Need Advanced Electrical Help!

[ScubaRaven]

Hey all,

While putting in my new system, I had to relocate some electrical wires (just a few feet) within the wall itself.

Now when I attempt to re-establish the connection, the breaker trips (when I turn it back on of course). It seems to do this only when I attempt to connect the ground wire. (I can connect the hot and neutral without any problems and get the power back on).

I traced all the wires to ensure there were no bare wires or crossing wires but everything seems to be ok. also, when I test the electrical outlets when connected the hot and neutral (without the ground) I get "hot/neutral reversed", so I tried reversing them to correct this... still same result... any thoughts?

Any help would be greatly apprecaited... I'm running on a generator right now and running out of gas... lol

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Sounds like your wire sare reversed or your ground is tied to one of the otehr wires. Black is hot and should go to the smaller blade I beleive on the outlet. If you look on the back of the outlet, it should tell you hot and netural.

Did you splice into the wires or just move them? If you tried to splice in and add moer wire, then it's not to code, it has to be one continous run.

Worse comes to worse, the outlet is bad and needs to be replaced.

[ScubaRaven]

Another navy guy... cool...

Actually, this wire provides power to a good part of my home. All the recepticles are reading reversed on this particular line. I did check all the wiring where I did my work and they all test fine other than the ground tripping the breaker when connected. Just not at the outlets themselves. I thought maybe this would be caused by the ground problem I am having?

Originally, this line provided power the floodlights which were outside as well as power to part of the house inside. I removed them so it now only connects to the inside which is wired directly (one black, white and ground connected to one black, white and
ground).

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Sounds like something is crossed in the wiring. The reason it trips when you add in teh ground is that teh netural and ground are basically the same. ;) You probably need to go back to square one and start over, making sure you have evrything right. Don't rush it.

Also since you said you took out the outside light, how did you connect the wire back up for just the house? remember that only one wire is switched, usually the hot wire and the netural just runs straight to the light. You may have messed something up in that area. It's hard to Troubleshoot long distance but I'll try.

[ScubaRaven]

I appreciate your help. Basically, I removed the entire wiring for the lights. This left me with a hot, neutral and ground which was the incoming line, then further down the line past the light switch which is no longer there is the remaining line that provides power to several outlets and overhead lights which was also a white, neutral and ground. I'm assuming that connecting the two being that they are the same (though only one is hot of course) didn't cause the problem?

Richard

[Crusty Old Shellback]

That's probably your problem.

You need to trace the wires all the way back to where they connect into the line from the box and remove them. By connecting all the wires together like you have I beleive you have put a netural and hot wire together, bad stuff. That is if I'm understanding this correctly.

[ScubaRaven]

ok... gonna go see what I can do... thanks again for your help!

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Good luck. And hurry up before you run out of gas. ;)

[ScubaRaven]

After practically tearing my entire wall down, I atleast found the direction of the short. It's actually in a section of the wall far from were I was working which has me wondering if the previous owners intentionally removed the ground and I just missed it when I relocated the wires. I'm guessing there's no way to actually locate a short without tearing up the walls? Hopefully it will atleast be in the same room... sheesh...

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Glad you found it. Without knowing how the wires are run thru your house, it's hard to find problems. Unless you bought your house new, you usually won't get an elecrtical plan of how they wired it.

So did you get it all fixed before you ran out of gas?

[ScubaRaven]

Thanks for all your help Chevy. I just finished running the new cable and now have everything back online. It was a short in that particular section. Couldn't have done it without your help!

Rich

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Glad I could help and your back up and running. Take care.

[Minuteman]

You're the BEST, B64C!!!

[Crusty Old Shellback]

SHHH! Don't let it out or you'll ruin my rep. ;)


By the way Lbrty, did you get the internal throttle hooked up yet?

I'm thinking now of getting one for the new bike. :rolleyes: Didn't think I would customize it but guess I was wrong. Found some cool stuff to do to it. :D

[Minuteman]

No, haven't had a single stinkin minute to even get in the saddle, let alone wrench. Got the kitchen floor done, now time to move on to the bathroom for a complete remodel. Also just ordered a long arm kit for my Jeep, so that will follow. So many projects, so little time...

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Yep, sounds like my world.

Got the sun room finished, now I need to work on the area that the 400G tank is going into and get that done. The wifes truck got broked into the other night, now she wants me to hurry up and build the other garage for her truck. Started ordering parts for my bike to do a complete custom job on it. Still got to pull the motor out of the '63 and rebuild it before the rain hits. Got to do some work on the wifes truck as well. Got to build her new laundry center. Then sand and redo all the old wooden floors in the house.

Wonder if I'll ever have time to relax and go for a putt?