The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Practical Electricity And House Wiring
Repairing Floor and Table Lamps.—When floor and table lamps refuse to operate, again the cord should be inspected. Many of the cheaper lamps produced are equipped with the cheapest kind of wire which is actually unsafe from every standpoint. Replace with type PO wire (see Fig. 53) and use only a quality that is "Listed by Underwriters." It is usually a simple matter to install new wire, if you will observe how the old wire was installed, as you take your lamp apart.
When you come to the socket, the brass cap of the socket separates rather easily from the brass shell, as shown in Fig. 274. Inside the socket you will find two terminals to which the wires are attached. Skin the insulation off the new wire only far enough to permit a good connection, twist the strands together so that all of them will be connected; when you fasten them under the terminals, cut off any excess length of conductor that may have been skinned free from insulation.
Independent Lighting Plants
Gasoline-engine driven electric generating plants are very common, and are used to supply electricity where it is not available from a power-company source, or as an emergency source of power during periods when commercial power fails.
Formerly 32-volt plants used in connection with a set of batteries were the more common; today AC plants delivering 115-volt (or 115 230-volt) 60-cycle power are the more common. Therefore, we will discuss first the AC plants, and second the 32-volt type.
AC Power Plants.—Such plants as already mentioned produce either 115-volt or 115 230-volt 60-cycle Alternating Current, the same kind of power found in city homes and in farm high-lines. This provides many advantages. For example, 115-volt AC appliances are much less expensive and much easier to find than special 32-volt type. Any given wattage at 115 volts constitutes a much lower amperage than at 32 volts, therefore much smaller wires can be used, and the power can be carried much greater distances without excessive voltage drop. Even more important, if an AC plant is installed, and later R.E.A. power becomes available, all appliances in use can be used as before, and the existing wiring if properly installed, can be used for R.E.A. power. When R.E.A. power comes along, the plant should be kept to serve during periods of failure of the R.E.A. power.
Types of AC Plants.—The very nature of an AC plant makes it necessary that the generator must be running when power is needed. This means that all the power generated is used. In a battery-plant, one never gets as much power out of a battery as is put into it. The method of starting such a plant therefore becomes important. Usually an AC plant is available in a choice of three stalling methods.
