Electrical Answers, questions and conversation pieces

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Get solar installed and Save

Here in the backward world we have to think backwards to understand our future. The amount of energy we will be consuming in our lifetime is directly related to our retirement. Power companies have risen electric prices for their own benefit not yours. How can we save money now by investing solar and batteries?

Property taxes, Maintenance cost vs Solar cost

Consider how much your home will appreciate today. If you track back 32 years, has your house appreciated? Maybe if you have invested your own cash. Lets say you spent $80,000.00 on additions and home repairs, $30,000 property taxes. So what is the return on that decision? Do you stand a chance getting that cash back someday? Write offs do not work anymore only huge corporations benefit from write-offs anymore.

The type of energy we buy today is the highest utility bill in the household. If you were to invest same amount you paid power company for 32 years, 200 a month for 12 months = 2400. Then $2400×32=$76,000.00.

$76,000+$110,000=$186,000

$186,000 solar array would give you free power your entire life plus power company would have to pay you a check each month. Why do they build their own solar fields 1,000’s of solar panels and raise our power bills?

On top of loosing our entire lives to these people, we are loosing property taxes paid due to fake real estate appreciation. Real Estate has been the money making scheme for Bankers and City tax collectors for years.

Appreciation is the ONLY way to make money on a home investment unless you are an real estate investor. The loan companies make more than you do throughout the entire existence of your home. Why buy a home when you are guaranteed to lose? I can’t answer why people do not invest in solar when that is the ONLY way to get return on one home investment. Solar is directly tied to the square foot of your roofs.

So what is the answer?
Take a look DSIRE website to get you financial grant money.

Make your comments now, tell others of your experience if you installed a Solar system on your home. Let everyone know how much you saved!

45 thoughts on “Electrical Answers, questions and conversation pieces”

  1. on my 60 to 100 amp question what i am hoping to find out is what size wire should be ran from 60 amp disconnect to the panel in garage and should i only have a 60 amp breaker in garage panel verses the 100amp breaker the panel came with? thank you

    • According to your first question, you ask, “what is needing to be done to feed a 100 amp panel from the 60 amp disconnect?” end of your statement. I think I answered you saying you can’t feed a 100amp panel with a 60amp disconnect. And the correct way would be to build it by serving a 60 amp disconnect and fuse it down if needed to prevent overload on the first panel. With this, you should be okay. The wire size for a 60amp disconnect will be #6 copper stranded. Remember I’m assuming you are building the entire feeder to code.

  2. i have a utility meter pole fed from under ground i am needing to put upa service disconnect below the meter and that disconnect will feed a panel in the garage. question is what is needing to be done to feed a 100 amp panel from the 60 amp disconnect?

    • I am not sure if you made a mistake in your comment but nevertheless, you cannot safely feed a 100amp panel with a 60amp disconnect no matter what material you used. If you made a mistake and its the other way around it may work. Let me know!

  3. An update.
    Ah-ha! I found a site that says,
    “1000w AC is the same as 1000W DC
    Convert AC amps to DC amps multiply by ten. 10 Amps AC is 100 Amps DC.
    Convert DC amps to AC amps divide by ten. 100 Amps DC is 10 Amps AC”
    Given that, my 3.327 amps (in AC) would equate to 33.27 amps in DC?

  4. Hi, thanks for the site.
    I have been looking all over the web without luck for an answer to this conversion problem. This is kinda complicated.
    I am interested in going solar and have been learning a lot about it. I am interested in powering a device that runs on 12v DC. Normally this device plugs into a 12v power supply that plugs into the wall, (AC).
    Since solar is DC, I would like to use that DC electricity to power the device. To save the loss in converting to AC and then back to DC.
    I already know that the power supply that powers the device uses 366 watts at the wall (3.327 amps) when it is running.
    It has 2, 12 volt DC connectors that go to the device.
    Now… How would I determine the current running through the 2 DC lines that power the device, given the above facts, so that I can figure out what will be needed from a solar array?
    Thanks again for any help you may provide.

  5. My basement has a 15 amp lighting circuit using incandescent bulbs. I am installing a suspended ceiling using halo H71CT recessed lighting cans. In those cans I am using BR30 LED flood light bulbs. Each bulb uses 15 watts of energy. How many of those 15 watt LED bulbs can I safely use on that 15 amp circuit without overloading the circuit?

  6. My intermatic ss7 in wall timer stopped working and I decided to replace it with a regular light switch since the box it is in is limited for space and won’t fit the newer in wall timers. My problem is there are 4 wires that were connected to the ss7. Two of them are orange and are taped together and were connected with a wire nut to the black wire on the timer. The other wires are brown. These were connected the same way to the red and blue wires on the timer. My question is what wires do i need to connect to the switch to get it to operate properly. The light switch I bought is a standard single pole switch with 2 screws on one side and a ground on the other.

