110 Volt Shop Outlet Install-Done Right

110 Volt Shop Outlet Install Done Right

Step 1:

We're going to install a 110 outlet so let's get started. We shut the breaker off, and now we're just checking with a voltmeter to make sure that the power’s off. Now we're going to go ahead and measure out about nine inches and then go ahead and cut it off. This is going to give us plenty of wire to be able to work with. Ok, now you notice these ears are on these outlets, where this is really for a plastic box, so for the industrial application we're going to be snapping little Mickey Mouse ears off so it’s going to be able to go inside that box. So we get all four of those off, and then the plastic is also designed to go into the plastic, and we're not going to need these either so let's go ahead and get those off. Then you can see that it we're going to take our wire strippers and you go ahead and strip off the wires, and just make sure that you’re careful not to nick the wire because, you know, the wire could snap off. Now this little hole here - a lot of people don’t know this but it actually makes a hook. Kinda cool, huh? So if you put that hook on then we're going to hook them up to the outlet. Now you'll notice the flathead screwdriver does fit and, if you have to, that works. And a lot of people use a Phillips and you know that works, too, but it's not actually designed for those. It's actually designed for the square bit here and when you use one like this you’re never going to go back. Ok, so now we're going to attach the wire to the lug on the outlet, and this gets a little tricky because the hook needs to go in the same direction that the screw goes in so it... it snugs up and tightens, so let's go ahead and get it into the right orientation and we're going to go ahead and put it onto the lug. And this is a little bit tricky but once you get in you're going to take the pliers this is tough at first and takes a little bit of practice), but you want to make sure that thing is snugged tightly around the lug. It's important for a good quality connection. Go ahead and take our square bit and tighten it up really nice. Alright, now we're going to do the exact same thing to the the next lug. Just the snug it in and notice the installation doesn’t actually go past the outlet and this is good because we don't want any stray wires in there. So go ahead and snug this one up as well. So the next thing to be taking the safety ground and getting that all prepped up. So we got this copper sleeve - that's code in a lot of places - and actually worked pretty good so we’re going to take back of the pliers and we're going to crimp that on nice and tight. Now I usually take another pair of pliers and I'm going to twist this and this is going to make everything really nice and secure and make sure that the safety ground wires aren't going to come apart in the box. This is nice and secure at this point. This is nice and secure at this point. Now we're just going to spread these wires out and this little hole actually makes the hook, I mean a lot of folks don't know this but pretty quick way to do it. Now it's important to put one of the ground wires at the back of the metal box because if a wire ever did come loose and it touches the metal box it's going to trip the breaker. If you don't have this wire here it will not trip the breaker. Now at this point what we're going to do is we’re going to go ahead and put the ground on the portion of the outlet and on the green lug so we are going to go ahead and tight it up get up. Now since this is going to be a double outlet box, we're going to go ahead and just put on another outlet so you just bring the wires from that outlet over and go ahead and snug it up. The next step is to take electrical tape and we're going to put on two wraps or at least to wraps and this makes sure that there's no lugs that are going to be inside the box that are going to be exposed so if there's any wire that moves around there's not going to be exposed wires. So we'll wrap the second outlet an electrical tape so everything's all tidied up, Now it's time to go ahead and put the electrical plate on. So the first thing that you do is you just take a Phillips screwdriver in this case and go ahead and tighten it up and this is going to snug the outlets in nice and tight. Then put nuts and bolts on all four corners and this makes it on all four corners and this makes it going to be much more stable. Ok, now that we have that all buttoned up it's really important to notice the orientation of the outlets. Now a lot of people want to put it in this orientation but look what would happen if a piece of metal were to hit, its going to hit the positive and negative and that tape measure is going to be blown in half actually I've seen this happen. So the idea here is you turn it around for an industrial application. See how it won’t hit the positive and the negative? And now that we have this completed we’re going to go ahead and button this job up and put the screws into the corners, and get it all put together. So that’s basically it.