Wire Suitable For Underwater Usage

In a previous thread (Wire suitable for underwater usage), I enquired about what cord types would be suitable for underwater usage because I was building a submersible fishing light to attract baitfish.  Well, the light is done, and the bulb "farthest away" from the battery is by far the brightest in the chain (I hesitate to say chain since they are wired in parallel). 



Attached image "photo 1" is a picture of the light I made.  Notice the bulb all the way to the left is far brighter than the rest.



All bulbs used are the same spec, and look like this:



To wire the bulbs, I cut the flange off with a Dremel tool so that they would fit in the tube.  Two pair of them have their terminals soldered together (neg to neg, pos to pos...that's the "gap" you see in the lighting), and the first bulb in line is upside down, with it's terminals facing the incoming wiring.  The first bulb receives the wiring from the main line, then hookup wire is used to jump from those terminals to the next set, etc. 



There IS one anomaly with the final/far left bulb.  When I was cutting off the flange, I accidentally cut too far on that piece, basically severing the terminals from the bulb.  So, when wiring it into the circuit, I had to improvise and soldered the hookup wire directly into the solder points located on the bulb itself (instead of the underside).  Hopefully you can see what I'm talking about in attached "photo 2."



I have no idea why this anomaly would make the bulb brighter though.  Can anyone think of any other reason the bulb would be brighter?  Unfortunately, I cannot do any readings on the individual bulbs because I did not notice this until everything was soldered into place and the lamp sealed/waterproofed).
      

Hello everyone,I have a question about a forklift battery charger i bought. Ok,its an exide forklift battery charger 36 volts. It weighs a ton so i am having to run a 25 foot extension cord to it. My question is,my 220 wall outlet has three holes so i went to lowes and made a 220 extension cord. Now i get to the ac cable coming out of the charger that hooks to the extension cord(plug was cut off),there are 4 wires coming out of the cable green,white,red, and black......the guy at lowes said i could buy a 3 prong plug for it to plug into the female end of the extension cord because one of the 4 wires is probably neutral and i wouldnt have to hook up but the green,white and either the red or black.....is he right? Inside the charger the red,white and black all go to big fuses and green to ground. Also above the fuses it says "factory set to 480 volts ac". I guess my question is,will this charger only work using a 4 prong wall outlet(mine only has 3) and with 4 prong plug hooked to cable coming out of the charger itself or is the guy at lowes right in saying that only the red OR black wire has to be used? Sorry if this is confusing but ive searched and searched online for 3 days and havent found anything. Thanks in advance for any help-Kevin
      

Hi, I want to power a table fan (50 watts) using a battery. In India the input power to appliances (fan in this case) is 220 volts / 50 Hz. so can i power the fan with TWO 6 volts 4.5 AH sealed lead acid battery??

Can u please tell me how to do the power calculations? i want my fan to run for abt 4 hours. how many batteries do i need?



(im planing to charge the battery using solar panel but thats another question)
      

I spend alot of time outdoors and use my power tools or air compressor alot and use a 12 gauge contractors cord.  One problem I always have is that with my outdoor receptacle being above my deck sometimes the cord slips between the boards and hangs up and really causes a problem if the storm door is opened as it also catches the cord sometimes, and already damaged my other cord.



I am wondering if there are any issues with running the cord through pvc along the edge of the house and to the receptacle to protect it.



I am also wondering, since my old cord is damaged at one end, if rather than trying to repair it, if there is any code violation of running it into a weatherproof box and wiring it to a GFCI receptacle, reason I wonder this is that I have one on hand and have had no other use for it as I rent the house and cannot do any wiring to it, but it has no GFCI outlet which concerns me at times.
      

I participate in a Pop-up camper discussion group (Popup Portal) and the following was posted reguarding the use of 30 amp extension cords:





"I just returned from Mobile Mart, my go to store for anything for my TT.  Was looking for a 25ft extension for my 30 amp power cord. The salesman  filled me in on some tips about buying extension cords for service.



1.  Never buy a black cord unless you have to have it now or it's the only  thing they have. The black cord absorbs and holds heat. We all know what  to much heat or amperage draw will do to an extension cord. Cords come  in a variety of colors.....orange, blue, yellow, etc. I picked up a  yellow one for visibility.



2. When your plugged in and have left  over cord DO NOT coil it up on the ground. Spread it out so any and all  heat can disipate easier. I usually pull just enough out to reach the  box and leave the rest inside the camper. I don't believe he was talking  about what is in the camper that but whatever is outside the camper  needs to be spread out.



3. If you have to have a lot of line  spread out to be able to plug in he suggested some type of covering to  shade the cord. I'm pretty sure this would pertain to monthly campers  and others that stay in one spot for awhile. Even still a good idea for  those of us that are down south here with temps in the triple digits."



