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How are lights wired in a house?

Updated: 8/11/2023
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13y ago

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"House wiring" is a category of wiring which refers to wiring within the confines of an immobile dwelling house, apartment, etc. It does not refer to mobile homes, caravans, canal barges or any other kinds of mobile dwelling.

Someone could spend a week typing to "tell you about house wiring". Go to a hardware store like Home Depot, buy a book on home wiring and read it!

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No, its not too hard to describe: in USA, Canada and other countries which use the same standard alternating current service - which runs at 60 cycles per second - it comes to the outlets using black and red hot wires, a white neutral wire and a bare ground wire.

Each circuit is built to provide electric power for a particular use: for lights, for small appliances - such as camera or shaver chargers, radio and tv, toaster, etc. - or for large appliances such as freezer, cooker, washer, dryer, water heater, air conditioner, etc.

The maximum current supplied in each circuit is limited to the capacity of its circuit breaker, which depends on the thickness of the wires used.

In turn, the wire thickness used to build a circuit - and the voltage it supplies - depend on the uses for which the circuit is intended. A rough guide is: the bigger and heavier the appliances are, the more voltage and current they require. In a normal size home, the sizes of its circuit breakers start at around 15 amps and go up to 100 or 200 amps for the main incoming service line wiring.

If there are three wires in a circuit - colored "black, white and bare" or "red, white and bare", that circuit is for 110 to 120 volts to be used for lights and small appliances.

If a circuit has all four wires: "red and black and white and bare", that circuit supplies 220 to 240 volts for a cooker, a washer, a dryer, a water heater, etc.

Everything that is installed as house wiring must comply with the NEC (National Electrical Code) and any further requirements of the locality. (Town, city, state, etc.) For example, in New York City the wiring codes - which are part of the city's Building Codes - do not allow new home circuits to be installed by anyone who is not a licensed electrician.

Many other places in North America allow home owners to apply for a Home Owner Permit, but any DIY work done must still comply with the requirements of the NEC. Such DIY work is often checked by the safety authorities for compliance with the NEC before they will allow it to be connected to the incoming service at the main breaker panel.

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As always, if you are in doubt about what to do, the best advice anyone should give you is to call a licensed electrician to advise what work is needed.

Before you do any work yourself,

on electrical circuits, equipment or appliances,

always use a test meter to ensure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.

IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB

SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY

REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.

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12y ago
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9y ago

A house light circuit first needs a voltage supply. This is obtained from the distribution panel. A breaker in the distribution panel supplies this need and supplies the voltage to the circuit along with overload protection for this circuit. A two wire cable is taken to the light fixture. This will have a black and white wire in it along with a bare ground wire. The black "hot" wire is connected to the breaker at one end and the other end of this wire it is connected to the lighting circuit switch. Out of the switch the black wire continues to the light fixture where is is connected to the fixture's brass coloured terminal. The white wire is connected to the light fixture's silver coloured terminal and returns through the light switch to the distribution panel's neutral bar. The bare ground wire is connected to all junction boxes that the two wire cable connects to. When the switch is turned on, the current flows through the fixture's bulb and light is produced. Additional light fixtures connected to this circuit will be connected in parallel with the first fixture.

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8y ago

Home wiring used two types of circuit wiring. All of the circuits feed from a distribution panel are in parallel with each other. Retractile outlets are all in parallel with each other. Switches in lighting circuits are in series with the fixtures in that circuit.

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12y ago

Parallel I think homes are wired in parallel

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10y ago

A single light, in a single circuit, is wired in series in the circuit. Any additional lights on the same circuit are wired in parallel with the first light.

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7y ago

Lights in home wiring are wired in series parallel circuits.

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