Electrician PLEEEZ!!Can u have to thick of a guage of wire running from 40amp breaker
- Thread starter lifesgood
- Start date
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
NO.....
theres no such thing as wire that is too big when dealing with electricity.
however the downside is it is difficult to terminate #6 on a device.
what i would reccomend is getting a cheap MAIN LUG type 60amp loadcenter to put on the other end of your 6/3
then you can slap a few breakers in there to run your equipment properly
40 amps = 3840 watts @ 120v OR 7680 watts @ 240v
hope that answered your question
PS-
and DO NOT try 'snipping' or 'trimming' a few strands of copper off of the #6 to 'make it fit' on a device... that can and WILL cause a fire... do it right man, and you will be much happier.
hit me up if you need help.......
theres no such thing as wire that is too big when dealing with electricity.
however the downside is it is difficult to terminate #6 on a device.
what i would reccomend is getting a cheap MAIN LUG type 60amp loadcenter to put on the other end of your 6/3
then you can slap a few breakers in there to run your equipment properly
40 amps = 3840 watts @ 120v OR 7680 watts @ 240v
hope that answered your question
PS-
and DO NOT try 'snipping' or 'trimming' a few strands of copper off of the #6 to 'make it fit' on a device... that can and WILL cause a fire... do it right man, and you will be much happier.
hit me up if you need help.......
well put..
lifesgood
Active Member
Great thanks for the quick replay its good to know that the wire will work ... I am not familair with electricianical vocab so i dont know what you mean by
"terminate #6 on a device.
what i would reccomend is getting a cheap MAIN LUG type 60amp loadcenter to put on the other end of your 6/3
then you can slap a few breakers in there to run your equipment properly"
What does terminating #6 mean? likeflipping the breaker to off???
I dont know what a main lug is and how it works....
My idea was to connect the the wire from the breaker to a female stove plug, where i would plug in my power board.
On that power board i have timer controlling 8 120 v outlets & 8 220 v outlets
lifesgood
Active Member
Here is a pic of the components im working with.
By #6 i assume u mean the gauge of the wire... would i be better off getting a thinner wire to run this powerboard.
What im going to be running off this power board are to 2 1000 watt hps220 1 1000 watt hps 120 v and 1 or 2 airconditioners and maybe some other minore stuff.
By #6 i assume u mean the gauge of the wire... would i be better off getting a thinner wire to run this powerboard.
What im going to be running off this power board are to 2 1000 watt hps220 1 1000 watt hps 120 v and 1 or 2 airconditioners and maybe some other minore stuff.
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IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
that will work perfectly!!!!!
by saying terminate the #6
what i meant was to land the #6 wire on the terminal on the plug
BUT
you actually have a 3 wire stove plug that #6 wire will fit on, so it shouldnt be a problem at all
just make sure all the wiring connections are good and tight man, especially at the panel... make sure the 40 amp breaker your tying into is a 2 pole breaker (two handles connected together)
by saying terminate the #6
what i meant was to land the #6 wire on the terminal on the plug
BUT
you actually have a 3 wire stove plug that #6 wire will fit on, so it shouldnt be a problem at all
just make sure all the wiring connections are good and tight man, especially at the panel... make sure the 40 amp breaker your tying into is a 2 pole breaker (two handles connected together)
lifesgood
Active Member
Great im excited to start... Yea im not going to do any trimming or sheering i will do a flush cut of the wire and expose an inch or so to fit nicely and snug.
WHat do u mean by "make sure the 40 amp breaker your tying into is a 2 pole breaker (two handles connected together) "?
It is a thick 40 amp breaker , what are handles?
WHat do u mean by "make sure the 40 amp breaker your tying into is a 2 pole breaker (two handles connected together) "?
It is a thick 40 amp breaker , what are handles?
lifesgood
Active Member
K i wont down size il use this wire but when i look at my control panel i see other 40 amp breakers connectedblack on top, red on bottom.
id stick with the bigger wire.. dont downsize, trust me man.
dont ever look at another wire to guess to see what size you need.
ask a pro
red on top
black at the bottom
your telling me to do it the other way? why , and does it make a differnce?
How about the white wire does that go anywhere at the bottom of the panel.. or is there as specific place at the botoom of the panel to put it?
lifesgood
Active Member
Another question came to mind is that there is that this is a 100 amp panel... there is a stove attached to this panel running 40 amp, a dryer running 30 amp and then i will be adding this load of another 40 amps.... not to mention all the 15 amp breakers running various things in the house....
Could me adding this 40 amp service overload the 100 amp panel? like should my freind ever be running his stove dryer and grow at the saemtime?? or would this cause the 100 amp breaker to go?
