can I connect one GFCI ,and one non GFCI, outlet along with 2 lights and an exhaust fan on a 20 amp circuit fed by a 12/2 wire?  I notice that some experts suggest a dedicated circuit for a GFCI outlet. Does this mean I must run a separate feed e.g. 14/2 to the lights in the bathroom?
4381
In my rebuilding project I have counted 18 outlets and lights on one bedroom circuit that travels through 3 rooms. Is that ok?
44081
I am considering adding a hot tub to my backyard. Most of the ones I've seen require a 240v 50A breaker, presumably with #6 4-wire.   It would be most convenient to run the line for this from my subpanel in my detached garage. I had an electrician put in the subpanel just a year ago (so it is up to modern standards; previously it was knob-and-tube! house built in 1927) and he set it up as a 60A subpanel. This consists of a 60A breaker at the main panel in the house, run underground to the subpanel in the garage, which has room for eight GE Q-line miniature breakers. Due to the number of available spaces, I'm guessing the breaker panel could handle more than 60A, but it's just limited by the breaker at the main panel and by the amp rating of the wire going between the panels.  There isn't a lot of load in the garage usually, just a couple lights and outlets. I think we could have gotten away with using two 20A circuits, but he wired up two 20A circuits and two 15A circuits, using 4 of the breaker spaces. This adds up to 75A, but from what I understand this is okay since once it hits 60A it would trip the breaker at the main panel and shut off the entire garage. Occasionally we will run a 12A electric lawn mower or other similar electric lawn tools from the outlets. The lights are motion lights on the outside, and switched fluorescent shop lamps on the inside.  Okay, now for the the question: Would it be okay and up to code to run a 50A 2-pole breaker in two of the remaining 4 slots in the panel and hook the hot tub up to it?   I'm assuming that the hot tub isn't going to be drawing close to 50A under normal conditions otherwise it'd regularly trip the breaker. But even if someone is sitting in it with the jets on and say it draws 40A, it seems like I could still run the lawn mower at 12A and have a couple lights on and not trip the 60A breaker at the house. (Related: does anyone know how many amps a typical hot tub would draw at peak and during regular operation?) I assume this line of thinking is why the electrician was able to put 75A worth of breakers on that 60A panel.  But, if any of this screams "could cause a fire" or "not up to code", please let me know! Thanks in advance!
6581
Is it possible in circuit design to split like say a temperature sensor line reading into 2 wires, and read by 2 different system/circuitry? My motive is to tap the signal line in a safe way without affecting or disrupting the other system functioning.
123208
I am replacing a light fixture in my bathroom and have the following setup:   The electrical box is plastic The wire coming from supply has black (hot), white (neutral) and copper (ground). The light fixture comes with a metal bracket for attaching to the electrical box that has a green screw The light fixture has black, white and copper wires.   The instructions supplied with the fixture dont give me an example of how to wire it up if there is an existing ground wire coming from supply.  It only tells me to attach the copper wire of the light fixture to the green screw.  So I'm curious what I should do with the ground from the supply.  Looking online, my options appear to be this:    So I think since the electrical box is plastic, I should just connect the ground of the supply with the ground of the light fixture with the wire nut.  Do I need to connect both of them together with the green grounding screw on the light fixture as well, or would that only be if the electrical box was metal?
70538
In my kitchen, I want to replace a regular 120V receptacle with a GFCI-protected receptacle. The instructions describe what to do with a regular 2-wire + ground feed, with and without daisy chaining to other receptacles, but not how to do it with a 3-wire + ground feed. Please describe how I should connect the new receptacle.  Here's a diagram of how the non-GFCI receptacle is currently wired, in my best 6-year-old artistry:   I think it's connected this way so that each receptacle in the kitchen has their two sockets supplied by different breakers. At the service panel the circuit is controlled by a joined pair of 15A breakers. I assume the white and black are separate 15A lines and the red is a common neutral (?).  Here are the instructions for connecting in a 2-wire scenario.    How do I connect this? Or should I consult an electrician?  EDIT  From
101202
We have an existing 120V AC exhaust fan wired to simple inline attic fan style thermostat.  We would like to add a timer switch so the fan could be manually turned on as needed.  Would this be the correct way to add a timer switch?    This is the sort of timer switch we are looking to add:
39734
Saw the good answer to this question:   But I'm wondering as a followup, since the two primary prongs in an AC mains plug are different, why (in many plug configurations) are you allowed to insert the plug in either direction? Is there ever a case where the appliance cares which line is "hot" and which is "neutral"? Is there ever a case where it's important enough not to screw up?
110198
I have a 20A 240V GFCI breaker in my main breaker box going to a conduit to another breaker box outside. All worked well last summer. Now, when I put any load (weed-eater, light, etc.) on an outlet connected to the outside breaker box, the indoor breaker immediately trips.  I've tried replacing the indoor breaker with a 30A model (it's 10AWG wire) but it still trips under any load.  I've also replaced the outdoor breakers.  I am confused. If this were a short circuit, the breaker would trip regardless of whether there was a load.  Does anyone have ideas on why this is happening and how I can fix it?
