Need an electrician's input

[Nitemare]

I'm trying to rig something at home that has 3 light bulbs on it. I didn't want to daisy chain them because I didn't want to have the possibility of one bulb taking down the works.

I tried this but when I flip the switch it throws the breaker in the wall.

Any suggestions?

 

[IamElectro]

your good to go, but you only want to use the switch to only break one leg of the power with the switch and not both.

Plug here}=======-------------------to lights
this is here for space\____switch here_________to lights

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: IamElectro
your good to go, but you only want to use the switch to only break one leg of the power with the switch and not both.

Plug here}=======-------------------to lights
this is here for space\____switch here_________to lights

Sorry, but I don't follow you...

 

[sharkeeper]

Single pole switches ALWAYS break the hot (black) line! NEVER wire a switch ACROSS the line!

Cheers!

 

[Pex]

look at all the pretty lights.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
Single pole switches ALWAYS break the hot (black) line! NEVER wire a switch ACROSS the line!

Cheers!

So just wire the blacks to ground?

 

[IamElectro]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
Single pole switches ALWAYS break the hot (black) line! NEVER wire a switch ACROSS the line!

Cheers!

So just wire the blacks to ground?

Yes and use the switch to break the white

 

[sharkeeper]

So just wire the blacks to ground?

If you like sparks!

The ONLY conductor that should be bonded to ground is the neutral and that is in the panel!

This is a simple parallel circuit. You have a black wire, white wire and bare wire or if insulated it will be green. That is your ground.

The black wires go to bronze screws, white wires (neutral) go to silver coloured screws, and ground goes to green coloured screws. The black and white go to opposite sides of your fixtures. If the fixtures have ground terminals, attach your ground wire there. The switch breaks the hot (black) wire only. The neutral does not connect to the switch at all.

Cheers!

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
Single pole switches ALWAYS break the hot (black) line! NEVER wire a switch ACROSS the line!

Cheers!

So just wire the blacks to ground?

Yes and use the switch to break the white

k, do I need any fuses or anything? Each of the bulbs are going to be 250 watts

 

[IamElectro]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
Single pole switches ALWAYS break the hot (black) line! NEVER wire a switch ACROSS the line!

Cheers!

So just wire the blacks to ground?

Yes and use the switch to break the white

k, do I need any fuses or anything? Each of the bulbs are going to be 250 watts

Just make sure the switch and wires you use can handle the power 12-14 gauge at least for the wire.


What type of bulbs are you using, and what is this for? 750 watts of total power is a lot of light.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
Single pole switches ALWAYS break the hot (black) line! NEVER wire a switch ACROSS the line!

Cheers!

So just wire the blacks to ground?

Yes and use the switch to break the white

k, do I need any fuses or anything? Each of the bulbs are going to be 250 watts

Just make sure the switch and wires you use can handle the power 12-14 gauge at least for the wire.


What type of bulbs are you using, and what is this for? 750 watts of total power is a lot of light.

growing pot?

seriously, assuming you get the circuit wired correctly, you risk starting a fire with bulbs that hot inside.

 

[ApacheXMD]

first thing you gotta do is figure out what "hot", "neutral", and "ground" means.

before you kill yourself

-patchy

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: shuttleteam

So just wire the blacks to ground?

If you like sparks!

The ONLY conductor that should be bonded to ground is the neutral and that is in the panel!

This is a simple parallel circuit. You have a black wire, white wire and bare wire or if insulated it will be green. That is your ground.

The black wires go to bronze screws, white wires (neutral) go to silver coloured screws, and ground goes to green coloured screws. The black and white go to opposite sides of your fixtures. If the fixtures have ground terminals, attach your ground wire there. The switch breaks the hot (black) wire only. The neutral does not connect to the switch at all.

Cheers!

K, I think I get it now, run the white wire from the extension cord directly to the whites coming from the bulbs, string the blacks together and use the switch to toggle the juice on and off.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
Single pole switches ALWAYS break the hot (black) line! NEVER wire a switch ACROSS the line!

Cheers!

So just wire the blacks to ground?

Yes and use the switch to break the white

k, do I need any fuses or anything? Each of the bulbs are going to be 250 watts

Just make sure the switch and wires you use can handle the power 12-14 gauge at least for the wire.


