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Electrical Troubleshooting
Electrical troubleshooting involves checking and resolving an electrical problem (such as when an electrical device stops working correctly). Common troubleshooting practices include checking if the power is on, the bulb has burnt out, or the breaker tripped.
885 Questions
Broad question.... Never become the path to ground, If the electricity flows across your heart, little as .4 milli amps could stop your heart. If you know its hot or energized and you have to work it hot have someone there with you and make them aware of the hazard and what to do.... worse case scenario. Rule of thumbs is... if your not qualified and more than aware of your actions, pay a little money for a expert and save your family a lot of suffering.
If other outlets and lights are not working after replacing the outlet, it could be due to improper wiring during the replacement process. Check to ensure all connections are secure and correct. If the issue persists, it may be best to consult a professional electrician to assess and rectify the problem for safety reasons.
How do you convert a 120V receptacle to a 240V receptacle for an air conditioner that uses 240V?
A "110" volt outlet cannot be converted to a "230" volt outlet. A 230 volt outlet requires a new wire run to the outlet rated for the appliance you plan on plugging into it. Example an airconditioner that requires a 220 volt 20 amp circuit would have to have a 12/3 w/ground wire run to handle the load. The three wire are usually black,red,white. Black is for 1 120 volt line, red is for another 120 volt line and white is for neutral. On a standard 120 volt outlet there are 2 colored wires (black and whtie) and a bare ground. It's not an easy solution, but it is the only proper solution.
Why would unplugging something from one outlet cause lights plugged into another outlet to turn off?
I would venture to guess that yyour wiring is in series and when a plug is inserted it closes the circuit ie. positive +----- ..... - negative : no plug. positive +-----\-\..... - negative : with plug. hope this helps. pete Check your neutral connections. They may have come open.
What causes the lights in a 4 year old home to dim and brighten for no apparent reason?
It sounds like a loose connection. If it is all lights then look in main panel. If just some lights look at the switch first for loose connections. There is a good chance that the neutral from the service entrance cable to the panel is loose. BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN WORKING IN THE PANEL. Even when the main breaker is off, there is still some power in the panel. If in doubt, hire a licensed electrician.
GFCI receptacles are extremely sensitive, there are any number of reasons this may not be working for you. The first thing you can do is to make sure that the wire feeding your 2 other outlets off of the outside GFCI are connected to the line side of the device. There are 2 sides to any GFCI: the "line" and the "load" side. The line connections are typically at the bottom, and the load at the top.
The load side is protecting all the downstream receptacles on the circuit. Be sure you have the blacks ("hot" or "line") and whites (neutrals) all on the correct side. Any receptacles downstream don't need to be GFCIs because they will automatically be protected if connected to the load side of the first GFCI.
If you want to use GFCIS for the two new receptacles then you should make sure they are both connected to the line side BEFORE the outside GFCI so they will work independently of the outside one.
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As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.
Before you do any work yourself,
on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,
always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.
IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
Why would your lights flicker when your AC unit comes on and how can it be fixed?
Actually I have experienced this problem, as I bet have a lot of other people. An AC uses a large amount of electrical current. Whenever it switches on it causes a temporary power drain and lights will often dim or flicker. My neighbor is a retired electrician from Boeing Aircraft. He said it wasn't dangerous ,and the easiest and cheapest way to eliminate the problem was to limit the use of other electrical appliances. Like running the dishwasher late at night, when the tv(s) were off. Or the washer and dryer separately. Turn off all lights that weren't needed, etc. To prevent your lights from dimming you should have your AC unit on a separate circuit run directly from the main panel. The lights are flickering or dimming because the AC unit draws a lot of current when it starts up causing the voltage to drop on that circuit. Lights are sensitive to voltage fluctuations. Contact a HVAC professional and ask about installing a "hard start kit" on your AC compressor unit to prevent it from drawing the extra power from the house on startup. Some models already have built in supression circuitry and some don't. Yours probably doesn't.
