House Wiring Diagram of a Typical Circuit

<body> <p>This page gives a house wiring diagram of a home's typical circuit, showing the wiring connections as they might be made in the electrical boxes. To view, open the <a href="tr.gif" target="_blank">Diagram</a> itself. And to be guided through it, open this <a href="tourcircuit.htm" target="_blank">Text</a> at the same time. I am not offering this page for those who are doing new wiring in a house, but to help homeowners understand their system better, so they can troubleshoot malfunctions. Yet another diagram of the same exact circuitry shows it as the <a href="cbls.gif" target="_blank">Cables</a> that might have been run to power that circuit.</p> <p>This house wiring diagram shows 28 outlets, switches and lights as they might constitute one general-purpose circuit in a U.S. or Canadian house, apartment, condo, or mobile home, built from 1950 to the present. Among the wiring connections shown, you will find 3-way switches, switched outlets, power fed through light boxes, and single-pole standard switches as these relate to lights. The wiring of two lights in succession is also depicted.</p> <p>The text that accompanies this house wiring diagram interprets the purpose of all the electrical connections. At the end is a section of troubleshooting brain teasers for those who have grasped the logic of residential wiring.</p> <p>Fairly often homeowners who are replacing outlets and switches come upon wires and connections they are unfamiliar with. This diagram should help the do-it-yourselfer to identify what their home wiring is doing at the various electrical boxes they have opened.</p> <p>The wiring diagram is realistic in the wire colors it shows, and these correspond to the wire colors that are commonly found in homes. A person involved in new wiring should not use the diagram as a guide in regard to wire colors according to current code. This is mainly an issue where "dead end" switch loops send constant hotness to a switch using a wire that is white from the factory but which is now (current code) supposed to be re-colored to indicate hotness and distinguish it from neutral wires.</p> <p>See <a href="gfis.htm">GFCI wiring diagrams</a> and <a href="3and4wyinfo.htm">3-way switch diagrams</a> for more specific GFI wiring diagrams and for more 3- and 4-way switch diagrams.</p> <p><a href="contact.htm"><b>HOW TO CONTACT</b></a> Detective Larry<br /> <a href="tsing.htm"><b>BACK to the Troubleshooting Page</b></a><br /> <a href="index.htm"><b>BACK to The Circuit Detective HOME</b></a> </p> </body>