cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/61326066
Before:
There are actually a couple runs of relatively modern grounded, albeit still old and crappy, grounded wire in my basement, including one powering my shed that ran right next to this outlet, and its shitty old ungrounded black cloth cable. I hijacked that and repurposed it for this outlet.
So, no shed power currently, but this first job gave me the confidence and motivation to tackle the rest of the house now.
I wonder - does a usb c fit into the live side of the plug?
Yes. This socket comes with 2 USB-Cs and one USB-A
I think they’re referring to the more intrusive thought of putting the USB-C plug into the phase side of the 120V socket.
Hopefully if it does fit in height/width, it doesn’t have the length to reach anything metal.
Don’t tell me that the world could have had smaller USB-C plugs and they’re only that big so USians don’t try to push them into their sockets.
Congrats on taking your first step!
A quick mnemonic device for wiring receptacles:
black guys like gold, white guys like silver…
the black wire goes on the gold lug, the white wire on the silver lug. Green is ground if you’ve got one. another common mistake- the larger of the 2 slots is the neutral and on any receptacle/plug/whatever the SMALLEST hole or prong or blade is always the one that carries power (black wire).
the reasoning is that you always want to grant the largest surface area/conductor to the white and green wires which take electricity to ground and away from you so that YOU don’t become the ground yourself… when that happens it’s what we all think of as “getting shocked”.
People who don’t know better very commonly miswire receptacles and cords, falsely thinking that the biggest blade/prong/hole must carry the power because… <caveman voice> power big, ground little… </caveman voice> when actually the reverse is true for some rather abstract safety reasons.
Was the metal box grounded through conduit or did you run a separate ground back to the panel or separate grounded circuit?
Good job! Howd you ground it?
There are actually a couple runs of relatively modern grounded, albeit still old and crappy, grounded wire in my basement, including one powering my shed that ran right next to this outlet, and its shitty old ungrounded black cloth cable. I hijacked that and repurposed it for this outlet.
So, no shed power, but this first job gave me the confidence and motivation to tackle the rest of the house now.
Shitty because it’s old and EOL, but totally fit for purpose when it was new. In the days when wiring insulation was made of cloth nobody really worried about how long a house was going to last. Most men were dead by age 65 from heart attacks or lung cancer, and similar for women. Different times, different technology.
Had my friend on the other side of the wall hold the terminal
use a ground screw or a grounding clip from the receptacle to the body of the metal box.
but likely a moot point because the receptacle itself has no grounding lug.
Just handle the old wire carefully. Baby it. Better still, replace it with something new. New stuff should last you 100 years. The old stuff, well, you can see how well that ages. Synthetic rubber & plastic technology was in a very primitive state before the 1970’s. That’s what the wires are insulated with- a form of synthetic rubber or an insulating type of plastic. Modern insulation (mid 70’s and later) are all forms of durable plastic that should last a long long time.
exception: electric cords and extension cords pre-1990’s… still a lot of older insulation materials that were prone to degradation with age/sunlight/ozone/heat but it wasn’t getting put into a wall in a house that could catch fire so no biggie… Any issue or defect would become apparent very quickly to anyone nearby.