77814
I'm attempting to build an LED bed lamp that will be powered by 240V mains. The LEDs are  which if I use with a 12V supply and have calculated correctly will draw 0.24W each. I plan to use 5 or 6 of them in the lamp so will consume a maximum of 1.5W.  Initially I thought I'd use a transformer and bridge rectifier to get the required 12V DC but the transformer weighs a ton and is too bulky. The next option was to use a  but I'm wondering is there is a better way?  I think it would be possible to power the LEDs directly from mains using only a rectifier without mains and stepping down the voltage but then it's not safe. Are there any smallish components that can both isolate the mains and supply a DC voltage?
105516
I'm looking at a diagram and wondering if I could use just one resistor to limit the current of the LEDs instead of multiple resistors so that the cathodes are all connected to the same resistor.    JL
32339
I am installing a 60 amp subpanel in a workshop in my backyard and I will have 2 - 20 amp services with 4-5 outlets on each and 1 - 15 amp service for lighting. The length from the main panel to the workshop is about 105 feet. I will be using a double pole 60 and GFI circuit breaker in the main panel to a 60 amp pull out on outside of work shop then inside to the subpanel. What would be a good size wire. I may run one saw at a time or a couple of saws.
67389
So, I've put in or replaced several outlets following wiring instructions online and in the box. Nothing big. I know that if I fail to turn off the breaker then I shouldn't directly touch the black wire, but touching the white wire or the bare copper wire is fine.   From this, I know that the black wire is the supply, power is flowing from it, and will happily flow into me. Since neither the white wire nor the bare copper wire shock me, I don't know the difference between the two, other than "Power flows into these once a circuit is completed" So what is the difference, in detail, between the neutral and the ground connectors in 110V applications?
96072
Installing a new 3 way dimmer switch - on the back of it there is the green grounding wire, the white neutral wire, 2 'traveler' outlets and 1 line/load outlet.  However, the wiring when I removed the switch has 1 wire (it was white but wrapped in black electrical tape), and then another black and red wire (which I assume are the 2 traveler wires) and the ground wire which I connected to the green wire from the dimmer switch....so I only have 3 other wires, but 4 more connections on the dimmer switch...
50505
I am looking at replacing a couple of old, porcelain style single bulb fixtures in my basement with some 4 lamp fluorescent fixtures.  I am actually running new wire to the fluorescent fixtures from a 100amp sub panel in the basement, and not reusing then existing wiring that goes to the current light.  As I was taking the porcelain fixture down I discovered that there is 14 gauge wire going to it - ok.  There are 3 such fixtures in the basement.  There are also other things on this same breaker upstairs in the main living part of the house - 3 or 4 outlets that are on 12 gauge wire.  The breaker is a 20 amp breaker for all of these.  Is this ok to mix 14 &amp; gauge wire like this?  If not, why did they do it?
76734
Below is a diagram that I drew to help me rewire a couple of switches. The left switch is a standard 3-way switch. The right switch Cooper 275W-BOX combination single pole and 3-way switch. The single is the top switch; the 3-way is the bottom switch. They share a single power source.   The single pole switch works. The 3-way PARTLY works. The right 3-way will only control the ceiling fan/light if the left 3-way is in the up position. What did I do wrong?  I had 2 existing, separately wired and powered single pole switches. One went to a light in a foyer and the other to the ceiling fan (the light and fan are wired together, so not separate switches). I disconnected and capped off the power wire that was powering the ceiling fan/light, and rerouted the wire to the other switch for the 3-way.   Since I was using existing wires coming up from the switches, I added some junction boxes and tied into those wires rather than pulling new wire. (The electrician stapled the original wiring to the studs everywhere he could. That coupled with insulation in the exterior walls made it very difficult for me to pull new wire.)  The original home wiring was 12-2, and the new wire I ran is 12-3. I did not use any of the ground wire.  If this wiring diagram is accurate, then I may have made a mistake in one of the junction boxes, and will need to figure out where I messed up. I hope it's something I can fix without getting back into the attic.
78647
I want to install central air conditioning in my home but my current service is 100 A, I believe. If I were to upgrade to the 200 Amp service, could the breakers be configured where I have two 100 Amp main breakers? One will be the already existing breaker box servicing the house as usual, and the other would be just for the central air conditioning. Is this possible to configure like this?
60678
In our attic we have a junction box that has the power wire connected to a hallway ceiling light. Can we tap into that to get power to install a bathroom exhaust fan? We would be putting in a double rocker light switch in the bathroom (top switch would be for the vanity light and the bottom switch would be for the exhaust fan switch). How would we wire this?