brantmacga
Señor Member
- Location
- Georgia
- Occupation
- Former Child
I was checking out a sign kiosk late this evening.
None of the lights were working. I went to take an end cap off, and the frame of the sign was hot (electrically). Its located about 30" off a sidewalk.
There is no disconnect at the sign, so I wander to the rear of the strip center and find the common panel. 3 breakers, none labeled, shut them all off.
I get the sign opened up, and here's what i find.
(pics are from a cell phone, so they're not great)
This is the wiring coming through the bottom of the sign frame. It looks like they originally drilled something like a 7/16" hole. The sign stands on a pole base, and swivels up to 4" in the wind. The swivel motion allowed the edge of the hole to cut into the conductors. You can see where the metal has been blown away, presumably from arcing. The wiring method was UF, and the grounding conductor had been cut off and not attached to the frame at all. In the picture below, I had already cut off the ungrounded conductor before thinking about snapping a pic, so all you see here is what's left of the grounded.
here are the conductors in a little better light.
you see the grounded on the left, and the two halves of the ungrounded i cut out.
None of the lights were working. I went to take an end cap off, and the frame of the sign was hot (electrically). Its located about 30" off a sidewalk.
There is no disconnect at the sign, so I wander to the rear of the strip center and find the common panel. 3 breakers, none labeled, shut them all off.
I get the sign opened up, and here's what i find.
(pics are from a cell phone, so they're not great)
This is the wiring coming through the bottom of the sign frame. It looks like they originally drilled something like a 7/16" hole. The sign stands on a pole base, and swivels up to 4" in the wind. The swivel motion allowed the edge of the hole to cut into the conductors. You can see where the metal has been blown away, presumably from arcing. The wiring method was UF, and the grounding conductor had been cut off and not attached to the frame at all. In the picture below, I had already cut off the ungrounded conductor before thinking about snapping a pic, so all you see here is what's left of the grounded.
here are the conductors in a little better light.
you see the grounded on the left, and the two halves of the ungrounded i cut out.