Switched Outlet

Hi,



I would like to wire a switch to be able to cut the power to the ceiling mounted outlets that feed our garage door openers. Running new wiring to them will be a bit cumbersome, so I am hoping to avoid that. The ceiling outlets are powered by light fixtures in the garage (one near by each outlet). There is a 3 wire romex cable running from the light switch to the first light and another one between the lights, and then regular 2 wire romex cables from the light fixtures to the outlets. The red wires in the 3 wire cables to the lights are switchable, the black wires are always hot.



I mainly want to be able to cut the power to the doors when we are away on vacation, and the reason for that is that one night both doors somehow opened up - I have no idea why. I'd hate for that to happen when we're away. Unplugging and plugging in the openers is a bit of a hassle due to the high ceiling.



I thought about wiring in a switched outlet so that I could just reach up with a long handle of some sort and switch off the power to the outlet. It would not be ideal, but definitely easier than getting the ladder out and unplugging the door openers.  However, there is possibly another option that I'd like some input on if anyone cares to comment. I believe I could wire in a switch on the wall next to the light switch that would allow me to cut the power to the black wires in the 3 wire cables. This would cut the power to the ceiling outlets and anything downstream from there (possibly an outside light, I would need to check on that).



My question is, are there any potential issues with this sort of wiring? Is there perhaps any code violation if both hot wires in a 3 wire cable can be switched off separately?



Thoughts?
      

HI all,



I have a rain barrel system with a pump (110v) and I ran a 3way switch to my patio and one by the pump (in a shed).  My wife now wants the pump on a timer (to water the garden).



So...I could just add a timer to the switched outlet, but I want to be able to override the timer with the switch (at the patio or shed), without interfering with the pump timer operation.



I've drawn up a diagram showing my proposed setup.



Question: can I rig up the pump with two power cords and plug one into the timed outlet and one into the switched outlet and not burn down my shed in the process?




      

I recently switched over from AT&T phone/cable/Internet service to Cablevision. 



The problem with both services is the coax cable coming through a hole in the wall from outside and then a phone line from their modem stapled to the floor board and tied into the phone outlet inside.  Then there's my phone lines, the coax cable to the TV... It's a disgusting mess.



I'd like to install a combination phone line and cable outlet in the wall and get rid of as much loose wiring as possible.  The phone line would come through the same area as the cable and I'd wire it on the other end to the main box outside the house.



I have no experience with this so my question is can I take the phone line from the Cablevision modem and simply plug it into the outlet and get all the phones in the house to work or does it have to be hard wired or piggybacked inside the outlet?
      

I have 3 bedrooms on 15 amp circuits, 14 gauge wire. Original wiring is one bedroom is on one circuit and the other 2 bedrooms on another circuit. The wall switches in each switched the top half of an outlet in each room. I converted the wire at the wall switch to a 110V feed from the outlet and ran 14/3 from the switch to the ceiling for a ceiling fan. I replaced the outlets since the jumper was cut to isolate the 2 plug ins for switching. Is this whole scenario code compliant?
      

Going through a crazy heat wave here in SoCal, and one of my tenants called to tell me that the electricity isn't on in some of his rooms. He turned on his portable AC unit that he has been using all summer and something may have happened.



Downstairs:The dining room light switch, downstairs light switch do not work. All outlets around them do work though, which is odd cause I would have thought they'd be on the same circuit.



Upstairs: The side bathroom light switch does not work, but outlets all work. In the master bedroom (where the AC unit is located), the master bathroom light switch does not work, nor does the master bedroom light switch. All of the outlets do not work either. I used my outlet tester and it gave me the hot/ground reversed lights. I think this means that the white/black wires are reversed on the outlets (has not changed recently).



I went over, checked all of the breakers. Switched them to off, then back on, did not fix the issue. All breakers stay in the on position without tripping, so no shorts?



Checked all GFCI's, hit test, then reset, did not solve the problem.



