Speaking of
LED lights, today I learned something new.
Bought from a local Ace Hardware a Eagle
Electric internally lighted 15a/125v single pole household
switch.
http://www.eagle-electric.com/catal..._id=1014&type=child&Category_id=938&Product=Y
or
Switches > Standard Grade > AC Quiet - Lighted
Toggle > Lighted
Toggle Grounding
Switch - Side
Wire and Push
Wire - Single-Pole >
under
www.eagle-electric.com
It was going on my new lamp bar/
cyc light tester. Basically the
cyc lights and lamp bars have six circuits each and are
fed by a
Socapex style muliti-pin
plug. To test them in the past, it was always a question of getting a what we
call punt or
fan-in that goes from individual plugs to a
Soco type female
receptacle. Than running an extension
cord to a
GFCI protected wall
outlet and plugging each
circuit into the hot/live extension
cord. This is what's called "
hot patch." Very good way in having a 1,000w load to burn up plugs as you make contact, much less in the arc from the jumping
current, it's not something you want in your hands.
Doing a
hot patch is bad and also does strange things to lamps. Though I would rather a lamp blow in the shop, snapping a
toggle switch will have the same cold lamp jumping to full
shock to the lamp only be much more safe for the end user and equipment. In theory, all testing should be done with a
dimmer except in this case when it's something you want lamps that will soon blow to blow now rather than on the job site. On the other
hand, low
voltage lamps, especially those wired in series such as
PAR 64 Aircraft Landing Lights should be on a
dimmer to run the much smaller filaments up so in heating them up.
So I have a short in length
punt now assigned to this duty that has a
Kellems grip to support the
Soco plug and a 4.1/4" screw in bolting all the
stage pin plugs together attached to another linkable loop to make it easy to go from
plug to
plug and hang the
punt from both of it’s ends. To this
punt, I have added a in-line/
cord mounted fused
switch off a
Altman 2Kw studio
Fresnel fixture. Basically a 20amp two pole
switch so it turns off both hot and
neutral at the same time that’s mounted on a
cord. Many times studio lighting equipment has switches so you can on a hot often non-dimmed
circuit turn the
fixture off before un-plugging. Very important especially on a 10Kw type of light much less any in not hot-patching and having it explode in your hands. I replaced the
switch with the internally lit single
phase toggle switch and added a 10 Amp
fuse mount to it for more
safety. Maximum of 1Kw per
circuit thus a 10amp
switch is sufficient. We now have a
cord mounted
switch and
fuse assembly that with some rings and quick links is attached to the
punt all hanging off a J-Clamp mounted to the rear of the
switch so it hangs up near where you are working. Nice and flexible and easy to use and no more hot patching. Normally, it's not permissible to kill the
neutral on a
switch, nor most often needed, but there is Code exceptions such as this
Altman is using in ensuring both circuits hot and
neutral go out at the same time and it is permissible.
Problem with this Eagle
switch was that in spite of there being an internal light that is lit when
power is off - a nice thing to have in taking the
NEC's rules about
cord mounted multi
outlet boxes including
power strips to hart for this similar application. This way you know when the multi-outlet
switch is live and being kicked around on the floor. This specific
switch however that’s different than a normal pilot lit
switch would be un-safe to use given it’s different nature.
This new style of internally lit
switch only had the hot in, hot out and
ground terminals as if a normal non-lit
switch. No
neutral as would be normal for a internally lit
switch of a
filament or other type. This also by way of how the
switch works means that when there was not something plugged into it, it won't be lit. While such a indicator might be useful while plugged in to detect a bad lamp, it won't fulfill the goal of knowing if such a thing is still plugged in while kicked around on the floor. Much less as a home owner, when your lamp was dead, and in not understanding that this specific
switch while normally when the lamp was off the
switch was lit, they might assume a major electrical problem when given the lamp was only dead, the
switch also was not lighting. Beyond
safety, I question such an items concept.
We, the other ME and I theorized initally the lamp was getting it's
return off the
ground, and while it might or might not be against code given the load, it might possibly pop the
GFCI it was plugged into, yet we did not see much of another option given the instructions for use were less than useful in any way as to how the internal light worked or what situations to use the
switch in. I don't expect this type of
switch to be long on the market given the liability of it's design flaw given the intended use.