What type of bulbs are you using, and what is this for? 750 watts of total power is a lot of light.

growing pot?

seriously, assuming you get the circuit wired correctly, you risk starting a fire with bulbs that hot inside.

They are on a ceramic flush mount base, they should be able to handle it. They are warming lights.

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
Single pole switches ALWAYS break the hot (black) line! NEVER wire a switch ACROSS the line!

Cheers!

So just wire the blacks to ground?

Oh boy!

This is going from amusing to dangerous.

Good thing houses have breakers.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Thegonagle

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: shuttleteam
Single pole switches ALWAYS break the hot (black) line! NEVER wire a switch ACROSS the line!

Cheers!

So just wire the blacks to ground?

Oh boy!

This is going from amusing to dangerous.

Good thing houses have breakers.

All the cords were the same color, should have said neutral

 

[TwoBills]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: shuttleteam





What type of bulbs are you using, and what is this for?

growing pot?


Ha! That's the first thing I thought of. But we all know that incandesant bulbs produce too much light in the red spectrum and too much heat.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: TwoBills

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Nitemare

Originally posted by: shuttleteam





What type of bulbs are you using, and what is this for?

growing pot?


Ha! That's the first thing I thought of. But we all know that incandesant bulbs produce too much light in the red spectrum and too much heat.

FYI, they make something called Grow lights...Check your local hardware store 😛

 

[Pepsi90919]

you obviously have no idea what you're doing. 🙂 but good luck

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
you obviously have no idea what you're doing. 🙂 but good luck

LOL, thanks. I know circuit board level stuff but nothing bigger

 

[The Stigenator]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
you obviously have no idea what you're doing. 🙂 but good luck

same here.....

I think you need to look up how to wire in parallel and series..

its an easy job, but i rather not give you instructions cause i dont want to be wrong..

but i will tell you from my past expereince in electrics, its easy.

 

[Iron Woode]

Lets see if I got this right:

You want to hook up (in parallel) 3 lamps that are wired to a switch (switch fed) that is connected to an extension cord plugged into a wall socket.

Have I summed this up correctly?

You do understand you are in violation of your state's electrical code?

You are not supposed to use a extension cord in that manner.

I assume the fixtures will be mounted to boxes in the ceiling, right?

Now back to the wiring issue.

The switch interrupts the black line only.

The neutrals need to be joined together then pig-tailed off to each neutral attachment on each lamp base.

The black wires need to be joined and pig-tailed off to each live attachment on each lamp base.

The gounds (copper) need to attached together and grounded in a properly mounted box.

Some lamp bases can support 2 sets of wires, in that case, you can branch off the fixture without pigtailing the wires.

 

[IamElectro]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode
Lets see if I got this right:

You want to hook up (in parallel) 3 lamps that are wired to a switch (switch fed) that is connected to an extension cord plugged into a wall socket.

Have I summed this up correctly?

You do understand you are in violation of your state's electrical code?

You are not supposed to use a extension cord in that manner.

I assume the fixtures will be mounted to boxes in the ceiling, right?

Now back to the wiring issue.

The switch interrupts the black line only.

The neutrals need to be joined together then pig-tailed off to each neutral attachment on each lamp base.

The black wires need to be joined and pig-tailed off to each live attachment on each lamp base.

The gounds (copper) need to attached together and grounded in a properly mounted box.

Some lamp bases can support 2 sets of wires, in that case, you can branch off the fixture without pigtailing the wires.

That my friend is 100% correct
I was to lazy to type it.

 

[OZEE]

Remember this number -- you're gonna need it:

9-1-1

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Iron Woode
Lets see if I got this right:

You want to hook up (in parallel) 3 lamps that are wired to a switch (switch fed) that is connected to an extension cord plugged into a wall socket.

Have I summed this up correctly?

You do understand you are in violation of your state's electrical code?

You are not supposed to use a extension cord in that manner.

I assume the fixtures will be mounted to boxes in the ceiling, right?

Now back to the wiring issue.

The switch interrupts the black line only.

The neutrals need to be joined together then pig-tailed off to each neutral attachment on each lamp base.

The black wires need to be joined and pig-tailed off to each live attachment on each lamp base.

The gounds (copper) need to attached together and grounded in a properly mounted box.

Some lamp bases can support 2 sets of wires, in that case, you can branch off the fixture without pigtailing the wires.

That's exactly what I needed, thanks.