Fuse (electrical)

In electronics and electrical engineering, a fuse (from the French fuse, Italian fuso, "spindle"[1]) is a type of low resistance resistor that acts as a sacrificial device to provide overcurrent protection, of either the load or source circuit. Its essential component is a metal wire or strip that melts when too much current flows, which interrupts the circuit in which it is connected. Short circuit, overloading, mismatched loads or device failure are the prime reasons for excessive current. A fuse interrupts excessive current (blows) so that further damage by overheating or fire is prevented. Wiring regulations often define a maximum fuse current rating for particular circuits. Overcurrent protection devices are essential in electrical systems to limit threats to human life and property damage. Fuses are selected to allow passage of normal current plus a marginal percentage and to allow excessive current only for short periods.

FUSE

FUSEHOLDER

FUSE BOX

Circuit breaker
A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to detect a fault condition and, by interrupting continuity, to immediately discontinue electrical flow. Unlike a fuse, which operates once and then must be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or automatically) to resume normal operation. Circuit breakers are made in varying sizes, from small devices that protect an individual household appliance up to large switchgear designed to protect high voltage circuits feeding an entire city.

Common trip breakers

When supplying a branch circuit with more than one live conductor, each live conductor must be protected by a breaker pole. To ensure that all live conductors are interrupted when any pole trips, a "common trip" breaker must be used. These may either contain two or three tripping mechanisms within one case, or for small breakers, may externally tie the poles together via their operating handles. Two pole common trip breakers are common on 120/240 volt systems where 240 volt loads (including major appliances or further distribution boards) span the two live wires. Three-pole common trip breakers are typically used to supply three-phase electric power to large motors or further distribution boards.

Two and four pole breakers are used when there is a need to disconnect multiple phase ACor to disconnect the neutral wire to ensure that no current flows through the neutral wire from other loads connected to the same network when workers may touch the wires during maintenance. Separate circuit breakers must never be used for live and neutral, because if the neutral is disconnected while the live conductor stays connected, a dangerous condition arises: the circuit appears de-energized (appliances don't work), but wires remain live and RCDs don't trip if someone touches the live wire (because RCDs need power to trip). This is why only common trip breakers must be used when neutral wire switching is needed

CIRCUIT BREAKER

Bus bar
In electrical power distribution, a bus bar is a strip of copper or aluminum that conducts electricity within a switchboard, distribution board, substation or other electrical apparatus. The size of the bus bar determines the maximum amount of current that can be safely carried. Bus bars can have a cross-sectional area of as little as 10 mm2 but electrical substations may use metal tubes of 50 mm in diameter (1,963 mm2) or more as bus bars. An aluminum smelter will have very large bus bars used to carry tens of thousands of amperes to the electrochemical cells that produce aluminum from molten salts.

Pull box
A pull box is used for long cable wiring, where you have to splice the cables or leave a slacked of cable in the box for pulling. for easy installation, normally i use the bigger size of boxes like 4-11/16 square 2-1/8 deep. the box is big enough for future additional wiring. if you want to save money, you can use 4" square or octagon. A pull box is a type of electrical box used to provide wiring pulling access with conduit enclosed wiring systems. A metal box with a blank cover that is installed in an accessible place in a run of conduit to facilitate the pulling in of wires or cables

This is the final product of the 16 channel box. This box is joined to a 6"x6" PVC pull box which is where the high voltage wires are connected. This makes things a lot easier for us to wire, and to trouble shoot if there is a problem with the circuits.

Utility Box
utility box is used for surface mounting of switches and receptacles, typically used in basement wiring. they come in standard size of 3-3/4 x 1-1/2 and 1-1/2 deep. the size is standard so you can use standard plastic switch or receptacle cover

Junction box
An electrical junction box is a container for electrical connections, usually intended to conceal them from sight and meter tampering. A small metal or plastic junction box may form part of an electrical conduit wiring system in a building, or may be buried in the plaster of a wall, concealed behind an access panel or cast into concrete with only the lid showing. It sometimes includes terminals for joining wires.

