De La Salle University

Gokongwei College of Engineering

ECE Department
Basic Electrical Engineering for CIV

Residential Wiring Devices

In partial fulfillment of requirements in CIVELEN

Submitted by:
Sheena Better
11121394 CIV-STE

Submitted to:
Engr. Marvil Graza MS ECE
December 8, 2014
Monday

WIRING DEVICES
Wiring Devices are common devices
that are commonly known to carry
electrical energy but not to directly
utilize them. It consists of wires,
plugs, connectors and other units of
electrical system whose main function
is to control and provide
connections for our appliances, lighting system and such.
Wiring devices are usually attached to a portable

Straight Blade

cord from a male plug and a female connector and are

widely used by the different sectors of the society for its
important usage. Furthermore, these wiring devices
comes on different types, sizes, colors, shapes and
configurations as based per se on their application as
well the setting or the place where the wiring device is
to be installed or to be used by the consumer. Moreover,
these devices come with their rated
as the description of their sustainability and efficiency when faced with some
environmental factors which are all defined by these
electrical regulatory agencies. The two commonly known
types of wiring devices are Straight Blade and the
Locking one. The former is a single wire connection that
uses a flat conductive blade that is attached to these blade
receptacles, which are connected to two wires while the
Locking

latter is designed by locking a small arc securely in place to

avoid any failures caused by stress and strain.

Basic Residential Devices:

Electrical Switch
It is an electrical component that can break the
current flowing through the electrical circuit and
divert it from one conductor to another. Commonly,
switches are manually operated electromechanical
device with one or more electrical contacts that are
then connected to external circuits. The movements of
the electrical contacts are of two types, which are
open and closed. The former speaks of the state
where the two contacts are not touching each other while the latter speaks of the state
where the two contacts are touching each other thus creating a closed loop of flowing
electricity. The manipulation of switches is simple though there are some methods where
pressure, temperature, flow, current, voltage, and force are used as operation variables.
An ideal switch is believed to have no voltage drop when closed and doesnt have
any limits when it comes to voltage and current rating. The other thing is that an ideal
switch will have zero rise and fall time during state changes and it will change its state
without showing precursor of bouncing on and off at certain periods. Sadly the switches
we use today fall short since they have resistance, limits on the voltage and current rating
and finite switching time.

Expansion
Electronics
of
specification
abbreviation
and
abbreviation
SPST

Single pole,
single throw

British
mains
wiring
name
One-way

American
electrical
wiring
name
Two-way

Description

A simple on-off
switch: The two
terminals are
either
connected
together or
disconnected

Symbol

from each
other. An
example is a
light switch.

SPDT

SPCO
SPTT, c.o.

DPST

DPDT

DPCO

Single pole,
double throw

Two-way

A simple
changeover
switch: C
Three-way (COM,
Common) is
connected to
L1 or to L2.

Single pole
changeover
or
Single pole,
centre off or
Single Pole,
Triple Throw

Similar to
SPDT. Some
suppliers use
SPCO/SPTT
for switches
with a stable off
position in the
centre and
SPDT for those
without.[citation
needed]

Double pole,
single throw

Equivalent to
two SPST
switches
controlled by a
single
mechanism

Double pole,
double throw

Double pole
changeover
or Double
pole, centre
off

Double pole

Double
pole

Equivalent to
two SPDT
switches
controlled by a
single
mechanism.
Schematically
equivalent to
DPDT. Some
suppliers use
DPCO for
switches with a
stable center
position and

DPDT for those

without. A
DPDT/DPCO
switch with a
center position
can be "off" in
the center, not
connected to
either L1 or L2,
or "on",
connected to
both L1 and L2
at the same
time. The
positions of
such switches
are commonly
referenced as
"on-off-on" and
"on-on-on"
respectively.

Intermediate Four-way
switch
switch

2P6T

Two pole, six

throw

DPDT switch
internally wired
for polarityreversal
applications:
only four rather
than six wires
are brought
outside the
switch housing.
Changeover
switch with a
(COM,
Common)
which can
connect to L1,
L2, L3, L4, L5,
or L6; with a
second switch
(2P, two pole)
controlled by a
single
mechanism

AC Power Plugs and Outlets

These are devices that allow the electrically operated equipment be connected on
the AC power supply of the house. They vary in shape and size as well as in their voltage
and current rating. The types
used in each country are set
by national standards, some
of which are listed in the IEC
technical report TR 60083.
As of today there are known
20 types in common use
around the world and that yes there are some other obsolete and unique sockets found in
some areas.
Applications of AC Power Plugs and Outlets:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Earthing or Grounding
Polarization
Interchange Hazards
Appliance connections and Extensions
Special Purposes

There are currently two basic standards used widely.