This is a form of corrosion sometimes found on wiring or in the outlets. You need to have a licensed electrician replace the receptacles and to inspect the wiring to see if it may also need to be replaced. Either turn off the breaker or pull the fuse that supplies power to this room until it is repaired.
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Sounds like mold new one on me.
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This suggests to me that the wall holding the outlets is damp - from rising damp, roof or window-frame leaks for example.
Always be sure to switch off the breakers at the main panel before you attempt to do any work on any mains power circuit.
As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.
Before you do any work yourself,
on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,
always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.
IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
Why would lights and TV come on without anyone flipping the switch?
Having the surge protector should not affect individual circuits. It sounds more like to me you have a bad neutral somewhere. By that I mean a wire is loose. So say the light switch or TV is left on and the bad connection is currently open, neither work. So the wind or gremlins in your house do their work and the next thing you know their on because the circuit is now making through this poor connection. If this is the case, this is a bad deal ok. You should have this looked at by a qualified electrician. Now, there is something else it could be, it's called a switch feeder. It could be that somewhere else one of the kids turned on a light switch and poof, other stuff turns on. If this is the case, it's simply a matter of moving a wire from the switched side of the offending switch to the fed side. You can test this by making sure the light you want to come on is in the on position and then walking around the adjacent rooms and flicking on switches. You know, if the boys loosed some neutrals at your panel board when they were trying to find a spot for their surge protector, that would be the bad neutral I was talking about. If you just recently had it done, call them back and tell them what's going on. It will be as simple as removing the panel cover, re-tightening the screws on all the whites. You can do it yourself if you're brave. Just turn off the main and carefully tighten only the screws on the neutral/white bar. There are still places in a de-energized panel that can beat up on you, becareful and good luck.
Andy
AnswerWe had a similar problem several years ago. When we called an electrician to trouble shoot for us we found out that some of our aged "Aluminum wiring" was loose at the panel box internal connections.Some of the connections were dark with evidence of melting & burning. Very Dangerous !! Apparently when aluminum heats up it will shut-off the power, after it cools the power is restored..therefore some lights an the TV were turning off & on on their own.. A sign that there was trouble brewing. We had the electrical panel upgraded & replaced. Eventually over the past few years, we had all the aluminum removed and replaced with copper wiring. No further problems.Is a breaker broken or blown if it will not stay in the off position?
there was probably a hot wire in that mess in that box and you just mistied them when you installed the switch are you sure that was a ground and not a hot going somewhere else
Why would there be no power to a switch?
There could be several reasons why there is no power to a switch, such as a tripped circuit breaker, a disconnected wire, a faulty switch, or a problem with the power supply to the switch. It is important to check the circuit breaker, test the wiring, and inspect the switch to determine the exact cause of the issue.
What are the disadvantages of electricity if it is not handled properly?
If electricity is not handled properly, it can result in electric shock or electrocution, which can cause serious injury or even death. Improper handling of electricity can also lead to electrical fires, damaging property and endangering lives. Additionally, mishandling electricity can result in electrical surges or damage to electrical appliances and devices.
Pictorial: pertaining to or consisting of pictures; "pictorial perspective"; "pictorial records"
Media: In the arts, media (plural of medium) are the materials and techniques used by an artist to produce a work.
So you might just say media containing pictures...
Hope this helps first answer :)
Where can you find answers to tpc training systems tests?
In the training manual. One has to read it and possibly reread it, highlight it, take notes on it.
Where can you download a john deere JS30 wiring schematic?
where can I get a john deere 4300 wiring diagram
How do you identify start and run windings of a motor?
The run winding of a single phase capacitor start motor has a lower resistance than the start winding.
What do you do if your cell phone screen has gone blue?
i am 6 grade and long ago i dropped my phone in a cup of water. it did not work for a long time so i put it away for like months. well i wanted to use it again so i got it and put it in the frezzer for like 4 or 5 minutes chargerd it and now it works even better. put it in the frezzer if water damanged if worked for me.
Why is a fiber optic cable connection faster than a twisted pair cable connection?
