Categories: Novice electricians, Electrician at home
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How to install a power outlet and switch

 

How to install a power outlet and switchIt would seem that in such an area as the wiring of sockets and switches, there can be nothing new. However, this is not so. The technology of their installation and the design itself are being improved. For flush mounting, they are installed in universal mounting boxes, made mainly of plastic. On the back of the box are easily removable plugs, designed to enter wires of various diameters and tubes protecting them.

Boxes designed for installation in hollow walls are equipped with special fixing screws with tabs that can fix the product on the front surface of the wall made of any material from 1 to 35 mm thick. The holes for the boxes in the hollow walls are drilled using a special nozzle, the diameter of the cutting part of which is equal to the diameter of the box. The standard diameter is 68 mm.


If the mounting boxes are installed in stone and concrete walls, they are connected through channels in the wall panels or through the strobes flexible plastic corrugated tubes. The box itself is usually fixed in the wall opening with gypsum, cement-sand mortar or special glue.

Please note that, according to experts, filling with alabaster is unacceptable, since when it dries, it increases in volume, which further complicates the finish.

In wooden houses, the box is fixed in the prepared hole using self-tapping screws. Plugs or elastic membranes located around the circumference of the box allow you to seal the entry points of the wires. Boxes can be connected in blocks.

Sockets and switches are also being improved, and not only in terms of design. They are increasingly being produced with screwless (spring) connection of contacts. Often paired terminals are installed in sockets - to ensure switching of two conductors, for example, in parallel installation of several outlets in one unit.

The increased reliability of the contacts between the plug pins and the receptacle sockets is guaranteed by triple pin clamping. Modern switches provide the ability to quickly switch without intermediate positions due to the special contact shape. This is done by the so-called forced ejection.



Patented on / off mechanisms also appear, as, for example, in the ABB Impuls series. Impuls back-push switch allows you to perform an action by pressing any point on the key. Recognized leaders in the production of quality sockets and switches are ABB, Brichino, Jung, Legrand, Simon, Corr. The cost of sockets and switches, depending on the country of manufacture and brand, ranges from $ 5-50.

Useful articles on this topic:

Schemes for connecting sockets in the apartment and house

Installation boxes for sockets

How to properly transfer the socket and switch

How to make an outlet in the floor

Wiring diagrams in the apartment - the best articles

See also at bgv.electricianexp.com:

  • Installation boxes for sockets
  • How to replace an external outlet with an internal
  • How to install a box under a wall outlet or switch inside a wall
  • Armature for mounting sockets and switches
  • How to properly transfer the socket and switch
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    Comments:

    # 1 wrote: MaksimovM | [quote]

     
     

    I do not agree about alabaster. How many times did alabaster use when performing electrical work - I have never observed an increase in its volume after solidification. In addition, I want to note that the alabaster does not solidify completely immediately, but after 10-20 minutes, depending on its freshness. Therefore, after installing the box during this time, you can easily remove the extra alabaster.To do this, you need to take a trowel and holding it perpendicular to the wall, comb off the alabaster ledges.

    The so-called "improvement" of sockets and switches only leads to the fact that their reliability is reduced. Spring (screwless) contact connections of conductors with a socket and a switch do not provide sufficient reliability compared to traditional screw terminals for connecting a cable. If for the light switch it is still permissible to use this method of connecting the conductors, since the load of the lighting devices is small, then for outlets, where, as a rule, the load reaches 16 A, the use of spring contacts is unacceptable.

    I do not argue that connecting the cable through the spring contacts significantly speeds up the process of installing the outlet, but in this case, the load capacity of the outlet is not sufficient. In addition, it is highly likely that after connecting the conductors, during the final installation of the outlet (switch), the conductors can disconnect from the outlet, since the connected conductors are rigid and, when bent, the normal spring-loaded contact will not hold them, and they will fall out.

    In my opinion, it is better to spend five minutes and tighten the screw contact connections. This will ensure sufficient reliability of the made contact connection.

     
    Comments:

    # 2 wrote: | [quote]

     
     

    I also hear for the first time that some problems arise with alabaster. The same DSP also needs to be removed when finishing.

     
    Comments:

    # 3 wrote: | [quote]

     
     

    Many thanks to the author of the article for such accessible and useful tips. My husband used to be unable to put any sockets or drive a nail into a wall correctly. My brother an electrician showed him this article, he categorically did not want to put sockets in our room and showed his husband this article with recommendations for installation, imagine that everything worked out for him. The socket is like a glove and works flawlessly.