When would you find out if you messed up wiring?

Question

When would you find out if you messed up wiring, example wiring on a light fixture in my house? Will you know immeditaly? Should I be worried for something to happen over time?

When would you find out if you messed up wiring, example wiring on a light fixture in my house? Will you know immeditaly? Should I be worried for something to happen over time? I taped up the hot with a lot of electrical tape because i dont need it now...but the white connects the rest of the lights in the house and without it the other light dont work. I just reconnected the white, or the negative side...should I be worried about the white side?

Answer 1

Most residential wiring is required (by code) to be of two colors. Usually this means white and black, although it can also be yellow and black, yellow and green, or white and green.

The "live" side is (by electricians' tradition) supposed to be the lighter color, with the darker wire being the "ground" path. What you should see in your setup is that the darker color joins every single outlet or light fixture in a series chain, while the lighter wiring connects everything in parallel.

If you've made the connection backward (i.e. positive wire to negative connection on device and vice versa), the time before something goes wrong is dependent on the device. For alight, it will be almost never (since it's a purely resistive circuit). Something else, like an appliance, could show up as soon as you turn it on. Or, anywhere between the two extremes.

If you want to know which wire your electrician used as "positive" and which as "ground", go down to your main fuse panel and check out where the main wiring is connected. Whichever color is going to the fuses is "live", and whichever terminates at the panel (or earthing rod, if you've got one) is the "ground".

Answer 2

There are several ways that you can "mess up" wiring and not know it immediately.

Obviously, if you connect a hot conductor to a ground, you will know immediately when the breaker trips. But just because something doesn't trip, it doesn't mean that all is well.

I don't mean to sound mean, but that kind of thinking gets lots of home electricians in trouble. You need to be confident and knowlegable about what you are doing or you should call in a professional. No, I am not an electrician but if I'm not confident about what I am wiring, I don't just close my eyes and hope it works either.

Answer 3

Yes, most typical effects would be immediate. The light fixture might simply fail to turn on, or it could explode in a shower of sparks. Delayed effects are possible, but less likely. If, for example, you've done something to increase the resistance in the circuit, it could overheat only slightly, and it could take some period of time for the circuit to fail.

Answer 4

If you messed it up you will know as soon as you put power on it. there is only two wires going to a light just put black to black and white to white no problem. If you have half of a banana i have a monkey i can send over and you use the half of a banana to train him with and he will wire it for you .

Answer 5

when you turn power back on! most appliances don't care much really about the hot/neutral wiring, but the ground if wrong will blow out a fuse or trip a breaker pretty dang quick (20 ms.)

risk of fire is a concern.

Answer 6

Long term problem could be loose wire nuts or terminal connections. They can cause a fire if they are loose, or short out if the come apart......
Be carefull,,, make sure your connections are secure

Answer 7

He could do! and that cage is bad for the ratties feet it can give them bumble foot its not good at all you should put a peice of cardboard over the bottom

Answer 8

you would know immediatly after flicking the switch on it wouldnt come on may short something on that same circuit and will trip the breaker

Answer 9

When your house burns down.