[guest]

Well, old age has finally set in...I had a major senior moment yesterday that could have ended up badly.

I was wiring up a Homeline 6/12 subpanel in my "utility" room to power up my Lighting dimmer system and all of the whole-house electronics. The currently connected loads are one receptacle for the UPS supplying my internet modem and routers and phone system. The other circuit is a temp running into the kitchen for my front load washer. I hadn't wired in any of the dimmer packs or other electronics yet.

Well, I managed to land one leg on the neutral bus and the neutral on one of the breaker bus lugs.

Without checking I turned on both circuits....plugged in my UPS and got a "Building Wiring Fault" warning light....WTF? Only after staring at the panel for a minute or so did I realize the mistake. Somehow, despite getting 240 volts the UPS and connected equipment survived. (I still can't figure out how, I am sure that the breaker placement in that case made for 240v on that receptacle.)

As for the washer, I had unplugged it (but left the surge protector and the cat's water dish plugged in), so I went into the kitchen expecting to find both the surge protector and water dish smoking. But both were ok..because my error simply reversed hot and neutral ....thanks to the breaker placement.

Needless to say in wiring the dimmer pack I have been double and triple-checking everything...it will be powered up later today.

I'll post pics of the panel and dimmer pack, etc. later in this thread.

 

[Meadow]

Well, old age has finally set in...I had a major senior moment yesterday that could have ended up badly.

I was wiring up a Homeline 6/12 subpanel in my "utility" room to power up my Lighting dimmer system and all of the whole-house electronics. The currently connected loads are one receptacle for the UPS supplying my internet modem and routers and phone system. The other circuit is a temp running into the kitchen for my front load washer. I hadn't wired in any of the dimmer packs or other electronics yet.

Well, I managed to land one leg on the neutral bus and the neutral on one of the breaker bus lugs.

Without checking I turned on both circuits....plugged in my UPS and got a "Building Wiring Fault" warning light....WTF? Only after staring at the panel for a minute or so did I realize the mistake. Somehow, despite getting 240 volts the UPS and connected equipment survived. (I still can't figure out how, I am sure that the breaker placement in that case made for 240v on that receptacle.)

As for the washer, I had unplugged it (but left the surge protector and the cat's water dish plugged in), so I went into the kitchen expecting to find both the surge protector and water dish smoking. But both were ok..because my error simply reversed hot and neutral ....thanks to the breaker placement.

Needless to say in wiring the dimmer pack I have been double and triple-checking everything...it will be powered up later today.

I'll post pics of the panel and dimmer pack, etc. later in this thread.

Your an electrician doing your own home and using Homeline? Well it could be worse, could be a GE

 

[guest]

Your an electrician doing your own home and using Homeline? Well it could be worse, could be a GE

LOL Homeline breakers have the exact same internals as QO, minus the Visi-Trip indicator. I used Homeline because I had all the breakers I needed but one 15 amp sp sitting on the shelf.

My main panel is a 225 amp QO (with, for some unknown reason, a 150 amp main breaker) and my laundry room subpanel is going to be a QO 100 amp 30 space main breaker panel (Big Orange has them with 5 20 amp SP breakers included for around $130.)

I rank GE in the same league as FPE and Zinsco...:whistling2:

And after what happened, I forgot to include this on my OP:

Thanks for posting on ElectricianTalk.com. However, working with electricity and electrical systems can be unsafe if not done by a professional licensed electrician. The moderators of this site would like to advise you to contact a professional electrician in your area.

If you are permitted by law in your area to do your own electrical work, please sign up at our sister site, www.DIYChatroom.com where many of our professionals are also members and are looking forward to assist you with your needs.

Please take a moment to post your question at www.DIYChatroom.com If you're not already a member of DIYChatroom.com you can sign up for a free account by going to http://www.DIYChatroom.com/register.php/

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused. This thread has been closed.

:laughing::laughing:

 

[chicken steve]

We've all been there MX

But to follow up your irresistable self deprecating humour> :thumbsup:

Thanks for posting on ElectricianTalk.com. However, working with electricity and electrical systems can be unsafe if not done by a professional licensed electrician. The moderators of this site have enough to do with keeping up appearances , and really don't need the extra baggade of pseudo electricians in a professional forum

If it were permitted by law in , we'd publicly flog you and then sign up at our sister site, www.DIYChatroom.com where many of our professionals are also members and are looking forward to gleefully flogging you as well.

Please take a moment to post your dismal level of trade expertise at www.DIYChatroom.com If you're not already a member of DIYChatroom.com you can sign up for a free account by going to http://www.DIYChatroom.com/register.php/

We apologize for the butthurt that this may have caused. This thread has been hosed.

~CS~

 

[Meadow]

LOL Homeline breakers have the exact same internals as QO, minus the Visi-Trip indicator. I used Homeline because I had all the breakers I needed but one 15 amp sp sitting on the shelf.

My main panel is a 225 amp QO (with, for some unknown reason, a 150 amp main breaker) and my laundry room subpanel is going to be a QO 100 amp 30 space main breaker panel (Big Orange has them with 5 20 amp SP breakers included for around $130.)

