This is a typical diagram of how to wire a light switch. There may or may not be a power out line that feeds something else in the circuit, or there may be more than one power out line, depending on what was handy for the electrician at the time.
CAUTION:
DO NOT EVER WORK ON LIVE ELECTRICITY! ALWAYS TURN OFF THE CIRCUIT BREAKER BEFORE TOUCHING THE WIRES! EVEN IF YOU TURN OFF THE POWER, TREAT IT LIKE IT IS STILL HOT! ELECTRICITY CAN KILL YOU!
Ground Wire:
The orange line represents the ground wire. This is typically the bare wire or sometimes it’s green. Not all switches have a ground wire connection, but it is a good idea to have it. Some older homes don’t have a ground wire in the wiring, so it may not apply. It’s just an extra safety precaution in case the switch breaks on the inside and somehow connects the hot wire to the body of the switch (wouldn’t that be a rude awakening?). If the ground wire is connected and that happens, the circuit breaker will see a short circuit and kick off.
Neutral Wire: The neutral wire is the circuit return path and is normally colored white. All the white wires should be tied together to complete the circuit, and as you can see, there is no connection on the switch for it. DO NOT connect them to the switch unless you want to see fireworks (or at least a popped breaker)!
Hot Wire: The hot wire is typically the black wire. Tie all your hot wires together to feed the other devices in the circuit, except the one going to the light (called the switch leg). If there are no power out wires in the box, only the one hot wire coming in, you can just connect it directly to the switch. If there are other power out wires, you will have to tie them all together and cut off a short piece of black wire and connect it in with the others to supply power to the switch.
It’s always a good idea to twist the wires together with your pliers before screwing on the wire nut to ensure a good, solid connection. It will help to prevent intermittent problems.
Wire How To: Single Switch and Light (alternate)
This wiring diagram is for when your power feed is in the light box instead of the switch box. You’ll notice the main difference being that you use the white wire in the cable going to the switch box as the switch leg and the black wire as the power feed.
Some electricians will tie the white wire in with the power feed and use the black one as the switch leg, but either way, the switch doesn’t care which is which.
Again, I cannot stress enough to be very careful with your connections here. If you accidentally tie the white wire from the switch into the other white wires in this configuration, there will be fireworks!
Here’s a wiring diagram of a light circuit with three lights hooked up to one switch and an outlet receptacle in the same circuit. You can hook up as many lights or receptacles together in this way as the circuit will handle.
Wire How To: Three Lights on a Single Switch and an Outlet Receptacle
This is a typical diagram of how to connect 2 switches to the same light. It’s especially handy for stairs, hallways, and big rooms.
You will notice that the power feed goes into one switch box, while the switch leg (light wire) goes into the other. There is also a “traveler” line that connects the two together.
Traveler: The traveler is a 3 wire Romex cable with a ground. In other words, there are 3 insulated wires and an uninsulated ground wire.
The ground wire is for added safety and all grounds should be tied together to maintain the safety path.
The white wire is the neutral wire which is the circuit return path for the light. It also goes to ground, and all white wires should be tied together to maintain the circuit path.
The red and black wires are the travelers that hook the two switches together. These are attached to the 2 top terminals (or bottom – depending on how you’re holding it). It doesn’t really matter which one goes where on those 2 terminals.
Wiring Diagram: 3-Way Switch (alternate)
This is an alternate way to wire 2 switches to the same light. Sometimes it’s more convenient to put both the power feed and the switch leg in the same switch box.
LCD Vs. Plasma Large Screens for Businesses: Why LCD Wins?
Businesses are rapidly adopting large high definition TVs and monitors for advertising, video conferencing, conference rooms, entertainment and information display, among other uses. We talked with a number of audio visual consultants, system integrators, distributors, vendors and customers and found there was confusion and misunderstanding as to what is better – LCD or Plasma for large screen use for various applications. Understandable, considering the rapidly evolving technologies, numerous choices, the gamut of reviews and the various applications these large screens are being used. We are hoping we can clarify but research the technologies yourself and make the knowledgeable choice.
