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GFI Outlets.


Robert G.

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I have two GFI outlets (one for each power cord of the LOR) they hold up to 20A each. Last night it was raining, this morning its drying up. I plugged in the cords and enabled shows to test them. One of the GFI's popped which was channels 1-8. I reset it and a few seconds later it popped again. Does this just mean that some cords are still wet and will dry off later on? It's Thanksgiving night and I want to start my show.

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Yes, you have moisture in the connections yet. You may find that lifting all connections off the ground and taping them well to seal out moisture may help alleviate the problerm.



-Gary-

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I would partially agree with Gary :P

Yes, you should raise your connections. IMO, you should not tape them. Reason being is that moisture absolutely has a way to get into places it should not. By taping the plugs, you could trap the moisture inside the plug. Without the tape, they will dry much faster.

If you wish to weatherproof, you could always put your connectors small plastic containers, such as those used for sandwiches.

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Hey Dave, depends on who's doing the taping :) If it's me, moisture would have a better chance of getting into Fort Knox or Bin Ladens hideout :P



-Gary-

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To find your problem spot. Unplug things along that line, reset the GFI, then start plugging things back in. When the GFI trips you have found your problem spot. then you can reset and continue plugging in other things in to find any other items causing trips. You could leave bothersome items unplugged for the night till they dry out while keeping the rest lit.

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Krasley Don wrote:

GFCI's are for human protection period. what are you protecting here? lights? EXTREAM OVERKILL!

It's very possible that a human will come in contact with your display, even if it's only through a puddle or damp ground. Running exterior Christmas lights without GFCIs is risking the life of you and the innocent bystanders who came to see your display.
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Did you happen to notice the Krasley Don profile lists his occupation as electrician?

I use christmas light stakes like this one to elevate my plugs & sockets above the ground. Work well for me.

15_All_In_One_Light_Stake.jpg

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Safety first means that you ask your guest's to refrain from entering the display. Innocent bystanders are on the street or in their vehicle. With all the proactive suggestions you provide your guests with, you can't protect yourself from stupid people! Your greatly mistaken if you think you can! If you think a GFCI is gonna protect you from a lawsuit, you haven't met the shadiest lawyer on the planet yet. Dowe, Cheatum, and Howe will find a loop hole to ruin you.
GFCI's are recommended. But if you dig deep into the code, you will find there are exception for temporary uses like this. Look it up!
There's no way I'm gonna get off of my IBEW card carrying butt and push that little reset button in the middle of a show, in the rain. I've been running 3 years without a single GFCI in the mix.
I did static for years before I got my lor stuff. After the first year, I axed all the GFCI receptacles because of the nuisance tripping all the time.

There was an indecent here in the city of Lancaster where 2 kids climed over a fence and past the no trespassing signs, climbed on top of a box car and got electrocuted from the overhead power lines. The kids were lucky to be alive after that! They got a shady lawyer and beat the railroads big lawyers and got millions! Stupid always triumphs over big evil!
I'm usually on with my username reversed. But for some reason I try to log on with this computer and I always get errors! I did the request more than a few times to get my login information, but I guess there always too busy to send the information, and yes I did check my spam folders! But my show runs on my laptop and I don't want to interfere with the show, so I did this account!

IBEW LU 743, brother. Don't get too excited!

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To me, it's not about what's legally required. But if you say the wiring is temporary, will you be removing the outlets at the end of the season?

GFIs are like seatbelts, only a fool would say they are a bad thing. And then to suggest that someone else make that same foolish choice is way out of line.

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As Jeff said, anyone could stumble on this thread in the future and try to glean some knowledge from it. Before you even considers running without GFCIs, please read what the Consumer Product Safety Commission has to say about them:
http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/99.html


Robert G, I apologize for not providing any information related to your issue. I also believe that trying to seal moisture out is a losing battle.

I try to keep any exposed connections suspended off the ground using something non-metal (like a wooden stake). I try to angle the socket end of extension cords down so water does not accumulate in the socket. I try to shield the connections from rain with inverted cups etc. that keep the rain off the connections but allow any moisture that does occur to easily evaporate.

Also, the leakage current that trips a GFCI is a total of all leaks in all cords connected to that GFCI circuit. So if it's several low level leaks adding up to trip the GFCI, you can improve your situation by splitting up your power connections among several outlets (all GFI protected of course ;) ).

While we may not all agree on the best way to keep GFCIs from tripping, most of us agree that a night without a show is better than a life without a loved one.

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Guest wbottomley

From my experience... I had one controller that began tripping out the GFCI outlet the other night. Worked fine until then.

