Check The Main Electrical Panel

checking the main electrical panel

The main electrical panel is where all the circuits in the whole house starts. The main supply from your Power Company comes to this main electrical panel after passing through the KWH Meter and this power is the distributed to the whole house with individual circuit breakers as protection against short circuits and overloads.

Thus the Main Electrical Panel is where the mother load is and is the most important part of the wiring installation of your house. The first place you should start checking is the wiring inside the Main Electrical Panel.

CAUTION – Make sure you switch off all incoming power supply before even opening the panel cover!!

Refer to the video below. Though it is made for US audiences, it will pretty much be the same for other countries like the UK. Except in the UK, the ground wires are insulated in green whereas in the US it is simply bare. The method of checking is still the same.

Check The Terminal Connections Of All Switch Sockets

Switch Sockets are the nest thing you should check. As switch sockets are usually used for electrical utensils in the house that are more power hungry like the Refrigerator or the Oven, these switch sockets runs the highest risk of getting overloaded or connections getting loose due to overheating and overloading power surge.

Simply dismantle the switch sockets and check for loose connections. Sometimes you might find fungus like growth around the terminals. This is due to oxidation from overuse. These can be cleaned with a fine sandpaper.

So take sometime off before this festive season starts to give your Wiring Installation a good and proper check.

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UV or Ultraviolet Lights In The House

The common use of ultraviolet lights in a normal household can be found in houses where the house owners keeps aquariums of have fish ponds in their house. Normally, these lights are used in the form of ultraviolet light bulbs or ultraviolet light tubes.

If you have seen a well maintained aquarium, you would have noticed the purplish glow emitted by these ultraviolet light tubes. This ultraviolet light tubes not only beautifies the overall look of the aquarium, it also acts to kill harmful bacteria in the water that might infect and harm the fishes.

These ultraviolet light tubes however, do not emit enough UV rays to be harmful to the human owner.

UV Or Ultraviolet Lights Used In Fish Pond Filtration Systems

A Pond Filtration System With UV Lights Built In

As fish ponds are located outdoors and exposed to the sun and rain, algae growth is the most common problem. An algae infected pond will look quite ugly and dirty. Though these algae are said to be good for the water and the fish in it as it provides fresh oxygen, most enthusiasts take great pain to remove them and keep the water crystal clear.

The most effective method is through the use of Ultraviolet lights to sterilize the water and kill these algae. Modern fish pond filtration systems comes equipped with built in UV light tubes to do the job.

How To Install A Ultraviolet Light For Your Aquarium

Installing an ultraviolet light for your aquarium needs no special equipments or any high-tech accessories.

All that is needed is a normal fluorescent lighting set which you can buy in any electrical outlets. The only difference is the light tubes. Replace the ordinary light tubes that you use with ultraviolet tubes which are commonly available in all pet shops selling fishes and aquariums.

For large outdoor ponds, you can insist on a filtration system that comes with ultraviolet protection. Unlike the aquariums inside the house where the UV lights are hung above the water, this kind of system is very effective as the water is pumped trough the ultraviolet lights before being released back into the pond. The UV light tubes are encased in water proof glass containers so there are no worries of any electrical leakage caused by the water.

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The most important thing, when trouble shooting is to keep to your basic knowledge. Most of the time, the trouble could be the most basic problem. Do not over think and start imagining all kinds of complex problems. Just remind yourself that the light has been working all this while, so nothing too complicated should happen.

If after replacing the light bulb does not solve the problem, then go for the next obvious one. The bulb socket holder. Check the holder to see if the terminals are still in good shape or if any wires have broken off from it’s terminals. After prolonged use, wires do get a little brittle and snaps off quite easily.

If that still do not solve your problem, go to the next obvious one. The light switch. Switches too will become faulty after a couple of years. If you know how, use a circuit tester to see if current is passing through the switch when it switched on.

In most cases, checking these places will take care of the problem. It is only after exhausting all these basic steps that you should start to worry about more complicated things.

Other not so common problems that will cause a light to stop working all of a sudden is:

A broken circuit –

Which means one or two of the wires in that light circuit have snapped somewhere. Unless you have some knowledge of electrical wiring and understand how the light circuits in your homes are laid out, this will be a job for a qualified electrician.