We unplugged everything from all outlets, and retried, but it didn't work.



I checked continuity between the main power lines, and the output of the circuit breakers, and all were fine. I did NOT check the voltages though, and will do so in the morning when I stop by again.



Is there anything else I should check?
      

Having a brain freeze, if someone could take a moment to explain this to me, it would be greatly appriciated. I am wiring four recessed lights in a bedroom, off one switch. I am going to grab power off an outlet. Does the power have to go into the switch box first and then out to the first light? and then on to the others? Can I get power from an outlet and then wire each of the lights and bring the last one to the switch box? I dont want the switch to control the outlet, just the recesed and I am trying to determine where I can get the power from and if it has to go into the switchbox? I am drawing a blank.

Thanks!
      

I bought a Panasonic FV-13VKS3 vent fan. The fan is designed to run continuously at a preset lower level (e.g. 50CFM) that can then be elevated to its max level (130CFM) when switched on. When switched off, the fan has its own built-in, adjustable countdown timer that returns the fan back to the low setting.



What I would like to do is use a Leviton LTB30-1LZ to control the high fan level. For example, I would set the fan's built-in timer to 5 minutes. And when I switch on the LTB30 for 30 minutes, the fan will kick in to high mode for 30 minutes, then the LTB30 turns off and triggers the fan's built-in timer for an additional 5 minutes before returning to the low setting.



My question is, is this possible and how would I wire this?



Looking at the fan's wiring diagram, I think the two red wires from the fan would be used to switch the fan's built-in timer. But I'm unsure where to connect these two red wires onto the Leviton timer.
      

Greetings all.



This is my first post here, I hope it goes well.



My name is Joe and I have searched Google. and this forum for my answer but have not been able to find a definitive answer to my question.  I have seen many replies talking about getting a tone generator or a line tracer but my experience is that tone generators are for Data and phone cables rather than electrical cables and the line tracers I've found online all seem to be about tracing the line back to the breaker panel so without knowing more I'm hesitant to purchase a line tracer in case it cannot do what I want.

My dilemma is very likely very simple to anyone with electrical experience so I hope it's not too trivial for this crowd.

I have recently purchased a house that is over 120 years old and have a motion sensor light on the porch that is supposedly connected to a switch inside but does not turn on.  I've opened the wall plate and used a voltage indicating pen to see where the electricity is.  In this case there are two light switches, one that has lines that have been spliced and another that supposedly leads to the porch light according to a long time tenant in that unit.  It all looks like a bit of a mess and the connections don't make sense.  In this scenario the black cables have the electricity and the white cables complete the circuit.  The switch to the porch light has a black cable coming from the top of the box going to the switch and a white cable connected to the other screw that comes from splitting the white cable from the other switch.  What I would like to do is know which cables in that wall box correspond to the cables to the porch light.  Can anyone give me an idea what I should do?

Do I need something like the Amprobe advanced wire tracer (http://www.professionalequipment.com...0/wire-tracer/) and can it do what I need, or is there something simpler I can do?

All help is appreciated.

Thanks



Joe
      

I installed an Intermatic brand programmable timer switch to operate some outside house lights (2 CFLs, total 30 watts). The thing worked for a few months and then became non-operational. I just realized that the sticker on the back of the timer switch states "max load ratings: 15 amp, 120 vac", and the circuit I installed it on is 20 amps. Is this why the switched failed? If so, why did it work for a few months? I thought 'load' was the amount of power needed to operate whatever is downstream of the switch, in this case my outside lights, which is under one amp?



Thanks!
      

Hi, I have a problem where if I turn off my light switch on one side of the  room, it turns off anything plugged into the electrical outlet on the  other side of the room. For some reason, they originally wired that  outlet on the same circuit as the light switch. I would like to wire the  outlet so that it does not switch off whenever you switch off the light  on the opposite wall.



How do I go about doing that? Thanks.



(p.s. There are just the basic three wires in the electrical outlet; black/white/bare copper ground).