  7. I would like to know if I can do the following: I have a floor stand light which is rated for a 100 W bulb. I would like to use this lamp for my green iguana’s light above its platform. I however need to use a 100 W self ballasted mercury vapour UVB bulb called Powersun UV in the fixture but the recommendation is to use a ceramic socket. The light fixture does not currently have a ceramic fixture. I did some research and found I could purchase a medium base light bulb socket porcelain extender/E26 1″ or a Leviton 20005 medium medium base 1 piece adaptor/extendor, incandescent, glazed porcelain lamp extender which would screw into the current light fixture. My question is can I use either of these extenders in the existing light fixture and then just screw the power sun self blasted mercury vapour UVB lamp bulb into that and use the floor light over my iguana’s platform to provide the correct type of lighting for the reptile. If I can do this it would be great as the light fixture looks lovely compared to those brown covers you buy at pet shops and I would not have to find some type of pole system to hold that ugly thing up on. Thanks for your help as I would like to purchase the extender as soon as possible and get the proper light going to prevent my iguana from getting metabolic bone disease.

    • Read your specifications on that lamp again because I think it is rated for 100 watt incandescent or florescent only. If you are changing the connection point so you can safely use that ballast bulb you would be modifying the fixture to accommodate that new ballast bulb. Modifying the original intent of any fixture passed by UL would be a code violation. Read the book on your fixture. But if you are just trying to get by for the time being and you are careful it should work for temporary purposes. But I cannot tell you it safe because you are physically modifying the original intent of the fixture itself by adding that new medium ceramic base. Any violation of the National Electric Code is serious.

  8. I want to buy a 1950 house with the old fuse box. If I wanted to put in a 200 amp box would I need to rewire the whole house? And, could you give me a very rough estimate on the whole job. 3 bdrm, basement, 2250 square feet.

    • Unless new wiring has been installed and inspected you will have to rewire. The cost will vary greatly. Depends on your location, I am in the south. But I would give you a 4-5 dollar per square foot price for a basic re-wire not counting the breaker panel or light fixtures.

    • I should think that the first thing to do is to check if the feeder cable can support 200 amps. In the 50’s, it was not uncommon for entry service to be 60 or 100 amps only.

      Answer man: Would the old wiring have to be replaced if it would reach the breakers in the new panel? What about a branch panel, so the homeowner wouldn’t have to replace the old wiring?

      Vince

      • In that year range main residential fuse box feeder wire were normally served overhead from closest utility pole. Now-a-days most of the time that overhead line from the pole to house is automatically replaced by power company if a re-wire has been done.
        My answer to rubydo was

        ElectricalAnswerMan-Unless new wiring has been installed and inspected you will have to rewire. The cost will vary greatly. Depends on your location, I am in the south. But I would give you a 4-5 dollar per square foot price for a basic re-wire not counting the breaker panel or light fixtures.

        Regarding your reply to me, you not suppose to re-use any original wiring, branch circuits or otherwise. When a re-wire permit is pulled the electrician is obligated to include a new riser and panel. And in that house if a underground feeder had been installed it would have been re-placed too, same as overhead. Every inch of wire and all devices have to be new on re-wires.
        The NEC speaks none about rewiring. NEC only covers new installations. The decision to rewire is up to each city. I have never been able to pull a permit in any city and been allowed to reuse original wiring. I have worked in several states.
        thanks for your reply.
        thanks for your reply.

  9. Most bizzare thing has me puzzled to no end. Own mobile home for 6 yrs with updated non aluminum wiring. Few wks ago one series (100 amp box) on a 15 amp breaker went down but didn’t trip breaker. tested all breakers at box and amperage was good. stove is on separate 50 amp on left side of panel. had to plug in 110 air conditioner to separate outlet that worked. turned on stove burner and all that series came back on..kitchen & dining lights, outlets & porch light now worked. turned off stove burner but clock was lit and all was fine for few days. plugged air conditioner in on that series and within a few hours lost power to that series again. turned on burner and it all came back on but the air conditioner didn’t seem to have much power..i turned the oven on with the burners and bam the air conditioner had full power. turned off burner and oven and series went out again and so did stove. now stove wont stay on when I turn off burner and series dies. thought maybe a short in stove board so I unplugged the stove. series went out again and will only come on if I plug the stove in and turn it on. It make no sense. How can a totally separate appliance have control over my 15 amp series on opposite side of box? I know I need a pro but have you ever heard of such a thing? I’m afraid the electrician is gonna think im bonkers when I tell him my stove suddenly controls my lights & outlets LOL!

