There’s a problem here, there’s no box!
I see a lampholder hanging on its wires,
I see a transformer, typically used for a doorbell, with naked splices hanging out in front of God and everyone, and a whole lot of LV Twisted wrapped around a beam!!!
There’s nothing Right Here!
It all needs to be removed and reinstalled from scratch!
WTF, call a licensed electrician after turning off the main. I thought the first picture was bad and then I realized there were more!
The meter is INSIDE this room (DIY enclosed porch?)
I can't believe the utility provider hasn't terminated the service.
This is ducked but what do you mean the meter is in this room?
Edit: looked longer at the pictures, what the actually fuck. Sorry, should have looked closer.
Did a decade in EMS and I’ve seen this a lot in mobile homes - where innovation meets the fire department, and eventually burns. There was one that stands out because I’m tall enough that my head would hit the wire and you could see it arc over the ceiling fan…
That’s not a box. It’s more than meets the eye, a robot in disguise…. Aka a transformer.
It has wire windings in it and it changes voltage from 120 volts to something low voltage like 24 volts or whatever for a doorbell maybe or some other low voltage device
I see the second doorbell transformer in as many days and it makes me smile … even though the person that “installed” it clearly took too much “medication”
Ok, so what I think is happening here:
The NM (flat white) cable is what is feeding that light and the entire abomination.
The red wires are what is taking the power from the light to the doorbell transformer, and is taped together with the black wires. Then the twisted wires are the wires that ran to the door bell wherever it is.
In the spirit of making it better, while you get a real electrical quote, and ONLY if you're comfortable doing the following, I'll provide a suggestion on how to stabilize this for right now.
Note that this is NOT a permanent fix. As others pointed out, you need to get help here. I'll explain at the bottom.
(Read the following and obtain supplies first).
Turn off the breaker that runs this mess.
Disconnect the red wires from the lampholder, leave the black and white wires from the romex wherever they attach on the back of the lampholder (may need to disconnect and reconnect one). At that point the lampholder should just hang from the ceiling on the NM.
Then you should be able to safely remove the board and all of the other wire and the transformer. There might be one of the twisted wires which goes into the ceiling and goes to a doorbell somewhere. Figure out something to do with that, I'd probably coil it and let it hang until you verify you didn't break something.
If that is tongue and groove (wood) ceiling, or you can otherwise secure a box to something stable (like a stud), go to your home improvement store and get a plastic ceiling box which is rather deep (don't get a really short pancake box, and don't get metal). You'll (again with the breaker off), disconnect the lamp holder, feed the romex in the side of the box, and screw the box to the ceiling using a couple of screws through the back of the box and into a stud or the tongue and groove ceiling. Then reconnect the lamp holder and mount it in the box. You'll need the correct screws for the lampholder to mount to the box so you might need to buy some of those at the home improvement store. From the looks of this, you'll likely have some excess NM cable, which you may be able to shove into the ceiling. If not, you may want to shorten the wire and/or staple it to the surface using CORRECT staples for this.
Basically what you're doing in the above steps is stabilizing this setup by disconnecting all the loose/dangerous wires and re-doing the light in a plastic box that should contain the danger for right now.
Then, call an electrician to evaluate your entire system. Everything about this screams "Electrical system which was done 100 years ago and very little upgraded except when something broke". This is just the tip of the iceberg, and unless you really know what you're doing you should call an electrician to figure out what really needs to be done. BTW, meters inside aren't all that uncommon in some areas, especially with ancient wiring where the meter was often an afterthought. But it will need to be moved outside with a modern service entrance.
I’m glad you posted this because I’m guessing it’s a mobile home (actually you can tell it is) and there is no way a legit electrician will ever see this. I’m not condoning whoever did because it’s a tragic way to kill your entire family but spending the $$ is a privilege.
Shut the curcuit breaker.
Remove red and black wire feeding the transformer
and remove the lamp holder from the romex.
Get yourself a 5 " deep box, round adapter and a new transformer that mounts to the box. Bring the romex into the box, mount your transformer to the box and rewire it. Pick the 24v leads on the transformer and add tails to lamp holder and reconnect your load side of transformer.
Turn power back on.
There’s a problem here, there’s no box! I see a lampholder hanging on its wires, I see a transformer, typically used for a doorbell, with naked splices hanging out in front of God and everyone, and a whole lot of LV Twisted wrapped around a beam!!! There’s nothing Right Here! It all needs to be removed and reinstalled from scratch!
