lets get real. how big is your power strip?

[WVNed]

I simply never had the patience to wait for someone to show up or the money because what they wanted was ridiculous most times. Thousands to put a water heater in and we can get there next Tuesday? Nope Nope Nope
Dishwasher broke? New one running in 4 hours.

 

[cmross13]

...or you have enough money to hire someone to do it for you. I'm in the latter camp.

god bless ya. i picked up my 1,050 sq/ft single story house on a double corner lot with a 60x110 fenced in yard and 1 car detached for $38K fully furnished. sheets on the beds, dishes in the drawers, literally unpack your suitcase and youre done. however, i live in an old coal mining village and i think my house was built in the late 50s(obviously updated at some point, as it has a breaker box and not fuse panel). all but kitchen and bathroom were 2 prong outlets, most of which i swapped over to 3 prong and just skipped the ground. that old cloth wrapped wire is my nightmare

 

[homer1475]

Breakers are easy to wire.....

One leg goes into the breaker, the other goes to the hot lug of the panel box(typically black wire to the breaker, red to the hot lug of the panel), and ground to ground. Snap in the breaker and it's live!

 

[WVNed]

god bless ya. i picked up my 1,050 sq/ft single story house on a double corner lot with a 60x110 fenced in yard and 1 car detached for $38K fully furnished. sheets on the beds, dishes in the drawers, literally unpack your suitcase and youre done. however, i live in an old coal mining village and i think my house was built in the late 50s(obviously updated at some point, as it has a breaker box and not fuse panel). all but kitchen and bathroom were 2 prong outlets, most of which i swapped over to 3 prong and just skipped the ground. that old cloth wrapped wire is my nightmare

Except if you have an electrical fire your insurance wont pay because your house wasn't wired to code.

 

[jesspal]

Lol thats nothing. You would not want to see inside my electronics side of my stand. It's a nightmare of tangled wires. I'm just not into cable management. If it's plugged in and works, I'm ok with the wire mess.

Glad I’m not the only one lol

 

[homer1475]

god bless ya. i picked up my 1,050 sq/ft single story house on a double corner lot with a 60x110 fenced in yard and 1 car detached for $38K fully furnished. sheets on the beds, dishes in the drawers, literally unpack your suitcase and youre done. however, i live in an old coal mining village and i think my house was built in the late 50s(obviously updated at some point, as it has a breaker box and not fuse panel). all but kitchen and bathroom were 2 prong outlets, most of which i swapped over to 3 prong and just skipped the ground. that old cloth wrapped wire is my nightmare

Had the same type of house when we bought. Old glass screw in fuses, fiber jacketed wire, and 2 prong outlets that didn't even have the 2 different sized prongs!

All had to go and be replaced with new to pass my inspections.

 

[homer1475]

I normally don't show anyone this, and it's in a separate side of my stand, but heres my wire mess.....

Just don't care about the mess, and it's hidden so it doesn't bother me until I need to snake a wire out. Then I'm screaming and swearing. lol

 

[cmross13]

I normally don't show anyone this...

that angers me just by looking at it lol. im not mad at ya, just saying if it were in my house it would drive me berserk.

i wound up going with one 10ch 1U Rack mount power center, a 1U wall mounting bracket, a 50pc screw in zip tie holder set for power brick and wire management duties. we'll see how it goes when amazon delivers, and i'll come back with before and after pics

 

[laverda]

god bless ya. i picked up my 1,050 sq/ft single story house on a double corner lot with a 60x110 fenced in yard and 1 car detached for $38K fully furnished. sheets on the beds, dishes in the drawers, literally unpack your suitcase and youre done. however, i live in an old coal mining village and i think my house was built in the late 50s(obviously updated at some point, as it has a breaker box and not fuse panel). all but kitchen and bathroom were 2 prong outlets, most of which i swapped over to 3 prong and just skipped the ground. that old cloth wrapped wire is my nightmare

The proper way to do that would be to use GFI recpiticals.

 

[laverda]

i have a small house. it was cheaper than a Camry and solid, so i went with it lol. however, im fairly certain my RSR350 outlet is on same circuit as bathroom outlet. no super big deal there as i don't own a hairdryer or any other high-draw equipment that would be plugged into the bathroom GFCI anyway, but draw is still a concern. i may try a kill-a-watt alternative that has a backlit LCD and peak draw memory, just for peace of mind.

what else does one do in this type of situation? tie some 10 gauge to the assumed 16 gauge and just pull the wires through, then upgrade the breaker?

