Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

Anybody else keep a flashlight by the breaker panel?


Alpo

Recommended Posts

I thought of this few years ago. Breaker pops and it's night. Kind of hard to see what you're doing.

 

Used to use one of those little keychain flashlights, but the batteries die. And I found this four pack of squeeze flashlights for 10 bucks at Amazon. No batteries to worry about.

 

IMG_20230106_202656784.thumb.jpg.a26d818c34715112d092a38eb234f2a4.jpg

 

Hook attached to a magnet from harbor freight.

 

If possible that everybody else does this already. But, if they don't, maybe somebody else will think it's a good idea.

 

My good deed for the day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do. I also keep lights in the most commonly used rooms, in case of power failures. 

We've been getting a lot recently: Ice storms; wind storms; squirrels frolicking in the sub-stations and shorting out the lines.

 

I now have a 18Kw natural gas generator in the backyard, waiting to be hooked up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have flashlights all over the house, and one in my pocket, and one on my keychain. When I lived in Florida you never knew when the lights would go out or for how long. Especially with the daily summer thunderstorm. 

I still do it even though blackouts here are very rare.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, but I have flashlights handy in every room. Currently, there is one behind the computer screen, one by my wife's easy chair and one by my chair. There is one on each side of our bed. There is one in the middle room, one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. There are also a few others laying around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good batteries should last a year easily unless the light is used a lot. I just change the batteries when I change the smoke detector.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I picked up a bunch of Harbor Freight freebies over the years: three switch positions and a magnet on the back of each one.  Got them all over the house from the garage, to one by every bed, a couple by the doors and in the garage, one on the fridge, one in each bathroom and others around including in the work shop.  Batteries get replaced the first of every year and a Battery Daddy full of spares stays where they are handy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wife is scared of power outages, and has flashlights secreted all over the house.  From my living room chair, I can see at least four, plus several battery powered candles.  And, I routinely carry a flashlight in my pocket.  

 

That said, I like @Alpo idea, and will place one on the outside of the breaker box.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, I don't. I do have flashlights at locations all over the house, including both nightstands. My electrical panel is in the garage beside my vehicle and is a pita to get to if my truck is parked there, it can be done but I have to move a few things.

 

For me, if a breaker trips at any time, there's got to be a reason for it tripping. If I'm sleeping, I'm not going to notice the outage until I wake up anyway. When a breaker trips, it tripped for a reason. Most of the time, it's something plugged into the circuit and that makes it fairly easy to find. Sometimes it's something on/in the circuit that overloads the circuit, too many amps for too long of time and makes it fairly easy to find. Sometimes its loose connections located within a switch/receptacle box and hidden from plain view. This is usually a bad joint makeup or loose wires stabbed into the "quick clicks" in the back of a receptacle. Don't be so fast to just reset a tripped breaker and forget about it, look for a cause.

 

Most residences (and other places) have breakers known as "inverse time" breakers. All that means is that the breakers are designed take an over amp situation for a short amount of time so that starting loads of motors don't trip the breaker...motors being refrigerators, vacuums, ac units, pool pumps, etc.

 

Some brands of breakers are notorious for not tripping until serious problems (fires/shocks) occur and some don't trip at all...they just fry. The main brands of these faulty breakers are FPE (Federal Pacific) and Zinsco/Sylvania. The FPE breakers have (for the most part) red handles are prone to not tripping. Zinsco/Sylvania breakers have colored handles (blue, red, green, orange, black, white, etc.) and are not only prone to not tripping, but are also prone to burning up the buss bar where the breaker is plugged into the buss bar. For this reason, many insurance companies will request (force) homeowners to replace these panels with a modern brand of panel. They also will not accept fuse type panels any longer as people replace (ie) 15 amp fuses with 20 amp fuses but the wire is only rated for 15 and the like.

 

If replacing the electrical panel, I suggest Square D, QO type panels/breakers or at least Square D, Homeline panels/breakers. Siemens/ITE panels w/copper buss are good also. These panels are known to last and the breakers do what they are designed to do. They are a little more expensive than other brands, but you'll only have to do it once. There are some makes of panels/breakers that I used to refuse to install because the cheap aluminum buss bar is just another Zinsco type panel waiting to melt down. If someone wants to know what panels they are, PM me.

 

Damn, what a long winded post to say that I don't have a flashlight attached to my panel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Flashlight at breaker panel and in main rooms. Also picked up a light bulb for the table lamp by the couch that has a battery backup built into it. Works great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Texas Joker said:

So I shouldt do this for the dryer circuit?

 

Screenshot_20230107-072009_Brave.thumb.jpg.c0e81a30da88406388d4d4ed717688d9.jpg

 

Not a good idea. Notice there is another screw started above the tied off breaker and a breaker has started to create heat/scorch marks at the lower left. I'd say that they don't need a flashlight near the panel but a fire extinguisher wouldn't be a bad idea.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I need a light at the panel that means I needed one to get there, so I don't have one next to it. On the other hand, even though i have a phone with a light I have several flashlights too, so if I already had one for all the rooms I needed and one for the car, that would be a good place for another one. If you have an outlet near the panel it might also be a good place for one of those lights that stay plugged in and charging. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The breaker should still trip. I don't know why anyone would do this, unless it's to keep someone from manually turning off a critical circuit.

 

 

5 hours ago, Texas Joker said:

 

So I shouldt do this for the dryer circuit?

 

Screenshot_20230107-072009_Brave.thumb.jpg.c0e81a30da88406388d4d4ed717688d9.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i keep one by the bed - a lot of others around as well , but there is one on top of the thermostat on the way to the panel , i like the magnetic hook idea , i dont like the wire tie off idea , dont overload a circuit or get it upgraded to handle the load , 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

The breaker should still trip. I don't know why anyone would do this, unless it's to keep someone from manually turning off a critical circuit.

 

 

 

I'm guessing this is the case. many places I have worked they kill power to outlets at night but don't want a server or something critical turned off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The flashlight idea is great.

 

But, here in Arizona most panels are mounted outside of the house. Yes, many folks put a padlock on their panel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Howdy,

One cell light in my pocket next to my favorite pen.

Vest pocket has that and a little holder for credit card and a few bucks.

I need Batmans Utility Belt please.

Those new duracells are hot.

Single cell AA lights are cheep.

Best

CR

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.