ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Receptacle Control for Christmas Lighting

Good idea.

Neat.
Is that a Cooper dead front gfci?
That looks a lot cleaner than the Leviton and P&S I normally use.

Good concept. Just carious though. Is that you on an aluminium ladder doing electrical work?

In both my home and my brothers home, I installed a 2 ckt time switch next to the breaker panel. All receptacles on the front of the house, including those under the porch eves, are wired thru the switch. I also wired the center porch light thru the switch (there are 3 small can lights) I also mounted 2 sp switches below the time switch. During the Christmas season the switches are left off. All the receptacles are controlled by the timer. The rest of the year, they are on bypassing the timer, making all the receptacles hot, allowing use of tools and such. Robert

Don't remember the manufacturer of the GFCI module, it came off the Lowe's shelf.

Yes that's an aluminum ladder, HOWEVER she (my wife, business partner, and licensed apprentice) was working on de-energized 12-2wg, simply making the pigtails and installing the cut-in boxes and receptacles.

The circuit runs to the GFCI, the neutral continues from load side of GFCI to the receptacles and the hot runs (from load side of GFCI) through the switch and on to the receptacles.

Concerning the ladder, I do have a picture of me doing a tie-in from hot triplex to service pole. Ofcourse that's from a fiberglass ladder.

Should have seen my wife's face the first time I said "Watch this". Showed her the circuit for a light ficture was hot, was standing on a 6'fiberglass ladder (making sure not to be grounded), and touched the hot conductor. PRICELESS!

Matt

I see, you use the fiberglass ladder and the wife uses the aluminium...

Funny thing sparkyinak, that's exactly what I was thinking...

[Should have seen my wife's face the first time I said "Watch this". Showed her the circuit for a light ficture was hot, was standing on a 6'fiberglass ladder (making sure not to be grounded), and touched the hot conductor.] PRICELESS!

One time I "made sure" I wasn't grounded, and my knee touched a control cabinet while I was working on a 480 volt system. Hello 277, goodbye dirty underwear!