Electrical Switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can break an electrical circuit, interrupting the current or diverting it from one conductor to another. A switch may be directly manipulated by a human as a control signal to a system, such as a computer keyboard button, or to control power flow in a circuit, such as a light switch.

Convenience outlet
A receptacle in a wall or baseboard for connection to lamps or other electrical appliances. An electrical outlet - receptacle providing a place in a wiring system where current can be taken to run electrical devices A convenience outlet is any outlet that is in a convenient location for its use. An example would be kitchen counter receptacles. Receptacles that are located behind appliances or equipment are not classed as a convenience outlet.

ELECTRICAL SWITCH & LIGHTING

CONVENIENCE OUTLET SECTION

CONVENIENCE OUTLET CIRCUIT DIAGARAM

DEFINITION OF TERMS
110 An older term for the nominal voltage for lights and portable appliances in homes. "120" would be a more accurate and up-to-date identification of this voltage. 220 An older term for the nominal voltage in a home for running some major appliances. "240" would be a more accurate and up-to-date identification of this voltage. To understand the dual voltage available to homes (120/240), see Your system and Double circuit.

Appliance A non-lighting item that, by its resistance, consumes electricity rather than just passing it on. So an appliance is not a fixture (for lighting) nor a device (for passing on). Examples: fax machine, garbage disposal, even a wired-in smoke alarm perhaps. Arcing Current passing (through air) across a gap, that is, using the air itself like a wire. Arc-fault interrupter A circuit breaker that can also trip for line-to-neutral arcing (which would not soon trip a standard breaker). Required for new bedroom circuits since 2002 and most rooms since 2008. See AFCI. Breaker An automatic switching device that disconnects power to a circuit when current or heat exceeds a certain level for a certain amount of time. It clips on to one or two live busbars in a panel box and passes this liveness through itself to the circuit wire attached to it, normally by means of a screw. Its handle is generally in one of three positions: on, tripped (the middle position), and off. Busbar A piece of rigid metal within a panel or fusebox which distributes electricity to the various circuits by means of their connection to it. Cable Compare "Wire". A cable is a set of wires, usually encased in an outer protective sheath. A "cord" would be a cable by this definition so far, but a cable is part of a permanent installation; a cord is more flexible and often has a plug end for a portable appliance or lamp. "2-wire cable," such as 14-2 and 12-2 (which indicate wire size) refers to a cable with two insulated wires, not counting any ground wire. Likewise 3wire cable has three insulated wires, with any ground being additional. Circuit The actual or intended path of current between points of differing voltage. In the case of a household 120 volt circuit, the path is between a hot wire at the breaker and a neutral wire connected to the grounded neutral bar in the panel. In a sense each loop that current makes (through a single light, for instance) is a circuit, but the most common meaning is the "branch circuit", defined as everything fed (or interrupted) by a given breaker or fuse. Common The terminal of a three-way switch (or the wire attached to it) which makes internal contact with one or the other of the traveler terminals, depending on the position the switch is moved to. Current The flow of electrons in a wire (or other conductor). This is measured in amps (amperes). Because a house is provided with alternating current, the terms "positive" and "negative" do not apply as they do