In the twisted pair cable connection, the communication occurs over wires which offer resistance that make the connection slow. However, the fiber optic connection uses cylindrical glass that does not have any resistance making it the fastest connection channel.
When talking about refrigeration, a ton is a unit of power. To quote wikipedia:
"In North America, a standard ton of refrigeration is 12,000 BTU/h = 200 BTU/min ≈ 3,517 W. This is approximately the power required to melt one short ton (2,000 lb) of ice at 0 °C in 24 hours, thus representing the delivery of 1 ton of ice per day." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ton)
k is 1000
V is volts
A is amps
basic algebra kVA = (V * A)/1000
120 Volt with 20 Amp would be: (120 * 20)/1000 = 2.4 kVA
What does t1 stand for in electrical terms?
On a schematic for an electronic circuit it usually means a transformer. T1 is the 1st transformer, T2 is the second etc. Some ferrite core wire wound inductors with more than one winding may be designated as T1.
What DMV voltage range do you use to measure house current voltage 110V or 120V?
You must set the range so that the maximum value is greater than the conventional voltage levels in your house. Like, in the United States, the common voltage level is 120 volts RMS, although many homes are equipped with 240-volt service, to accommodate certain appliances, like clothes dryers. (The 240-volt service is really two 120-volt legs.) It's a good idea to set the range higher than expected initially.
Where is the heating element in a dryer?
If the element has failed you will still have 240V going to the element itself: it just won't be causing the element to heat up.
Make sure the dryer is unplugged!
Then take the back off the dryer and pull the element out - it's usually held by just a few screws.
BEFORE YOU UN-CLIP THE WIRES FROM THE ELEMENT write down which wires for the element go where. The wires have clips that will slide right off the element.
Take it to your local hardware or appliance store with the dryer's make, model number and serial number. (That information can be copied from the appliance's rating plate which is may be on the back panel and/or may be fixed just inside the front door.)
Buy a new element which is an exact replacement for the old one and put it back into the dryer in the reverse order that you took out the old one.
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As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.
Before you do any work yourself,
on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,
always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.
IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
Why is a plug live wire brown?
I've been trying to find a satisfactory answer to this through a casual search on the web and nothing jumps out at me immediately which amazes me!
What idiot sitting on some "standards committee" somewhere thought that brown would be a good colour for a live wire?
For starters brown is the colour of earth, so anyone knowing nothing about electricity would assume that brown is earth and that live must be that fancy coloured green and yellow wire with fatal consequences no doubt.
Nature gives us natural warning and danger colours and they are typically vivid colours or unnatural contrasts - such as green and yellow in snakes! Red is also a classic danger colour and means "stop" on traffic lights etc. So...why is the live wire not red ?
From my dim and distant past I can vaguely recall messing around with plugs and wires and in those days I remember the live wire in the UK as being red. So...what caused the change? I suspect some crazy dictate from faceless bureaucrats at the so called European Union lol.
The only reason I can think of for this madness is that major circuits which feed directly into the mains, tend to have live as red and neutral as black (earth is green or green and yellow I think). As a means of distinguishing between the two, brown was chosen as a "shade" of red to mean live - though why not choose vivid orange? Why do we need to distinguish between the two types of circuits anyway?
Unfortunately, I suspect that the real answer lies in some legal case where an idiot was working in building somewhere and mixed up the old style red live of a lighting circuit with a red live straight from the mains and frizzled themselves to death. The family sued because they were short of cash and the legal precendent was set that wiring should be re-labeled in colour (because - displaying warning signs near every electrical outlet was deemed unpractical...doh!)
CommentI think you're probably correct in assuming that it was dreamt up by some idiot in the European Union of Socialist Republics!
How can definitely we say a capacitor is faulty?
You need a multimeter that is capable of testing micro Farads (uF). The capacitor is normally stamped with this rating. Should get a reading within +/- 5% of the rated value. Some Caps. are polarity sensitive so make sure your +/- leads from your meter are correct
