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Step 2Assembly
1. Take the lock nut off of the Romex connector and slide it onto the wire with the screw down clamp side towards the plug.
2. Pop out one of the holes in the handy box. I chose the top center one because it seemed like it would give me the most room to put the rest of the components in there.
3. Put the Romex connector through the hole you punched out and thread on the lock nut. Tighten it down as much as possible with your fingers. DO NOT TIGHTEN THE WIRE CLAMP YET!
4. Separate and peel apart the wires. A knife might be helpful here depending on your cord.
5. Use the wire stripper to strip about half an inch of insulation off each wire.
6. Break off the "ears" off the outlet. These are the things that stick up by the outlet screws.
7. Use a pair of tin snips (what I used) or a dremel tool to cut the excess aluminum off the lamp dimmer. Since the handy box cover has indents where the screws are, we need to modify the dimmer a bit. I cut just above the plastic screw holes on the top and bottom of the dimmer and it fit perfectly.
8. Wire up the components. Isolate the black (hot) wire of your pigtail (mine was conveniently marked with black insulation under the white) and attach it to one of the black wires on the dimmer with the included wire nut. Next, take the other black wire and attach it to the brass screw side of the outlet (if you look really close on the back of the outlet you'll see that it says "hot" on the brass side.) Now, isolate the white (neutral) wire of your pigtail and attach it to the silver screw side of the outlet. Finally, wrap the ground wire from the pigtail and the ground wire from the dimmer together and attach them to the ground terminal on the outlet. That's it! If you got confused your dimmer comes with a wiring diagram. Just substitute the light bulb for an outlet and you're good to go.
9. Screw the dimmer and outlet onto the handy box cover with hardware included with the cover.
10. Make sure all wires and components fit easily into the handy box and screw handy box cover to the box.
11. Make sure there there is a little bit of slack on the pigtail inside the box then tighten the screws down snug. Not so snug that you short out the wires, just snug enough to hold the pigtail securely.
12. Finally, you are ready to test! Go find a lamp with an incandescent bulb (you still have one, right?) and make sure the lamp dims when you turn the knob and goes on and off when you push. I recommend getting a marker to put a + and a - at the appropriate places on the dimmer so you don't have to guess when you plug your soldering iron into it.
13. Have a beer, you're done! (unless it didn't work, in which case you should go back and figure out what happened.)
2. Pop out one of the holes in the handy box. I chose the top center one because it seemed like it would give me the most room to put the rest of the components in there.
3. Put the Romex connector through the hole you punched out and thread on the lock nut. Tighten it down as much as possible with your fingers. DO NOT TIGHTEN THE WIRE CLAMP YET!
4. Separate and peel apart the wires. A knife might be helpful here depending on your cord.
5. Use the wire stripper to strip about half an inch of insulation off each wire.
6. Break off the "ears" off the outlet. These are the things that stick up by the outlet screws.
7. Use a pair of tin snips (what I used) or a dremel tool to cut the excess aluminum off the lamp dimmer. Since the handy box cover has indents where the screws are, we need to modify the dimmer a bit. I cut just above the plastic screw holes on the top and bottom of the dimmer and it fit perfectly.
8. Wire up the components. Isolate the black (hot) wire of your pigtail (mine was conveniently marked with black insulation under the white) and attach it to one of the black wires on the dimmer with the included wire nut. Next, take the other black wire and attach it to the brass screw side of the outlet (if you look really close on the back of the outlet you'll see that it says "hot" on the brass side.) Now, isolate the white (neutral) wire of your pigtail and attach it to the silver screw side of the outlet. Finally, wrap the ground wire from the pigtail and the ground wire from the dimmer together and attach them to the ground terminal on the outlet. That's it! If you got confused your dimmer comes with a wiring diagram. Just substitute the light bulb for an outlet and you're good to go.
9. Screw the dimmer and outlet onto the handy box cover with hardware included with the cover.
10. Make sure all wires and components fit easily into the handy box and screw handy box cover to the box.
11. Make sure there there is a little bit of slack on the pigtail inside the box then tighten the screws down snug. Not so snug that you short out the wires, just snug enough to hold the pigtail securely.
12. Finally, you are ready to test! Go find a lamp with an incandescent bulb (you still have one, right?) and make sure the lamp dims when you turn the knob and goes on and off when you push. I recommend getting a marker to put a + and a - at the appropriate places on the dimmer so you don't have to guess when you plug your soldering iron into it.
13. Have a beer, you're done! (unless it didn't work, in which case you should go back and figure out what happened.)
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Mar 5, 2009. 9:17 AMbluize70
says:
I can't tell in the pics if you have done this but the ground wire should also be connected to the 'handy box' which in turn would be grounded thru your outlet which is ground thru your breaker panel...the way it is now if something went wrong inside it would be looking for a good ground which could be you...
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Mar 6, 2009. 4:27 PMMuadDweeb
says:
The ground terminal on the outlet is usually attached to its mounting points. When you screw the outlet to the cover and the cover to the box, the box should be grounded if you have paid attention to the rest of the instructions. (i.e. green wire from your power cord going to the outlet ground connection.) I did one of these a long time ago with a few refinements... not sure if I should submit my own 'ible or if I should just post the enhancements here... What sayeth the collective?
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Dec 28, 2009. 7:38 PMmilsorgen
says:
Do your own instructable, threads have a way of going zombie and the relevant info is lost for most.
Reply
Mar 5, 2009. 10:59 PMPauper
says:
No ... since the ground wire is connected to the outlet ground, and the outlet is mounted to the outlet box by the mounting screws, the box IS grounded thru the outlet ground. The mounting lugs on the outlet are at ground potential. This is standard code for electrical wiring.
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1
Oct 31, 2009. 12:21 AMlinstonsequeira
says:
cooooooool instructable.....................................................................................................................i was thinking of somethin like this.....................................
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