to direct current in batteries, cars, and such. Instead, in the case of 120-volt power, we tend to say that the power company is providing electricity that will flow "to" their neutral wire "from" hot wire. This directional talk can be misleading, since the actual electrons are moving back and forth sixty times per second. It is a way of speaking that is needed, however, in order to trace the paths of this kind of current in a wiring system. It is similar to how I may say that a highway goes "from" my hometown to the next town, even though the highway simply goes between them and doesn't really start at one or the other. Device As distinct from a fixture or appliance, an item which does not itself consume significant electricity, but interrupts or passes it on in a particular fashion. For example, a switch, a receptacle, a thermostat, a breaker, a fuse. Dimmer Also rheostat. A switch able to dim its lights by altering the voltage it passes on. A dimmer normally gets warm when operating but will overheat if running more wattage than it is designed for. Electricity (That is, "tame" electricity, not The big stuff.) A force generated onto loops of conductive material, transferred through their electrons, and applied as useful energy at parts of these loops. Fixture Or "luminaire". A non-portable electrically-produced-light assembly. Distinguished from appliance or device. Fuse A device that interrupts current to its circuit by melting apart. It must then be replaced. Fusebox Like a panel, a usual main source of the circuits in a home. It contains fuses rather than breakers. Gang A combining of more than one device side-by-side, as, a "three-gang" switch box. GFI or GFCI A ground-fault interrupter. A device to prevent electrocution, which serves also as a receptacle or (less commonly) as a breaker. I consider the letters "GFCI" confusing because they stand for "ground-fault circuit interrupter" and the word "circuit" is vague and distracting. "GFI" clearly states the function it performs: "ground-fault interrupter". Since 1973 Code has required GFI protection for more and more receptacle locations in homes. If connected to properly, a GFI receptacle is also able to sense and disrupt ground-faults at any standard receptacles wired on from it. Learn More about GFIs.

Ground The common reference point for the voltage of a homes electrical system. It refers to an intended or unintended connectedness to the earth. The neutral wires of circuits and of the system are grounded, but a "ground wire" means a separate "grounding" wire keeping metal parts of devices, fixtures, or appliances from staying accidentally energized and endangering people or equipment. Installed in homes since the 1960s, these wires are to be either bare or green-covered. The ground wire is not connected so as to be part of the normal path of the circuit, as a neutral is. When a ground wire does carry current, it is taking care of an otherwise dangerous situation; in fact, it is supposed to carry so much flow suddenly, that it causes the breaker of the circuit to trip, thereby also alerting us that a problem needs attention. If things were not grounded, peoples bodies would more often be a path for current from a hot wire touching the metal to get to ground (without our having enough conductivity to trip a normal breaker!). Ground-fault Any short circuit finding at least some of its path to the earth by way of something other than the neutral wire. It is a "leaking" of current off of the intended path. Most shocks are an example. Hot Or "live." (As an adjective:) Having electrical force (voltage) in relation to ground/earth, especially 120 volts. "Hot" is the termed used because anything even slightly connected to ground (like us!) could get agitated as a path this force uses toward ground. (As a noun:) The wire/terminal/contact that is to be hot, especially the wire from a breaker to lights/appliances. Hotness Having voltage in relation to ground, especially 120 volts. Jumper A short piece of wire within a box, going between two wirenuts or between two devices' terminals. It passes a function (hot, switched, neutral) from the one place to the other. A pigtail does this too, but only goes from a wirenut to a device or fixture wire. Junction box As distinguished from any electrical box, a box used only for making connections, not for also supporting a switch, receptacle, or light. The boxes for these others usually also have connections and splices in them in addition. Line and Load These are relative terms. In relation to a given switch or device, line refers to wires or voltage being "supplied" to it from "upstream" or from the direction of the main service panel. With regard to the same device, load refers to wires (or terminals) that are "downstream" from or controlled by it. So wires from a switch or GFI might be load wires with respect to that switch but line wires with respect to another switch downstream from it.

