I TOTALLY FIXED IT! It was wired right, it's just when I shoved the whole thing in the box some of the wires broke. All the wires from the power side - the ones I twisted, screwed down, unscrewed, then re-screwed. Copper's malleable, but not THAT malleable.
Anyway, I very carefully re-stripped and attached the wires, taped everything down, and gingerly screwed it back together and it totally works. Dixie (who doesn't seem to care whether the fence is off or on) is contained. Her water is iceproof. And I even have a switch so I can saw in the barn without walking out back and unplugging the fence. Booyah!
Showing posts with label electrical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label electrical. Show all posts
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Why do I do this to myself?
The fence is not back on. As I was whining about the latest string of disappointments to G on IM, he tried to console me by saying he'd still be standing in the living room wondering what to do. I pointed out that he'd be standing in the living room, putting his wallet back up, about $200 poorer, and the fence would be working. I am not a happy camper.
After I showed yall the melted plug, I went to the hardware store and got a new outlet. (Trip 1.)
Well. Here's some pics for Aarene and Jim.
I tied my makeshift fish tape (mason's string) to the cord and pulled it out. Unhooked the cord, hooked up the Romex, pulled really hard for a little while, and realized I'd be totally screwed if the string broke. Headed to Home Depot (2) and purchased a real fish tape and some wire lube (which I totally would've overlooked if Aarene hadn't told me it exists.)
My inner 12 year old boy was deeply amused by it. Heh heh, heh heh. You said... lube. Heh heh, heh heh.
It was cold today so I put on my TOTALLY AWESOME NEW PURPLE HAT! G got it for me at the Sierra Trading Post outlet and I hadn't had a chance to wear it yet! Have you ever seen anybody so happy to be wearing purple Carhartt?
Then I lubed up my stiff wire (heh heh, stiff) and pulled it pretty easily through the pipe (heh heh, pipe).
That was my last great victory and I should've quit for the day right then.
Got the outlet wired up, correctly I think - it's hard to screw them up - then headed in the barn. 100' of extension cord had worked just fine, so I bought 100' of romex. But the extension cord was laying on the ground by the wall, and I tacked the romex up properly in the rafters, so I ran short. I thought I'd be clever and end the 100' piece in another outlet, cause you can't have too many, so back to HD (3) for another 25' of romex, a box, another outlet, and - even more cleverness! a switch.
See, with the Extension Cord Solution, I discovered that I had to unplug the fence to use the saw in the barn. It was mildly annoying. I wanted a switch to switch the fence outlet off and on - plug in the saw, flip the fence switch off, saw stuff, flip the switch back on. It's totally doable. That's why switches exist.
I looked up how to wire it all up on like 5 different sites, and they all agreed, so I wired it up. Ground from the "power" line to the switch ground. A pigtail ground from the switch to the receptacle. Ground from the "fence" line to the receptacle ground.
Black goes through the brass screws on the switch and over to the brass screws on the receptacle. White from the power line skips the switch and goes to the silver screws on the receptacle. White from the fence line goes to the silver receptacle.
Black from the switch and black from the fence line on the brass screws.
I'm pretty sure that's right. It makes sense.
After I took those pictures, I taped both fixtures and went to shove the whole mess in the box. That's when I realized I'd hooked up the power line without bothering to run it through the box. Unscrewed everything. Ran the wire through the box. Hooked everything back up. Breathe deep.
Then I killed the power in the barn, doublechecked it was really truly off at the outlet, and hooked up the "power" line to the last existing outlet. When I turned the power back on, I was delighted to see that the last outlet still worked! I was less delighted to see that the new outlet did not work!
I also realized that the teeny weeny headache I've been rocking for two days is a sinus headache. I decided to quit for the day. Left the barn power off and came in the house. The cable modem was not working.
I figured it was mad because I'd turned off ALL the power while figuring out which fuse controls the barn outlets. Tried all the normal rebooting tricks. Nothing. Stopped to think about it for a minute, then strolled back out to the fuse panel - the barn fuse panel, not the house panel - and calmly flipped the fuse for the barn outlets back on. By the time I made it back in the house, the cable modem was working fine and the internet was back. Nothing surprises me about this house anymore.
I am going to eat dinner then go back out and disassemble the switch thingie and just fucking wire nut the two pieces of romex together in the damn box and call it good. Who cares if you can't use power tools without walking 100' to the fence and unplugging it.
After I showed yall the melted plug, I went to the hardware store and got a new outlet. (Trip 1.)
Well. Here's some pics for Aarene and Jim.