Could me adding this 40 amp service overload the 100 amp panel? like should my freind ever be running his stove dryer and grow at the saemtime?? or would this cause the 100 amp breaker to go?
Drifter126
Active Member
You can use # 10 wire which is easier to work with.Depending on load you might even get away with using #12 wire.Hookin up a 220 breaker,The black and red placement make no differernce,but the white and green wires HAVE TO GO GROUND.Sorry about da caps but this is important!!!!il u look close da whites are going to one bar and the copper or ground to another.They both go to ground
lifesgood
Active Member
Ok, I may get some thinner wire maybe i kinda would like to get this done today but i just need to get everything down pat before i go at it.
YEa i see where the green and white ones go, however i see the white ones all over the bottom of the panel does it matter where i connect the white at the bottom of the panel??
Drifter126
Active Member
No just be sure that there are more of the same color goin to it.I`ve added a second ground bar to accomadate extra wires.If you get new wire make sure it`s 10/3that means you`ve got a nutral and a ground..Good Luck.Hollar if I can help.........
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
YOU CANNOT USE #10 WIRE TO RUN 40 AMPS IT WILL BURN
dude im an electrician with more than 15 years experience.......
the colors of the wire on the tandem breaker dont matter, you have a single phase panel
240 volts are achieved by to legs of 120v at opposite polarity
polarity in your panel works like this:
phase 1 or phase a will be numbers 1, 2, 5,6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17, 18
phase 2 or phase b will be numbers 3,4,7,8,11,12,15,16
the phases alternate going down the side of your panel like this:
phase1 #1 #2
phase2 #3 #4
phase1 #5 #6
phase2 #7 #8
etc
etc
all that matters is that you have two wires on opposite phases to get 240 volts.
the color does not matter.
if you look at the breaker you will see the top is phase 1 and the bottom is phase 2
color on hot wires only matters when dealing with 3phase voltage or when you share a neutral. it does not apply in your application
i wouldnt listen to drifter... his advice on this particualr matter will cause you great suffering, im not being a dick but i know BS when i see it man.. running 40amps on number 12 it will burn in less than an hour, number 10 it will take a day or maybe a week, but it will burn!
dude im an electrician with more than 15 years experience.......
the colors of the wire on the tandem breaker dont matter, you have a single phase panel
240 volts are achieved by to legs of 120v at opposite polarity
polarity in your panel works like this:
phase 1 or phase a will be numbers 1, 2, 5,6, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17, 18
phase 2 or phase b will be numbers 3,4,7,8,11,12,15,16
the phases alternate going down the side of your panel like this:
phase1 #1 #2
phase2 #3 #4
phase1 #5 #6
phase2 #7 #8
etc
etc
all that matters is that you have two wires on opposite phases to get 240 volts.
the color does not matter.
if you look at the breaker you will see the top is phase 1 and the bottom is phase 2
color on hot wires only matters when dealing with 3phase voltage or when you share a neutral. it does not apply in your application
i wouldnt listen to drifter... his advice on this particualr matter will cause you great suffering, im not being a dick but i know BS when i see it man.. running 40amps on number 12 it will burn in less than an hour, number 10 it will take a day or maybe a week, but it will burn!
Drifter126
Active Member
Please do everybody a big favor.Be e carefuf.Turn power off befor stickin your hands in there.I don`t want to rean of another electrical accident.I was an electrician.On land and at sea
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
it is a possibility but not very likely in this case. it really depends on just how many things your using all at once.. the stove and appliances dont bother me, but those 15amp breakers are what usually overloads a main... people just buy extension cords and power strips and go nuts plugging things in, not realizing they are running unbalanced loads that make main breakers trip...
to accuratly answer your question i would need the TOTAL WATTAGE of everything in the entire house that is plugged in and uses power. its what we call THE DEMAND FACTOR in the electrical business... its a pain in the ass to get all the wattages but you have to do it if you want to know
Drifter126
Active Member
BULL SHIT .I run a 190 amp welder on 12/3 ALL DAY LONG.Truthfully tho he is rite about one thing.It wouldn`t hurt to know how much power your using.A good fluke meter would tell..
IAm5toned
Well-Known Member
a fucking welder doesnt run on a continous duty cycle for 12 hours......
man, seriously, i know what the fuck im talking about, and people that assume they know shit about electricity piss me off, you know what im saying?
run 40 amps on 12/3 for 12 hours with no break and see what happens...
your fucking welder only uses power when your welding... for what, 90 secs a bead, if that?
man, seriously, i know what the fuck im talking about, and people that assume they know shit about electricity piss me off, you know what im saying?
run 40 amps on 12/3 for 12 hours with no break and see what happens...
your fucking welder only uses power when your welding... for what, 90 secs a bead, if that?