Hello all, I need help wiring my fire alarm control panel. This is just a demo so I don’t need it code complaint. I am not very good at electrical but, I was wondering how you wire an extension cord, to a switch, then to the panel. I am assuming it’s easy but I’ve been told not to do it the way I was thinking. Please help. Thanks!
Please excuse this very crude drawing, but I hope it helps. I’m assuming you’re in the US so I’m here’s how that goes:
- Get a back box for your light switch, have all connections in there, not outside any boxes. NO electrical connections should be exposed
- The HOT (black) wire is the only one to be switched. Neutral (white wire - gray in the pic) and ground (green wire) should not run through a switch, but in the drawing you’ll see the ground wire has a spot to land on the switch. THIS IS IMPORTANT. There is usually a green screw to land the wire on.
- Mount the light switch on the back box, put a cover over it.
If you give this a go, please feel free to post pictures of how you wired everything up here for us to give you a second set of eyes before you plug it in. Electrical safety is no joke, so do this very carefully if you do so.
If anyone is curious - yes I whipped this up in MS Paint.
Thanks, I have one question and it should be extremely easy but I don’t work with this type of electrical often so I’m confused ( yes I will make sure to have someone better than me check it out!! But how do I ground the box? I am using a PLASTIC BOX. I assume you don’t but do the ground wires just go to the switch and nothing else? And do I strip the ground just a bit/ regular amount or do I strip it a lot? Thanks!
What panel do you have?
You do not need to ground the plastic box, only metal boxes. Plastic is non-conductive, so there’s no need. If your home has any plastic boxes, you’ll notice that they aren’t grounded either. The ground wires from the ROMEX are just tucked inside.
just make sure you land the ground wire on the ground screw in the switch, and also on the ground in the panel itself.
It’s a fire lite ms-2410b 10 zone panel but I’m fine for now thanks though!