I tied my makeshift fish tape (mason's string) to the cord and pulled it out. Unhooked the cord, hooked up the Romex, pulled really hard for a little while, and realized I'd be totally screwed if the string broke. Headed to Home Depot (2) and purchased a real fish tape and some wire lube (which I totally would've overlooked if Aarene hadn't told me it exists.)
My inner 12 year old boy was deeply amused by it. Heh heh, heh heh. You said... lube. Heh heh, heh heh.
It was cold today so I put on my TOTALLY AWESOME NEW PURPLE HAT! G got it for me at the Sierra Trading Post outlet and I hadn't had a chance to wear it yet! Have you ever seen anybody so happy to be wearing purple Carhartt?
Then I lubed up my stiff wire (heh heh, stiff) and pulled it pretty easily through the pipe (heh heh, pipe).
That was my last great victory and I should've quit for the day right then.
Got the outlet wired up, correctly I think - it's hard to screw them up - then headed in the barn. 100' of extension cord had worked just fine, so I bought 100' of romex. But the extension cord was laying on the ground by the wall, and I tacked the romex up properly in the rafters, so I ran short. I thought I'd be clever and end the 100' piece in another outlet, cause you can't have too many, so back to HD (3) for another 25' of romex, a box, another outlet, and - even more cleverness! a switch.
See, with the Extension Cord Solution, I discovered that I had to unplug the fence to use the saw in the barn. It was mildly annoying. I wanted a switch to switch the fence outlet off and on - plug in the saw, flip the fence switch off, saw stuff, flip the switch back on. It's totally doable. That's why switches exist.
I looked up how to wire it all up on like 5 different sites, and they all agreed, so I wired it up. Ground from the "power" line to the switch ground. A pigtail ground from the switch to the receptacle. Ground from the "fence" line to the receptacle ground.
Black goes through the brass screws on the switch and over to the brass screws on the receptacle. White from the power line skips the switch and goes to the silver screws on the receptacle. White from the fence line goes to the silver receptacle.
Black from the switch and black from the fence line on the brass screws.
I'm pretty sure that's right. It makes sense.
After I took those pictures, I taped both fixtures and went to shove the whole mess in the box. That's when I realized I'd hooked up the power line without bothering to run it through the box. Unscrewed everything. Ran the wire through the box. Hooked everything back up. Breathe deep.
Then I killed the power in the barn, doublechecked it was really truly off at the outlet, and hooked up the "power" line to the last existing outlet. When I turned the power back on, I was delighted to see that the last outlet still worked! I was less delighted to see that the new outlet did not work!
I also realized that the teeny weeny headache I've been rocking for two days is a sinus headache. I decided to quit for the day. Left the barn power off and came in the house. The cable modem was not working.
I figured it was mad because I'd turned off ALL the power while figuring out which fuse controls the barn outlets. Tried all the normal rebooting tricks. Nothing. Stopped to think about it for a minute, then strolled back out to the fuse panel - the barn fuse panel, not the house panel - and calmly flipped the fuse for the barn outlets back on. By the time I made it back in the house, the cable modem was working fine and the internet was back. Nothing surprises me about this house anymore.
I am going to eat dinner then go back out and disassemble the switch thingie and just fucking wire nut the two pieces of romex together in the damn box and call it good. Who cares if you can't use power tools without walking 100' to the fence and unplugging it.
Mystery solved
Here's why the fence is off!
Gotta go get a new plug - for some reason it never occurred to me that the plug might have melted. Rewire it with Romex like I should've done in the first place and I should be good to go.
Gotta go get a new plug - for some reason it never occurred to me that the plug might have melted. Rewire it with Romex like I should've done in the first place and I should be good to go.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Hot or not?
When I went out to feed this morning, there was ice in the trough. Yeah, it's kinda cold - wait what?!
The deicer was clearly not working. The fence wasn't clicking either, but I'm not stupid enough to touch it to check (and fortunately the critters are also not stupid / pretty content where they are.) The only thing I could think to do pre-coffee was check the fuses. None of them were blown, but I went ahead and flipped them all off and on. No dice.
At least both electrical devices are clearly not working. That means it's something with the outlet by the gate, the (electrical cord) line, or the outlet in the barn. I guess after I drink more coffee and get dressed, I'll check the outlets, and if the outlet in the barn is still functioning, I'll buy some Romex and wire that line in properly. I learned how to pull cable when I put in the line, I've got a voltage tester thingie, and there's lots of lines for me to tie in to.
Wish me luck!
