Wiring it all up

FireGod said:
I agree with Jeff. A shared neutral is a way to save a bunch of money. In all the industrial control panels I design, we run one neutral (or -24VDC which ever the case may be) wire to the indicator lamps on the panel front. There is no reason to run a neutral to each device since it is the same circuit. The CAT 5 to the SSR only has one positive and one negative and not four of each, same cocept. Almost all circuit boards use a ground plane on the circuit board and this is the same concept.

In the USA, the neutral in your house is tied directly to ground so it is the safest circuit in the house (or the yard).

DIY is all about saving money and doing it yourself. We should be using our knowlege to help others do it safely while being low cost.

I myself use 24 gauge telephone wire, one pair per 150 bulb mini string (0.2 amps). This is a very low cost way of wiring a display.
Click to expand...

Anyone who thinks about using telephone wire make sure you read what he said 150 Bulb of mini is max. The string of lights use either 20 or 18 gauge wire so the string of light has I higher volt/current limit then the line.

Thanks
Robert
 
Where'd you get those cords?

I was wondering, picture 24 in "Ron's Pics" posted in the photo album for the Philly Area mini shows what I believe to be a Renard in a plastic case with about 24 female cords sticking out of the bottom of the box. They appear to be about 18" long 3 conductor female receptacles. Whose rig is that and where did you buy the cords? I know LOR sells them for about $15 for 8, I was wondering if you found a better source?

Anybody else out there have a good source for these extension cords or an alternative? I know some people buy extension cords from the $1 store and trim the ends.

Steve
 
Steve,

Be careful with the dollar store extension cords. The ones that are sold in my area have a very thin (perhaps 24 gauge) wire size and very weak jacket. They are listed as 18 gauge UL approved, although you can easily twist the plugs off the wire and the wire size is clearly not correct. I would not trust their use for any application.

I got my cords from a local discount store that purchased the entire inventory of a drug store that went out of business. I bought 50 six foot cords last month for .65 each. If you're passing though Buffalo drop me a line, he had a bunch more on the shelf.

Bill
 
I think you might be talking about Roy's LOR controllers. DrNiceGuy on PC. He got the boxes from a canadian source (I believe it's the same one LOR uses) They were really inexpensive. Contact him on PC to get the source...
Jeff
 
Steve, I half read your post and didn't realize you were interested in the cords... (stupid me) Roy got the cords from LOR's website... The cases were what he got the good deal on...

Bill, I agree with you about the dollar store cords. They aren't the greatest thing. I bought about 80 of them last year. About half of them are decent moulded plugs. The other half are a snap together plug end that is falling apart after one year of use.

Jeff
 
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