panel,or it was a 120V dryer circuit?Is there such a thing?Any dryer circuit I've ever seen has been either 3 wire or 4 wire 240V,never a 120V.I dont get this actually,unless its a 4 wire circuit and your omitting one hot leg.Is your neutral white or green/bare?

 

[mapleboy]

3 wire 240... two 120 hots and a ground... using 1 120 w/ground to make ONE plug... 1 120 w/ the SAME ground to make the 2nd plug... merely too the 240 which is 2 120's and split them out w/ a common ground.
mb

 

[Guest]

You know if one circuit trips the other will also,its still on a 2 pole breaker I assume.Youm may want to turn it into 1 circuit by using 1 hot as a noodle and the ground as a ground and installing a single pole breaker,its a lot safer to use the conductors appropriately..

 

[Guest]

I'm really fascinated by this thread. I see some of the dumbass posts have disappeared since I last looked here. I'm glad to see that.



What makes me "qualified" to say so? I went to US Navy Electronics Schools for 2+ years. I was an ET in the USN late 60's to mid 70's. After the Navy I worked in a career for the next 30+ years that required me to have considerable knowledge of the NEC and NFPA...particularly those parts that dealt with medical facilities. I was certified in my field very early on. Dealing with "wiring" issues like come up all the time in these threads was a daily part of my life for many years.

I am stunned at some of the ignorant crap posted as "electrical advice" on threads here and elsewhere on the internet.

You people who don't know anything about electricity need to pay close attention to Cocktail Frank, Soilman, and the others on here who DO know about electrical power. You simply cannot fuck around when it comes to electricity. I don't care if your best buddy wired his basement, bedroom, closet, whatever in a way you think might work. My advice is: Do it right. Do it to code

Cocktail Frank...one day I'll tell you what I did with a 15K neon light xformer...(besides make a "jacobs ladder" with coathanger wire) when i was in 4th grade. It'll make ur hair stand on end. I shud be dead.

soilman :

Dunno about you but I consider it a compliment to be called a "Florida redneck" I was born in North Florida, moved to central Florida at age about 2, and raised there. After USN I lived in eastern US for 30+ years before moving out west here.

I remember "white" and "colored" bathrooms and water fountains all over town. I saw KKK meetings in public places.

I know about redneck.

You folks should listen to soilman and his friends on here. Us rednecks just might know some shit you need to know

Obli
A displaced FL redneck :smile:

PS
Two childhood friends of mine did Federal time for illegally importing weed in large quantities, tons for one of them. Fortunately they were convicted before RICO, and so only served minimal time by today's standards...4+ for one 2+ for the other. This was in early mid 70's. I ahven't seen either in 20+ years. I hope they are OK.

 

[Guest]

Thanks obli I take no offense to pops,he's OK.He just learned to spell redneck last week and he's justa showin off lol

 

[Pops]

Oblidio, the reason I give so much shit to Soilman is that I like the old fart(I'm a dozen years older than he is) and I respect his growing abilities. I also spent 15 years living in Right Wing Heaven(Central Florida) between Tampa and Orlando. This Christmas, I am going to send some peanut brittle to Soilman and see if it will stick his 3 teeth together.

 

[Guest]

Actually pops I'm proud to say I have every single one of them there puppies,just went for a deep cleanin a week ago.At just over 100 lbs and 5'8'',its the rest of me that seems to have fallen away lol.I'm on the road to recovery though you might say..I was a bone(hambone) when I quit drinking beer 4 years ago,now I'm a chicken bone lol