roknjohn Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 TitanBry77 wrote:That sounds like one mean setup John! Nice!Well, it helps that our family business is mechanical contracting. Two of my brothers are licensed electricians and plumbers. I choose not to go into the business (having worked many summers with them through school) but I have enlisted them quite a bit with this first show. We all live in the same small town that we grew up in, so they are close by, and so is their shop (packed full of all kind of useful stuff - it's better than a Home Depot!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l0chte Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 TitanBry77 wrote:Well I'm ok now because what I did was run a 50ft heavy duty outdoor cord to a plug out back, so each box is only pulling around 9amps and it's on 2 different circuits. We did the same thing, We are running about 10-12 amps on both sides so we had to run a cord to the back of the house lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownTown Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 TitanBry77 wrote: Hey all,What do most of you do with plugging in to receptacles. Have you gotten dedicated lines/breakers now?I've installed fourteen 20 amp circuits to power my outside lights. I never use more than about 158 amps at any given instant...D.T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l0chte Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 DownTown wrote:TitanBry77 wrote: Hey all,What do most of you do with plugging in to receptacles. Have you gotten dedicated lines/breakers now? I've installed fourteen 20 amp circuits to power my outside lights. Never use more than about 158 amps at any given instant...D.T.-He says nonchalantly.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownTown Posted December 6, 2011 Share Posted December 6, 2011 l0chte wrote: DownTown wrote:TitanBry77 wrote: Hey all,What do most of you do with plugging in to receptacles. Have you gotten dedicated lines/breakers now?I've installed fourteen 20 amp circuits to power my outside lights. Never use more than about 158 amps at any given instant...D.T.-He says nonchalantly..It's cool, because you can see the inside lights dim to the beat of the music that's playing, as the outside lights use all the juice... D.T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitanBry77 Posted December 7, 2011 Author Share Posted December 7, 2011 roknjohn wrote: TitanBry77 wrote:That sounds like one mean setup John! Nice!Well, it helps that our family business is mechanical contracting. Two of my brothers are licensed electricians and plumbers. I choose not to go into the business (having worked many summers with them through school) but I have enlisted them quite a bit with this first show. We all live in the same small town that we grew up in, so they are close by, and so is their shop (packed full of all kind of useful stuff - it's better than a Home Depot!)Haha, yeh, I am an HVAC contractor, often times I have wished I didn't go in to the trade but overall it has been pretty good to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitanBry77 Posted December 7, 2011 Author Share Posted December 7, 2011 l0chte wrote: TitanBry77 wrote:Well I'm ok now because what I did was run a 50ft heavy duty outdoor cord to a plug out back, so each box is only pulling around 9amps and it's on 2 different circuits. We did the same thing, We are running about 10-12 amps on both sides so we had to run a cord to the back of the house lol.I gets the job done right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitanBry77 Posted December 7, 2011 Author Share Posted December 7, 2011 Wow... 14 -20 A Circuits!~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CKSedg Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 DownTown wrote: TitanBry77 wrote: Hey all,What do most of you do with plugging in to receptacles. Have you gotten dedicated lines/breakers now?I've installed fourteen 20 amp circuits to power my outside lights. I never use more than about 158 amps at any given instant...D.T.I have just less than 30,000 lights, and never pull more than 16 amps at any given time. The reason??? LED lights! I can't recommend them enough. I have only two circuits to run them all right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeiilll Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 I installed 12 - 20 amp GFI receptacles under my front deck running from a new 125 amp sub panel to power everything.Lots of power for whatever looks like fun for the coming years!Bill Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeiilll Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Hard to see the other 2 sets of outlets under the deck, but they are every other post down through there. Gives me 4 outlets per set for plug in.Since I am running LEDs, I suppose I could bring the microwave and the coffee maker out there and enjoy things while the show is running! Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Pursel Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 FYI. I added a 100amp panel to my garage which has alleviated all of my problems. For now anyway! I still also use the following technique. If your desperate you may want to consider your air conditioning condenser circuit. Most are 220/30 amp circuits with 10 ga wire and if your lucky and a ground/neutral wire was run along with your grounded conductors you can tap into this outside circuit by adding an outside fused/breaker box for adding additional recepticals and the use of temporary lights for Christmas. Just remember that the neurtral has to be kept under 30 amp since it's carrying those electrons for both circuits which can exceed the capacity of the 10 ga wire. The neutral IS NOT protected. I use a fused disconnect and 2 - 15amp fuses tied into the a/c box. This same disconnect is switched off and locked during the cooling season. Obviously this is a "Don't try this at home" unless you KNOW what your doing. It won't pass code either. But I believe it's safe if you perform your calculations correctly and watch your current draw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CKSedg Posted December 11, 2011 Share Posted December 11, 2011 Dave Pursel wrote: FYI. I added a 100amp panel to my garage which has alleviated all of my problems. For now anyway! I still also use the following technique. If your desperate you may want to consider your air conditioning condenser circuit. Most are 220/30 amp circuits with 10 ga wire and if your lucky and a ground/neutral wire was run along with your grounded conductors you can tap into this outside circuit by adding an outside fused/breaker box for adding additional recepticals and the use of temporary lights for Christmas. Just remember that the neurtral has to be kept under 30 amp since it's carrying those electrons for both circuits which can exceed the capacity of the 10 ga wire. The neutral IS NOT protected. I use a fused disconnect and 2 - 15amp fuses tied into the a/c box. This same disconnect is switched off and locked during the cooling season. Obviously this is a "Don't try this at home" unless you KNOW what your doing. It won't pass code either. But I believe it's safe if you perform your calculations correctly and watch your current draw.Nope, won't pass code, because it is ILLEGAL. Wouldn't do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Pursel Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I said it wouldn't pass code. I said "Don't try this at home". The guy was looking for feedback on what some of us obsessed light finatics are doing with our setups. Illegal is one thing. Unsafe is another. I've talked to a licensed electrician and there is nothing unsafe about this is you mind your P's and Q's. Remember it is temporary only for a tad over a month. I would be grateful for your feedback if you think I'm going to burn my house down or electrocute someone. And you can send me an email offline if you'd like. I don't claim to know it all and I'm always willing to learn even though I'm an old dog. Tx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve synek Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 As an electrical inspector................I would comment that there are legal, code compliant ways to tap off of some of the AC disconnects. As a simple response, I would add that the maximum fuse or circuit breaker protecting a 15 or 20 amp receptacle used for power to a controller is 20 amps.Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhandik Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I found a product called Kill-A-Watt that you can measure your actual power consumption. It costs like $30 or so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Pursel Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Sorry for stepping on your toes TitanBry77. After I gave you my two cents worth, I received a response and I forgot I was in your posting. So I'm going to repost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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