Puzzling Garage Electric Wiring Question

Brooks · 06-11-2023, 01:28 PM

I just put a 30 amp plug in my son in laws garage l checked everything with a meter and it checked out at 122 volts I then plugged my surge protector in and everything checked out with that so I plugged the RV in and the surge protector said L1 L2 reversed with the RV plugged in yet everything worked fine in the RV so I reversed L1 L2 and when I plugged only the surge protector in it then read L1 L2 reversed I know confusing just hoping someone may have had a similar experience

Morich · 06-11-2023, 02:01 PM

For the folks I work with, there is a major problem with either the terms used or the surge protector as there is no L1 and L2 on a 30 amp 110Volt outlet!
You should only have one hot lead, often called L1, one neutral, and one ground.
In my way of speaking, there is no L2 to be reversed!
Perhaps the surge protector is not meant for 30 amp service and confusing the lack of L2?

But then when you say it "checked out", we are left to assume it is correct as you are not being specific as to where and how you were testing.
Not saying you are wrong but with the appearance of some problem and without knowing we have to leave all options open to question?

Where do you feel it is getting L2? Did you use some diagram that shows L2, so that they are using a different thought than I see?

Brooks · 06-11-2023, 02:15 PM

/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morich

For the folks I work with, there is a major problem with either the terms used or the surge protector as there is no L1 and L2 on a 30 amp 110Volt outlet!
You should only have one hot lead, often called L1, one neutral, and one ground.
In my way of speaking, there is no L2 to be reversed!
Perhaps the surge protector is not meant for 30 amp service and confusing the lack of L2?

But then when you say it "checked out", we are left to assume it is correct as you are not being specific as to where and how you were testing.
Not saying you are wrong but with the appearance of some problem and without knowing we have to leave all options open to question?

Where do you feel it is getting L2? Did you use some diagram that shows L2, so that they are using a different thought than I see?

The surge protector has 3 lites that all light green when everything is good there is a list beneath theses 3 lites will different lights for different problems theL1 and L2 reversed is first light red the other 2 green so maybe that is when plugged into 50 amp maybe I should just be reading the L1 when plugged into 30 amp the strange thing is that it's fine when just the surge protector is plugged in but as soon as I plug the RV in the red light comes on.

Morich · 06-11-2023, 02:42 PM

There should only be three wires coming from the breaker box to the outlet. There should be one hot or L1, one neutral, and one ground wire.
If that is wired to the correct points on the outlet, any mention of L2 has to be wrong as there is no L2 on 30 amp service.

When you say you reversed L1 and L2 on the second try, where did you find the L2?
Do you have a 50 amp RV that would have an L2?

Sounds like a good check of the manual for the surge protector is needs to understand what the lights mean.

lenore · 06-11-2023, 03:54 PM

Funny just ran into this on a friends dryer in new home. I know it has 240volt, but the appliance was wired for four wire, L1 L2 ground, and nuetral. The house only had 3 wires ground and two hots. the plug was wired ground to ground, but the dryer required nuetral to be wired. (electronics). As soon as I moved the ground lead to nuetral the dryer worked. Hope you didnt wire the ground and nuetral backward on the plug.

Brooks · 06-11-2023, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morich

There should only be three wires coming from the breaker box to the outlet. There should be one hot or L1, one neutral, and one ground wire.
If that is wired to the correct points on the outlet, any mention of L2 has to be wrong as there is no L2 on 30 amp service.

When you say you reversed L1 and L2 on the second try, where did you find the L2?
Do you have a 50 amp RV that would have an L2?

Sounds like a good check of the manual for the surge protector is needs to understand what the lights mean.

Ok after your first response I realized I was confused so what I did was reverse the hot and neutral and then the surge protector said L1 reversed so I changed it back and the surge protector says all is good until I plug the RV in and then the red light comes back on so then I plugged the RV back into a 20 amp plug and all is good

Morich · 06-11-2023, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lenore

Funny just ran into this on a friends dryer in new home. I know it has 240volt, but the appliance was wired for four wire, L1 L2 ground, and nuetral. The house only had 3 wires ground and two hots. the plug was wired ground to ground, but the dryer required nuetral to be wired. (electronics). As soon as I moved the ground lead to nuetral the dryer worked. Hope you didnt wire the ground and nuetral backward on the plug.

The thing often missed on ground and neutral is that we used a system called multi grounded neutral (MGN). That means that both neutral and ground are connected to earth/ ground at multiple points.
they serve different purposes when in the house but they both run back to the breaker box and connect together there with whatever is used as ground in the that specific house.

Brooks · 06-11-2023, 07:57 PM

1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morich

The thing often missed on ground and neutral is that we used a system called multi grounded neutral (MGN). That means that both neutral and ground are connected to earth/ ground at multiple points.
they serve different purposes when in the house but they both run back to the breaker box and connect together there with whatever is used as ground in the that specific house.

Ok I changed out a fuse box to a breaker box in a garage so I thought I needed a separate neutral and ground

Morich · 06-12-2023, 07:55 AM

DANGER!
Keep in mind this stuff can hurt you really bad and consider if it is a job you are ready to do?
Confusing the hot leads with either the ground or neutral leads can kill folks!

If you are dealing with the breaker or fuse box, you may be getting in too deep!

BUT assuming it late to mention that, you might look at the fuse or breaker box and locate where the ground wire and neutrals are connected. They may be on the same set of lugs or they may be laid out with grounds on one set and neutrals on another but both screwed onto the metal of the box. That metal connects both neutral and ground together!
Many times they are both just laid out in a mixed fashion on what buss bar is easier to reach and fit the wiring better.

AGAIN! WARNING!
Watch what you touch in that box!