Quick Introduction to the Technology: Plasma screens use a matrix of plasma gas cells which are charged by electrical voltage to create a picture. LCD screens are made up of liquid crystals placed between two glass plates. Below we compare the two technologies on features important to businesses.
LCD vs. Plasma Comparison: Size
LCDs are generally lighter and thinner as they don’t contain the gas-filled chambers and heavy glass panels present in plasmas. Historical wisdom was that larger size screens available were Plasma while smaller size screens were LCDs. Today, commercially, Panasonic has 103” plasma while Sharp offers 108” LCD. Smaller size Plasma screens are currently not available. A draw for large size screens. Smaller size Plasma screens are currently not available.
LCD vs. Plasma for Screen Size: A draw for large size screens.
LCD vs. Plasma Comparison: Picture Quality
A number of variables go into picture quality. We will outline them and summarize the findings.
Video Resolution: High resolution is available for both Plasma and LCD screens and resolution is usually comparable for both technologies (1920×1080 is considered as high resolution and available in both Plasma and LCD screens). Lower price models for both Plasma and LCDs have lower resolution and typically for <45” screens they are 1366×768 in resolution or lower. Be sure that you compare apples to apples. Overall: A draw between the two technologies.
Data Resolution: Data resolution for LCDs is much better than for Plasma. The number of pixels per square inch on an LCD display is typically higher than any other display technology including Plasma, so LCD monitors are especially good at displaying large amounts of data. For the same reasons, LCD screens will also be better screens for video gaming than Plasma screens. Plasma displays produce a very jaggy image when viewing static images from computer images. Users may want to consider a commercial version plasma if their application calls for a lot of computer use.
Color Accuracy: Plasma color richness and naturalness will prevail in rooms with lower to normal lighting due to higher contrast ratio. LCD screen contrast ratio is relatively lower, but with anti-glare & brightness features of LCD screens, LCDs will be better in ambient light or in brightly lit rooms. As businesses usually work during the day in ambient light, LCDs are more desirable for most business applications.
Viewing Angle: Plasma manufacturers have made much of their 160° viewing angles. However with new LCDs the view angles are 158°. There is not much difference between the two technologies in viewing angle.
Burn-in: There have been concerns with burn-in for Plasma screens especially for static images. However, many Plasma manufacturers have improved their anti-burn in technology. There are no burn-in issues with LCD screens.
LCD vs. Plasma for Picture Quality: LCD wins.
LCD vs. Plasma Comparison: Life of the Screen
LCDs can be operated 24×7 for 50,000+ hours equivalent to 5+ years of continuous viewing. Plasma, on the other hand, utilizes slight electric currents to excite a combination of noble gases (i.e., argon, neon, xenon), which glow red, blue, and/or green. This is an essentially active phenomenon, so the phosphoric elements in plasma displays fade over time. Typically half life is 30,000 hours but some manufacturers state a new half life of 60,000 hours. At half life, the phosphors in a plasma screen will glow half as brightly as they did when the set was new. There is no way to replace these gases; the display simply continues to become dimmer with use. An LCD TV will last as long as its backlight – and in many models the backlight bulbs can be replaced! Since this is nothing more than light passing through a prismatic substrate, there is essentially nothing to wear out in an LCD monitor.
LCD vs. Plasma for Screen Life: LCD wins.
LCD vs. Plasma Comparison: Power consumption
Plasma TVs use more power than LCD – twice as much. Plasmas use electricity to light each and every pixel you see on a screen – even the dark ones. Also, note Plasma TVs get heated up quickly and require fans to cool the TV.
However, some manufacturers point out that the power use of a plasma TV is directly dependent on picture brightness, whereas an LCD picture requires a constant source of illumination. The theory goes that plasma should use less power over time. But in reality plasma TVs require significantly more power to achieve the same brightness level as an LCD. This is significant, since your investment on UPS (higher KVA) will have to be much larger to give similar backup to a system using Plasma. No wonder, IBMs & HPs never even considered Plasma for their Laptop screens!
LCD vs. Plasma for Power Consumption: LCD wins.
