Electrical Terms and Definitions

1. Air condition unit (ACU) - An air conditioner is a system or a machine that treats air in
a defined, usually enclosed area via a refrigeration cycle in which warm air is removed
and replaced with cooler and more humid air.
2. Allen wrench set (Hex set) - Allen wrenches are used to tighten Allen-headed screws in
your electrical panel.
3. Appliance - A non-lighting item that, by its resistance, consumes electricity rather than just
passing it on. So an appliance is not a fixture (for lighting) nor a device (for passing on).
Examples: fax machine, garbage disposal, even a wired-in smoke alarm perhaps.
4. Automatic transfer switch (ATS) - is a device that automatically transfers a power supply from
its primary source to a backup source when it senses a failure or outage in the primary
source.
5. Cable - A cable is a set of wires, usually encased in an outer protective sheath. A "cord" would
be a cable by this definition so far, but a cable is part of a permanent installation; a cord
is more flexible and often has a plug end for a portable appliance or lamp. "2-wire cable,"
such as 14-2 and 12-2 (which indicate wire size) refers to a cable with two insulated
wires, not counting any ground wire. Likewise 3-wire cable has three insulated wires,
with any ground being additional.
6. Clamp tester - A clamp meter is an electrical tester that combines a basic digital multimeter
with a current sensor. Clamps measure current. Probes measure voltage.
7. Circuit - The actual or intended path of current between points of differing voltage. In the case
of a household 230 volt circuit, the path is between a hot wire at the breaker and a neutral
wire connected to the grounded neutral bar in the panel. In a sense each loop that current
makes (through a single light, for instance) is a circuit, but the most common meaning is
the "branch circuit", defined as everything fed (or interrupted) by a given breaker or fuse.
8. Circuit Breaker - A device that can be used to manually open or close a circuit, and to
automatically open a circuit at a predetermined level of over current without damage to
itself.
9. Busbar - A piece of rigid metal within a panel or fusebox which distributes electricity to the
various circuits by means of their connection to it.
10. Current - The flow of electrons in a wire (or other conductor). This is measured in amps
(amperes). Because a house is provided with alternating current, the terms "positive" and
"negative" do not apply as they do to direct current in batteries, cars, and such. Instead,
in the case of 230-volt power, we tend to say that the power company is providing
electricity that will flow "to" their neutral wire "from" hot wire. This directional talk can
be misleading, since the actual electrons are moving back and forth sixty times per
second. It is a way of speaking that is needed, however, in order to trace the paths of this
kind of current in a wiring system. It is similar to how I may say that a highway goes
"from" my hometown to the next town, even though the highway simply goes between
them and doesn't really start at one or the other.
11. Device - As distinct from a fixture or appliance, an item which does not itself consume
significant electricity, but interrupts or passes it on in a particular fashion. For example,
a switch, a receptacle, a thermostat, a breaker, a fuse.
12. Electrical ballast - Electrical ballast is a device placed in line with the load to limit the amount
of current in an electrical circuit. It may be a fixed or variable resistor.
 A familiar and widely used example is the inductive ballast used in fluorescent lamps to
limit the current through the tube, which would otherwise rise to a destructive level due
to the negative differential resistance of the tube's voltage-current characteristic.
13. Electrical conduit - is a tube used to protect and route electrical wiring in a building or
structure. Electrical conduit may be made of metal, plastic, fiber, or fired clay. Most
conduit is rigid, but flexible conduit is used for some purposes.
14. Electrical meter and meter base – A device that measures how much energy a household or
business uses so the electric company knows how much to charge is also known simply
as an electrical meter.
15. Electrical safety – Recognizing hazards associated with the use of electrical energy and taking
precautions so that hazards do not cause injury or death.
16. Electricity - A force generated onto loops of conductive material, transferred through their
electrons, and applied as useful energy at parts of these loops.
17. Electrical tape - is a type of pressure-sensitive tape used to insulate electrical wires and other
materials that conduct electricity. It can be made of many plastics, but vinyl is most
popular, as it stretches well and gives an effective and long lasting insulation.
18. Exhaust fan – A fan for ventilating an interior and expelling it outside.
19. Fixture – Or "luminaire”. A non-portable electrically-produced-light assembly. Distinguished
from appliance or device.
20. Fluorescent Lamp - A glass housing that contains phosphorus in a sealed vacuum. When the
phosphorus is exited from a voltage charge it becomes ionized and gives off light.
21. Fuse - A device installed in the conductive path with a predetermined melting point
coordinated to load current. Fuses are used to protect equipment from over current
conditions and damage.
22. Fuse box - Like a panel, a usual main source of the circuits in a home. It contains fuses rather
than breakers.
23. Fused Cutout - A device, normally installed overhead, which is used to fuse a line or electrical
apparatus.
24. Gang - A combining of more than one device side-by-side, as, a "three-gang" switch box.
25. Generator - An electromechanical device that converts mechanical power into electrical
power.
26. Ground - 1. An electrical term meaning to connect to the earth. 2. A conducting connection,
whether intentional or accidental by which an electric circuit, or equipment, is connected
to the earth or some conducting body that serves in place of the earth.
27. Holster - A belt with loops or slots for carrying small tools or other equipment.
28. Hot/ Live - Having electrical force (voltage) in relation to ground/earth, especially 230 volts.
"Hot" is the term used because anything even slightly connected to ground could get
agitated as a path this force uses toward ground. The wire/terminal/contact that is to be
hot, especially the wire from a breaker to lights/appliances.
