WOW! It's as if it were described to someone over the telephone.... "So all the wires come into a box ya see..." The person thinks to themselves... 'A box?' "How do them wires get in there?" - "Well ya pop a hole in the side...."

Wow! Somebody went to a lot of effort to do the job wrong! (Where's that "scratching head" smilely when you need it?)

I'm impressed by the use of the white jumper wire to identify the neutral.

Question: How DO you clamp a cable to a wooden box anyway?

Mike (mamills)

No connectors or staples to secure cables? How the wires even stayed their.

You'd almost think that them terminals had been stolen out of a motor.

Hey, it's a lot more substantial than some of the "code compliant" and UL listed plastic boxes I've seen pass inspections

This is what you get when carpenters do electrical work.

Dave

Actually, it looks like he used parts from an old telephone wiring block.

James

I was thinking those blocks were from an older electric range, dryer, or simular kitchen appliance. If memory serves me right they are bussed internal to the bakelite mounting, and the jumpers are superfluous. (extra... sorry for the $5 word) Reguardless, the whole instalation is a bogus animation, and an un-realistic counterfeit. Sh*%, it's just Da*$ funny!

I've seen a basement addition. The vasement of an apartment house (ca. 1900, pretty damp brick basement) is split up into cubicles for the tenants. Originally the cubicles (actually small rooms with more or less solid brick walls) didn't have any wiring, just the hallways were wired with ancient lead cable. At soem point a tenant decided to tap into the libne and get power to his cubicle. He put in a wooden junction box just like the one in the picture, just without the terminal strips (just twisted and taped connections) and a sheet metal cover.

Hi guys,
I recognize those terminals!

Those terminal blocks are railroad equipment. How many of them do you want. I have lots of them. Normally they come with Railroad lightning arrestors or other equipment. The hardware is 1/4-24. Normally 1/4 inch TPI is 20 or 28.

They are readily available, from Saftran, p/n 023612-1X.

Any of the big cabinets next to any crossing will be full of these things. Usually they are mounted under a part that would need to be replaced on a frequent basis, such as a lightning arrestors, or resistors. When you work with those really big parallel ground rods, you need to take lightning into consideration on any installation.

Looking at the picture again, it looks like the wire going to the barn might be railroad signal cabinet wire. Good stuff, most of it is rated at 1000v.
TW

edit to add last paragraph.

[This message has been edited by Trainwire (edited 11-29-2004).]

How about one or two? I got some splices I need to make in my bathroom...

What's the reasoning behind the 1/4"-24 threads? Just to be different, or to discourage theft, like the left-handed light bulbs used in the NYC subways?

Beats me why it's different. I will try and find out. It probably stems from the Railroads, like British Cars, do things their own way, and by God, nothing will change that. (I own, and work on,British Cars and run into the same sort of question). I am sure that at some point there was a long study on torque and holding power and electrical conductivity and speed of installation, or maybe the hardware salesman scored a big sale of some oddball stuff he had in the warehouse and once that was used up they had to stick with it.

I do know the nuts are a design that I have seen nowhere else, and are designed to be used in pairs, as in a second torqued down on the first as a safety. The nuts in the picture go on the bottom, under whatever is mounted to the junction, and then the special ones hold the device to the block.
I will see if I can get pictures. but I have said that before, so we will see if I can get that done.

TW

edited the spelling

[This message has been edited by Trainwire (edited 11-30-2004).]

[This message has been edited by electure (edited 11-30-2004).]

I'll take a stab at a wild guess as to why. Since it's the railroad, it's quite possible that they started making this stuff before screw threads were standardized, and they keep doing it this way to be consistent with the installed base.

After looking closely at the box, I would not even give credit to a carpenter for that job. A carpenter would have made straight cuts on the sides of the box. Looks like a "Handyman Special" to me

Trainwire said...

That's a really strange thread! The British 1/4" fine thread (BSF) is 26 tpi. General Motors used to make a unique thread of 1/4" (GM said 6.35 mm) with a 1mm pitch (25.4 tpi).

they could have at least cleaned up too...lol