Electrical Industry Articles and Stories

Right now, I’m writing this article from the comfort of my side yard. Sitting on my bench under the tree, cup of coffee on the table in front of me. And I’m totally connected to the internet via an access point in my office about 30 feet away.

Water and electricity don’t mix – that’s something we all learn at a pretty early age. But still, there are times when even the wettest locations require power. In applications from pool lighting to irrigation systems and outdoor outlets, contractors are often called on to make electrical connections that can remain watertight over years of use.

All homes and workplaces need protection from fire. It’s part of building codes everywhere. The type of system will vary depending on the type of building, number of occupants, and intended use of the structure.

Flashlights used to be just, well, flashlights – handy tools for bringing a little illumination to whatever task was at hand. They also could be a little undependable in the old days. Battery strength was always a question, especially if they hadn’t been used in a while.

Looking through a manufacturer’s online enclosure catalog recently, I came across a term I hadn’t heard before. Now, I’m not a contractor, so I likely haven’t seen as many of these listings as you might have. But I am a journalist who has covered the construction industry for several decades, and the term “mild steel” stuck out to me when it showed up as a material option for the maker’s broad range of enclosure offerings.

Earlier this year at the Light + Building 2018 trade show in Frankfurt, Germany, Philips Lighting announced a string of new initiatives aimed at the transition to more LED lamps as well as the inclusion of LEDs into the “Internet of Things” (IoT) in homes and buildings worldwide.

First the company announced IoT platform called Interact, designed to handle data collected from connected light points, sensors, devices and systems.