With this in mind, ultimately it is the appliances or items that will draw power from the circuit they are powered from and the location in which cables will run that decides on the size of cable required. What Size Cables for Lighting Circuits? For the benefit of reason, it is as well to explain that competent does not simply mean you can walk, talk, read and write. Correct use of a multimeter is essential for safe electrical work at home What is an Electrical Cable The bare wire, when the cable is used, should be marked with a green and yellow earth sleeve. This should be cut to length and slipped over the wire before it’s connected up.

See the prices of Solar panels, Solar Inverters and building materials in Nigerian markets like Aluminium roofing sheets, Wheel barrows and Plywood boards in Nigeria 2023. As we have established above, how you identify electrical cable size is through the size of wire it houses e.g. 1.5mm cable houses 1.5mm wire. The methods mentioned in the table below are methods for how the cable runs through the home to carry the power from the consumer unit to the outlet.We have abstracted a couple of the most popular tables for current rating of cables below. The rest, and the full table follows. Because of the danger of working with high voltages and high currents, electricians tools need to be completely and fully insulated. This insulation is usually safe up to 1000 volts. As with most formulas in the building trade there are regulations defining specific boundaries for the use of all materials. Factors such as resistance and voltage drop may need to be assessed and taken into consideration when working out cable runs.

They have suggested, through surveys, that almost half of all severe electrical injury caused in the home is due to DIY work. The most common causes being drilling through wires in the wall, cutting through cables and not turning electrical circuits off before working on them! They have also estimated that around half of accidental fires caused in UK homes are due to electricity, the majority due to cooking appliances and white goods. For details of these changes please see the link to the Institute of Electrical Engineers. In essence, for domestic use, the cable wire colours will change to those of standard electrical flex colours. A cable is a fairly inflexible (although of course they can be bent) set of wires used to supply the electricity to certain points in your home.Below is an average price list of notable brands of electrical house wiring cables in Nigeria and the cost of their products in selected millimeter (mm) of size from 1.5mm, 2.5mm and more per roll of a typical Foreign or Nigerian wire manufacturer. Cable Manufacturer Resistance can be thought of as electrical friction and the wires in the cable or flex will absorb some of the energy in the current, allowing a little less to reach the target than was sent. It is also worth stating that years ago, the cable colours used in the UK were changed so that they harmonised with those used in Europe. To learn more about this, see our wire and cable colours project here. A larger size cable may also be used in situations where an electric supply needs to be run over a long distance. Using the incorrect size cable in this case may cause a large amperage drop resulting in not enough electrical power actually making it to the end of the cable to actually power the item. What About the Size of the Earth Wire?

To show just how dangerous electricity can be, Electrical Safety First, a charitable organisation that campaigns, on behalf of consumers, for the upholding of and improvements on, all safety legislation in the UK, detail many areas of the home that could pose an electrical danger. These rules make electricians tools quite expensive as a lot of work goes into them and a VDE approved screwdriver can cost as much as four times that of a normal screwdriver.

As we have stated but will do again to emphasise the importance, please remember when attempting any electrical installations at home that you are obliged to get the completed job tested by a fully qualified electrician and obtain a minor works certificate. Failure to do this may render your house insurance invalid and you may have difficulty selling your home!