Had some other theories on how it worked in addition to questioning the labeling of “common” for the switches
line out terminals but none panned out. Basically there was three screw mounts - one for
ground and two for the
line in and
line out hots. There was also three solid core
wire quick connect holes, one with s “common” pinted on the
switch in marking pointing to two terminals at the
line out side of the
switch. "Common" in pointing to both the line-out outputs of the
switch? Common means
neutral in most normal language, what's it doing in labeling the
line out part of a
switch?
Given we assumed it most likely that there was no
neutral mounting for the thing and found it very curious given a internal lamp, it had to be somehow run off the
ground given all the
line out holes beeped out as per common connection points connected together. Granted given a internal lamp they would anyway in a complete
circuit thus my below
call to Eagle in figuring it out. Problem with the most reasonable assumption that given the lamp does not draw much
current, it might just have it’s
return path
thru the
ground, but such a thing would not make sense given other internally lit switches have a
neutral to attach to.
If the lamp were run
thru the
ground, a
GFCI senses differences that can be very small between hot and
neutral thus were this
switch even if in the case of a small lamp working by way of using the
ground for a
neutral it might have set off the
GFCI. This would be the condition were it a washroom where the overhead lights, to be on the same
circuit as and
fed after the
GFCI outlet would offer the
GFCI protection to both
switch and lamp
fixture. Believe this practice is now against code, but it's certainly been done and is still being done in say a washroom.
I had to wonder about it thus
GFCI tripping, as since it came from ACE Hardware, it no doubt at some
point might potentially be used in a washroom where the lamp was also protected by the
GFCI outlet. That would make it pop also given it sensed the difference in
current between hot and
neutral. Yet there was no
neutral lug. This in addition to the label of “common” at the rear of the
switch confused both the other ME where I work and I. What might have been a
neutral quick solid core
wire connection
point, did not have the
neutral terminal as a fourth screw attached to it, plus there were arrows linking what was certainily
line out holes together meaning that you could feed off these holes two outlets as opposed to one. Yet as opposed to other electrical equipment with holes for quick connection on the same side of the
outlet next to each other, the other
outlet hole was on the opposing dead side of the
plug. = that end of the
plug that's used for a three or four way
switch, or in the case of a normal pilot light, something that with this extra quick connect hole might be assumed to be hole without screw for the
neutral.
Called the tech support
line at Eagle
Electric and actually got a
call back which surprised me - though the support person was rather smug "feeding a lamp off the
ground would be against the
NEC!" (Well da!) Much less in finding one person that was in the office given you could not other than leave a message be on hold, it took many calls to find someone that was working today finally as opposed to sitting on hold in at least a better chance of getting to talk with someone that day. - Hate automatic phone systems especially when very limited. Still, customer service in most cases takes lots of time for a
call back, much less if ever called back on more difficult end user questions - much more than the difference between black and white wires they no doubt often have to answer and are easy. I only have one very much un-qualified person doing what he does where I work to answer ignorant questions to about stuff he should not be messing with. Can’t imagine answering calls for a help
line. Still when I have to
call a help
line, I want immediate answer as I can't just put the thing asside and do something else. At least one out of three on the help
line as last resort I finally left message with and a few hours later he called me back.
Anyway he while not really helpful in understanding how it worked or that I was doing something safe with it, confirmed the lamp was not
fed off the
ground nor directly by the
neutral, and told me more about how the
switch worked that went to some extent over my head but was understood in principle sufficient to understand that there both was no
neutral lug, and that it was not
fed off the
ground. Still it seemed reasonable to use the
switch for this use after the
call.
I later asked the other ME where I work - the old man and he explained it more to me once I told him what the tech support said. And the light went on for both of us at least in otherwise both of us looking at the
switch and scratching our heads and not assuming it to be anything as described. Note both of us together probably have say 50 years of wiring experience between us yet were confounded by something available and potentially un-safe to home owners. We both in discussing how this tester would work than thinking about how it worked, decided that this
switch would be very unsafe to use in testing the lamp bars. Might not kill you, but anyone ever work on a lighting
system where the dimmers were at zero, yet the
system was still on? Same but in this case possibly also much more un-safe. Certainily not something you wanted on a test or work
circuit.