29. Junction box -A small metal or plastic may form part of an electrical conduit or thermoplastic-
sheathed cable (TPS) wiring system in a building. If designed for surface mounting, it
is used mostly in ceilings, under floors or concealed behind an access panel
30. Jumper - A short piece of wire within a box, going between two wirenuts or between two
devices' terminals. It passes a function (hot, switched, and neutral) from the one place to
the other. A pigtail does this too, but only goes from a wirenut to a device or fixture wire.
31. Junction box - As distinguished from any electrical box, a box used only for making
connections, not for also supporting a switch, receptacle, or light. The boxes for these
others usually also have connections and splices in them in addition.
32. LED - Light-Emitting Diode: A semiconductor device that emits light (usually visible or
infrared) when forward-biased.
33. Light fixture – An electrical device used to create artificial light and / or illumination.
34. Lineman plier - combination pliers, or side-cutting pliers are a type of pliers, primarily for
gripping, twisting, bending and cutting wire and cable.
35. Live conductors - Conductors (wires) that have voltage applied to them. The term hot is often
used to describe a wire that has voltage on it.
36. Long nose plier - both cutting and holding pliers
37. Manual transfer switch (MTS) - is a device that manually transfers a power supply from its
primary source to a backup source when it senses a failure or outage in the primary
source.
38. Megger insulation tester - The Megger insulation tester is a small, portable instrument that
gives you a direct reading of insulation resistance in ohms or megohms. For good
insulation, the resistance usually reads in the megohm range.
39. Neutral - The wires of a circuit that carry current "back" from a light or appliance. They are
always supposed to be white. Contact with them should not normally shock you because
they are normally connected to ground much better than you can be.
40. Overload - When in its normal operation a circuit has carried a little too much flow a little too
long, so that the wires will be getting too hot to be safe, the breaker will trip off.
41. Panel board - The large metal box containing breakers for circuits. The "main" panel or
"service" panel would be the central source for the home and would be receiving its
power from the power company. There can be subpanels in a home, fed from the main
panel and containing some of the home's circuit breakers.
42. Phillips screwdriver - A Phillips screwdriver has four blades used to install Phillips-head
screws. The tip looks like a plus sign.
43. Power - Rate at which energy is released or consumed, expressed in watts.
44. Receptacle – a contact device, usually installed in an outlet box that provides the socket for
the attachment of a plug to supply electric current to portable power equipment,
appliances, and other electrically operated devices
45. Single phase - electric power is the distribution of alternating current electric power using a
system in which all the voltages of the supply vary in unison. Single-phase distribution
is used when loads are mostly lighting and heating, with few large electric motors.
46. Short circuit - I am including ground-faults here. A short is basically, an unintended continuity
from a hot wire to something of different voltage. In a 230-volt circuit a possible short
would involve both hot wires touching (rare). All other shorts in a home will tend to be
from the hot to ground by way of the neutral wire or (less technically) the ground wire
or anything else providing a path to the earth. A short will not trip a breaker if its path
has quite a bit of resistance. A short is something other than an overload that can trip a
breaker, and for quite a different reason. With a short the flow of current is not due to the
intended, limited use of electricity through lights and appliances, but is due to a
potentially huge flow of electric power by way of an unintended and (often) very
conductive path.
47. Socket - Also "lamp holder". The part of a light fixture that receives the bulb or tube. It is
understandable that some people use "socket" to mean the receptacles we plug cords into,
because in both cases the one thing is receiving the other thing that actually "uses up"
electricity.
48. Splice - An unanchored electrical connector joining two or more wires directly.
49. Straight-blade screwdrivers - This screwdriver is used for straight slot screws.
50. Switch - A device used to interrupt continuity and current to part of a circuit.
51. Tape measure - A tape measure is used to measure heights for switches and outlets. You will
also need it to center lighting fixture boxes.
51. Terminal - A screw or other pressure-device to which one or more wires are connected for
passing electrical continuity and current along. Like a "Splice", but a terminal is anchored
to a larger structure, whereas a splice is "free floating".
52. Three phase - A three-wire three-phase circuit is usually more economical than an equivalent
two-wire single-phase circuit at the same line to ground voltage because it uses less
conductor material to transmit a given amount of electrical power.
53. Transformer - An inductive electrical device for changing the voltage of alternating current.
A transformer consists of two magnetically coupled coils. Alternating current in one
(called the "primary") creates a changing magnetic field which induces a current in the
second coil (the "secondary"). A core made of iron or ferrite generally connects the two
coils, but higher frequency devices can work without a ferrous core.
Transformer capacity is rated in kilovolt-amps (KVA): The volts x amps / 1000.
54. Utility box - configured to contain an electrical device. The box includes a bottom wall, two
opposing side walls, two opposing end walls, a mounting boss, and a shield structure.
55. Voltage - That force which is generated to cause current to flow in an electrical circuit. It is
also referred to as electromotive force or electrical potential. Voltage is measured in
volts.
56. Voltage detector - A voltage detector is used for a quick safety check to see if there is voltage
or current flow present. Some of these devices are automatic and some must be turned on
via a switch. Simply place the end of the tracer beside a wire, breaker or cord to see if it’s
energized.
57. Wire - A wire is bendable metal for carrying electric current. Except when used as a grounding
wire, it is coated with insulated material.
58. Wire crimpers - This tool crimps the wire and also crimps lugs onto the wire.
59. Wire strippers - Wire strippers are used to cut the insulation off of the wire. They are equipped
with different sized cutting teeth for various sized wires. They also have a cutoff portion in
order to cut the wire.