Warren Hudson
via Joe T.

Looks like he may have a promising career as an electrician! I was doing stuff like this when I was 15.

When I was fifteen I think all my wiring consisted of cord-and plug connected devices I made using old extension cables. That being said, I think this is pretty impressive, but I'd still want to go over it with a fine-tooth comb... If it hasn't been done, I'd suggest GFCI protecting the feeder(s) just for peace-of-mind.

-John

hi all. These are my pictures sent to me by a friend. I was also wondering- has anyone ever seen these "roto-glow" switches? They were made for despard and for a standard toggle switch plate.

BigJohn said:


Ditto here. My wiring setups were zip-cord stapled all along the baseboards with old surface mount receptacles...sometimes it was just plain old extension cords with their own molded-on connectors.

Anyone remember the old "shove plug into this receptacle, staple the cord along the wall, affix surface mount outlet a couple of yards down the wall" type things? I grew up with that kind of wiring.

I was also a big fan of the "drop cord" (dangling lampholder on a piece of cord from the ceiling).

Remember when almost every house & apartment had at least ONE of these surface-mount plastic critters so you could plug in whatever?



I'm surprised they're still manufactured!

[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 04-02-2004).]

Hehehe.... This is giving me flashbacks
I learned most of the electrical trade from my great cousin who was an electrical contractor.... He was just like a father to me, & still is to this day when I was about 8 or 9, he started letting me raid his workvan for all the old stuff he'd taken out of different places.. showing me what does what, not just showing me how it's done, but WHY it's done that way.. (always checking everything I did before I could get anywhere near energizing!) He'd even take me on some jobs during the summer once i was a bit older... by the time I was 18, he was showing me how to assemble gear sections & bus duct.. About when I turned 21, he retired & I had to get a real job I am curious if the young man learned what he knows just from books or if he actually has someone showing him the ropes? One of the first little projects my cousin & I did was similar to this, except it was an old workshed in the backyard... We piped it in sched 40 underground, MC cabled a couple gfi's & a flourescent fixture inside... I was soooo damn proud of that thing Beyond looking for NEC violations, there's a 15 year old boy out there putting his idle time to positive use! I see pride in workmanship, moreso than I think I've seen in 80% of the do-it-yourselfer projects I've come across.. & I hope this boy will continue his desire to learn our trade!

-Randy

Did that you fella do them overheads in the second pic?.
If he did, he made a darn good job of them!.
We've got Lineys here that could only dream of work that neat!.
Randy,
Well yes, I agree there, he could be out smoking Crack and getting into trouble with the law!.
His work is very neat though.

When I was 15 (3 years ago) or so I wired the garden shed. I probably broke every rule in the book doing so. I didn't have any money for the job, so I basically scrounged up what I could, most of it being old since te neighbourhood I lived in was built in the teens and it wasn't uncommon for electrical work to be done there. I used a few of the vintage 1950s T-slot outlets I found in my Aunt's basement, a ceramic outlet and box pulled from an old garage, some knob and tube wiring, a few feet of twin line antenna cable, baling wire covered in electrical tape, an ancient rotary snap switch taken from a drill press, and whatever else I found in my family's basements or the trash. When I did the wiring I paid no attention whatsoever to safety or the NEC; all I cared was that the thing worked and didn't blow fuses or catch on fire.

Most of the wiring is still intact (not for long...); I can get a few pictures before I rip it out and do the wiring right.

Power has been disconnected for the most part ever since the wiring was done; I felt that the end result was somewhat unsafe and only turned the electricity on when I had business in the shed.


Regards,

Tim

I'm about 13-14, and I already have five traffic lights wired in my house. I also repair my own extension cords and electronics (just not anything with a CRT display), and offer to help my father. Forgot to say, nice job to him and hope he takes a job as an electrician.

Ian A.

[This message has been edited by Theelectrikid (edited 08-13-2005).]

Ian,
Just had a mental picture of your mom waiting in the hall for the lights to change, then turning left into the kitchen!
Alan

ps. How do you keep digging up these old gems? It must take hours.

First off I'm also 15 and have been doing electrical work with my dad all summer.