The deicer was clearly not working. The fence wasn't clicking either, but I'm not stupid enough to touch it to check (and fortunately the critters are also not stupid / pretty content where they are.) The only thing I could think to do pre-coffee was check the fuses. None of them were blown, but I went ahead and flipped them all off and on. No dice.
At least both electrical devices are clearly not working. That means it's something with the outlet by the gate, the (electrical cord) line, or the outlet in the barn. I guess after I drink more coffee and get dressed, I'll check the outlets, and if the outlet in the barn is still functioning, I'll buy some Romex and wire that line in properly. I learned how to pull cable when I put in the line, I've got a voltage tester thingie, and there's lots of lines for me to tie in to.
Wish me luck!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
How (not) to do it
Astute observers of my pics might have noticed that the fence charger was plugged in to an extension cord which ran out of the back door of the barage. This is not an optimum solution, but it's ok for a couple months in summer. I knew I needed to fix it before winter.
I believe that one of the most important steps of any home improvement projects is setting the scope. There's Doing It Right, there's Rednecking It Up, and there's a lot of variants in between. Running an extension cord to the fence charger is definitely redneck. Running Romex in buried PVC pipe out to a waterproof outlet box on the fencepost is the optimum solution.
After an extensive cost/benefit/manpower analysis*, I decided to do it halfway right. I already had the PVC pipe (inherited from the previous owners), so I only needed the box, outlet, and PVC connectors. I got a few things along the way and picked up the last stuff I needed at the hardware store yesterday. I got started on my project this morning, and almost finished before it started pouring down rain.
I had never personally done a project like this before. But I've done variants of each part, and I was totally confident that I could do it.
I wanted to go from just to the side of the doorway to the hinge post.
I tied a line
and dug a trench. The sagebrush was surprisingly easy to get out! I had to uproot three roots, and I found one tin can and one rotten leather glove. No rocks, no clay - it's super easy digging.
Then I dry-fitted all the PVC. I used the mason's twine as a (cheap) substitute for fishtape, and I ran it through each piece as I dry-fitted them. If you tie a nut on the end of your string, you'll have something a) heavy, to move the line through the pipe, and b) a handy place to tie the wire when you're ready to pull.
If you're Doing It Right, with Romex, it doesn't matter which end you start at. If you're halfway rednecking it with a frankenstein'd extension cord, you have to start at the terminal end.
It enters the barage in a very tight little hole I drilled in the wall. When it dries out again, I'll silicone caulk that pipe, just as a DIR touch.
Ready to glue
Looks pretty good!
PVC is easy to cut with a hacksaw. You want to run a knife blade around the inside and outside of your cut edge, to remove burrs and smooth out the cut. That's way more important for water pipes, but I did it for my electrical pipes anyway.
If this were a water pipe, or if vehicle traffic came through, I'd need to bury the pipe much deeper. But it's a pipe full of air, and the heaviest thing that goes over the pipe is a horse, so it'll be ok 8" deep.
I was hungry, so I went inside and had some nuts and watched a bit of football. I deeply regret that now - when I came back out, the Lonely Mountain was almost invisible:
I got busy glueing pipes together. PRO TIP: PVC solvent will melt vinyl gloves. Polyvinyl chloride, yo. Oh well - it still kept the primer mostly off of my hands. To glue PVC, you just smear purple primer over both parts, then smear PVC cement over both parts, then shove them together, twist, and hold for 30 seconds. For extra security, smear some cement on the outside of the joints, too.
I was pretty sure that PVC cement would melt my phone, too, so no pics of the actual process.
By that point, it was spitting rain on me and extremely windy.
I went in the house and checked the radar.
Oh. Shit. It's really for reals going to rain all day.
I dashed back outside and mostly finished up. I unplugged both ends of the charger extension cord, then lopped off the female end. Stripped the outer sheathing back, twisted one of the wires to the nut on the mason's string, and wrapped the whole thing in electrical tape, to make it slightly more aerodynamic. Pipedynamic. Whatever. I sprayed it with some WD-40 for good measure.
It was surprisingly easy to pull the wire through the pipe. I shoved the wire in with one hand and pulled the string out with the other - had to pull very hard to make the second 90* bend, but it worked!
It rained harder and harder as I glued the last bit of pipe connector, attached the weatherproof box, wired the cord to the outlet, and assembled everything. Once it dries back out tomorrow I can double-check the connections and plug stuff back in, but for now it'll be ok. I even got part of the trench filled back in before my husband came out and shooed me into the house to dry off - he filled in half the trench before he got cold too.
