Yeah, I'm still not following. It looks like you're saying the white wire skips the switch, but you drew it going straight through. I don't see where the pig tails are appearing in your sketch. And you have the ground only touching the switch but skipping all the others?
Build Thread: LED Light Strip with Automatic Door Switch for Kitchen Pantry or Closet
- Thread starter trogdor
- Start date
Help Support House Repair Talk:
Its ok to pick up your supply from the existing outlet but in your sketch you dont have the existing outlet shown correctly.
An outlet has 5 screws 2 brass screws 2 silver screws and 1 green screw for the bare ground wire. The 2 brass and 2 silvers are jumpered together with a tab between the screws. You show white and black coming in to the same side of the switch and that would be a dead short. As Neil said the black goes to the brass screw and the white goes to the silver the bare copper goes to the green. That wires both outlets in parallel and open until you plug something into the outlet.
You can then extend that circuit to your motion sensor and have that turn an outlet on and off that has your lights plugged into.
Its always a judgment call when giving advice as to if the receiver of the advice is going to be able to safely do the task. You seem to have a desire to learn more about home wiring and I would suggest you buy a basic how to book on home wiring and read it cover to cover to get the basic concepts of switches and outlets etc fixed then take on some of these projects with help from the forum.
An outlet has 5 screws 2 brass screws 2 silver screws and 1 green screw for the bare ground wire. The 2 brass and 2 silvers are jumpered together with a tab between the screws. You show white and black coming in to the same side of the switch and that would be a dead short. As Neil said the black goes to the brass screw and the white goes to the silver the bare copper goes to the green. That wires both outlets in parallel and open until you plug something into the outlet.
You can then extend that circuit to your motion sensor and have that turn an outlet on and off that has your lights plugged into.
Its always a judgment call when giving advice as to if the receiver of the advice is going to be able to safely do the task. You seem to have a desire to learn more about home wiring and I would suggest you buy a basic how to book on home wiring and read it cover to cover to get the basic concepts of switches and outlets etc fixed then take on some of these projects with help from the forum.
nealtw
Contractor retired
The white does skip the switch, but if the switch is in it's own box the white wires have to join the box. I just took a photo of the screen and the grounds didn't show up.
The pig tails are in the old box so you don't hook all the wire to the outlet.
Look at it like a bath tub the black wire is the faucet the white wire is the drain and the ground is the overflow.
I found these instructions online, so if you are understanding this, go back to your instructions and make sure they are the same as I found.
The pig tails are in the old box so you don't hook all the wire to the outlet.
Look at it like a bath tub the black wire is the faucet the white wire is the drain and the ground is the overflow.
I found these instructions online, so if you are understanding this, go back to your instructions and make sure they are the same as I found.
The idea of the pig tails is you don’t want to have two wires connected to one screw when making a connection to an outlet. Many people make two hooks on two wires and then run the screw all the way out to jam them both under the screw head and clamp them under one screw. The proper way is to make the pig tail and then collect all the wires together in the back of the box with wire nuts. The same goes for ground screw only one wire under that screw.
Now there are two of the brass and silver screws and I have seen where people use the other screw to continue the circuit. What Neil was saying was to do those with pig tails also and just have the jumper to supply power to the other half of the first outlet and not have it carry all the downstream power.
I really don’t know what code says about the first method but the pig tail method is better IMO as it keeps the final wiring simpler if the outlet ever needs to be replaced.
Now there are two of the brass and silver screws and I have seen where people use the other screw to continue the circuit. What Neil was saying was to do those with pig tails also and just have the jumper to supply power to the other half of the first outlet and not have it carry all the downstream power.
I really don’t know what code says about the first method but the pig tail method is better IMO as it keeps the final wiring simpler if the outlet ever needs to be replaced.
Yes, I'm sorry, I did draw the outlet incorrectly.
Hooked everything up and ran it for two hours last night, with no problems. The motion detector works fine, and everything seems good. I will post a photo of the actual set up before proceeding further. Thanks for the helpful information so far.
Hooked everything up and ran it for two hours last night, with no problems. The motion detector works fine, and everything seems good. I will post a photo of the actual set up before proceeding further. Thanks for the helpful information so far.
nealtw
Contractor retired
Glad to hear it, I was starting to worry about never getting there.:banana:
nealtw
Contractor retired
If the breaker for the outlet is 15 amp and should be, then you want 14/2. It will have a black, white and ground.
nealtw
Contractor retired
Can you post a pic of th driver set up.
nealtw
Contractor retired
I'm glad you got it working,
When you want to bring it up to code or protect the faminly from shock or fire you come back and talk to us.
When you want to bring it up to code or protect the faminly from shock or fire you come back and talk to us.
Whoa, easy there. No need for an attitude. I'm here to learn. I didn't join this forum to do a job unsafely. I have and still do covet the advice of people smarter or more experienced than myself.
Please help me understand how I can do this (safely) minus the plug and outlet. I gathered from your previous post that it can be done.
nealtw
Contractor retired
I decided the LED driver plug was ugly and unnecessary, given that it required a outlet to be wired when one was not previously needed. This is what I have now. It seems to work great.
I didn't see a question in your last statement.
I didn't see a question in your last statement.
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I believe it can be wired directly seeing as how you cut off the plug. The whole thing needs to be put into a NEMA enclosure now as the line cord can’t be run thru the walls like regular cable would be.
To me the plug was the best setup as when the unit fails you could just swap in a new one without wiring.
To me the plug was the best setup as when the unit fails you could just swap in a new one without wiring.
Just wanted to provide a two-month post update. Everything is working great. Since our house is not grounded, the motion sensor plug did not work at first. After tying the plug's grounding wire to the neutral wire from the wall, everything fires up great.
I set the timer to 5 minutes. 1 min was too short; 3 mins would have been ideal. The only complaint I have is the light is not "instant on," but it appears that is typical of LED driver applications.
Sent from my iPhone using Home Repair
I set the timer to 5 minutes. 1 min was too short; 3 mins would have been ideal. The only complaint I have is the light is not "instant on," but it appears that is typical of LED driver applications.
Sent from my iPhone using Home Repair
You made this project far too difficult.
First of all when you are working with 12v why complicate things with 120v? The LED strips are 12v so use a 12v motion sensor:
Also what i would do is run the strips under each level of your closet, you can connect some thin wire to each end perhaps with some tape.
First of all when you are working with 12v why complicate things with 120v? The LED strips are 12v so use a 12v motion sensor:
Also what i would do is run the strips under each level of your closet, you can connect some thin wire to each end perhaps with some tape.
