I have used Diodes and resistors in several places to as indicator lights to tell me if an outside light is on etc. If it's on then the light lights up If not then its out. Simple.
Now... I have a 120 volt line that runs down to the lake and has a water pump running off of it. I want to use the same method e.g. leds, etc to tell me when the pump is running, drawing power from that 120 Volt line down at the lake. It is the only thing on that line. So it should work fine if I put the indicator up near the house. However, the outlet that the pump is plugged into is for obvious reasons a ground fault receptacle. It has a little pilot light of its own that just stays on all the time. My questions are as follows,
- I guessing that if I put in my own LED power indicator it will light up whether the pump is on or not because of the pilot light at the pump drawing power. Is there a simple way around this.
- If I put in a different ground fault, e.g. one that had no light in it. Would that work. Im not exactly sure how they work, accept that they trip when there is a contact with ground I suppose. What I don't know is if they are drawing power to do their job which might light up my LED.
Thanks.