winnie
Senior Member
- Location
- Springfield, MA, USA
- Occupation
- Electric motor research
This is a report from some DIY activity...I am not asking for advice or instruction, simply reporting what I found.
I've recently moved into a house built in 1930. The house has a detached garage, and there is a switch controlled light on the outside of the garage as well as a receptacle in the garage. Of course you know what is coming: lets save wires and use a 'carter' type switch arrangement.
For those not familiar, see this thread for a cute animation about how the carter system works: http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=95435
I am reporting a new variation encountered yesterday. There are _2_ switches in the garage in addition to the switch in the house. One of the switches in the garage is a '4-way' switch which would normally swap the travelers in a normal 3 way control scheme.
In this 4-way variation of the carter system, this switch was used to swap 'hot' and 'neutral' for the remainder of the circuit. This turns the light on and off just fine...but depending upon the state of this switch, the receptacle in the garage will have 'hot/neutral reversed' or normal.
To add to the fun, hot and neutral were both wired with black conductors, the traveler was white. Wired in RMC that either has a hidden/buried junction box or a bit more than 360 degrees of bends underground.
Pleasantly surprising is that the bulk of the wiring in the house is old but not hacked. Lots of original BX, soldered and taped, but not messed with too much.
-Jon
I've recently moved into a house built in 1930. The house has a detached garage, and there is a switch controlled light on the outside of the garage as well as a receptacle in the garage. Of course you know what is coming: lets save wires and use a 'carter' type switch arrangement.
For those not familiar, see this thread for a cute animation about how the carter system works: http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=95435
I am reporting a new variation encountered yesterday. There are _2_ switches in the garage in addition to the switch in the house. One of the switches in the garage is a '4-way' switch which would normally swap the travelers in a normal 3 way control scheme.
In this 4-way variation of the carter system, this switch was used to swap 'hot' and 'neutral' for the remainder of the circuit. This turns the light on and off just fine...but depending upon the state of this switch, the receptacle in the garage will have 'hot/neutral reversed' or normal.
To add to the fun, hot and neutral were both wired with black conductors, the traveler was white. Wired in RMC that either has a hidden/buried junction box or a bit more than 360 degrees of bends underground.
Pleasantly surprising is that the bulk of the wiring in the house is old but not hacked. Lots of original BX, soldered and taped, but not messed with too much.
-Jon