Important Reminder

When attempting to repair any electrical faults in your house, always REMEMBER TO SWITCH OFF THE MAINS!

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As in all thing that rubs on electricity, make sure your old Christmas lights are in good condition before hanging them up. Check for any damage to the wire’s insulation. Cockroaches and mice likes chewing on wire insulation and many a mishap have happened due to leaking wires.

If you see the damage is too bad and yet still want to re-use them, do not simply wrap the exposed wires with insulation tape. Cut of the entire damage portion and join back the wires individually. Make sure you twist the joined wires tightly so there will not be any loose contacts. Then make sure you bind those exposed wires with a good insulation tape. You and your family will be spending a lot time under that Christmas tree, so you do not want any small children touching any exposed wires.

Have a safe and merry Christmas.

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There are a few areas which can be considered when it comes to cutting electrical cost. For a quick start, comes this Christmas when you are hunting for Christmas trees, consider using the modern fiber optic Christmas Tree. These Christmas tress comes ready with super energy saving light bulbs that will only consume a fraction of electricity if compared to the conventional Christmas lights.

Christmas comes but once a year. A more realistic cost saving method which ion the long run will pay for itself is to consider installing domestic LED lighting. The main advantage of LED lighting is, energy consumption notwithstanding, the life span of these lights if compared to incandescent lights. No doubt, the light emitted is not as bright and strong, but even using 3 LED lights in replacement of one incandescent light you will still save lots when your electrical bill comes.

The most neglected kind of free energy that can be used to power up our household is solar energy. Solar energy can be used for a host of household electrical products, the most common being used to heat up water. Solar powered water heaters are very widely used so it is kind of surprising that not many has turned to solar lighting. Maybe it is due to the misconception that solar power only works when the sun is shining. It should be assuring to know that solar power is used by scientists doing research in the North or South poles to light and power up their camps and equipments, even when light from the sun is at the minimum. Advancements made to this technology has made it possible to tap into this energy with the minimum source.

For those who still has fear of using this free source of power, why not start off and experiment by installing some solar garden lights first. When you see how these garden lights works and the money you are saving on your electrical cost monthly, you will be confident enough to turn to this environmentally friendly power. Not only will you be doping your part to keep the world a little bit less polluted, you will be saving a whole lot on electrical cost.

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Taking the installation of a simple outdoor light for our garden as an example.   Sit down and do a checklist. Start from the beginning.

Tools:

1. You will need to do some digging to lay the cables, so you will need a hoe and a shovel.
2. You will need to terminate the wires so pliers , wire strippers, cutters are in order.
3. You might need to do some hacking, so hammers and chisels should be included too.

The best thing is to check your tool box and make sure everything is in order. No point banging your head against the wall at the last minute when you realise your pair of pliers are missing.

Materials:

1. Cables. Measure roughly how much you need and buy at least 10 to 20 percent extra so you have room for mistakes.
2. Termination glands and cable lugs.
3. Switches whether you want one with timer controlled or otherwise.
4. Outdoor Lights, choose the type and look that you prefer fo it is going to be there for years.

That is just a small example of what you should jot down in your checklist and it is by no means extensive and I might have missed out many other details. You should know better.

The good thing is, when shopping for these necessities, we can do it online these days and the products are so varied that you will be spoilt for choice. When shopping for power tools, site like Power Tool And Hand Tools list out all the different kinds of tools from different manufacturers like Ryobi Tools so you have an easier time locating what you prefer.

When it comes to getting a nice and elegant Outdoor Lighting there are also shopping sites that caters specially for this products. All the different types of landscape lighting and track lighting are listed out clearly for you easy reference and picking. It saves you lots of time hopping from one site to another.

After you have gathered everything you need, do a re-check to see if you missed out anything. You will never know. Sometimes, even after double checking, we still manage to miss out one or two items and that could be the most frustrating feeling.

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I guess lots of you still uses the old fashioned fan speed regulator like the one you see above. These speed regulators works with a copper coil as resistance to regulate the amount of current passing through to the fan. There is of course the speed dial ranging from 1 to 5 or sometimes 0 to 5 where 0 means it fan is switched off with no current passing through. 5 would mean all the current passes through offering no resistance at all. At speed level 5, the fan will be running at full speed. Anywhere in between 9 and 5 willoffer a different range of resistance. The bigger the number, the more current will pass through and the fan will run faster.

