light control wiring help

[dub bud]

hello, i could really use some help... im tryin to hook up more lights. so i bought a titan control helios 4. but i have no clue about home wiring. i deal with a lot of automotive electronics but i know its quite different. any help would be GREAT. im tryin to get this hooked up asap. so heres some pictures.

so i have a titan control 240v helios 4 and the orange cable is going to my 240v washer and dryer, i was going to jus get another orange cable like that one and hook it in the same spot as the other and run it to my helios box.... will it work? the titan has slots for 4 wires, 2 hots, neutral and a ground... but it looks like i only have 3 wires for my washer dryer cable. please help

 

[dub bud]

this house is ooold and im jus trying to do this as simple as possible

 

[rives]

You have a fucking abortion there. The feed coming into the fuse box is straight 240v with no neutral - the bare wire is ground, as you probably know, and has been picked up by the washing machine feeder in place of a neutral. Is that stucco or sheet rock? Does the feed come out of that Square D panel to the lower right, or is that a sub-panel? If you can track down where the fuse box is fed from, that would help. It would also be a good idea to pull the cover off of that Square D panel and shoot a couple pictures of it.

 

[budleydoright]

Yes, that will work. Not exactly to code though. To be proper, you should run the green wire to a ground so your 110 outlets on your controller have a seperate neutral and ground. Otherwise the ground pin on your equipment isn't connected.

Make sure to use a properly guaged wire as well. That's a 25 amp 220 fused box. Using anything smaller than 8 guage wire isn't advised. Look for an RV or mobil home hookup.

Old houses can be scary. They often only had 50 amps comming in for the whole house.

 

[dub bud]

yea i agree, it looks like a mess. and i dont even know were to begin.. its not my house and im not looking to throw a ton of money at it to fix it perfectly, but at the same time i definitely dont want to burn the place down or kill myself.. so any help would be awesome!!

 

[taslicker]

One issue

One issue

I had a look at the titian web page and it occurred to me that even if you do manage to hook up the titian it's doubtful if you could run them together.

We had a similar situation hooking up a 30 amp pottery kiln to the circuit of the kitchen oven. Put them on together and you throw the circuit breaker.

My advice is seek out a local friendly electrician.

 

[budleydoright]

I can't imagine it would cost a whole lot of money to have looked at and brought up to date. Perhaps having a sparky come over and properly install a dryer outlet would be the way to go. In the big picture a couple of hundred bucks is nothing compared to the trouble this could cause you.

That said, if your handy at all, it's pretty basic stuff if you have the knowledge. Pick up a book on basic wiring or just read through it at the store. then decide if this is a DIY you want to F with.

 

[dub bud]

so i was going to get another cable and run the red and black wires to the hots on the helios box, but than what do i do with the white one? do i hook it to the neutral? or the ground on the helios box?

 

[rives]

so i was going to get another cable and run the red and black wires to the hots on the helios box, but than what do i do with the white one? do i hook it to the neutral? or the ground on the helios box?

As I said in the above post, the first thing that you need to do is find out where and how that fuse box is fed. It is improperly wired for a 120/240 setup, and you need to find out what you are starting with.

 

[dub bud]

bummer now im discouraged....

 

[rives]

bummer now im discouraged....

I'm afraid that if you are going to get very far with this particular hobby, you are going to have to deal with a hell of a lot more discouragement than that! Get some more information and we can help you along.

 

[dub bud]

yea i understand. i been at it a few years now, had quite a bit of failures. and still learning. but i appreciate the honesty =] should i post a picture of the panel with the cover off?
thanks for your help

 

[rives]

A picture would help if the fuse box is fed out of that panel. Turn on the washing machine, or whatever is currently hooked up to that circuit, and start tripping breakers. If that Square D panel is a sub, the fuse box may not even be fed from there.

 

[dub bud]

ok im sure its a mess... but ill postem asap

 

[dub bud]

 

[rives]

Jesus, what is that crap in there? It looks like the romex in the upper right corner might be the one - it hits the main lugs on the left side of the panel. That panel appears to be a sub, fed via the breaker on the lower left. If you trip that breaker, does it kill everything? Do you have a voltage tester and know how to use it?

 

[dub bud]

i can try to move stuff around and take more pics if needed, looks like theres a black cable coming into the box at the top left but its cut.... and jus kinda hanging out in there..

 

[dub bud]

looks like jus decades of dirt and dust. i tried to vacuum it out some. please bear with me =] im tryin to learn anything i can, so i take it romexs is the name of the cable. looks like the white cable in the top right go to the other box that run the washer n dryer. yes i belive i have a volt meeter, but i only use it for 6 and 12 volt vehicles...i will post a picture in a sec

 

[dub bud]

will this work?

 

[rives]

Yes, that should be fine. Put the selector on the ACV 750 position, and check between the black and white wires in the top of the fuse box. It should read somewhere from 220-240 volts.