The first is the North American Standard of 120 V
at 60 Hz while the other one is the European
Standard of 220-240 V at 50 Hz but since some
countries cannot easily adapt to the standard set
upon they have created their own designs of plugs
which are more fit for the presets of those countries

Generator
During
storms

and

unexpected blackouts due to power

crisis,

generators are indeed very useful

from a small-

scale household to big-scale malls,

hospitals,

factories and plants. The generator

may not be

considered

residential

one

of

the

basic

wiring devices yet its function does offer a great relief or privilege to all electricity
consumers in times of any predicament or disaster. It obliges electric current to circulate
through an external circuit. The electricity comes from the transformation of mechanical
energy to electrical energy. The mechanical energy can be in any form like compressed
air, turbines, combustion engine and hand crank as long as it creates an energy
accompanying with the motion and position of the device. Its main function is to provide
electricity when there is an absence of electric power.
There is a reverse effect or transformation of the generator by converting the
electrical energy instead to mechanical energy. This is very evident to motors. There are
many similarities between these two. When a motor produces electrical energy from
mechanical energy, it now acts as a generator and plays the role all right.

OVERCURRENT DEVICES:

A condition where the current passing

through is Overcurrent situations where the
cause of overloads, short circuit greater than
the amount an equipment/s can handle that
results

into

sometimes

damaging

equipment

fire/explosion.

Also,

it

and
is

situation where excessive generation of heat

on the equipment arises. The cause of
overcurrent

conditions

are

mostly

from

overloads, short circuits and ground fault.

Overload is a situation in which current passing through a
material exceeds the amount it could only carry. The Short circuit
situation is when there is an error in the electrical connection between
two circuits. And the ground fault situation is also an error in electrical
conducting connection between an ungrounded conductor and a
grounding conductor, also in this situation the voltages and currents
are very high.

For this situation to be

prevented,

an

overcurrent

protection devices are being

used. Overcurrent devices are
components

necessary

for

equipment to determine if it
generates
humans

heats
can

so

control

that
the

situation. Furthermore, it protects circuits from too much flow of

electricity. This devices protects wiring by opening the device or
shutting it down whenever the current reaches a certain value where it
will overcharge.

Fuse
A component - which is also a type of a lowresistant resistor, that acts as a sacrificial device in order to
provide overcurrent protection on the system. The most
important part of the fuse is the metal found inside, which
tells us whether the current flowing is in excess or if there
are discrepancies in the connection of wires, which may
result to some bigger problems. The main function of the
fuse is to interrupt excessive current blows in order to avoid
overheating and even fire. Its parameters are defined by
rated current, speed, breaking capacity, voltage drop, rated voltage and temperature
derating
Fuse standards:

a. IEC 60269 Fuse

This fuse is used for low voltage systems. The standard is
in four volumes, which describe general requirements, fuses
for industrial and commercial applications, fuses for
residential applications, and fuses to protect semiconductor
devices. The IEC standard unifies several national standards,
thereby improving the interchangeability of fuses in
international trade.
b. UL 248 FUSES
(north American)
This is the standard used by the North
American and Canadian Standards Association.

The standard ampere ratings for fuses (and

circuit

breakers)

in

USA/Canada

are

considered 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 60,
70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, 250, 300, 350, 400, 450, 500, 600, 700,
800, 1000, 1200, 1600, 2000, 2500, 3000, 4000, 5000, and 6000 amperes. Additional
standard ampere ratings for fuses are 1, 3, 6, 10, and 601.

Circuit Breaker
Like the fuse, circuit breakers are built to safeguard the electrical circuit from the
impairments inflicted by overloading or short-circuits. However, these breakers can be
operated manually or automatically by resetting, unlike the fuse which can only be used
for a single time and must be replaced afterwards. They look for incoherent conditions in
the circuit that can harm the network and suspends the flow of the current to prevent
greater damage. Once it has detected a fault, contacts must be separated to form the
interruption of the current. When the current is interfered, an arc is created. The arc
interruption must be confined and cooled restrictedly so that the gaps between the
contacts can still contain the voltage within the circuit. Vacuum or any compressed air
can be used to blow the arc away.

