Marc

Behave gentlemen, he might be from another planet.

You've issues far worse than just flickering lights. Get an electrician to briefly examine your entire electrical installation.

I'm at that point in life also where I must deal with everything I've collected, but I don't plan on pitching anything. That I leave to the relative who has agreed to disperse with my estate once I'm gone. I don't want to do it while I'm still here. To borrow the words of Caption Jean-Luc Picard - please don't bury me before I'm dead.

I don't think either of you guys realize what a huge resource you are to the profession. Until you go totally couillon or forget what your name is, you can still contribute in ways that no one else can. It was Les who mentioned 'method and materials' so long ago, which immediately struck me as what the core of any home inspection course should be. Mike gave me a report of his, which I'll never share with anyone, that should be adopted by every state in the country, alongside the SOP and COE, as the standard for writing home inspection reports.

If 720 watts is the LED power and not an HID or incandescent equivalent, it would translate into almost 100,000 lumens. You could fry an egg with that much light. 21,000 lumens is the biggest single LED light fixture I've ever seen. It consumes 150 watts.

Your symptoms suggest parallel connected banks of series connected LEDs. Most common configuration is one driver for each series connected bank of LEDs, but your symptoms suggests parallel connected banks. Understanding the configuration aids diagnosis. Post a picture of the driver label.

The problem was never the wire, just the connectors. Re-engineering the connectors was combined with a more malleable alloy of aluminum to get a finished solution. I don't ever recommend replacement of electrical wiring. I do recommend that both ends of every single length of aluminum wire be connected with devices intended for CU/ALR. It's labor intensive but so is total replacement of all wiring, especially after interior finishes are repaired, once the sparky is done.

Before aluminum, electrical connectors were engineered and intended for metallic copper. When aluminum came along, it quickly became evident that the same connectors didn't work as well with solid aluminum conductors. The issue was found to be a result of the reduced malleability of the aluminum compared to copper. It didn't deform as well, which resulted in poor connections, excessive voltage drops, and thus excessive heat. There were other issues but this one got the most attention. The solutions were an alloy of aluminum, as well as re-engineered connectors that were able to develop the compressive force needed to make good connections on both copper and the new aluminum alloy. Just my take on it.

No. Stranded aluminum wiring, even when its the original formulation, was able to make good connections with terminals intended for copper. I wouldn't write it.

I get them. Proceeded to the site anyway. Mike will get to it.

Thanks Bill. That's a better metric. I'm gonna go with '1930's.

I had one yesterday that had both lead waste line on the toilet but copper tubing for fresh water lines. The lead suggests turn of the 19th century for my area (cast iron for rest of DWV, no vitrified clay) but galvanized pipe was used for fresh water distribution at that time, and all of it is actually copper. Copper fresh water lines is more like post WWII. The electrical is the first generation of sheathed cable that followed the last generation of K&T. No looms. Any suggestions? The authorities here didn't keep records until 1980.

It may be something to just close the two openings that were left after removing some plumbing fixture that was there before. But I can't think of a fixture that would be installed within an attic.

Ugly son of a .......

The value of a warranty pales in comparison to the value of an accomplished inspector. Such inspectors accounting for less than 1 in 40.

Need a better regulatory model to deal with that conflict of interest. Very hard to get such a thing through a state legislature though. Too great a political hurdle right now.

In my view, that's absolutely something that the contractor should have considered before quoting a price. I hope you've a signed contract to fall back on.

It wouldn't surprise me if the house sat for years longer before eventually becoming demolished.

Last time I checked, there was a fine print note that suggested that a properly designed wiring system would not have voltage drops in excess of 5%. There was no rule involving it. I don't have the latest cycle.

Electric currents flow in the earth, creating gradients in electrical potentials as they go. The scenario you described is based on allowing separate equa-potential regions to exists in close proximity. Later code cycles improved on that by creating a single, larger equa-potential region. JMHO

One of the concerns in this panel is that neutrals and ground wires are joined together. Bonding the EGC system at more than one point places some ground wires in a parallel circuit with a neutral, resulting in neutral circuits in ground wires. Ground wires are smaller. They weren't intended to carry neutral circuits.

Looks like fiber-cement stucatto.

Inspection methods are the prerogative of the inspector. I work as home inspector, commercial inspector, licensed electrician, AC/heat technician among other things. I've a degree in electrical engineering but not registered in my state as such. What I've given you is all I can give, unless you've more questions appropriate to the boundaries of this message board. I cannot call you...haven't called anyone in 54 years. My phone's broke.

You need an electrical engineer to design the layout, switch gear, buss, etc. He'll also be familiar with code requirements and will make the design compliant as well as issue an engineering certificate to show the code inspector when he comes. The challenge here is not the chargers, it's the control and distribution of power.

It's a pain in the neck to sleuth these things sometimes.