I think that it's great that young teenagers are getting into electrical work if they learn it now they can either turn it into a career, or at the least install recepticals and switches in their house later in life saftely. Almost all my friends would have no idea which end of a screwdriver to hold, much less which wires to hook up in a panel!

When I was 13, we added a second story, and my dad and I did all the electrical. 3 bedrooms, bathroom, darkroom, stairway, entry. I did over half the work, with a copy of the 78 NEC close at hand.
Yes, I actually read major portions of the NEC at that time..

Everything was #12 NM, using PT-70 type crimps (the bare copper crimps that look like a .22 short), with lots of electrical tape (my dad didn't like wire nuts.)

I installed a 3-way in my bedroom for the overhead light, a switched outlet for a reading light, and a switched outlet with pilot for the stereo on the other side of the room, with switches at the bedside.

My brother's room was similar, without the stereo outlet.

3 ways for the upstairs and downstairs hallways, stairs, and attic lights.

GFCI for the darkroom/bathroom, GFCI for the entry/outdoor plant lights.

30A 4 wire feeder for the upstairs subpanel, with 3 circuits for the bedrooms/etc, and one stubbed up to a box in the attic for future
expansion.

We even had to replace the service mast to raise the drop to the second story level.. our next door neighbor pulled the meter, and helped my dad move the live drop (our neighbor was at the time a supervisor with the municipal electrical utility, before he retired a few years later.)

Everything passed inspection, except that we never got the final done until my parents finally sold the house 16 years later.. on final, the inspection turned up one(1) outlet with polarity reversed.

I learned quite a bit that summer, and started doing theatrical lighting a year later.

About the only thing I would have done differently, would have been to use wire nuts, and to not use the back-stab connections. We did use Leviton outlets, and not the cheap junk that I see at Home Depot these days..

Designate both as one-way, then she could do a left on red!

Ian, I guess you're familiar with these websites?

http://www.trafficsignals.net/
http://www.signalfan.com/



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 08-14-2005).]

My first attempts at house wiring were at the age of 6. Under supervison of my dad I moved a light switch that was too high up the wall. That meant chiseling a channel for the cable and hole for the new box, putting in the box and cable and hooking up everything. Finally I put a blank cover on the old switch box and that was it. A few years later I already rewired the entire room. There are some things I'd do differently now (like my plastering skills weren't that impressing back then, and now I'm tall enough to run the feeders horizontal and not sloping downwards even though the range stands in the way), but generally the wiring is up to code and looks a lot better than what was there before.

That is sharp looking work. Good to see more youngins geting in on it thes days. It seems anymore that if it doesn't say GameCube or XBox on it these days kids have no interest or clue for that matter. It's refreshing to see that there are still a few that like to get there hands on, as well as doing there homework. I can really relate to these kids. Personally I am self taught and have been doing electrical all of my life. It is said (jokingly I hope) that I was born with a plug in my hand.

--I can really relate to this kid,
Changed that to these kids. Din't realize that there were so many here. Props to all of ya---

[This message has been edited by IanR (edited 08-16-2005).]

Props go to my mom for teaching me how to inter-connect basic electrical devices (lampholders, extension cords, plugs, switches, etc.) when I was a youngin', in addition to a bit of faucet/pipe work and very rudimentary carpentry.

Okay I think I have some explaining to do.

"Ian,
Just had a mental picture of your mom waiting in the hall for the lights to change, then turning left into the kitchen!
Alan"
I've done that before.
"ps. How do you keep digging up these old gems? It must take hours."
Put it this way, I get really BORED.

"Designate both as one-way, then she could do a left on red!

Ian, I guess you're familiar with these websites?
http://www.trafficsignals.net/ http://www.signalfan.com/

Yes I am very familar with those websites.

Forgot to add this into the mix: I had to help my dad replace our MH's service panel, due to the old one arcing and threatening to take my home to the ground. Also had to help install an dedicated circuit for a new Window A/C. Now, just waiting for nice weather to turn off the "half-house" circuit to turn off the bedroom A/C and replace the bathroom, outdoor, and kitchen recepts with GFCIs.

Ian A.