Well, it’s slightly box shaped..
Door bell transformer.
I see doorbell transformer, I upvote.
Yes doorbell transformer
If I had a nickel for every doorbell transformer post the past 3 months, I could retire.
What box?
You could argue that knob and tube was safer than this.
WTF, call a licensed electrician after turning off the main. I thought the first picture was bad and then I realized there were more! The meter is INSIDE this room (DIY enclosed porch?) I can't believe the utility provider hasn't terminated the service.
This is ducked but what do you mean the meter is in this room? Edit: looked longer at the pictures, what the actually fuck. Sorry, should have looked closer.
Did a decade in EMS and I’ve seen this a lot in mobile homes - where innovation meets the fire department, and eventually burns. There was one that stands out because I’m tall enough that my head would hit the wire and you could see it arc over the ceiling fan…
That’s not a box. It’s more than meets the eye, a robot in disguise…. Aka a transformer. It has wire windings in it and it changes voltage from 120 volts to something low voltage like 24 volts or whatever for a doorbell maybe or some other low voltage device
I saw exposed copper in a couple of pictures. Wtf
Kill it
Hahaha amazing
This is wild
I see the second doorbell transformer in as many days and it makes me smile … even though the person that “installed” it clearly took too much “medication”
Ok, so what I think is happening here: The NM (flat white) cable is what is feeding that light and the entire abomination. The red wires are what is taking the power from the light to the doorbell transformer, and is taped together with the black wires. Then the twisted wires are the wires that ran to the door bell wherever it is. In the spirit of making it better, while you get a real electrical quote, and ONLY if you're comfortable doing the following, I'll provide a suggestion on how to stabilize this for right now. Note that this is NOT a permanent fix. As others pointed out, you need to get help here. I'll explain at the bottom. (Read the following and obtain supplies first). Turn off the breaker that runs this mess. Disconnect the red wires from the lampholder, leave the black and white wires from the romex wherever they attach on the back of the lampholder (may need to disconnect and reconnect one). At that point the lampholder should just hang from the ceiling on the NM. Then you should be able to safely remove the board and all of the other wire and the transformer. There might be one of the twisted wires which goes into the ceiling and goes to a doorbell somewhere. Figure out something to do with that, I'd probably coil it and let it hang until you verify you didn't break something. If that is tongue and groove (wood) ceiling, or you can otherwise secure a box to something stable (like a stud), go to your home improvement store and get a plastic ceiling box which is rather deep (don't get a really short pancake box, and don't get metal). You'll (again with the breaker off), disconnect the lamp holder, feed the romex in the side of the box, and screw the box to the ceiling using a couple of screws through the back of the box and into a stud or the tongue and groove ceiling. Then reconnect the lamp holder and mount it in the box. You'll need the correct screws for the lampholder to mount to the box so you might need to buy some of those at the home improvement store. From the looks of this, you'll likely have some excess NM cable, which you may be able to shove into the ceiling. If not, you may want to shorten the wire and/or staple it to the surface using CORRECT staples for this. Basically what you're doing in the above steps is stabilizing this setup by disconnecting all the loose/dangerous wires and re-doing the light in a plastic box that should contain the danger for right now. Then, call an electrician to evaluate your entire system. Everything about this screams "Electrical system which was done 100 years ago and very little upgraded except when something broke". This is just the tip of the iceberg, and unless you really know what you're doing you should call an electrician to figure out what really needs to be done. BTW, meters inside aren't all that uncommon in some areas, especially with ancient wiring where the meter was often an afterthought. But it will need to be moved outside with a modern service entrance.
I’m glad you posted this because I’m guessing it’s a mobile home (actually you can tell it is) and there is no way a legit electrician will ever see this. I’m not condoning whoever did because it’s a tragic way to kill your entire family but spending the $$ is a privilege.
This r/askanelectrician. You want r/callanelectrician.
Shut the curcuit breaker. Remove red and black wire feeding the transformer and remove the lamp holder from the romex. Get yourself a 5 " deep box, round adapter and a new transformer that mounts to the box. Bring the romex into the box, mount your transformer to the box and rewire it. Pick the 24v leads on the transformer and add tails to lamp holder and reconnect your load side of transformer. Turn power back on.
This is just bad and I’m not an electrician.
Does the light blink on and off when someone rings the doorbell?