zbang
Senior Member
- Location
- Roughly 5346 miles from Earls Court
and 210.8(B)(4) refers to outdoors (with exceptions, none of which would apply to a scoreboard).
Scoreboard Receptacles
- Thread starter augie47
- Start date
- Status
mtnelect
HVAC & Electrical Contractor
- Location
- Southern California
- Occupation
- Contractor, C10 & C20 - Semi Retired
You are in the wrong Section of the NEC you should be in NEC Section 600.10 Portable or Mobile Signs, that is the only place that mentions signs that require a GFCI. A fixed sign that is 12 feet above the ground is not mentioned anywhere NEC !
curt swartz
Electrical Contractor - San Jose, CA
- Location
- San Jose, CA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
The sign doesn't require GFCI protection but the receptacles do. Doesn't matter what get plugged into them.
zbang
Senior Member
- Location
- Roughly 5346 miles from Earls Court
Um, no.
It would be quite difficult to describe a permanently-mounted scoreboard as a portable sign; that section just doesn't apply, and even if it did, (C)(2) wouldn't* to receptacles.. While it seems logical, I don't think any of 600 applies, at least not directly.
*"The ground-fault circuit interrupter shall be an integral part of the attachment plug or shall be located in the power-supply cord within 300 mm (12 in.) of the attachment plug."
Further, 600 doesn't address outdoor receptacles at all (and 600.5(A) wouldn't apply), we have to fall back to something that does, and that's 210.8.
It would be quite difficult to describe a permanently-mounted scoreboard as a portable sign; that section just doesn't apply, and even if it did, (C)(2) wouldn't* to receptacles.. While it seems logical, I don't think any of 600 applies, at least not directly.
*"The ground-fault circuit interrupter shall be an integral part of the attachment plug or shall be located in the power-supply cord within 300 mm (12 in.) of the attachment plug."
Further, 600 doesn't address outdoor receptacles at all (and 600.5(A) wouldn't apply), we have to fall back to something that does, and that's 210.8.
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
That is not how the code works. The rules in 210.8 apply to receptacles, even if that receptacle is used to supply equipment covered in Article 600, unless Article 600 has specific language that says the rules in 210.8 do not apply. There is no such language in Article 600, so the rules in 210.8 apply to the installation in this thread.
Sberry
Senior Member
- Location
- Brethren, MI
- Occupation
- farmer electrician
I agree, that was what my roundabout point was earlier. Simple as that.
brantmacga
Señor Member
- Location
- Georgia
- Occupation
- Former Child
If I could make a suggestion based on experience …..
GFCI protect them either at the breaker, or ideally from a device in a protected location nearby the scoreboard to limit the load-side circuit length on the GFCI.
I coached a little-league team for a few seasons. Before one of our games, i was walking by the scoreboard and noticed the PVC conduit running up the pole had been hit by a mower, and they took the UF inside and wrapped it around the outfield fence; the end of the cable was stripped bare for several inches from the mower blade cutting it. I got my meter from the truck and tested from the fence to the EGC in the UF, and there was 120v on the fence. The panel was located inside a maintenance shed and locked. I found the site director to get access to turn it off. When I asked if he was aware of the wire, he stated that he was aware, and had simply forgotten to have someone come fix it. I do wonder if maybe the breaker tripped, and someone else reset the breaker trying to get the scoreboard on that morning being unaware that the wire had been damaged.
I built a large 8-field baseball complex back in 2020, and with that experience in mind, we installed dead-front GFCI’s in the scorekeepers booth behind home plate and ran the conduit straight out to the scoreboard, transitioning to GRC underground and up the pole. We had receptacles in the dugouts as well, and I used GRC and cast boxes on everything.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
GFCI protect them either at the breaker, or ideally from a device in a protected location nearby the scoreboard to limit the load-side circuit length on the GFCI.
I coached a little-league team for a few seasons. Before one of our games, i was walking by the scoreboard and noticed the PVC conduit running up the pole had been hit by a mower, and they took the UF inside and wrapped it around the outfield fence; the end of the cable was stripped bare for several inches from the mower blade cutting it. I got my meter from the truck and tested from the fence to the EGC in the UF, and there was 120v on the fence. The panel was located inside a maintenance shed and locked. I found the site director to get access to turn it off. When I asked if he was aware of the wire, he stated that he was aware, and had simply forgotten to have someone come fix it. I do wonder if maybe the breaker tripped, and someone else reset the breaker trying to get the scoreboard on that morning being unaware that the wire had been damaged.
I built a large 8-field baseball complex back in 2020, and with that experience in mind, we installed dead-front GFCI’s in the scorekeepers booth behind home plate and ran the conduit straight out to the scoreboard, transitioning to GRC underground and up the pole. We had receptacles in the dugouts as well, and I used GRC and cast boxes on everything.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
I would like to add that it may not be permissible to use flexible cord (and plug) for this unless it meets one the conditions in 400.10. If it gets past that, then as mentioned the receptacle still requires GFCI protection because of it being outdoors, at least in more recent editions of NEC it does. If the receptacle is not readily accessible then it can not be a GFCI receptacle but rather must have the GFCI protection in a readily accessible location. Again if you go back far enough this was not always the rule either.
- Status