Electrical Industry Articles and Stories

In a recent survey conducted by Electrical Contractor magazine, respondents cited skilled labor shortages, product availability, and compressed timelines among their broad-based concerns. Contractors are looking for lighting control solutions that help alleviate these issues by reducing installation time, minimizing risk, and adding value to their jobs. Wireless lighting control solutions and quick estimating software can help.

When I first strapped on my electrician's tool belt, control power was relatively simple. Many times, the control power came directly from line voltage. For example, take one leg of the 480 VAC incoming power on a starter and voila … a 277-volt control circuit.

As long as the coil on the starter was rated for 480, no problem.

Vive installs 70% faster than wired solutions. You can install a switch and as sensor in as little as 15 minutes—no new wiring required. And you can mount wireless devices to any surface without cutting holes or running wire.

About 28% of a building's electrical energy bill is literally consumed in lighting the premises. That's pretty consistent across both industrial and commercial buildings. Obviously, if you can lower that expense significantly, the impact on your overall operating budget reduces.

I know what you're thinking.

"He's going to start talking about LED lighting upgrades, isn't he?"

Once upon a time, the only reason building codes addressed electrical metering was to enable local utility billing efforts. Today, though, metering is seen as a critical tool in efforts to boost our buildings’ energy efficiency. With the understanding that we can’t manage what we don’t measure, the latest energy standards are calling for greater use of submetering of individual building systems – and that means even greater use of current transformers (CTs).

No, I'm not talking about traveling back into the past. I'm talking about moving onward to the future. And the "retro" is really retrofitting to LED lighting.

In another article, I talked more about using LED drop-ins to replace old fluorescent troffers. And I still like that option.