I rank GE in the same league as FPE and Zinsco...:whistling2:

And after what happened, I forgot to include this on my OP:



:laughing::laughing:

Same internals but aluminum buss. Not an professional's cup of tea.
I was more expecting along the lines of a main NQOD or I line with 225 amp QO subs.:laughing::jester:


"I rank GE in the same league as FPE and Zinsco..." :yes::yes::yes:

 

[Meadow]

we've all been there mx

but to follow up your irresistable self deprecating humour> :thumbsup:

Thanks for posting on electriciantalk.com. However, working with electricity and electrical systems can be unsafe if not done by a professional licensed electrician. The moderators of this site have enough to do with keeping up appearances, home inspectors, trunk slammers, cletis and really don't need the extra baggade of pseudo half baked electricians in a professional forum

if it were permitted by law in , we'd publicly flog you and then sign up at our sister site, www.diychatroom.com where many of our professionals are also members and are looking forward to gleefully flogging you as well.

Please take a moment to post your dismal level of trade expertise at www.diychatroom.com if you're not already a member of diychatroom.com you can sign up for a free account by going to http://www.diychatroom.com/register.php/

we apologize for the butthurt that this may have caused. This thread has been hosed.













~cs~

fify

 

[erics37]

Dumbass.

:laughing:

 

[HARRY304E]

Your an electrician doing your own home and using Homeline? Well it could be worse, could be a GE

GE...:no::no::laughing:

 

[Meadow]

GE...:no::no::laughing:

:thumbdown::laughing:

Today we are rippin out FPE tmrw itll be GE

 

[dmxtothemax]

How did you get 240 v ?
If you wired between neutral and a hot ?
To me that equals 120 v ?

 

[8V71]

How did you get 240 v ?
If you wired between neutral and a hot ?
To me that equals 120 v ?

His breaker happened to be on the neutral stab. :laughing:

One space up or down.....then 240v.

 

[Joefixit2]

I know just the panel you are talking about. The design makes it easy to do what you did if you are not paying attention, I did it myself once. The line lugs are offset and the neutral lug is where you would expect the other line lug to be. I have also heard of instances where DIYs wired them wrong and let the smoke out of some of their stuff.

In my defense I will say I did not provide the panel, I never use crap from home depot. Also in my defense I will say that the homeowner's wife was talking to me and she was hot!!!:thumbup:

 

[Joefixit2]

How did you get 240 v ?
If you wired between neutral and a hot ?
To me that equals 120 v ?

He put one leg on the neutral and one on a line lug, all the line to neutral loads on that side of the bus are now line to line and the loads on the other side of the bus are 120 V with reverse polarity.

 

[Awg-Dawg]

Wow, I got lucky yesterday....


Happy Birthday!!


Wait.... we aren't talking about the same think are we?

 

[nrp3]

The crap from Home Depot is really the same crap from the supply house. Don't see any difference.

 

[FrunkSlammer]

And just imagine all the work you've done in your life that didn't have a ups checking for quality control. :whistling2:

:laughing:

 

[Cl906um]

Hope you wore protection. It's dangerous out there now a days..

 

[guest]

Dumbass.

:laughing:

Yeah I heard Red Foreman after I did that...and that's what he said.

I know just the panel you are talking about. The design makes it easy to do what you did if you are not paying attention, I did it myself once. The line lugs are offset and the neutral lug is where you would expect the other line lug to be. I have also heard of instances where DIYs wired them wrong and let the smoke out of some of their stuff.

Yep, and here it is with the dimmer circuits wired in.:

The tandem in space #6 is going bye-bye (as well as one of the two 14/2's sharing that clamp on the right, the one with the wirenut on the EGC) when I get the laundry sub panel in place. The breaker in #1 spot is the UPS recept., 2 and 3 are for my audio rack and AMX control system, #4 is the relays in the dimmer (see pic to follow) and #5 is for the quad dimmer module.

The incorrect hookup had black leg on the neutral lug, red leg over where black is now and neutral where red leg is now.

Wow, I got lucky yesterday....


Happy Birthday!!


Wait.... we aren't talking about the same think are we?

I haven't had that kind of lucky in way too many years. :blink:

Anyways, here's the AMX Radia Dimmer:

Left module is a six-channel controller master (there for possible future use), then the 4 channel dimmer (1200w per channel max) and the dual relay module (which CAN be made to dim by moving the black wires on the connectors labelled "A" and "B" connected to the 4 ch dimmer which has 6 channels of control.)

And yes all three of those 3/4" clamps has more than one NM cable in it. :whistling2: The left has the two incoming 15a circuits, the center has the 4 dimmer outputs, and the right has the two relay-controlled loads. (One is a 4" Juno can above the bed for a reading light, the other is for the outside lights at the exterior bedroom door.) There will be a keypad by the interior door to control the bedroom lights. The switch for the outside lights will be a standard Decora, but it will switch low voltage to the AMX controller. (The 9-position connector on the lower left of the dimmer module is for "dry contact" control of the individual channels of the dimmer, but for some reason that whole control is not working. So the reading light and outside light, which were to be switches as I described, will have to talk to the AMX controller instead of directly to the dimmer pack as I wanted.)

The 4-position black connector is for talking to the AMX controller ("Axlink") , and the orange one ("Prolink") goes to the keypads.

A similar dimmer setup will handle the living room and kitchen lighting.

And here is the (unfinished) internet/router/phone/satellite/data board setup:

As you can see from the pics, the sheetrock is not up in this "utility" room yet.

 

[Cl906um]

It sucks. Sometimes too much repetition lets us get complacent. Sometimes I just do stuff not realizing what I did. I am a zombie robot electrician . I start second guessing if I put a panel cover on at the end of the day and think about it till I get back the next. Crazy...

 

[Shockdoc]

"I rank GE in the same league as FPE and Zinsco..." :yes::yes::yes:

my house still has a early 1960s GE panel kicking, alive and well.