Electrical Saga results in Woodworking Casualty...

[John Cavanaugh]

Well for those of you that remember, my garage is severely challenged when it comes to electricity.

Over the weekend, I managed to trip a breaker, again... This time I had a bit of a problem figuring out which breaker was tripped, so I turned them all off & back on one by one and went back to the garage.

Hmm. Still no power.

After of bit of scratching my chin I managed to figure out that vacuum was plugged into one of those "mechanics lights" that had a breaker built into the light that I had been using as an extension cord. Duh!! I thought to myself. Well all is well now (Or so it seems)...

I finish up my work in the garage and go down to my office to do a little surfing. Hmm. Computer isnt on. Oh yeah the breaker thing, Ill just turn it on.

Uh oh. Wont turn on. Check all the connections etc. Validate that the surge protector is on etc, no "tripped" connections. All ok.

During the process of flipping all the breakers I managed to kill the power supply on my computer. :mad: At least I think that is all that is dead at this point.

Fortunately the laptop was still working. So I fired it up. A quick trip to newegg.com lightening my wallet by about $230 I have a replacement power supply & a cool new computer case on the way.


After all this I decided to peek into one of the outlets in my garage and see if they wired it with 12 or 14 gauge wiring. My hope was 12 so I could upgrade that circuit to 20amp. But as my luck has been running it was only wired with the cheap wiring, so upgrading to 20amp wont be an option. :(

Bummer...

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John Cavanaugh

[Norman Hitt]

[QUOTE=John Cavanaugh]Well for those of you that remember, my garage is severely challenged when it comes to electricity.

Over the weekend, I managed to trip a breaker, again... A quick trip to newegg.com lightening my wallet by about $230 I have a replacement power supply & a cool new computer case on the way.


After all this I decided to peek into one of the outlets in my garage and see if they wired it with 12 or 14 gauge wiring. My hope was 12 so I could upgrade that circuit to 20amp. But as my luck has been running it was only wired with the cheap wiring, so upgrading to 20amp wont be an option. :(

Bummer...

John Cavanaugh, QUOTE:
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That is a Bummer John, 'Cause $230 would have gone a long way toward running a Subpanel to your Garage so you could have had Real power, for whatever you needed. ;) :(

[Corey Hallagan]

That does stink, sorry to hear about your misfortune. Believe me, I know all to well about electrical woes in the shop. I have spent 18 years with basially one 15 amp outlet to run everything! No more though :)

Corey

[John Cavanaugh]

Norman,

Yeah, Im sort of still in denial about the garage. It would probably be best if I just did get a subpanel & rewiring done but its just such a hassle. Maybe if we put in a pool Ill do it at that time because the pool would definitely need some electrical work done.

I have to admit though the power supply was only $90, the remainder was just my excuse to get a new case. ;-)

--
John Cavanaugh

[Norman Hitt]

Norman,



I have to admit though the power supply was only $90, the remainder was just my excuse to get a new case. ;-)

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John Cavanaugh

I understand completely, John, Been known to do things like that myself on occasion. :D

[Bart Leetch]

Norman,

Yeah, Im sort of still in denial about the garage. It would probably be best if I just did get a subpanel & rewiring done but its just such a hassle. Maybe if we put in a pool Ill do it at that time because the pool would definitely need some electrical work done.

I have to admit though the power supply was only $90, the remainder was just my excuse to get a new case. ;-)

--
John Cavanaugh

Skip the pool buy a tool & the subpanel & wiring & plugs & have money left over. :D

I lived in S. Cal. for 3 years without a pool. Just jumped on the bike & ran from Imperial Beach to Lemon Grove or some such place to get cooled off.

[Tom Jones III]

Go get a $30 UPS from OfficeDepot and save your new power supply. If you are not upgrading your electricity, it is going to dramatically shorten the life of that power supply unless you've got it on a UPS.

[Dave Mapes]

If your wire is exposed from the panel to the outlet replace the 14 guage with 12 guage and the 15amp switch in the panel with a 20 amp. (if you do it yourself kill the power to panel first or if be very carefull not to touch the medal strips inside the panel box that the switches clip into). You can run one line for less than $20 and I would also suggest you do not use the cheap outlets like HD sells but get their more expensive one.

If you need more lines and space is not availabe in the panel box I suggest you have a new sub panel installed

I am not an electriction but have added 3 20 amp lines and 2 30/220 in my shop myself. (It even passed inspection). IF you feel unqualified by almeans hire a electriction as I would hate to see anybody get electrocuted.

[Ed Blough]

John
did you ever turn the main power switch off on the back of your computer? Some computers, mine in fact, have a relay that doesn't get reset unless the main switch on the back of the computer is turned off for about 10 seconds. If I lose power to my computer and just hit the power on switch it may or may not come on. If it doesn't I have to turn the main toggle switch on the back of my computer off count to ten and flip it back on.
I had a problem like you did, took my computer to the shop to get a new power supply but when I got there it worked. The Tech then flipped off the breaker on his bench and flipped it back on but you couldn't power up my computer. The tech then smiled that knowing smile and showed me the switch. Left the shop with all my cash and the knowledge of the mysterious switch on the back of my computer. Check your machine
I will bet up around the top near the power cable there will be a toggle switch, flip it off count to ten then flip it on and then hit the power up button on the front.