Help with Wiring a Thermostat (to 2 electric baseboards)
I need some help with a 240V baseboard heater problem...
I bought two smart thermostats for my home. I installed the first one and it powered on as soon as I flipped the breaker back on. Turned the breaker back off, and installed the second one. Flipped the breaker on and it worked too - yay for the rookie DIY electrician! But, wait - I went back and looked at the first thermostat, and it was no longer powered on. I turned the power off again, checked the incoming feed and there was no current flowing through it.
I then went back to the second thermostat and noticed it had one extra pair of wires... I didn't notice this when I installed it and connected everything per Mysa's instructions - as if the thermostat was controlling three baseboards (it only controls two). Now I'm thinking this is the cause of my problem at the first thermostat location, but I have no idea how to fix this. Any help would be appreciated!
Each thermostat is controlling two baseboard heaters and they are connected as per the attached diagram (except for the extra pair of wires on the one which was connected as if it was a third baseboard).
That's a lot of wires in a box with a thermostat. You need to stop and think what you've done.
You have a box with four cables....
1) power in
2) power out to second stat
3) power out to baseboard
4) power out to baseboard.
You treated #2 - power out to second stat as a third baseboard heater. That's wrong.
You should have two power cables tied together and two baseboard cables tied together.
Thanks Pete... I totally agree... However, how do I determine which pair goes to the second stat? I was able to determine the power in, but I have no idea how to determine the power out to the second stat.
Thanks, Pete. So, just so I'm clear, I currently have one wire (black "line") connected to the "line" wire on the stat, and the other three black wires are connected to the stat's "load" wire. All four red wires are connected to the L2 wire on the stat. I should be taking one black wire at a time off the "load" wire and connecting to the "live" wire, leaving all other wires where they are, until I find the one that powers the second stat, correct?
With respect to modern generators with a voltage regulator, if you tune throttle to output 60Hz AC, is this pretty safe for electronics and motors?
Seems far more people use non-inverter generators than inverters for backup house power. So I'm guessing these gensets aren't killing off computers and appliances with regularity. Is it more of an issue of shortening the life of electronics, motors and appliances, or are modern non-inverters pretty safe?
I did not want to "thread jack" the [url=https://www.doityourself.com/forum/electrical-ac-dc/623680-current-leak.html]Current Leak[/url] thread but I have a question about a similar type of device which is the LCDI that are now placed on Air Conditioner cords.
@ [url=https://www.doityourself.com/forum/members/157028-telecom-guy]telecom guy[/url]
[QUOTE]The industry has been using several acronyms for the same type circuit.
All the leakage interrupters for personnel protection use from 4 to 6mA thresholds. Some mount in panels, some mount on device plugs, some combine as receptacles.
Even now, not all baths have GFCI protected receptacles; voila, mount the circuit on the device plug and call it a new name[/QUOTE]
I recently found an older (2005) 12K BTU air conditioner in the trash area in my apartment complex I took that (heavy) thing back to my apartment I waited two days to power it on as it was sitting A$$ side up. I plugged it in and the LCDI tripped I went to reset it it tripped again one more time it started smelling funny and smoking the 20A breaker in the panel tripped.
I cut the LCDI unit off and attached a normal NEMA 5-15P plugged the unit into a GFCI protected circuit I then powered on the AC on fan only for two minutes then put it on cool mode the compressor immediately started (no delay or struggle to start). A minute passed the AC was blowing out 40°F air the cold coils were very cold and the floor was starting to get a puddle from the condensate dripping.
The hot wire has no continuity to the metal frame same with the neutral wire the cord is in good shape also, so I guess these can and do go bad? Are they needed? and if so where can I get another? The AC works fine and was probably tossed for that reason.
Thanks
12-14-20, 12:17 AM
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