The size of these breakers varies

depending on the magnitude or scope of
electricity it needs to cover. The picture
above
can only
protect a
single

household, while the photo on the side can protect an

entire city.

Poly-switch Resettable Devices

A

device

which

help

in

protecting

against damage caused by harmful

overcurrent surges and faults on an
electrical circuits. Also, it is a polymeric
positive temperature co-efficient device
which means limiting the flow of high
current, and resetting the fault and
removing the power of the electrical
circuit. There are five types of this
device namely automotive, radial-leaded, strap battery, telecom &
networking, and surface-mount which every type have different
purposes but only one goal, which is to protect the equipment or
circuit.

Wires and Cables

Wires
The two base types of wires are solid and
stranded wires. Solid wires are single lengths
of conductive material that can be classified
as either hard-drawn or soft-drawn. Harddrawn wires are stiff with a high resistance to
tensile stress which allows it to avoid
becoming elongated making them more ideal
for long running circuits such as transmission lines, lightning appliances etc. Soft-drawn
wires on the other hand are wires that were annealed during their creation in order to
make them more ductile and easier to work with making them more ideal for indoor
wiring or other circuits that need more flexible wire.

Stranded wire is a collection of solid wires spun together to form one wire.
Compared to solid wire, stranded wire is often more flexible due to the use of several
fine, ductile wires as opposed to a single less ductile solid wire. However, due to the gaps
between the strands, stranded wire has a higher resistance compared to a solid wire with
the same cross sectional area. Despite this, stranded wire is more frequently used due to
their flexibility.

Wire gauge
Wire gauge is the area of the cross section of a wire with disregard towards its
insulative covering. It is often expressed in terms of AWG (American wire gauge),
otherwise known as Brown and Sharpe gauge (B&G). The actual dimensions based on
the AWG can be seen in the table below.

As seen from the table, wire gauge is measured

from larger numbers up to size zero (1/0), which is
pronounced as one-aught. The larger the number of a
wire, the smaller it is and vice versa.

Wires with a gauge smaller than 1/0 are often

checked with the use of a standard wire gauge as seen in
the figure below.

It should be noted that when measuring the gauge of the wire, the covering insulator must
be removed such that only the bare wire sticks out. The wire must then be fitted into the
slots and not the holes of the gauge. The gauge is chosen based on where to wire fits best.

Conductive material

Typically, there are four types of metals used as conductive material: copper,
aluminum, silver and gold.
Copper is the most commonly used of the four because of its high conductivity
(which is second to silver and gold), relative cheapness, malleability, ductility and
resistance to corrosion.
Aluminum is the second most commonly used conductor. Compared to copper,
Aluminum is cheaper than copper is almost as conductive as copper, however it is not as
flexible and is less resistant to tensile strength.
Silver is the most conductive naturally occurring material. It is often used in small
electronics, however it is soft and easy to corrode and expensive. When silver is not
applicable, gold is often the substitute, however similar to silver it is also expensive.

Electrical Insulation
Insulation is wrapped around wires to prevent the passing electricity from
spreading into the surrounding environment as well as keeping the surrounding
environment from damaging the wire. There are several types of insulators that may be
applied based on the need and environment it will be used in.

The most widely used inductor is rubber. It is resistant to moisture, but does
poorly against both high temperatures and voltages. Although it can be treated to
withstand higher temperatures, it is more commonly used on appliances and portable
cords.

Thermoplastics are a more durable counterpart to rubber and are also relatively
cheap. When exposed to heat, it softens up and can be distorted into various shapes that it
then retains when it cools down again. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) is one popular type of
thermoplastic that is highly resistant to corrosive substances such as acids.

Thermosetting insulation is resistant to heat, moisture, chemicals and ozone.

Unlike thermoplastics, thermosetting does not soften with the application of heat, but it
will eventually distort when exposed to temperatures exceeding 90 Celsius. It is
commonly used in high voltage circuits where the temperature does not exceed 90
Celsius.

Teflon is highly resistant to corrosion, moisture and temperatures exceeding 200

Celsius. Due to its properties, it is often used in areas with large amounts of various
chemicals and heat such as boilers and fire alarm systems.