I suggested that most (or all) of this is BS.



What say you?
      

Electrical novice here.... I think calling myself even a novice is too much credit.

The good thing is I'm not the one that did the work....



My question is about votls/amps/wats correlations.



Long sorry short ... I have in floor heating wire that was installed - this is not the typical off-the-shelf type (have a friend in the home products biz and he picked this up for me on a recent trip to china).



I am trying to estimate usage costs come winter time... but something just does not sound right to me...



It is 18W/220V heat wire...



        Have 120/240 Volt Main Service



Is the calculation correct:



Power       18w per meter and i have 220 meters (700 Ft)   

 

- total power is 220m*18w/m, if your voltage is 240V, the Amps will be 220*18/240v=16.5A.



If correct - That means this is going to be insanely expensive to run - correct?


      

I bought a Lincoln ac-225-S arc welder from someone and he gave me a 30' 10/3 extension cord with it.  The specs on the welder panel call for 50 amps max input on 20% duty cycle.  Is the 10 ga. wire really sufficient for this welder?  I will also be installing a receptacle for the welder, will a 30 amp breaker on 10/3 do the job or do I need to move up to 8 ga. on 40amp or 6 ga. on 50 amp?  If I go up to a 40 or 50 amp breaker can I even use that extension cord?  I doubt I would ever weld anything thicker than 3/16" to 1/4" max.
      

I was given a table saw from about 1960 - actually a very good machine - it would cost a fortune nowadays, but a friend who felt he owed me one gave it to me before he moved to Florida. It has a 1 HP motor that has always worked fine and has worked fine for me in tests, but the cord is an old 2-wire version, and I want to replace it with a new cord.



The manual says to use a 10 gauge wire (the cord is about 6' long). I want to replace it with a 3-wire, grounded cord. Do I simply run the neutral wire on the new cord where the old white wire was, the black wire to where the old black wire was, and connect the ground to the chassis?



The switch is a single throw, double pole switch, by the way.



Here's a link to the manual, if that helps anyone: http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=2007
      

I know nothing about car stereos, but I had a crazy thought the other day and figured someone here on this board would know home electrical stuff and also car stereo (electrical) stuff.... so here goes....



How difficult would it be to "rig up" a car stereo (or, actually, an in-dash video player/receiver) in a house, hardwired in?



I assume (admittedly, without researching) that the foremost issue is that car power is DC, so the first problem would be getting a transformer to take 110VAC to whatever the stereo required in DC, right?



As far as speakers - are car speakers and home speakers essentially the same, as far as the signal sent to them from the receiver/amp/radio? Or are they a different capacity (resistance ohms or something)? Could you use home speakers (say, small in-ceiling type speakers, like you typically see sold for home theater surround usage) with a car stereo?



Finally, do these systems typically have standard audio and video inputs in the rear (component, composite, S-video, headphone-jack type plug)? I know they typically have an "aux" input on the front (for video game systems, iPods, MP3 players, and whatnot) but do they have connections on the back where it would be out of view when permanently connected (for connection from the satellite box)?



I had this crazy idea that I would love to install one of those car stereos with the slide-out, pop-up TV screen into my bathroom, and have the sound wired to ceiling speakers. If I built a cabinet with a mounting frame that would hold it in place, could this work? I am not looking for some high-end sound system that will blow me away and rock the house, nor do I care about a beautiful HD picture on the TV... I just want to have a small TV and a radio/audio receiver at the vanity area that I could hear with the shower running or whatever, and car systems like this are way less expensive than buying a small LCD TV and a stereo receiver (plus I can't find a receiver small enough). Plus, you would get the added benefit of the TV "disappearing" when not in use. 



Obviously, this would take some rigging - transformers and all - but can anyone clue me in on the feasibility?
      

Our pool was installed 10 years ago and we need to change the 3 underwater lights because they are leaking. The cable for each light box goes through a conduit and up to a "deck Box" or junction box per code so water from pool can't run up to the box. In order to change the lights we need to locate the box and pull the wires out, then feed the wires through for the new light. The problem is that one of the boxes seems to be missing. That light sits under a stone waterfall and there is a planting area behind the waterfall. Ive searched under all the bushes and even done a bit of digging but cant find the box. I'm wondering if there is some smarter way to locate it.



I tried a metal detector but there were too many false alarms from every metal scrap the work men left behind. I was wondering if there is something that could be fed through the conduit to junction box that would send a signal allowing it to be located. I know the cesspool guys use something like that and thought maybe an electrician might have a similar tool.



The new lights are completely different than the old ones so we can't just change out one. if we can;t change this light we can;t change any of them and the whole project goes down the drain. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.