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Questions tagged [wiring]

How wires connect to terminals and to each other; coloring and organization schemes; appropriate wire selection and installation techniques

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80 votes
7 answers
68k views

Using clothesline steel core wire rope for AC and DC

As I am currently in a war zone, I don't have many options for cabling. I found this clothesline (steel core plastic wire rope) that appears to be one mm of diameter (steel core diameter.) 13 meters ...
Amr Berag's user avatar
  • 661
76 votes
5 answers
20k views

What is the name of these little plastic things that protect wires from being cut into by the sharp edges of a drilled hole?

What is the name of these little plastic things that protect wires from being cut into by the sharp edges of a drilled hole?
Zhro's user avatar
  • 2,855
58 votes
2 answers
731k views

What do solid/striped lines on a wire indicate?

What do solid or dashed lines on a wire indicate? Is there a difference between the solid and dashed indicators?
Mark Harrison's user avatar
45 votes
5 answers
52k views

Is the neutral wire considered safe?

If the neutral wire carries current, why do many people believe that it's safe? I've heard "You can touch the neutral wire/bar in the breaker box and not get shocked. Only the hot can hurt you." If ...
Stephen Melvin's user avatar
41 votes
6 answers
12k views

Why does my circuit work on a breadboard, but not on a perfboard? I am new to soldering

I'm a total beginner when it comes to soldering, and recently I've been trying (and failing) to solder together a simple circuit I put together for a Raspberry Pi sensor. Although it works fine on ...
Sebastian Villate's user avatar
40 votes
3 answers
70k views

What's a schematic (compared to other diagrams)?

What's the difference between a schematic, a block diagram, a wiring diagram and a PCB layout? Why do engineers want a schematic instead of a wiring diagram? Where does Fritzing fit into this?
JYelton's user avatar
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37 votes
2 answers
5k views

What are those weird wires in the audio cables?

Trying to repair a headset cable, I discovered that it doesn't look at all like the “ordinary” cables I used to repair. I was expecting to see, inside the cable jacket, four wires, each one in a wire ...
Arseni Mourzenko's user avatar
29 votes
13 answers
8k views

How can I wire a 9-position switch so that each position turns on one more LED than the one before?

I have a 9-way switch like this guy: And I'm trying to figure out how I can turn on one LED with position 1, 2 with position 2, all the way up to all 9 in position 9. Obviously I can repeat all the ...
Isaac Lubow's user avatar
28 votes
10 answers
31k views

How do I power/wire something that is rotating constantly WITHOUT extra batteries?

So I want to make a Lazy Susan that is rotating constantly in one direction. I also want to have some other things on top such as neon signs, moving things, and etc. Problem is I want this to all run ...
Sie's user avatar
  • 437
22 votes
9 answers
99k views

Why is the chassis used as ground in automotive electrical circuits

Automotive electronics generally use the metal chassis as the negative ground connector for the DC circuits. Obviously this saves something on wiring. Is there an electrical reason for this approach? ...
bib's user avatar
  • 323
20 votes
6 answers
14k views

How does earthing work when earth is dry?

Earthing is meant to provide reliable contact of an electric appliance to earth so that if there's an insulation fault current goes into earth instead of through a person's body. This requires ...
sharptooth's user avatar
  • 12.3k
20 votes
3 answers
39k views

Difference between maximum amps for chassis wiring and power transmission

I am putting together a test system that'll be carrying over 50Amps. I need to rate the wires that will be powering the device under test and also querying voltages and signals on the device. ...
SeanJ's user avatar
  • 887
19 votes
8 answers
7k views

How is USB 3.2 still serial when there are so many data cables?

This is a very ignorant question, as I am just getting into wiring diagrams and trying to understand them, but look at this picture of usb-C with usb 3.2: With 2 high speed data paths, plus the old ...
justdoingmyjob's user avatar
16 votes
10 answers
5k views

Best practice in transmitting sensor analog signal over longer distances (approx. 100') -- in cost sensitive products for microcontrollers

I'm looking for best practices for transmitting an analog sensor signal over long distances to a microcontroller such as the Arduino running at 3.3v or 5v. Keeping costs low is imperative. SPI and ...
risingtiger's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
3k views

Can you identify this component?

This may be obvious to some, but not to me. I am an IC design engineer, as such I rarely do any practical work. This morning I had to fix some electronics which were custom made by a third party for ...
IC_Eng's user avatar
  • 320
15 votes
3 answers
33k views

What does it mean when there is a voltage difference between ground and neutral?

Between ground and hot there's approximately 120V as expected. I had expected the voltage difference between ground and neutral to be 0v, but instead it's 0.4V. Why would this not be the case? Is ...
Mark Harrison's user avatar
15 votes
3 answers
20k views

KiCad: Some pads to solder wires on

I am working on a PCB for which I need external soldered wires. I made the whole PCB with al the traces on the front layer. Then, with 3 vias, I got to the back layer. Here I need to solder 3 wires to ...
jan's user avatar
  • 153
15 votes
4 answers
2k views

Why an electrician wiring error could make a PC's USB shield be at 120V when it should be grounded

I almost had a serious electrical accident last week when I was trying to use an oscilloscope to test out a circuit a student had built. I had the scope plugged into a floor outlet, and the circuit ...
user55515's user avatar
  • 251
14 votes
4 answers
13k views

How to best attach a wire to a switch without soldering?

I've got a switch like this one: Now my (quite novice) question is: How do I best attach a wire to the connector without soldering, e.g. for quickly trying something out? Right now I've folded the ...
Golo Roden's user avatar
14 votes
2 answers
6k views

Ring around wire on diagram

If this is a repeated question, please let me know. I'm a hobbyist electronics person, and ran across symbols on a diagram I didn't recognize. I've attached the image below: What I'm trying to ...
johwiltb's user avatar
  • 143
13 votes
1 answer
86k views

Wiring diagram for USB-C to USB-A cable?

I make USB cables (USB-A to Mini or Micro primarily), but don't have any experience with USB-C. I would like to create a cable that has a USB-A (2.0) connector on one end, and a USB-C connector on the ...
rockwell's user avatar
  • 233
13 votes
3 answers
2k views

What's the purpose of such weird wiring inside this smart card?

Here's a scan of a stripped MIFARE Ultralight smart card That's some plastic film with (I assume aluminum) foil wiring acting as the antenna for both powering the chip and providing radio ...
sharptooth's user avatar
  • 12.3k
12 votes
6 answers
4k views

Are there any standard patterns for wiring a breadboard/solderboard? [closed]

My breadboard wiring is disorganized and this makes complex circuits hard to debug and so on. Are there any standard rules for how to arrange the wiring? Something like "always leave x holes between ...
thatsagoal's user avatar
12 votes
7 answers
11k views

Lack of Earth wire

Electricity connections where I live don't have have earth wires, only live and neutral. I don't have any problems with it but if I touch metal parts of any desktop computer, It does what coffee can ...
asim's user avatar
  • 558
12 votes
6 answers
29k views

Schuko plug wiring

Why it is not important where we connect our hot and neutral wire when connecting them to our Schuko plug? Is it because current flows in both directions? It is only important that our ground wire is ...
Junior's user avatar
  • 989
12 votes
3 answers
18k views

What does FG stand for?

I have an old 12V cooler master fan that I am converting into a fume extractor for soldering and am connecting it to a standard 12v computer power supply. I am trying to wire it and am confused about ...
celeriko's user avatar
  • 235
11 votes
5 answers
7k views

Designing home DC wiring

I've been thinking about this for a while. Now that we have means to generating electricity in DC, what would it take to do a DC wiring for an house to work along the traditional AC wiring. ...
Snick's user avatar
  • 243
11 votes
5 answers
3k views

Anything special to consider when running a 12v "Bus" throughout my house?

I've recently begun playing a lot with tiny programmable computers/controllers (like the Raspberry Pi and the Arduino), and I'm planning to distribute several throughout my house as various sensors. ...
loneboat's user avatar
  • 320
11 votes
4 answers
6k views

Altium says my labels are floating

Been using Altium and multi sheet projects for a while. My latest project involves a lot of signals so I'm trying to keep things tidy using lots of labels, ports, busses. So I have a bus for enable ...
Claudio's user avatar
  • 121
10 votes
4 answers
4k views

Why is this 3-way speaker wired this way?

I found a service manual of a pair of 3-way speakers that were part of a mini integrated stereo system. These are Sony SS-H77 speakers, which have served me very well back in the day. Looking at the ...
ysap's user avatar
  • 345
10 votes
3 answers
15k views

How is transition from three-phase distribution without neutral to three-phase consumption with neutral achieved?

A typical distribution grid supplies 6 or 10 kilovolts AC to a substation near the consumers. This is typically done with a three-phase line without neutral - just three wires going in parallel. Then ...
sharptooth's user avatar
  • 12.3k
10 votes
2 answers
2k views

Wiring up a dolls house with LEDs and a 9V battery

I'm trying to wire up a dolls house that I've built for my daughter with 7x 3mm white LEDs (https://www.jaycar.co.nz/white-3mm-led-4300mcd-round-clear/p/ZD0142) I'm powering it with a 9V battery and ...
David May's user avatar
  • 103
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

What is the difference in this specific breadboard wiring?

As an absolute layperson in electronics I just found out that an LED only lights up when connected like in figure 1 but not when connected like in figure 2. And I just don't get why? I know an LED is ...
JohnnyFromBF's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
1k views

What is this strange long wire for in a single induction cooking unit?

Tonight I dismantled one of those single induction hobs: Inside there were two PCBs. The incoming mains was wired to the top left PCB, while the other contained all the low voltage components, plus ...
Rocketmagnet's user avatar
  • 26.8k
10 votes
1 answer
5k views

Does an ungrounded shielded cable shield at all?

Does a shielded cable provide any shielding if the shield isn't grounded? Would it be practically different than an unshielded cable?
aswine's user avatar
  • 233
9 votes
3 answers
3k views

What is the name/purpose of this component?

I was wondering what is the role/purpose of the electric component in the red square. This is the schematic of a 230V single phase induction motor. What is also not clear to me are the connections on ...
tigrou's user avatar
  • 1,863
9 votes
3 answers
24k views

Splitting wires for newbies

I'm in the process of getting ready to build a car PC running Linux. One of the features I'd really like to incorporate is the ability to record car statistics from the sensors live using ODB2. Due ...
Naftuli Kay's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
5k views

Wiring vs Arduino

What are the key differences between Wiring and Arduino? What would you recommend?
mad_z's user avatar
  • 5,030
8 votes
6 answers
22k views

what size of copper wire can act as a 150A fuse?

If I would like to use a piece of copper wire as a 150A fuse, what size of wire should I use? It doesn't have to be 150A very accurately, the parameters I need the wire to meet are: it needs to ...
ria's user avatar
  • 1,955
8 votes
4 answers
7k views

How to handle unused wire in cable

What is the best way to handle an unused wire inside of a cable. Let's assume I've got a cable with 4 wires, only 3 of them are used. I could connect the 4th wire at one end to ground, at both ends ...
P3trus's user avatar
  • 397
8 votes
2 answers
2k views

How can I fix these broken wires?

I have two CPU fans which have been damaged. In one the wires were separated in the middle, in the other they were separated at the solder contacts. I have very little soldering/wiring experience, how ...
Kai's user avatar
  • 205
8 votes
4 answers
4k views

Ethernet Without a Switch?

How do you wire up Ethernet electrically without a switch? An approximately equivalent phrasing of this question would be what is going on electrically inside an Ethernet Hub? To clarify, I'm not ...
vicatcu's user avatar
  • 22.4k
8 votes
1 answer
457 views

How is pouring water addressed in high-voltage electric transport systems?

An electric train is typically powered with something like 1.5 kilovolts of direct current of something like 25 kilovolts of alternating current. In my experience electric device manufacturers charge ...
sharptooth's user avatar
  • 12.3k
8 votes
1 answer
3k views

Placement of signal, power and ground lines within a ribbon cable

Just a couple of assumptions before I start as this is a theoretical question All signals are <1MHz digital signals All signals are single ended, no differential pairs The 3 power lines are +5V, -...
user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
64k views

How do I power a LCD Backlight inverter (got from a disasembled LCD screen) [closed]

I have two LCD Backlight Inverters lying around here and I want them to powerup without using any laptop part / motherboards. I want to power it by using a simple power source, I have both AC and DC ...
user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

No PSB pin on LCD?

I bought a Winstar 144x32 LCD (WG14432D) because it was cheap and it would be nice to do some experiments with it. The main problem with this LCD is that it has no (working) library for it. I already ...
Fusseldieb's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

Need a Loud Electrical Component for Magnetic Lock

On our main front door at the Stack Exchange offices we have a glass door with a magnetic lock installed. As is common at offices, visitors can ring a doorbell and then our receptionist will press an ...
Alex Miller's user avatar
7 votes
4 answers
5k views

Best solution for compact wiring on stripboard

When transferring a circuit from breadboard to stripboard, I often struggle to manage the wiring; often it starts looking like an overgrown garden; the components inevitably start disappearing under ...
Jodes's user avatar
  • 5,004
7 votes
4 answers
8k views

Can I wire a dimmer switch into a soldering iron?

So I have a really cheap soldering iron and a dimmer switch meant to be wall-mounted. The soldering iron has a standard, ungrounded cord. The dimmer switch has four wires: a green (for ground), a ...
Nate's user avatar
  • 173
7 votes
2 answers
3k views

Power a circuit off USB the correct way

I'd like to properly power a gadget off USB (2.4A USB powerbank https://www.amazon.com/Anker-20100mAh-Portable-Charger-PowerCore/dp/B00X5RV14Y/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1512261941&sr=8-3) ...
iMrFelix's user avatar
  • 217

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