The original wire should be anchored to the studs every few feet. That would prevent you fro just using it to pull heavier wire. I will say I do not know when that became a requirement, so you may get lucky.

 

[Bume]

Yikes... there are a LOT of fire hazards in this post.

I have a 15 amp circuit and use a Kill A Watt PS-10 Electricity Usage Monitoring Power Strip

Theres a readout that shows how much power your equipment is drawing. Plug your stuff into the strip and calculate your total power draw, you could even just buy one and rotate it around to your different pieces of gear to figure out your total. I have a ton of stuff plugged into this circuit and I've not even come close to using 15 amps.

2 AI 52s
Auto topoff
Skimmer
Sump lights
Kessel 'fuge light
2 powerheads
1 gyre
laptop for seneye
Skimmer
Return Pump
2 Heaters
Doser

Probably more that I cant remember... Like others said DO NOT replace your breaker with a different amp, the wires in the wall would need to be replaced too. Also, you can get rolls of Velcro for cable management off amazon, super cheap. Spending a few bucks and a couple hours is a lot better than burning your house down or electrocuting yourself

 

[Beau_B]

If you have a basement/crawlspace, the way to remedy your problem regarding shared circuit with bathroom is to bring wire from the panel under the building and up into the wall at a new location.

 

[cmross13]

I have a 15 amp circuit and use a Kill A Watt PS-10 Electricity Usage Monitoring Power Strip...

i cant use those strips as they dont have enough outlets for my 350. i literally need 16 minimum. i am still researching a KaW unit that plugs into wall that i can plug my power centers into. ive been leaning towards the Poniie units as they are backlit and still accurate to 1%, which is "close enough" for my needs

If you have a basement/crawlspace, the way to remedy your problem regarding shared circuit with bathroom is to bring wire from the panel under the building and up into the wall at a new location.

something im also considering

 

[brahm]

My house was built in the 50s as well. When I moved in I installed two new breakers and ran new wires for the tank. Luckily the tank location, is close to the box so it was an easy install. For the tank I used two outdoor water proof cases for the receptacles w/are gfi's those have two breaker bars and my APEX plugged into them. Everything is split between those 3 so that if one breaker pops I'll still get water movement.

As far as what's run.

2x AI Hydra's
2x Heaters
Return Pump
2x Gyres
Skimmer
Roller Mat
C02 Reactor (Dosing Pump, C02 regulator, and recirculating pump)
ATO
Fans
Fuge light

 

[Tamberav]

I normally don't show anyone this, and it's in a separate side of my stand, but heres my wire mess.....

Just don't care about the mess, and it's hidden so it doesn't bother me until I need to snake a wire out. Then I'm screaming and swearing. lol

Here’s mine!!

 

[cmross13]

Jebus. and you have that pegboard right there to mount everything to? makes my head hurt lol

Here’s mine!!

 

[mindme]

I have 4 power strips. My tank/stand came with a 4 plug strip. I plug my lights into them.

My other 3 power strips all have individual switches for each plug. I labeled each plug with a label maker to say what the plug is. It's the best decision I ever made for one of my tanks and all my future power strips will have the same, unless I buy an apex.

They also have a few usb power ports that I use for a few bits of equipment. Nicer than having to put the usb into a plug converter.

No longer do I have to cut the entire power switch off, or unplug the plugs when I need to turn something off. Need to turn the skimmer off? Just the single switch. UV pump, on it's own switch, UV light on it's own switch, etc.

I highly recommend it if you aren't using an apex to control it all. They are a tiny bit more expensive, but worth the money.

 

[cmross13]

yes. i bought a DJ-type power center with 2 constant on and 8 switched outlets. going to try my luck with my RSR170 before spending double the money on it all to organize my RSR350

 

[James_O]

Here’s mine:

Probably a safety hazard??

 

[laverda]

I had not seen the Kill-o-watt power strip before. Here is the link to it from BRS who is surprisingly much cheaper than Amazon. Kill A Watt PS-10 Electricity Usage Monitoring Power
I highly recommend if you don't have one you pick up one so you know exactly what your equipment is using. Much better safe than sorry.
Kill-a-watt meter