It looks amazingly professional. I am very pleased. Now I can plug the charger and tank heater in! And best of all, it'll be really easy to Do It Right when I can afford to buy 100' of romex and get the electrician out to tie it in properly.
Tomorrow or later this week I'll build a box to cover the outlet and the charger. There is a plastic shoe box duct-taped over the charger right now, sigh. Oh well - it sheds water!
*I checked my bank account and my pockets, then wandered aimlessly around Home Depot writing down prices of stuff.
I believe that one of the most important steps of any home improvement projects is setting the scope. There's Doing It Right, there's Rednecking It Up, and there's a lot of variants in between. Running an extension cord to the fence charger is definitely redneck. Running Romex in buried PVC pipe out to a waterproof outlet box on the fencepost is the optimum solution.
After an extensive cost/benefit/manpower analysis*, I decided to do it halfway right. I already had the PVC pipe (inherited from the previous owners), so I only needed the box, outlet, and PVC connectors. I got a few things along the way and picked up the last stuff I needed at the hardware store yesterday. I got started on my project this morning, and almost finished before it started pouring down rain.
I had never personally done a project like this before. But I've done variants of each part, and I was totally confident that I could do it.
I wanted to go from just to the side of the doorway to the hinge post.
I tied a line
and dug a trench. The sagebrush was surprisingly easy to get out! I had to uproot three roots, and I found one tin can and one rotten leather glove. No rocks, no clay - it's super easy digging.
Then I dry-fitted all the PVC. I used the mason's twine as a (cheap) substitute for fishtape, and I ran it through each piece as I dry-fitted them. If you tie a nut on the end of your string, you'll have something a) heavy, to move the line through the pipe, and b) a handy place to tie the wire when you're ready to pull.
If you're Doing It Right, with Romex, it doesn't matter which end you start at. If you're halfway rednecking it with a frankenstein'd extension cord, you have to start at the terminal end.
It enters the barage in a very tight little hole I drilled in the wall. When it dries out again, I'll silicone caulk that pipe, just as a DIR touch.
Ready to glue
Looks pretty good!
PVC is easy to cut with a hacksaw. You want to run a knife blade around the inside and outside of your cut edge, to remove burrs and smooth out the cut. That's way more important for water pipes, but I did it for my electrical pipes anyway.
If this were a water pipe, or if vehicle traffic came through, I'd need to bury the pipe much deeper. But it's a pipe full of air, and the heaviest thing that goes over the pipe is a horse, so it'll be ok 8" deep.
I was hungry, so I went inside and had some nuts and watched a bit of football. I deeply regret that now - when I came back out, the Lonely Mountain was almost invisible:
I got busy glueing pipes together. PRO TIP: PVC solvent will melt vinyl gloves. Polyvinyl chloride, yo. Oh well - it still kept the primer mostly off of my hands. To glue PVC, you just smear purple primer over both parts, then smear PVC cement over both parts, then shove them together, twist, and hold for 30 seconds. For extra security, smear some cement on the outside of the joints, too.
I was pretty sure that PVC cement would melt my phone, too, so no pics of the actual process.
By that point, it was spitting rain on me and extremely windy.
I went in the house and checked the radar.
Oh. Shit. It's really for reals going to rain all day.
I dashed back outside and mostly finished up. I unplugged both ends of the charger extension cord, then lopped off the female end. Stripped the outer sheathing back, twisted one of the wires to the nut on the mason's string, and wrapped the whole thing in electrical tape, to make it slightly more aerodynamic. Pipedynamic. Whatever. I sprayed it with some WD-40 for good measure.
It was surprisingly easy to pull the wire through the pipe. I shoved the wire in with one hand and pulled the string out with the other - had to pull very hard to make the second 90* bend, but it worked!
It rained harder and harder as I glued the last bit of pipe connector, attached the weatherproof box, wired the cord to the outlet, and assembled everything. Once it dries back out tomorrow I can double-check the connections and plug stuff back in, but for now it'll be ok. I even got part of the trench filled back in before my husband came out and shooed me into the house to dry off - he filled in half the trench before he got cold too.
It looks amazingly professional. I am very pleased. Now I can plug the charger and tank heater in! And best of all, it'll be really easy to Do It Right when I can afford to buy 100' of romex and get the electrician out to tie it in properly.
Tomorrow or later this week I'll build a box to cover the outlet and the charger. There is a plastic shoe box duct-taped over the charger right now, sigh. Oh well - it sheds water!
*I checked my bank account and my pockets, then wandered aimlessly around Home Depot writing down prices of stuff.
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