Instead, I used a 15amp household grade
toggle switch to save on
wire fill capacity space given I had already added a
panel mount fuse to the assembly in eating up that space needed to cool the conductors within a box. Household
toggle switches are not the choice of commercial situations and I expect it’s going to wear out and need replacement sooner than later, but I needed that extra space in the
switch being smaller than a commercial grade one.
Why is my question for all of you on this forum, and this is a very difficult question all are welcomed to chime in on. Why would the
switch in working how it does be very unsafe for stuff like changing lamps while plugged in - as one designing gear must have
safety against because they will anyway no matter the intent of disconnecting from
power. - Thus making it also a little easier as a hint. This specific lighted
switch especially for home owners to be using who are not even trained beyond
switch off means dead
circuit in question for this lamp bar tester! It's not because it won't be lit when not plugged into something else and kicked around the floor also. Much more dangerous reason and one you in understanding should explain in depth. Who can
express given the below how and why even for a home owner, it potentially might cause a wee
bit of a problem? I gave up on the indicator lamp given there was not room in the
cord mounted
switch body to add an indicator lamp in addition to the
fuse.
Effects of Electrical
Current on the Human Body
0.005-2mA = Just noticeable
2-10mA = Slight to strong muscular reaction
5-25mA = Strong
shock, inability to let go
25-50mA = Violent muscular contractions
50-100mA = Irregular twitching of the hart muscles no pumping action (ventricular fibrillation)
100- >100mA = Paralysis of breathing
(Source: PGS
Power Guard Systems, LLC.)
Of the "the old man of the theater" (who these days more deals with hoists and rigging than electrics now that I'm around but we very much have a communitcation back and forth still on most all projects.) He is no longer the Grumpy part of "old man of the theater" given he now has someone to talk to now that understands the same concepts he is thinking about, much less can help him also as he does me. Wiring stuff when alone is not a good idea, even on the theoretical sense. We also discussed the next generation of lamp bar tester in making this gear I was working on already obsolete but I had considered already such a thing and decided given I had a
Punt that was otherwise not useful for shows wanted to use it here in that we would need two testers eventually anyway. Much less since I was out of quality plugs, it otherwise would just go in the trash and the test
circuit was still needed. A bird in the
hand, and one less I have to
build in the future.
The next generation will have the
soco outlet mounted to it in a hanging box and a single
power cord. No more patching needed. It will have a thermo magnetic
circuit breaker as better than
fuse often, and a multi-position
switch so you can simple turn it from
circuit to
circuit in testing the lamps. A additional
momentary contact
switch to turn the
power on and off would be nice and make things simple, but when doing things like looking at gels, or testing, you might not always be able to keep your finger on the
switch thus it as an idea would not work. Granted since this, the multi-position
switch would either have to have
current block stops between positions so it does not internally arc, or have to be a 12 position
switch in doing so with no-load stops between settings also it can't just be a simple six position 10amp rated
switch. The thing will also have an amp
meter on it so you can tell what wattage of lamp is in the
fixture also because it's otherwise needed to examine each lamp to verify it's wattage be it
cyc in normally having either 300, 500 or 1Kw lamps or lamp bar in having 500 or 1Kw, or 375 575w or 750w lamp fixtures mounted to it. Yea, that amp
meter when marked for what wattage of lamp will be a useful thing.
Still it's done and we now dedicated have a tester box or better than hot patching means for testing just about every type of cable and
fixture in the building in making things both safe and easy to use. Want to test the
Edison to
IEC, much less 208v to
IEC adaptor such as used on a computer
monitor and dependant upon what country your show was goint to or what equipment was using the
IEC plug, we have a tester for that amongst other testers and types of thing safely tested. Some that are multi-position
switch, others that are even mini-computer in both sending a signal
thru and testing for shorts. The computer is slow thus it's not used as much as opposed to the say 18 position scrolling multi-pin
switch for
soco cable. Still our tester box both detects what type of cable you test and test it in a very important all things - resistance and shorting type of way as opposed to just
LED's on or off with good or bad or shorter
circuit. The computer part of the good tester also tests resistance and a good data signal as similar to expensive
microphone cable testers that also at times will
send a signal in testing for this. In a data or
microphone cable, a tester that sends a signal
thru the cable will detect and
mark as bad cable that say has it's
shield wire connected to the wrong pin that a normal tester won't detect in just saying you have
continuity.