LCD vs. Plasma Comparison: Lightness and Versatility
Both types of flat-panel screens can be wall-mounted. Plasma sets weigh a lot more than LCD screens (even those of comparable screen-size), so setting them up or moving around could be a problem, especially wall mounting in new houses with stud walling. Further the bezel for LCD screens can be removed and a video wall solution can be created – can be quite valuable for advertising and monitoring
LCD vs. Plasma for Lightness and Versatility: LCD wins.
To summarize, while for home video solutions, Plasma may be an OK choice, but for office and professional usage, LCD is definitely the correct choice!
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The CyberPower Systems CP1500AVRLCD UPS, designed for mid to high-end computer systems, features dynamic line conditioning and a LCD diagnostic display. Real-time system vitals can be viewed from this display and the unit can be conveniently mounted in a workstation cabinet or directly on the desktop. The CP1500AVRLCD also guards against surges/spikes, and also offers battery backup in the event o…
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An LED (Light Emitting Diode) is a semiconductor that converts electricity into light. LED Lighting has been around since the 1960′s. In recent years LED technology has made great strides in high efficiency, low heat, high output, safe and environmentally friendly lighting. Because of their many great qualities, LED Piano Lamps have become one of the most desired lighting sources for use on pianos and music stands, and for musicians in general.
LED Piano Lamps are considerably more efficient than incandescent bulbs, they do not product heat, and give off a warm white light with no glare, making them perfect for reading music. They also last much longer than incandescent lamps. The life span of an LED Lamp ranges from 20,000 to 50,000 hours compared to 1000-2000 hours for incandescent bulbs. To put this in perspective, if you use your LED Lamp for 2 hours per day, the light will last from 27-68 years!
LED Piano Lamps do not use regular light bulbs. They use tiny semi-conductors encapsulated in plastic, which protect their components and help focus the light. They do not have a filament like regular light bulbs, making them more resistant to thermal and vibration shocks, so they will not break when being transported. Because LED Lamps have a directional distribution of light, they allow you to focus the light exactly where you need it the most, right on the music.
LED’s typically use 5-15% of the energy of incandescent lighting. LED savings are found over the life of the LED in energy consumption. For example, a 3.5 watt LED replaces a 40 watt incandescent bulb and lasts 30,000 hours. The savings of 36 watts times 30,000 hours equals 1,080 Kwh (kilowatt hours). At an average $0.11 per Kwh the savings is calculated at $118.80. This number does not include the cost of the 15-30 replacement bulbs (over the life of the LED) needed for incandescent lighting. In addition, by saving energy we are helping to protect our environment.
Benefits of LED Lamps:
Green Product/Environmentally Friendly
Low energy consumption (saves energy and money)
No mercury
No infrared or UV radiation
Extremely Long Life Span (20,000 – 50,000 hours)
Low Heat Output (remain cool to the touch)
Warm White Non-Glare Light
Very efficient focused light
Lightweight & Easily Transported
Rugged and damage resistant
Recyclable
Costs less to operate
No bulb replacement
House of Troy is the company of choice when it comes to Piano Lamps. They have released a whole new line of LED Piano Lamps for both grand and upright pianos with a variety of unique styles, designs, and colors to choose from. You can choose from Contemporary, Traditional or Antique styles, with polished brass, black, bronze, and other available finishes. These lamps are engineered with musicians in mind. They not only provide the proper focused lighting necessary to clearly read music, but they are lightweight, portable, durable, and have the added convenience of long lasting light without the need for frequent bulb replacement. These lamps are perfect for use on pianos and music stands, and for transporting to music venues.
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Solar light garden batteries Are they interchangeable?
My solar garden lights use 2 types of rechargeable batteries.
They are Ni-Cd & NiMH. Are they interchangeable? That is can
either type be used both instances? Also can both types be used
in the same recharger, (mine is NiHM)
i can answer for my solar powered garden lights.
I can use any rechargable batteries in them & it’s fine.
however with the charger you have to use the correct one for the batteries – not mix and match.
Nighthawk Solar Light to be available in Pakistan and Afghanistan
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