Allright, I am doing it, I am doin it stop hassling me

[Anonymous]

I have had the GFCI and boxes and everything for wiring up my current fishtank for over a year. Today I am wiring it up so it will be protected.

There ya go GSchiemer, are ya happy now? :lol:


I have found two things out worth relaying during the start of this project.

1. My current fishtank is plugged into a receptacle that I thought was rewired and on its own 15 amp breaker, I can see the new wire going up right below that receptacle while standing in the basement. BUT, it continues up to the second floor to an air conditioner. So, my fishtank is actually plugged into a standard 3 prong receptacle that is wired up with 2 wires, hot and neutral. No ground... Of course since that wiring is Knob and Tube (what???) the neutral is the ground. Still, I don't recommend wiring up stuff this way, its freakin dangerous.

2. When buying a GFCI Recptacle in the United States, don't expect to get one with instructions that are in English. Mine came with French and Spanish, no English. :lol:

Not that I needed them or anything :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

good for you.

I tested mine last week when I plugged in a wet plug that I didn't dry off the whole way. Only got a bit of a shock, not the whole thing.

B

 

[Anonymous]

Apparently I really didn't need the instructions, everything works

The hardest part? Making the whole thing so I can unplug everything including the pump in the basement from under the tank where I do maintenance. I really should of drilled one more hole through the stand bottom and the floor to run wires through when I first set this mess up.

 

[Anonymous]

Buy one of those $5 testers to convince yourself it is wired right.

 

[Anonymous]

Buy one of those $5 testers to convince yourself it is wired right.

..or just stick your right hand into a bucket of saltwater, lick your left index finger and... :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

I tested the circuit after I was done, what do you think I am, a knucklehead???

I have a really nice tester, so nice that I don't understand half the functions.

 

[Anonymous]

Today I tried to find out how many amps the whole fishtank experience is drawing, but for some reason the tester I brought home from work wouldn't read anything.

Unless the whole system is using less than one amp, which might very well be, but I doubt

I am going to try using my own tester, but I have to actually unwire something to test with that one.

Oh, and before someone says take everything that is running and add up all the current that each thing draws, now that would be too easy wouldn't it?

 

[Anonymous]

Well if you add up all the power consumption of all your devices (how many watts they say), and divide by 110v you should get the max amps.

Out of curiosity though, what's your testing device? Is it that "Kill-a-watt" meter?

 

[Anonymous]

My tester, the one that I haven't used yet because you have to actually disconnect the circuit and hook it up in series with the tank is a tpi 133

http://www.tequipment.net/TPI133.asp

The one I brought from home is a Sperry Snap 6. Its pretty old, but it worked last time we used it at the shop.

 

[Anonymous]

Ahhh, the reason I didn't get a reason is that the sperry snap 6 reads from 5 to 30 amps, I doubt I am drawing 5 amps.

I am going to add everything up and see what I come up with. Then maybe I will test based on that.

 

[rnoreef]

The reason you didn't get any reading is because you need a clamp on meter to read AC current. A normal voltmeter will usually only read current (amps) in series with DC amps. You can purchase the clamp on meter for that sperry meter from that page that you set that link on your post. If I were you I would just find a friend that has one already if you're not going to use it all the time, though they are handy to have. Make sure when you test your circuit that you have everything on and the best place to test it is back at the breaker panel. Take the cover off and put the clamp on meter around the hot lead only. If you put it around the hot and neutral you will get 0 amps due to the fact you are reading alternating current and the two leads cancel each other out.

 

[Anonymous]

Ahhh it's a multimeter, now weren't getting somewhere.

But yah how did you attempt to test the current? Did you stick one probe in one socket the other probe in another? If you did you probably fried the fuse and now the ammeter portion won't work at all

 

[Anonymous]

Its an older Sperry multimeter, I don't have any of the leads or anything, all I have is the Clamp on portion. So, I clamped it around the hot lead right at the breaker box. Since I ran that breaker last week I knew which wire it was and all.

And no I didn't stick the probe in one socket the other probe in another, I am not that big of a knucklehead