So, I could not figure out what the heck was going on with this sucker. I took the controller inside, examined it good and it still tripped the outlet. I took the board out then lo-and-behold, a lady bug had shorted the hot and neutral on the backside of the board. After removing the hussy, LOL, it worked great.

One year I did not put a make-shift fence around my mega tree area and that's when people began walking up to the trees and started taking pictures. Since then, I put the fence up every year but you cannot control stupid people. God knows they're an abdunce of them anymore looking to sue, sue, sue!

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rwertz wrote:

Don't tell me that William. We've been infested with them this year. First it was stink bugs, and then the lady bugs appeared.

Good Lord I dislike stink bugs. And they get into everything here... half the time you don't see them but then you start to smell that sickening sweet "banana" smell. :(

At any rate, throw another opinion that it's "retarded" not to use GFCI outlets when you're doing a large display. I know I've been shocked in the past a few times without them and while I considered it a learning experience... I don't think my visitors would look at it quite the same. ;)

-Jeff
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Robert G. wrote:

I have two GFI outlets (one for each power cord of the LOR) they hold up to 20A each. Last night it was raining, this morning its drying up. I plugged in the cords and enabled shows to test them. One of the GFI's popped which was channels 1-8. I reset it and a few seconds later it popped again. Does this just mean that some cords are still wet and will dry off later on? It's Thanksgiving night and I want to start my show.

I bought 100 Cord connects.

From website:
Protect outdoor extension cords from damage & disruptive disconnects! Tough, protective casing closes easily around each end of connected cords, then twists to lock cords together, forming a weatherproof, water-tight with provided gasket. Electrical connection stays dry and secure; provides greater safety when using power tools and outdoor lighting. 4-1/2" L x 2-1/2" diam.

These can be found at:
http://www.harrietcarter.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/categoryID/B92D2752-6B64-4E2F-B5B2-F53F79E62D75/productID/F275CE82-193A-4CE2-9240-33506A0F30F4

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-GREEN-CORD-CONNECT-KEEP-CORD-CONNECTIONS-DRY_W0QQitemZ250538562050QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a55431202

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/Cord-Connect-Connects-Cords-Indoors-Outdoors-NEW_W0QQitemZ250534221649QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a5500d751

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/CORD-CONNECT-WATERTIGHT-CORD-LOCK-ORANGE-Set-of-3_W0QQitemZ120496344556QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c0e244dec

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/CORD-CONNECT-WATERTIGHT-CORD-LOCK-GREEN-Set-of-3_W0QQitemZ280427279491QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item414ac4b483

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-GREEN-CORD-CONNECT-KEEP-CORD-CONNECTIONS-DRY_W0QQitemZ250534292670QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a5501ecbe

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/Cord-Connect-for-extension-cords-power-tools_W0QQitemZ280315239995QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4144171e3b

These are better than the other one someone posted on here from http://www.littlegreenhouse.com website place.

I called the Harriet Carter company, and asked them if I buy 100 will they offer me a discount and they sold them to me for $3 each. It was back in February.

This has a foam seal that goes in between the male and female plugs. Once they are pluged in, the unit screws tight together in turn make a waterprrof seal. It works so good, that every year I have used them, one is always under a puddle. and then freezes in the puddle later in the year.


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I agree with rwertz going by NEC code 590.3 recepticals must be removed at the end of the 90th day period

I would recomend using a gfci anyway because if the gfi trips at the split second some one would be shocked they probably won't get injured or even get shocked plus what if you have a light set leaking power somewhere and you your self touch a wet railing on a porch or a decoration that fell over you could be shocked all out door instaliations must be ground fault protected look it up if I am wrong what code goes against what I said



we just don't want anybody to get hurt

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rwertz wrote:

Don't tell me that William. We've been infested with them this year. First it was stink bugs, and then the lady bugs appeared.

Are you sure they're lady bugs? What we've got around here are Japanese beetles. They seem to come out in droves in the fall. They look just like lady bugs except for the fact that they're mostly a brown color with black dots. Oh yes - and unlike a lady bug, these suckers bite. This time of year they're hunting for some place to keep warm. I had a controller go haywire and when I opened it up, it was infested with dozens of these little bastards. After getting rid of them, drying the controller out and replacing both fuses which had blown it worked okay. Now its part of my daily patrol to open the cases and check for bugs - literally.
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George Simmons wrote:

Are you sure they're lady bugs?

I think so. This didn't turn out real good. My cell phone camera doesn't have a macro function and they've been dead for a a couple days.




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