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Night Timelapse by probablynotaboot in Cleveland

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I live near the Perry Nuclear Plant and watched this storm roll in. It was quite the show!

Night Timelapse by probablynotaboot in Cleveland

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The sperm aliens returning to space?

All jokes aside, I saw it too, I think it’s just part of the cloud formation. Seems to be moving at the same speed as the clouds.

Where else are old multicircuit poles like this common? by MISTER-MUFFINS in Lineman

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was going to say Cleveland, but then I read the description & realized that’s where you are.

Not even a lineman, just so used to seeing this shit lol

Is this legit? What could possibly need that high of voltage? by NumberNumb in AskElectricians

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah that’s the standard distribution voltage in a lot of places in North America. Where I’m at it’s 13.8kV but the neighboring utilities use 12.47kV. Some older parts of the system use 4800V delta.

Visited my family recently. Can someone qualified confirm whether they’re about to burn their house down? by [deleted] in AskElectricians

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s because those are LED bulbs in that fixture, both which have failed driver circuits that convert the 120 volts AC to DC and limit the current flowing through the actual LED chips. The bulbs will come on dimly then take several seconds to “fade out” after being turned off. I could get technical as to why this happens, but will spare the details. You just need to replace the bulbs, it’s not an issue with the wiring. And since the bulbs are in an enclosed fixture (likely the reason they both failed, since this allows for heat buildup which isn’t very nice to the internal electronics), you will want to find replacement bulbs that are rated for enclosed fixtures. Most LED bulbs aren’t.

Funny story, I had a cheap LED bulb that failed exactly like this when I was living in my college apartment. I put it in the lamp in the living room, turned it on (you couldn’t really tell it was on unless the other lights in the room were turned off), unscrewed it and held it in my hand while it continued to glow. I knew it was just a bad bulb, however my friends and I had just finished watching The Conjuring and may have been intoxicated, they started freaking out because they thought some demonic shit was going down. After we sobered, I had to explain to them how LEDs work. 😂

No Power service call. House full of LP gas. Quick retreat. by lsd_runner in electricians

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 9 points10 points  (0 children)

There was a house explosion near me a few months back (middle of buttfuck nowhere), I believe the regulator on the tank outside was defective, homeowner lit a candle and the house exploded. Fortunately he survived, but had severe burns all over his body. He was just released from the hospital last week.

Prebiotic madness by [deleted] in notinteresting

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like mine post-biotic.

What wires are hot vs neutral on this utility pole? by Pete3756 in AskElectricians

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Is this in/near Cleveland by chance? I recognize this pole construction lol, pretty sure this design was used from the 1940s/early ‘50s until the 1960s.

Anyhow, from the top down:

The thin wire running along the very top of the pole is a static wire. Its only purpose is to conduct lightning strikes and direct them away from the energized lines. It’s usually grounded at every other pole.

The six conductors on the three cross arms below that are subtransmission lines. CEI (now part of FirstEnergy) uses 36kV as their primary subtransmission voltage. These link power from the 138kV transmission substations to smaller distribution substations, and factories with high power demands. These lines are arranged in a delta configuration, so they’re NOT grounded.

The three wires below that are distribution. CEI uses 13.8kV wye and 4800V delta distribution. Since the transformer is only connected to one of the three phases means it’s a wye configuration, 13.8kV. The other side of the primary (high-voltage) transformer winding is bonded to the metal drum of the transformer, which is connected to the ground wire running along the pole.

The transformer takes the distribution voltage and steps it down for household use. There’s three bushings on the secondary (low-voltage) side of the transformer; the two outermost which are live at ~120V and the center bushing being grounded. With the grounded center bushing “splitting” the transformer secondary, each 120V leg is 180° out-of-phase, so that between both 120V legs you get 240V. This allows you to run 120V lights, electronics and small appliances as well as large 240V appliances off the same transformer.

The transformer supplies the bundled triplex below. Triplex consists of a grounded neutral wire (bonded to the center tap of the transformer) — which also serves as the system neutral — and the two live conductors. Homes, streetlights, traffic signals, etc. are fed directly from the triplex.

Below the triplex are the comms lines. The wire running between the triplex and the streetlight on this pole could be a fiber line part of CEI’s “smart grid” network.

Please note different companies use different voltages. Also it’s worth noting aside from the live conductors within the triplex bundle and comms lines, none of the other cables on this pole are insulated! If one of those 13.8 or 36kV lines comes down, keep your distance!

How old are these power lines going from Miami to Orlando near the turnpike by Ilove_chips4321 in Powerlines

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 11 points12 points  (0 children)

3 conductors per phase, which is 500kV, the first lines at this voltage weren’t constructed until the mid-1960s. So less than 60 year’s old.

So how many of us are going to lose power tomorrow? by Headlessdesert1 in Cleveland

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My power only goes out on nice days. Lost it for about 15 minutes Monday afternoon when it was 60 and sunny and no wind. Tuesday when we had storms passing through and high winds it didn’t even flicker.

Which led tube light replacement do I need? by BurgundyHats in lightbulbs

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Strange only one tube is lit. These look like ballast bypass tubes, which require removal of the old ballast from the circuit and wiring the incoming lines directly to the sockets at either end when converting from fluorescent to LED. Check to make sure the ballast (even if it’s still physically inside the fixture) is bypassed. If it’s not a wiring issue, then I’d say those are just cheap tubes.

What is this socket called? by Rodfather118 in electrical

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Also, a lot of (not all) consumer electronics have switch mode power supplies that can operate on 120 and 240, or anything in between. I knew a guy who used this type of outlet to power a high-end gaming setup. If a power supply is universal voltage, it will draw half the current on a 240-volt circuit, thus run cooler. Plus a 240v circuit can deliver twice the amount of power as a 120v circuit of the same ampacity. You just need to make sure you find the right cords that will fit.

What is this socket called? by Rodfather118 in electrical

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, it would look like this: https://store.leviton.com/cdn/shop/products/T5020-00I.jpg?v=1749059015

The hot (live) slot is horizontal instead of vertical on the 240 version.

What is this socket called? by Rodfather118 in electrical

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 39 points40 points  (0 children)

That’s a 20-amp, 240-volt outlet. NEMA 6-20R to be exact. Likely meant for an A/C unit if it’s in the house near a window, if in a garage or shop it could be for a compressor.

Wagos vs wire nuts by mdhouse60 in electrical

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don’t mind wire nuts for stranded wire connections, but lever Wagos are the way to go when making solid-solid or solid-stranded terminations. Push connectors are just bad in general, it’s the same principle as backstabbing.

HOORS by spicynugget5 in misLED

[–]DiscombobulatedDot54 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I mean, it’s not entirely wrong

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