Electrical Question

[Tooms22]

First off, I don't touch most electrical unless I'm just replacing something. New item is wired same as old item being replaced. I did wire some stuff back in college while working in a warehouse and I've installed a couple stereo systems. There was usually supervision.

With all of that... I don't know shit about volts, amps, ohms, etc.

Here's the issue: I have a laser light in the garage in Havasu for parties. Laser light works with big orange extension cord just fine.

But the set up I want is: Outlet -> Power Strip -> Extension Cord -> Wifi Plug -> Laser Light

I can hear wifi plug clicking on and off when I use my phone to control it. Laser light will not work.

My guess is that this laser light needs a little extra compared to every other item I have on wifi plugs. Am I losing something from the outlet to the wifi plug? Will it help if I skip the power strip and go straight to the outlet with the extension cord (Too dumb to try this option over the weekend)?

I did have a guy from Havasu Wiring out yesterday for something else and I asked him. He said they make higher amp? wifi plugs and I should try that.

Here are the wifi plug and relatively similar laser light:

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[Flying_Lavey]

First off, I don't touch most electrical unless I'm just replacing something. New item is wired same as old item being replaced. I did wire some stuff back in college while working in a warehouse and I've installed a couple stereo systems. There was usually supervision.

With all of that... I don't know shit about volts, amps, ohms, etc.

Here's the issue: I have a laser light in the garage in Havasu for parties. Laser light works with big orange extension cord just fine.

But the set up I want is: Outlet -> Power Strip -> Extension Cord -> Wifi Plug -> Laser Light

I can hear wifi plug clicking on and off when I use my phone to control it. Laser light will not work.

My guess is that this laser light needs a little extra compared to every other item I have on wifi plugs. Am I losing something from the outlet to the wifi plug? Will it help if I skip the power strip and go straight to the outlet with the extension cord (Too dumb to try this option over the weekend)?

I did have a guy from Havasu Wiring out yesterday for something else and I asked him. He said they make higher amp? wifi plugs and I should try that.

Here are the wifi plug and relatively similar laser light:

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

On one of the pictures it shows that the plug has an internal fuse. Strong chance it popped. could be from overcurrent, could be a bad receptacle, etc.

But, yes. you are pulling WAY too many amps if that is the laser light you have. On the listing it says it is rated for up to 30 amps. That plug is only rated for 15 at best. You are likely using too small of an extension cord as well.

 

[lbhsbz]

Assuming the "wifi plug" is simply a switch you can activate from your phone while you're too drunk or lazy to walk over to the real switch....

It should have a spec sticker on it somewhere, and so should the laser light, and so should the power strip. Make sure the power strip can support more than the wifi plug can, and make sure the wifi plug can support more than the light draws, and you should be good.....also assuming you're not using a 200ft extension cord or something silly like that.

Plastic insulation is cheaper than copper conductors....most extension cords that look heavy duty are 16 or 18 ga pieces of shit with thick insulation on it to make it look bigger and they're not rated for 15A.....like every 120V outlet is. Not sure why they even make or sell the damn things. Get a 14ga extension cord at the very least, 12ga will be better.

 

[Tooms22]

Assuming the "wifi plug" is simply a switch you can activate from your phone while you're too drunk or lazy to walk over to the real switch....

It should have a spec sticker on it somewhere, and so should the laser light, and so should the power strip. Make sure the power strip can support more than the wifi plug can, and make sure the wifi plug can support more than the light draws, and you should be good.....also assuming you're not using a 200ft extension cord or something silly like that.

Plastic insulation is cheaper than copper conductors....most extension cords that look heavy duty are 16 or 18 ga pieces of shit with thick insulation on it to make it look bigger and they're not rated for 15A.....like every 120V outlet is. Not sure why they even make or sell the damn things. Get a 14ga extension cord at the very least, 12ga will be better.

The garage is 2000 sq ft. I have 7 neon lights, 8 light strips, and this laser light spread out around the garage.

I would prefer to control it all on my phone vs. walking around and flipping 16 switches.

 

[SoCalDave]

Well the rating for the remote plugs is 10amp or 1100 watt. The rated wattage for the laser light states 30 watt so not sure what's going on.

 

[lbhsbz]

The garage is 2000 sq ft. I have 7 neon lights, 8 light strips, and this laser light spread out around the garage.

I would prefer to control it all on my phone vs. walking around and flipping 16 switches.

You will need to do math. Figure out what each one of those draws....either by using a Kill-a-watt and plugging them in one at a time, or by reading the data tag. Then add it all up and see if your powerstrip/outlet/cord/wifi switch can support it....if not, get bigger equipment.

Look at it like sprinklers....I probably have 70 sprinkler heads at my house running off of 10 or more "circuits". All of that shit is fed by a single 3/4" pipe from the street (we'll compare this to your 15A outlet). If I turn all the banks on at once to run all 70 sprinklers at once, it won't work at all....too much load for a single 3/4" pipe to supply. That's why we separate it down into 10 different banks that run reasonable loads (7 sprinklers) at a time.

Each 3/4" water main is a separate breaker on your panel....you may have to move some of the lights over to separate wifi switch on a separate circuit in order to run them all at the same time

The data tags will probably be spec'd in WATTS. WATTS divided by VOLTS = AMPS. If we have a 500W draw on a light, that's 4.16 AMPS. (500/120=4.16)

Do the math.

 

[coolchange]

10 amp plug and less than 1 amp load.
Divide and conquer.