Cables
Cables are mainly used to carry an audio or video signals from one device to
another hence the term cabled television. Cables carry signals from different basic
electronic devices such as DVD players and Stereos however the purpose of the cable is
limited only to carrying the signals and not in any way to convert or process it
Cables are made up of two or more wires having a protected jacket or shield and
are used for transmitting electricity and telecommunication signals, wires are component
in cables it is consisted of two or more wires that are surrounded by a layer or layers of
insulation and can be showed or covered. Cables are insulated which gives them more
protection than wires
Cables are made of three basic parts:

CONDUCTOR

SHIELDING

CONNECTOR/S
The purpose of the conductor is to carry the signal, while the shielding obviously
looks to serve as the protection of the conductors from external damage but one more
good reason is to prevent the wire from picking up radio frequency thus can affect the
signal it is carrying.
KINDS OF CABLES
Fiber-Optic Cable
A cable that is usually used for high
bandwidth transmission this means a fast
transfer of data or high volume of data, for
this kind of speed the fiber-optic cable is the
best choice since it uses light to transfer or
transmit data through the glass of the cable,
then the receiving end receives the signals
and changes them to electrical transmissions, take note that electricity is not used in this
cable.
Fiber optic cables are used in our wireless internet modems for faster internet, it is
also good for long distance calls and for computer networking.
The advantages of this cable is it can operate in high speed and has a large capacity that is
why it is used for computers in our present time. Lastly the cable cannot be grounded

since it does not operate or depends on electricity, however this are expensive compared
to other cables.
Coaxial Cable
This cable is very familiar to everyone. This
cable is used for cabled television this is the
coaxial cable. The coaxial cable is used for
great distance transmission. The cable consist of
an outside insulation or jacket and after that is a
layer of outer conductor followed by a dielectric
insulator and lastly an inner conductor. All of these parts lay in the same axis hence the
name coaxial.
These cables are mainly used for cabled televisions , also these cables is a lot
cheaper than fiber optic and is very easy to install.
Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
A cable made up of a cable
jacket for protection, a foil shield,
an insulation, a conductor and a
drain wire. The twisted wires and
shielded twisted cables negates
electrical interference, the pair of wires are also wrapped in foil (metallic). One of its
advantages its jacket or shielding provides more protection from any external damages,
however it does not run as long as a coaxial cable, this cable is mostly used in Ethernet
networks
Unshielded Twisted Pair
This cable consists of a cable jacket, an outer conductor, dielectric cores, and
inner conductors. The pair of wires is twisted around each other. The twisted wires

negates the attenuation caused by radio frequency

and electromagnetic interference. This cable is
much cheaper than the others and it is very easy to
install, also this is the most popular of all the
cables since it is used more frequently such as
networking and in telephones., however it is more
prone to catch interference
There are 5 different types of UTP:
According to (http://www.sis.pitt.edu/~icucart/networking_basics/kinds_of_cables.html)

Type

Data Rates

Use

Category 1

-------

Voice Only (Telephone Cable)

Category 2

Data to 4 Mbps

LocalTalk

Category 3

Data to 10 Mbps

Ethernet

Category 4

Data to 20 Mbps

Some Token Rings

Category 5

Data to 100 Mbps

Ethernet and Fast Ethernet

Cables are necessities in our advancing technological society. It can be seen everywhere
and as a part of this growth, we must learn the basics and whatnots on how to operate it.

REFERENCES

Charles H. Flurscheim (ed), Power Circuit Breaker Theory and Design, Second

Edition IET, 1982 ISBN 0906048702 Chapter 1

Harris, Tom. "How Circuit Breakers Work" 09 May 2002. HowStuffWorks.com.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/circuit-breaker.htm
"Hurricane Preparedness: Protection Provided by Power Generators | Power On

with Mark Lum". Wpowerproducts.com. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-24.

http://ecmweb.com/code-basics/article-240-overcurrent-protection
http://www.te.com/en/products/circuit-protection/browse-products/overcurrent-

devices/polyswitch-resettable-devices.html
http://www.te.com/catalog/menu/en/17295

http://www.toolingu.com/definition-550120-23333-overcurrent-device.html
http://www.mikeholt.com/mojonewsarchive/et-

html/html/back2basicsovercurrentprotection~20020510.htm
John Cadick. (1999). Cables and Wiring Second Edition. United State of America:

Delmer Publishers.
Henry, Clyde N. (1995). Electrical wiring: principles and practices. United Sates

of America: Fairmount Press, Inc.

Douglas Brooks, (7/01/2001). How to gauge traces. Retrieved from
http://www.ultracad.com/articles/wiregauge.pdf
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/23/Wire_gauge_

%28PSF%29.png/607px-Wire_gauge_%28PSF%29.png
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c25/broodrr/WiringHarness/conductor_solidst
randed.jpg