If you open up the cover of the fan’s speed regulator, you will see clearly the copper coil behind the speed dial. You will also see different strands of copper wires coming out from different parts of the coil and connected to their specified speed numbers. Of course, the more times the current travel round the coil, the more resistance it will meet, so less current will pass through, making the fan run at a slower speed.

Terminating this regulator wires simply means connecting the 2 wires to each of the ready terminal that you will see when you open up the cover of the regulator. Preferably, the live wire should go to the end with the smallest number and the switch wire to the terminal at the maximum speed. It will still work the other way round though.

Modern day speed regulators has done away with this old technology and has gone silicon. In place of the copper coil, transistors are used these days. The regulator looks more elegant and compared to the old fashioned type, they are very light weight, smaller and easier to install.

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As in installing any lighting circuit, there are always the live and the neutral wire coming from the source which can be the Mains Distribution panel of the switch and light nearest to the new circuit that you are going to install. In the case of an outdoor light, it is compulsory that you have an earth wire as the light will be expose to rain and anything that is wet, like the perimeters of your outdoor water fountains, is a good conductor of electricity. Having an earth wire will prevent any electrical accidents in case there is a leakage in the outdoor light or circuit.

As usual,  the Live wire, L goes to the switch before being run to the light. The Neutral (N) and Earth (E) wire goes straight to the outdoor light. Terminate the wires in the switch as usual. In all outdoor lights that you buy, there will be an earth terminal. It will be denoted by the letter E and three hroizontal lines. The earth wire should be attached there firmly.

Plant your outdoor light as per instructions given in the installation sheet that comes together with the light. Some will require you to make a cement foundation but some just require you to plant it, so do as instructed.

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All electrical light fixtures uses light bulbs. From the most expensive chandeliers to the cheapest night light, the bulb is the heart of the fixture.

There are many different kinds of bulbs in the market and ones that is getting rather popular these days are the energy saving types. These types of bulbs emits the same level of brightness even though it has a considerably lower wattage. Just for information sake, the higher the wattage of a bulb or whatever electrical appliances, the more electricity it will consume and therefore the higher your monthly electrical bill. The energy saving bulbs cuts down monthly electrical cost because a 10 watts bulb will shine as brightly as a normal 40 watts bulb.

When buying a replacement bulb, make sure you know the type. There are 2 common types. One is the screw in type and the other the pin type. The screw in type as the name suggest is screwed into the lamp holder while the pin type has 2 pins of the side for you to snap it into the holder and the pins holds the bulbs in place. Both works the same way though method of installation differs.

A newer type is the snap in type of light bulb that we use in recessed light or down lights. These lamp holders are made very much different and sometimes it takes some amount of force to snap the bulbs in place.

To determine if the light bulb has fused or burned out, try peeking into the build itself. Transparent bulbs will be easy to spot as you can see through the bulb. You will something like an antenna inside with a fine filament connected to each end. If the element is broken, then that light bulb has lived out it’s lifespan. However if the bulb is the frosted type and you can’t see through it, then the best way to confirm if the bulb is fused will be to snap it into another holder which is working. If the original one works but not the one that you have just screwed in, then it can be confirmed again that you have a burned out light bulb.

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Wiring Diagram 1- Shows you how the existing light point’s wire is typically installed. The live wire goes to the switch and the neutral wire to the existing light. In short you have everything that is needed to light up another light right here. The live and the neutral wire are what we need.

Diagram 2 – One way to install an additional light is to run a piece of wire (S2) from the existing one gang switch and another piece of wire (N2) from the existing light to the new light point. Then replace the one gang switch with a two gang switch and terminate them seperately using the looping method that I showed you in this post.

At the existing light point twist the newly laid out neutral wire with the existing one and re-terminate the light point.

Wiring Diagram 3 – If however you want to locate the switch for the new light away from the existing switch, all you have to do is to run a new wire (L2) from the existing switch to the new location. From that new switch, run another piece for wire (S2) to the new light point. Get a new set of one gang switch and terminate it accordingly.

Follow the same procedure for the neutral wire as mentioned just now.

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