However, as opposed to re-wiring the
punt with longer cords - or in this case it was a staggered
punt in being stupid, the manufacturer had made it in using a normal
plug with a bunch of wires shoved into the
soco plug. Since a normal
plug - or one by made by this manufacturer to the
soco standard but with their own ideas of how to do a
plug, won’t fit a bunch of 12ga wires shoved into it’s
strain relief, they removed the
plug’s rubber
strain relief part that normally bears down on the cable to
grip it.
Learned about this far too late to have hope of returning it as un-safe and stupid in general - but they will get an E-Mail. Probably my mistake in buying the staggered
punt in copying a PO for some staggered fan-out type that is useful to be staggered, but the
plug used was un-safe in itself. Instead of having a proper
plug that either separates the individual
fan-in or out cords as per the
Veam VSC series
plug, or has a large two screw
strain relief in binding them together with
friction tape used to protect the
jacket, or at least a large enough PG series weather tight
strain relief to fit all the wires, they removed the rubber part of the weather tight
strain relief and were using the far too sharp once clamped down plastic gripping fingers in the
strain relief part that grips onto the rubber part, to bear directly down onto the individual thin
jacket of the
fan-in wires. Something that with use will cut into the thin jackets over time and in short order have exposed conductors at the
strain relief.
This in addition to the fact by no doubt my mistake, that if the thing has a bunch of plugs on it, having plugs be staggered from 18" to 6', it won’t be of much use since most stuff punts are plugged into have outlets right next to each other. So it both was not really safe to use in having a bad
strain relief and even
in one case broken
strain relief in having broken off fingers that now exposed a sharp
edge to the conductors which they still sold to us, if you plugged it into a rack, it would have no extra slack on
circuit one, and about six feet of extra slack on
circuit six. In making the
punt for shop use, I cut them all to 18", than cable tied them together about 3" from the
soco connector so the plastic
cord grip fingers would not have much wear on the wires given they no longer could flex and be as much damaged by a lack of rubber
strain relief between cable and the plastic fingers.
Of three of these punts bought, one was changed over to a good
Veam plug that does it’s job well - and all were made the same length, another is still missing, and this last one is for shop usage where we can watch it and replace it once it shows signs of wear.
Both long and question by purpose, in question of the day supplement, I hope to provide a really good challenge into understanding how something works that you can buy something dangerous off the shelf by mistake and get really injured really fast should you use it in the wrong way they were no doubt thinking and in thinking it is something other than it is. And explain how at times the design process for making gear goes and what considerations go into doing it other than in just a hack way task oriented way that does not consider how stuff both will and could potenially be used. This
wire space capacity of a box, much less specifically designed to mount on a
cord switch thing, much less in having it as a test
circuit, both plugging into a
GFCI and having at least a
fuse on a 1Kw load but given a 20 amp
circuit, the need for the sub-overload control protection. While it's obsolete as opposed to better designs, it still was cost effective to make in needing more than one and both short of this use the expensive
punt will have been trashed, much less in other than understanding how something worked before I used it in the case of the
switch, than really thinking about how it works and how it thus potentially could be un-safe it was not used. This in addition to mounting the whole it on a hanger clamp so it was easy to use in not needing to hold it, and attaching all to that clamp so it’s not suspended or something you need to hold in your
hand, much less also the use of a in-line
switch to prevent the necessity of a
hot patch otherwise. Only problem is if they in me deciding not to go with
momentary contact
switch, those testing will still do the
hot patch thing in leaving the
switch on. Hopefully they will not in both training and supervision, but given they still will, at least the damage to the hot patched pins of the plugs will be much less, and the
system will in general given the
fuse be safer.
Long but hopefully worth the four
page effort.