Timeline for Is there a way to determine the order of items on a circuit?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
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| Feb 23, 2021 at 20:07 | comment | added | Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight | @dandavis most fixtures wouldn't be able to support a 500W bulb though. 100W was the upper bound for normal lights in the US; and some have lower limits. With CFL/LED bulbs dominant now I wouldn't be surprised if lower levels are more common now; but I haven't looked at lighting in a while even ignoring LED light bars with non-replaceable emitters. | |
| Feb 23, 2021 at 18:18 | comment | added | dandavis | @nick012000: a 500W heat lamp bulb would work. My space heater has a 600W and a 1500W setting, so I could use a socket to bulb adapter and run the tests on low, though even then I wouldn't want to run it for very long. I don't love the high-draw aspect of this method, but it's all within spec and shouldn't pose a problem that won't potentially surprise someone later if present... | |
| Feb 23, 2021 at 18:16 | comment | added | dandavis | @DanIsFiddlingByFirelight: it depends on the wiring, the stability of the mains voltage (late night would be best), and the precision of the meter. A 500W heat lamp bulb would likely be more than adequate. | |
| Feb 23, 2021 at 16:14 | comment | added | Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight | Would the voltage drop from a 100W incandescent bulb be large enough to be easily measurable? | |
| Feb 23, 2021 at 15:06 | comment | added | manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact | @Matthew There are devices that do exactly that. They are used routinely to determine where a break is in a long communications (phone, network, coax TV, etc.) line. But they need to be extra sensitive to handle both the short distances in a house and the much thicker wire used for AC power distribution. There are other devices that time how long a signal takes to get from one end to the other, but they are quite expensive. | |
| Feb 23, 2021 at 14:52 | comment | added | Matthew | This makes me wonder if you could a) disconnect the breaker (really important!), b) short the hot and neutral "inside" the breaker (i.e. the house wires that are now not live), and then c) measure the resistance at each outlet. In theory, with a sensitive enough meter, the resistances should approximate the length of wire from the panel to the point of measurement. But this might be incredibly stupid? (I would also take a voltage across the wires before shorting them to make sure they aren't live!) Advantage: you don't need to be drawing significant power to take readings. | |
| Feb 23, 2021 at 14:34 | comment | added | Kevin Cathcart | @nick012000 Well technically it is possible to plug a space heater into a standard E25 lighting socket, but that will exceed the Listed Rating of the outlet, and thus violate the Electric code. One can only draw 660w from a standard E25 lighting outlet. For that purpose they make and sell UL listed Edison screw to NEMA 5-15 outlet converters. So I guess you would need to temporarily install a normal non-lighting outlet, or use only a 660w space heater for those. | |
| Feb 23, 2021 at 9:38 | comment | added | nick012000 | How would you determine where the light bulbs are? You can't exactly plug a space heater into a light bulb socket. | |
| Feb 22, 2021 at 20:55 | history | edited | dandavis | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 22, 2021 at 20:49 | history | answered | dandavis | CC BY-SA 4.0 |