Pool-light won't turn on --- HELP!!

Jump to latest Follow Reply
So I went out and removed the old circuit breaker, black extension cord piece, and GFCI outlet to get a head start on things. Took some pics so you could see with a little less clutter now.

I do have a couple questions now that I can see a bit more clearly --

1) There is what appears to be a neutral bar located directly underneath the timer, which didn't show up as clearly in the other pics, cause I wasn't looking for it specifically (better pic below). All the current white wires are connected to it (like the timer and that loose GFCI outlet). Should I connect all the white wires to this, instead of connecting them all together and capping with a wire-nut like the diagram shows?

2) Some of the wires from the PLW01 go into another little receptacle I don't think we've talked about. From the info you've given me, I assume this is wiring for the home automation stuff? I can just remove those, right? BTW --- you can see the little clear plastic piece half-falling out of the little box.... it was painted over the same brown color as the walls, I pushed on it a bit to see if that was a release mechanism... but once it fell down a bit, and I could see more then what was painted-over, I could tell it was obviously something else.







 
Yeah, I didn't see that neutral bar either. You can certainly use that to connect up the white neutral wires, though you are probably still going to need to spice in white neutral wires to reach the switch and x10 receptacle on the right side of the box. I cannot tell what the box is directly underneath the panel. Maybe it was a switch to provide local control of the side receptacle, but I cannot tell for sure. Can you get a pic of it? One other thing that is odd.... the PLW01 manual describes the blue wire on it being the load (i.e. switched) wire, and the black being the line wire. But, it appears the yellow load wire from the PLJB is connected to a black wire. You might want to verify which wire is which by looking for markings on the back of that switch. I wonder if someone got them wired backwards?
 
It looks special made to me. I think I've seen the same panel in another post. X10 has been around for a while, and I bet that this panel is probably about 15 years old or so. With the X10 stuff in there, it would provide some options for remote control (including scheduling) via power line communications. There are better home automation systems out there now, but X10 has a rather large market share. I'm actually a bit disappointed that the major suppliers (Pentair, Hayward, Jandy) don't support HA systems without requiring very expensive bridges. I was tempted to set up my own pool automation system since my house is controlled by an ISY99 unit via Insteon. But, my concern is that when I sell the house, the system would be too proprietary for the next owner to understand how to use it.
 
Okay, that box below the panel appears to be a photocell. It must have been wired to the side receptacle to control the floodlight (e.g. only turn it on at night). I don't know why it was there since that outlet was controlled by X10. Seems kind of strange!
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
ARGGHHH!!! I called Lowe's to see if they have a Bryant 15a GFCI circuit breaker --- and they don't, but they do have a Bryant 20a GFCI. I called an electrical supply house nearby, and they only sell GE.

I've been googling for 45mins and I can't find what officially works as a Bryant replacement.

Home Depot guy says Siemens sells a matching breaker that they have in stock. Don't know how much I trust 'em though.
 
Take an old breaker with you when you go and look at it carefully to see if it matches up. If there is nobody working there that knows look around and if there happens to be a customer that looks like an experienced electrician don't be afraid to ask him.
 
Cool -- thanks guys. The old dude over the phone from Lowe's got me all scared that I'd have to have to find Bryant or else get fried in the pool. The pics online all seem to be very similar to the standard (non gfci) breaker I pulled... I'll definitely bring it with me and see how they match up before I buy.
 
BTW --- When I called HD to see if they had any 15a GFCI breakers in stock, the guy tried to talk me into just using a GFCI outlet, like I already had in there.... because the breaker is $40 whereas the GFCI outlet is $12.

Who skimps out on $30 when you build an inground pool?? heck, even the pool light fixture itself is expensive enough not to cheap out on the freakin' breaker.
 
Cool, will do ---

I'll hopefully be back from the store and working on it at roughly 11am (MT time).... for anyone taking bets on whether I electrocute myself or not. ;)

Dumb question, but there are already one or two solid copper wires in there. I've never worked with those, just the stranded kind. Is it difficult to connect two solid copper wires via wire nuts?
 
Connecting copper to copper is what should always happen when you connect wires properly with a wire nut. In addition, make sure to add a few turns so that the solid cables wrap around each other a bit. This will give the most secure connections. So yeah, bare copper to bare copper is easy to do.

Good point about the GFCI breaker. It's expensive, but the best way to address the issue, and you do need one for safety and meeting code requirements.
 

Enjoying this content?

Support TFP with a donation.

Give Support
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply