Cordless Dustbuster, Charging Reversed Polarity?

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
      

Morning people. I'm installing a chimney style range hood for a friend of mine and he wants me to leave the plug wire on instead of hard wiring it. This would be permanent. Reason being is so he could remove it himself at a future date to tile the wall. This means I'd have to put a receptacle on the wall next to the vertical duct and it would be hidden behind the vent stack cover. It wouldn't be easily accesable so I'm thinking that's a code violation anywhere you go. From what I found it's a grey area. Any thoughts? Thanks
      

Hi all

I'm renovating a rental home I bought. It has the original 90 year old fuse panel  and I'd like to replace it with a modern panelboard. Here's a picture of the current setup:







I'd like to demo the inset fuse box cabinet and then mount a new panel on the wall to the left.

The service conduit goes inside the stucco into the building. I'd like to cut it, put in junction box, and a sweep and extend the service to the left to the new panel



I called our electric co. to get the power disconnected and strangely the rep told me "Oh, people usually just work on it hot". Is this true/feasible??



Your advice is appreciated
      

Installing a new cook top; the original plug was installed at the vent hood.  How do I move the plug to underneath the cabinet without tearing out the wall?
      

My existing service entrance consists of an external Meter can mounted on the outside of the garage wall directly behind a SD Main Breaker Panel (MBP) with a 150 amp main breaker.  In order to support upgrades, I am installing a second MBP (200 amp) inside the garage in the wall cavity right next to the existing panel.



Local code requires that the upgraded Meter can be purchased from the City Utility.  I have already confirmed with the local inspector that either 4/0 Al or 2/0 Cu SE cable are acceptable for both the existing and new MBP.



My question is what is the code requirement for getting the 3 SE cables run from the dual lugs to the new panel?  Can those conductors run into the same wall cavity where the existing panel is installed?  If so, I'm certain they can't go through the same conduit nipple that connects the back of the meter can to the existing MBP.  Can they route in behind/above/below the existing panel and through a hole in the wall stud to gain access to the adjacent stud bay to get to the new panel?  If not, do they need to be routed out of the meter can on the external wall in conduit over to the next stud bay and then enter the wall there to gain access to the new panel?  If external conduit is required I would expect it must be metallic as opposed to PVC.



Best Regards,



Ted
      

Hello,



I took a shot at installing a ceiling fan for the first time and I would like to get advice if I did the wiring correctly. There were Black, Copper, Red, and White Wires coming from the ceiling. I read the instructions and connected the wires as stated on the manual. I was left with the Red wire. I called a friend up and he told me to connect the Red wires from ceiling to the Black Connections from Ceiling and Fan. The fan works but something is irking me inside thats telling me this is not safe. Could anyone with any know how in this subject guide me in the right direction?
      

I am in the process of installing a submerisble pump into my well, but I have a few questions I'd like answered first.



The pump is a 1HP, 230V pump with 8.2amps and KW 0.75.  It is rated at 12/2 w/ ground. 



1) Is there any reason I shouldn't install a 230v wall mounted switch to turn this on/off if I want to kill the power.  For now a pump start will control it for my irrigation system, this would just be in addition if I ever wanted to shut things down and not have to rely on using the breaker, which I understand shouldn't be used as a switch.



2) What about installing this on a plug, so that I can plug it into a receptacle vs. hardwired.  (*I'll explain my reason later)



3) My understanding is 12gauge wire is rated for 20amp, but it looks like the owners manual calls for a 25amp fuse.  Should I use 20amp or 25amp?



*The reason I ask about the switch and the plug is because I plan on using some wiring that is already in place.  I already have 12/2 w/ground installed in the location of the pump start.  It is currently wired for 110v as it was placed there for a 3/4hp jet pump I planned on installing, but ended up going with a cased well instead, so I figure why not utilize the existing wire, but switch it to 220 instead of 110.  Basically, swap the 20amp 110v switch out for a similar rated 230v switch and replace the receptacle with a 230v receptacle and just plug this pump in. 



I question the use of the plug because I thought I had read somewhere it was ok to use one, but when unpacking the pump last night, I thought I read never to install it on a plug, so now I'm unsure.  Why would they not want it on a plug?  I guess it's not a big deal as I can always run wire into the j-box, but I hate using pigtails if I don't have to.



Thanks for any info on this...heading to the parts store in a while to grab the fuse and anything else I need.
      

Hey, so I have a keyboard I want to power via an AC adapter, so medium story short, the back of the keyboard has the Centre positive symbol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Centre-positive.svg), and the adapter has the Centre negative symbol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Centre-negative.svg) (although the centre 'C' is reversed, so the open centre dot goes directly to the + on the left.). See diagram.



Should the polarity symbols match? All other specs are as per the product page/manual (http://www.akaipro.com/mp6-1): 6V DC 1A. Although no mention of the mA's on the adapter.



Oh, and the nib (ending bit of the adapter is yellow, and not black as per the product page linked above).



I sent a message to the manufacturer, but did not include the polarity part. The adapter was from an authorised dealer.



Thanks!




      

Help!  We decided to raise the ceiling in our kitchen for some new taller cabinets. We have 30" cabinets with a 7' drop ceiling. By taking out the drop ceiling we can go to an 8' ceiling with 36" cabinets.  We just had the ceiling taken out and now I see I got a problem!



This is a 2 story home, the wall in question is a load bearing wall (runs through the center of the house) The main breaker panel is in this wall (the panel opening is in the adjacent family room)



As you can see in the photos I cannot extend the wall up because all of the home wiring is in the way!  I expected I might have to run longer wires but not this. 



Some ideas we've thought about...

notch the double 2x4s (not sure how much I need to notch or allowed to)



build a cove (box) and leave the wires like they are (might be an eyesore in our new kitchen)



put up a large crown moulding along the entire wall (would be the only crown moulding in the house)



extend the ceiling up 6-7" instead of 12" (should leave enough room for wire to stay)



I'm leaning to the notching option if I can find a way to reinforce that section.



Any ideas?



thanks!
      

Hello!



In a house I recently bought I have a strange situation.



There is a three way switch on one side of the wall with two sets of wires coming in:



Red, Black, White

Black, White



and then one stray Black that goes to the duplex receptacle on the other side of the wall (on the OUTSIDE of the wall!  Clearly an afterthought.)



Into the receptacle goes this strange black single wire from the light switch and the usual black and white wires + ground wire.



I went to change the ugly receptacle to a decora and now it doesn't work, though I'm not 100% sure it worked before.



I've wired the new receptacle as I remember it being wired before, any idea what is wrong? 



I've attached a diagram!



Thanks in advance for any input.