Another use of the term "load" is to refer to the energy "user(s)" along the circuit's path, such as a light or appliance. By providing resistance, these items limit current and, in the process, do useful things with that current. Neutral The wires of a circuit connected ultimately to the earth to receive flow "back" from a light or appliance. They are always supposed to be white. Contact with them should not normally shock you because they are normally connected to ground much better than you can be. Open (noun:) A physical discontinuity at some point along the path of some part of a circuit. Unlike an overload or short, an open involves current no longer being able to flow. This might be intentional, as when we turn a switch off, but in regard to troubleshooting an open is typically a break, gap, or deterioration. For instance, a wire has become too loose at the terminals on a receptacle or at a wire connector. It is hard to think of a gap like this as "opening" the circuit, since it seems like it has the effect of closing it down. I agree that the technical term "open," and its opposite "close" are a poor choice of words. They seem to come from the original use of "knife" switches; those had the physical appearance of an open door when they interrupted a circuit and a closed door when they let current through. But we are stuck with the terms. Outlet Technically, any point along a circuit where a light or appliance receives its final connections to the hot and neutral of the circuit. The outlet may consist of a receptacle for a cord to plug into, or it may be a box at which the item using the electricity is "hard-wired". In practice, however, we usually mean a receptacle. The following are not outlets: switch, breaker, junction box. Overload When in its normal operation a circuit has carried a little too much flow a little too long, so that the wires will be getting too hot to be safe, the breaker will trip off. This is called an overload -- you were trying to run a bit too much at once on that circuit. You can now change your habits, plug one of those things into another circuit, let it happen again some other month, or have a new circuit installed for some of those things. So long as breakers do their job, overloading is not dangerous, just inconvenient. Safety people often warn us not to overload outlets or power strips, as if we know how to judge that. The two cases of this kind of "overloading" that need a little attention are light sockets and extension cords; just don't exceed their stated wattage or amperage. Compare "Short". Panel Or "panel box" or "breaker box". The large metal box containing breakers for circuits. The "main" panel or "service" panel would be the central source for the home and would be receiving its power from the power company. There can be subpanels in a home, fed from the main panel and containing some of the homes circuit breakers. Some people still use the term "fusebox" to refer to a panel, but that term should relate to something having fuses. I suggest the term "panel" could refer to either a breaker box or a fusebox.

Pigtail To provide circuit connection to a fixture, appliance, or device by means of a single wire (the pigtail) getting its own connection out of a connector (wire "nut") that contains other wires of the circuit. One illustration and another. Compare "Jumper". Other ways of connecting would be for incoming and outgoing circuit wires to connect directly to the device's terminals or the fixture's wires. Phantom voltage An inconsequential voltage many testers will detect. It may register as a lower or a full voltage found on a wire that is connected neither to hot nor to neutral/ground. It seems to come about by means of capacitance or inductance from a hot wire that is near the unconnected wire over a good distance in the same cable. See this explanation. ...Do not confuse phantom voltage with "phantom load," which is the consumption of electricity by a TV when it is plugged in but not turned on, or a charger when it is plugged in but not charging anything. Receptacle Also "plug-in"; or, loosely, "outlet" or "plug". A device that serves as the outlet for lights or appliances to connect to a circuit by means of a cord with a "plug" on the end. Short A short circuit. I am including ground-faults here. A short is basically, an unintended continuity from a hot wire to something of different voltage. In a 240-volt circuit a possible short would involve both hot wires touching (rare). All other shorts in a home will tend to be from the hot to ground by way of the neutral wire or (less technically) the ground wire or anything else providing a path to the earth. A short will not trip a breaker if its path has quite a bit of resistance. A short is something other than an overload that can trip a breaker, and for quite a different reason. With a short the flow of current is not due to the intended, limited use of electricity through lights and appliances, but is due to a potentially huge flow of electric power by way of an unintended and (often) very conductive path. Current still flows around from the ungrounded starting point to the grounded end point, and so it is still technically going in a "circuit". But it is not the intended circuit, which would be limited and safe by design. So it is called a "short" circuit. An example would be if the hot wire at a light fixture made contact with the metal of the fixture, which, being grounded by a ground wire, sends a lot of current through the circuit, tripping the breaker. Although this example is technically a ground-fault, in common parlance, "short" is understood to refer to either hot-to-neutral or hot-to-ground faults. There are at least as many ways a short can come about as there are outlets and lights on a circuit. Also a nail for hanging a picture or a screw in a remodel project will occasionally find a cable in the wall and short across its wires. Socket Also "lamp holder". The part of a light fixture that receives the bulb or tube. It is understandable that some people use "socket" to mean the receptacles we plug cords into, because in both cases the one thing is receiving the other thing that actually "uses up" electricity. Splice An unanchored electrical connector joining two or more wires directly. Compare "Terminal". Submain breaker

