Hey guys,
I plan on purchasing a fire lite ms 2 from U8oL0 and I was wondering how can I power it without buying one of those extra power supply boosters?
Find and read the manuals for it online. Pretty simple. Read up on the AC power connections, simple as connecting a 3-prong grounded cord to the input terminals or transformer primary.
The input terminals are located under a flap at the bottom of the board. You may have to use a flat-head screwdriver to pop it open.
Okay thanks so much! If I have ground power, do I also need battery power
Battery power just serves as a backup in case AC power fails. It will cause a trouble if they are not installed but they are not necessary for hobby purposes. On a side note, if you do install batteries, never start the panel on battery power. Doing so can damage the battery charging circuit and destroy your panel.
kcin556 is right. Also, a lot of newer panels have a special transistor circuit inside that prevents starting from the batteries for this very reason. I think the MS-2 does too but I have never tried it and would rather not.
What I’ve done is just bought a 3-pronged extension cord, cut off the female end then just stripped those wires and it works perfectly.
That’s what I plan on doing
Remember to observe polarity when wiring up the 120VAC connection. I’m not sure if reverse polarity will kill the panel instantly, but just be careful. I’m sure many people have fried their panels because of this!
AC wiring has no polarity. One line is designated as Hot and the other Neutral based on the wiring pattern, but when the circuit is completed, since AC oscillates positive/negative at a constant rate there is no “positive or negative.” Reversing the wires on the transformer primary will not make a difference electrically, but it is convention to follow Hot and Neutral Designations due to the pattern of switches and breakers, so that the Hot is always switched off whenever a switch or breaker is thrown, rather than the neutral.
How do tell which to put into each terminal? And how can you tell which is hot and neutral
Switching the polarity shouldn’t harm the panel. I’ve switched the neutral/hot wires up several times and the panel still operated fine. But I would still recommend using the correct polarity, especially if you’re using your panel for non-hobby related purposes.
Once I accidentally switched the earth wire with one of neutral/hot wires, and the panel was still operating fine for the ~30 seconds I had it on before realizing my mistake (which is why you should always double check AC connections).
Here is an article explaining why polarity in AC Circuits does potentially matter: http://www.phillylicensedelectrician.com/polarity-matters-in-ac-wiring/
Everything in that article is very true, and it revolves around the issues with switching being done on the hot circuit as I brought up. AC “polarity” is more to keep dangerous voltages away from users, such as in light sockets where the hot is isolated to the small button at the bottom of the socket.
NJMoo3652, Hot, neutral, and ground are determined by the color of the wires:
Hot: Black, Red, Blue, Yellow
Neutral: White, Brown
Ground: Green, Green/yellow striped, bare copper
You may also see different colored wires “tagged” at the end with certain colored electrical tape, designating its true function in the circuit.
So if I were to strip the extension cord, I would find 2 of the colors and hot/ground/etc. go where in the screw terminals?
You can see the AC connections clearly labeled in this diagram:
http://firealarmresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Fire-Lite-MS-2-51841.pdf
You would find a black, white, and green wire. Hot, neutral, and ground (in order).
I don’t remember how it is labeled on Fire-Lites, but there should be a green screw, which is ground, and some kind of labeling like “H” for hot, and “N” for neutral.
I would recommend you learn about electricity before using the panel, to be safer and know how everything works.
Okay thanks guys!
One other suggestion, and this comes from personal hobby experience, if you are going to power something off 120V, run it through a power strip protected with a circuit breaker (does not necessarily need to be a surge suppressor, a basic power strip would do just fine). Does two things for you. First, gives you an easy way to kill the power to your project via the on/off switch. Second, the circuit breaker gives you protection in case something gets shorted out. Sometimes, the circuit breakers on your main panelboard can take a couple seconds to trip out (and if you’ve got FPE breakers good luck) whereas the circuit breaker on the power strip may work a little faster.