DIY Lighting – Introduction on Electricity and Lighting Wiring
If you're a do-it-yourselfer, it makes sense to have some kind of working knowledge of electricity. This way, you can safely take on various home lighting projects, such as installing dimmer switches, replacing incandescent lights with fluorescent or LEDs, and other lighting wiring projects.
Voltage and current are the two most basic electrical components you need to deal with. A certain amount of voltage is required to push the current through a wire. Current is measured in amps or amperes, and indicates the amount of electricity flowing through the wire. Voltage is measured in volts, and represents the force that is pushing the current.
It's helpful to think of this as being similar to the way water flows through a hose. The only difference being, that electricity is in tight packs called electrons, so you can replace the water with something like marbles.
The electrons inside the wire create an electric wave that runs down the outside of the wire. This is where the actual power comes from. Place a bulb at the end of a very long wire. The light will come on as soon as you turn the switch, which is much faster than the electrons can move. This is probably as in-depth as we want to get on this subject, though.
One thing we haven't mentioned is the common electrical term, watts. This is simply the product of amps x volts, and is a unit of electrical power.
You may also be wondering what creates the actual light in the bulb. This is actually the current and the resistance (R) that it runs into. The current runs through the wire and into the bulb. When it hits the tungsten filament inside, it vibrates the atoms in the wire. The resistance created is measured in ohms, which is named for the physicist that made this discovery.
If you want to put this into a mathematical equation, it would be, voltage = current x resistance. The type and size of the wire determines what the resistance will be. For example, a standard incandescent bulb that is hooked to an on-off switch will have a fixed resistance.
The resistance will then be changed if you replace a 100 watt bulb with a 60 watt bulb. You have changed the resistance, while the current and voltage remain the same.
This is the principle behind dimmer switches. The amount of power to the bulb is changed by altering the resistance. For incandescent bulbs, the resistance is changed from 0 at the switch to about 100%. This change is only between 20%-80% with CFL. There will be a certain resistance at which this type of light cannot remain lit.
This is just a basic overview of electricity, but it may help you understand things a little better the next time you are doing lighting wiring.
Introduction To Lighting Options
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