    • You need to have your feeder connections checked to see if they are loose or corroded at your main service panel. If they are okay check you buss bar in you panels to see if the buss bar is bad. But most likely it’s a bad feeder connection if you have all new wiring like you stated.

  12. Hi, I am building a small woodshop using 120 volt tools. I removed the old a/c condensing unit behind the house which was connected to the main panel using 10-2 wire into double 40 amp breakers. The length of the run was about 8 feet.

    I would like to know the size of wire I need to run 70 feet to my shop. I am going to run it through electrical pvc conduit. And can I use the two existing 40 amp breakers going to the sub-panel mounted in my shop? Also, I’m using surge protectors on all plugs.
    Thank you for your help.

  13. I live in a mobile home. last night a curcuit with 2 duplex receptical and the front porch light went out. I checked the recepticals with my multi meter took probes and stuck them in line and nutruel and got no reading. Then I put the probes in line and ground and got 120 volt reading. What should I check for?

  14. The NEC says a kitchen must have 20 A circuits, any outlet within 10 feet of the sink must be GFCI protected. In my kitchen, the GFCI is provided by a Lutron GFCI outlet. But the outlet is only 15 A. (Lutron says that the device can “pass” 20 A, but doesn’t the 15 A rating of the GFCI breaker reduce the kitchen circuit to 15 A??

  15. I need to control a 12vdc relay via 9 different 12v sources. If I put a 12v diode on each of the 9 12v lines to the relay, will the diodes prevent back feeding on the other 8 lines/sources when only 1 line/source is active/on?

  16. I recently tried to replace a outside light fixture on the corner of our house. The fixture that I replaced was photoelectric and had some sort of electronic box inside. I attempted to do a simple wiring to a basic motion detector type of fixture. The light is on a circuit with 3 other fixtures corners of our house. When
    I switched power to the circuit, the lights came on for just a second, then went off, without tripping a breaker. It continues to do that every time I flip one of the 3 switches to this circuit (outside security/flood lights). What is happening and how do I solve this problem? I suspect a short of some type, but some of the lights were working just fine before I attempted to replace one of the fixtures, etc. Thanks, for any help!

    • The small box you are seeing inside the fixture is the actual switch. When the fixture is turned on in daytime or nighttime the photo eye closes that black sealed switch and that allows power to flow to the light bulb and it’s glows. If it’s daytime it senses the daylight very quickly and it switches off after a very short amunt of time, just a second or two then it switches off. At the end of your question you said SOME of your lights were working, is this a type-o? If so and you are satisfied with my answer please share my site by placing my link on any social platform. Thanks

  17. hello, I am having problems understanding a wiring diagram of a buck booster. I am trying to use it as a buck to knock 246vac down to 230vac for a tanning bed. I don’t understand what the capital A and capital B and the lower case A and lower case B stand for. any help would be appreciated

    • First you need to check the allowed voltage range on that peice of equipment or tanning bed. Usually, an allowance of -+10% of the applied voltage will not damage the equipment but check the range on the nameplate to make sure. And the A or B is not a standard electrical symbol so it must be specific to that tanning bed. It would make since for it to be A-phase or B-phase but without looking at the diagram I am unsure. You can upload your schematic and I can look at it for you.

  18. I have an electrical box on the wall which originally was a light fixture. The box was closed off because a ceiling light was installed on the same light switch in that room. I would like to wire a sconce light on that box.The color of the wires in the box is not visible. Two wires are capped with a wire nut and two other wires are capped off with a wire nut. There is also a single wire with a wire nut and I can see the ground wire in the back of the box. How do I determine whats what?

  19. I have a Craftsman 5.5 amp bench grinder that I want make variable speed. My idea is to build a quad box with a rheostat and an outlet and a cord to the outlet side. Is this a workable plan? I have already been to an electrical supply business and was told they didn’t carry anything but a rheostat for a ceiling fan. First, do you have a better idea? Can you tell me where to get what I need online and maybe the right way to wire this thing? Thanks, Stan

    • There are several reasons. I need to know if you have experienced any other problems with any other fixtures in your home? halogen get extremely hot too, are the can lights built for the halogen bulbs? Do you have insulation on top of the cans? If the cans themselves are not rated for direct insulation laying on top of the cans this may be causing the problem, they may be overheating because of the insulation and the internal tripping mechanism is tripping. Look for IC or non-IC rating on the cans. IC is for insulation and non-IC is not suppose to have insulation on top of them.

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