Panel swap shortcut I stumbled on in a pinch

Was wrestling with a DSC panel swap in a tight closet last Tuesday and the old wiring was a disaster. Instead of labeling every individual wire, I took a photo of the original terminal strip before pulling anything. Has anyone else found that snapping a pic beats writing down every single zone label?

3 comments

3 Comments

kimmurphy16d ago

Snap a photo of the terminal strip before pulling anything, that's a solid trick. But watch out for the lighting in tight closets. I've done this before and the flash washed out some fine print on the zone labels, made it useless. Ended up rechecking every wire anyway. Better to use a bright flashlight and shoot straight on so the numbers and colors pop. Also helps to zoom in and check the photo before you start yanking wires.

rose_reed16d ago

Took a photo once and it came out so crooked I spent ten minutes trying to figure out which wire was which. Ended up just calling it a "creative interpretation" of the setup.

william_harris16d ago

lol I took a photo once and realized later it was just a blurry thumb.