One of up to six (double) circuit breakers allowed till 1985 to be the means for disconnecting all power to a home's circuits. Since then a single "main breaker" has been the required means. This has provided a confusion, because submains were commonly labeled "Main". When a submain has trouble passing current through one of its six points of contact (at its busbars, at its wires, or at its internal contacts), it will arc, overheat, possibly trip, and eventually fail to pass current any longer through that half. The result of this is that about half of the 120-volt circuits of the house (fed by that half) will be dead. If any 240-volt loads are fed from the submain breaker, they will not work and may enable the non-working 120-volt items to operate weakly and sporadically. This is similar to what happens when a true main breaker has a similar problem, called a main hot open. Switch A device used to interrupt continuity and current to part of a circuit. Terminal A screw or other pressure-device to which one or more wires are connected for passing electrical continuity and current along. Like a "Splice", but a terminal is anchored to a larger structure, whereas a splice is "free floating". Three-way Although there is a type of light bulb and socket by this name, here we mean a switching system in which a light(s) is controllable from more than one location by two or more switches. The name comes from the usual number of terminals on or contact points within the switches involved. See How 3-way switches work, and Read more about 3-ways, including diagrams. For several ways that 3-way systems are wired, see my Tour of a Circuit [or frames version]. Travelers The pair of wires in a three-way switch system that are run (within the same cable) from one switch device to the next, attaching at each. Voltage The forcefulness with which electricity is ready to flow; also, the measurable relation of this force between two points ("volts"). Voltage can be present or fail to be present, and this is not identical with whether current is flowing or not. The relation is: current cannot flow if voltage is lacking, but even with voltage available, current will only flow if a continuous and somewhat conductive path is provided. Mathematically voltage is the "product" of current (amps) and resistance (ohms), but in practice current is the product, that is, the result, of a provided voltage acting on a given resistance. Wattage Rate of electric energy used by lights or appliances. When applied to devices, it indicates the maximum watts the device is designed to deliver or control (rather than use). Wattage is directly proportional to current and to voltage and is mathematically the product of them (amps times volts). 120 volts driving 15 amps through a resistance means 1800 watts is being used.

Wire A wire is bendable metal for carrying electric current. Except when used as a grounding wire, it is coated with insulative material. In homes, wires that run to outlet and switch locations are mostly within cables; their sizes (gauges: "AWG") are (from smallest) 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, etc., with larger wires at the meter and panel using a different numbering system. To understand the function that different wires on a circuit play, see Hot or Neutral or Ground above, or see Background. The functioning of each of these wires is not assured if they were not installed correctly or if they come apart at a connection or if they touch each other unintentionally. And it is not just the hot wires connections that can interrupt power along a circuit. If the neutral loses its continuity back to the main panel, the parts of the circuit that depend on that connection will no longer work.

Building Wires
TW Wire (Thermoplastic Moisture-Resistant Wire) Used as interior housewiring at circuit voltage up to 600 volts. Maximum operating temperature is 60C in dry or wet application. THW Wire (Thermoplastic Heat-and Moisture-Resistant Wire) Used as interior housewiring at circuit voltage up to 600 volts. Maximum operating temperature is 75C in dry or wet application. THHN/THWN (Thermoplastic Heat-Resistant Wire with Nylon Jacket) A general purpose 600 volt building wire that can be used as a power, lighting and control wiring. Maximum operating temperature is 90C for dry application and 75C for wet application. Durex Wire (Type NM) Non-Metallic Sheathed Cable Designed specifically for use as an internal 600 volts building wire installed above ground and in any location at maximum operating temperature of 60C. Use of conduit is optional as per section 5.5.4 of the Philippine Electrical Code. TF Wire (Thermoplastic Fixture) Used as lighting fixture or interior appliance wire in circuits not exceeding 600 volts at a maximum operating temperature of 60C in dry or wet location. TFN (Thermoplastic Fixture) Wire with Nylon Jacket Used as lighting fixture, interior appliance wire, machine tool wire or hook up wire in circuits not exceeding 600 volts at a maximum operating temperature of 90C in dry application and 75C in wet location.