Q. I want to remove all of my mobile home's switches and plugs and upgrade to the boxes and new style switches and plugs. All the switches and plugs are the all-in-one with the square switches on lights and the one piece plugs. Guess it was the standard mobile home issue.
Any information on the changeover to the standard switches and wall plugs would be appreciated. Are there any wiring diagrams? Some are simple in and out but others have several lines and are a little more complicated.
Thanks!
Robert
A. You will need two specialized tools to undertake any wiring project. The first is a circuit tester. The second is a voltage proximity detector.
The first thing to determine is if the manufacturer left enough cable to allow for device replacement. You will need to remove a device from the wall to determine if there is enough slack in the cables to permit conversion. Plug a radio into the device to be checked. Turn the radio on with the volume up loud enough to be heard at the electric panel. Throw breakers open one at a time until the radio goes off. Use a circuit tester to determine that the device is dead. Test your proximity detector by plugging it into the short blade of a live outlet and having it sound. Plug the proximity detector into the short blade of the receptacle to be removed. If voltage is detected, STOP. Remove the device from the wall and check cable length. Do not force!
Obstacles include the device being anchored to the frame behind the wall and cables being too short. Let me know what you find.
This info was courtesy of DoItYourself.com Community Member hornetd. Visit our Community Forums for more answers to your home improvement questions.
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