The part of my house where I plan to implement my shack only has one 2 Socket - 2 Prong outlet. I know that has to be replaced but what I'm wondering is, should I replace it with a 2 Socket - 3 Prong Grounded Plug or with a 2 Socket - 3 Prong GFI? What would be the best type of electrical outlet for that part of my shack? I don't expect any moisture in that area so I don't know if a GFI would overkill.
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Shack Power
- Thread starter Peter Walker
- Start date
A new standard duplex three prong outlet should be sufficent...no water near by = no need for a gfi.....GFI's tend to trip easier than breakers of the same amp rating ( 15amp gfi will trip before a 15amp circut breaker)...this can tend to be an annoyance when drawing alot of current...you may want to use a power strip/surge protect just to protect your equipment though....as far as the orignal plug is concerned..when you take it out you may find that there is no ground wire..only a hot and a neutral...generally the old two prong plugs were installed in metal boxes which acted as the ground instead of a bare copper wire that we see now and the metal boxes were connected to conduit or metal braid that ran to the pannel box making the ground and then from the pannel copper wire run out side to ground rods or to copper plumbing...you may just want to make sure that the box is grounded in some way....if its not you may want to consider running a new feed line from your pannel box that has the proper hot/neutral/ground....or ground your equipment directlly by running a single braided copper wire out side to a ground rod.....I know radio equipment is expensive and should be protected properely....I run into improperely grounded pannels all the time in my field ( I do residentil electrical work regularly) and it can cause lots of problems with sensitive equipment .......best of luck
What do you think a Licensed Electrician would charge me to replace the existing plug as well as install a new plug on another wall?
By 220 you mean like they run a washer and dryer off of?
It all depends on where you are geographically I guess...an electrician in NY city probablly would charge about three or four times as much as I do in Western NY...and sight unseen...depending on how bad your pannel box looks...or how outdated your wiring is...I can't really say.....find a friend or realitive that can refeer an electrician that you can trust and won't take advantage of you, and get a quote....a good contractor will always give free estimates and advice, and will not have to advertise to stay busy...at least thats how I do business....
I thought a GFI tripped at amperage to ground and not necessarily total amp draw at neutral.
I'm no electrician, just curious.
in theory that is ok but its not the safest way to go....generally in a pannel box the neutral and ground bars are bonded at some point but if there is no actuall ground going to earth somewhere in the configuration you can get current feeding back to the neutral side of things....not good for equipment
Here is a basic electricity video that might be beneficial about grounding and GFI...
YouTube - Electrical Grounding and GFCI Protection
A GFI measures the current going out of the Hot (Black) wire, and measures the current in the return (White) wire. These two must equil, (be in balance) or the GFI will trip. If the GFI goes out of balance, that would mean that current is being drawen through the black wire that is not returned through the white wire, so it is going to ground elseware (a path to ground, like your body), and it should trip at a small predetermined out of balance current.
I wouldn't use a GFI outlet in the shack. A lot of them are prone to tripping from RF. Nothing more irritating than not being able to run an amp even if it is on 240 volts because it keeps killing the power to the rest of the equipment. When I built the house I had a single duplex outlet (normal electrical outlet) installed where the operating location was going to be. I had the electrician break the jumpers between the top and bottom outlets and wire each to a breaker in the panel. This provided two circuits in one outlet. I run surge protected power strips from each outlet giving me lots of power capabilities. I also had the electrician wire a duplex 240 volt 20 amp outlet in the same area of the shack ensuring I had plenty of power available for the future. My shack power is dedicated and not even the lights are on the same breaker. I have three other outlets in the shack for other non-radio related things.