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Well, I had assumed a listed adapter would turn the screw base legally into a receptacle for low-power ungrounded appliations like plugging in a string of christmas lights or somesuch, but it's clear from those first 3 codes that there is NO FREAKING WAY that an adapter is EVER legal. How can they continue to sell stuff like that if it's not legal to use?

[This message has been edited by SteveFehr (edited 01-09-2007).]

The grounding (or lack there of) worries me the most. The transformer case running at 7.5 KV or even higher will be a nasty surprise.

But another issue with using a lighting fixture to supply a receptacle is the fact the wiring inside the fixture was designed to power a 60 or 100 watt lamp and will be 18 AWG. Connect a receptacle to those 18 AWGs and start loading them up....somethings going to melt.

EV:
As the 'local insp' there's not much I can do. Once a CO is issued for a premise, it's out of our hands.

The 'neon' signage is inside a window, and it appears that since the HV wiring was field extended, a permit would have been required. A 'plug-in' sign does not require a permit.

Signage like this 'appears'; it's tough to catch the installer.

I gave the pics to the Fire Dept (Fire Prevention) as they do inspections for what some may refer to as prop. maintenance.

Still trying to track down the installer.

John

Aren't these Show Windows? They are used for advertising.
If so, receptacles are required every 12 feet.

I'm just forwarding this post from yaktx

"How can they continue to sell stuff like that if it's not legal to use?"

Legacy of a chicken/egg question, circa 1959.See the bullet point, "Ideal for inclusion in kits for portable electric tools or equipment having 3-wire grounding caps." Adapters like this were a compromise,it seems.

Note that they do provide grounding if one actually bothers to connect that pigtail to the coverplate screw. And connecting it may not help if you haven't verified the availability of a ground. Anyone who knows how to do that knows how to replace a receptacle, right?

Incidentally, they did away with that whip of a green pigtail some years back, since if left hanging (as most of them are), it can contact the hot blade of the plug and energize the frame of the appliance (!!!) All
new cheaters have that little fixed fork. Kinda hard to run that around to an exposed ground screw on the lighting track, isn't it? (Assuming one could be found.)

Legal to use and legal to sell are two different things, I guess.

--yaktx

Umm, what if you have no ground at the box at all, and there's no chance of pulling a new circuit or grounding wire? THEN it's a compromise, IMHO.

Ian (Changing out outlets!) A.

[Answering my own question]

Find the first recept on the circuit, GFI it, and replace the rest with Grounding outlets, with the, "NO EGC" stickers attached.

Ian (Going to ACE tomorrow for GFCIs!) A.

[This message has been edited by Theelectrikid (edited 01-10-2007).]

Ian,

You'll want to remember that the downstream "grounded" recepts protected by the GFCI should NOT have their grounds connected together. Otherwise, if something plugged in gets hot from some source other than the GFCI-protected power, everything on the interconnected grounds ends up with a hot case.

Also, as it relates to the original post, the GFCI trick wouldn't work for the neon light, because the transformer creates a "Seperately-Derived System", and it MUST be grounded to prevent it from floating to dangerous voltages, like n1ist mentioned.

Best!

[This message has been edited by SolarPowered (edited 01-17-2007).]

Thanks for the warning Solar. These old recepts all have non-grounded NM, so there's no grounds to tie together.

Thanks,
Ian A.

[This message has been edited by Theelectrikid (edited 01-17-2007).]