Talk of The Villages Florida - 18 Common Electrical Terms You Should Know

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A very commonly used electrical term in the Villages is “Oh $hit, I’m out of here”. It happens all the time on the golf course when a lightning bolt strikes nearby.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drstevens (Post 2283287)

Good point, as I would definitely add that current is the flow of electricity measured in Amps, or milliAmps (mA). A word of caution: don’t ever use your multimeter on the amp or milliamp scale, unless you really understand, basic electricity, as you can damage the meter and possibly yourself.
Also, I would add the term “Power” to your vocabulary.
Power is voltage multiplied by amps, and is measured in watts. The power company charges you by the kiloWatt hours that you use. If you want to understand your electric bill, you need to understand Watts. And if you look at the label on most electrical equipment, you’ll see the term Watts and almost never Amps, except with motors.
Too much info to go into detail here, but if you want to contact me, I would be glad to elaborate.
I taught and directed the electrical/electronics technology program at Ohio University for 37 years, was also an electrical contractor, and had a journeyman wireman license out of local 134 of the IBEW in Chicago Illinois.
Stay safe!

Thank you!

EE - and not "early extension"

Quote:

Originally Posted by villagetinker (Post 2283335)

(Retired professional electrical engineer.)

I *knew* it! One of those magician types. Giving any seminars on helping to make quaternions feel more "intuitive"?? :-)

Never mind. Googling to see if I'd spelt it right led me back to *another* one of my heroes, Grant Sanderson, who had already produced such a handy video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4EgbgTm0Bg :-)

A few more tips for testing and resetting circuit breakers.

It's recommended to test GFI and Arc fault Breakers once a year.

https://youtu.be/-PwbLYd0TC8?si=qTq1qCFKgDtt3hsw

Resetting a tripped breaker.

https://youtu.be/14wS9VjxH3g?si=PFyDSqvwMPPEhL99

Maybe overkill but I also cycle each breaker off and on once a year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by villagetinker (Post 2283335)

DC (direct current), in general (for most) 12 VDC (volts DC) the negative of the battery is grounded, and fuses are installed on the positive battery for each of the circuits. Now having stated this Yamaha gas golf carts have ONE fuse on the negative side I do not know why.

For an electric cart ( 36 VDC to 72 VDC) and adding auxiliary equipment you need to know the capability of the 12 VDC adapter supplied with your cart. These tend to be limited, and devices like an air pump may need more power than what the 12 VDC adapter can supply.

For example a typical 36/48 VDC to 12 VDC may be capable of 10 to 15 amps. This is used to power all of the lights and any other 12 VDC equipment on the cart, adding additional load could cause the converter to become overloaded, and shutdown or fail.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other electrical questions. (Retired professional electrical engineer.)

Someone could discuss A/C frequency. The standard in the US is 60 cycles per second. It is different in Europe - 50 cycles per sec - (I believe ?). And may be something else in other countries. In the US, I suppose, that you could picture an A/C generator in a Power Station SPINNING at a speed of 60 rotations per second.

Quote:

Originally Posted by villagetinker (Post 2283335)

Maybe the one-handed method should be discussed ?????

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimjamuser (Post 2283507)

Maybe the one-handed method should be discussed ?????

Better yet...one hand and no feet.