Copyright Infringement

By Steven McFadyen on 10/7/2013 3:34 PM

myElectrical does not support or promote the use of copyrighted material without the copyright owner's consent.

If you believe that material for which you own the copyright right has been po... read more..


Motor Insulation

By Steven McFadyen on 3/28/2012 1:02 PM

Insulation on a motor prevents interconnection of windings and the winding to earth.  When looking at motors, it is important to understand how the insulation functions and its practical applicatio... read more..


How to Calculate Motor Starting Time

By Steven McFadyen on 11/15/2011 2:00 PM

Request to look at induction motor starting time have come up a few times on the site. Hopefully in this post, I give you guys some idea on how to calculate this. Failing that, hopefully at least som... read more..


What is LED?

By Dan Ryan on 9/14/2013 8:06 AM

Light Emitting Diodes (LED ) are increasing gaining favour in both the domestic and commercial sectors; due to their efficiency, sustainability and durability.  LED are semiconductor devi... read more..


Maxwell's Equations - Introduction

By Steven McFadyen on 9/4/2013 2:33 PM

Maxwell's Equations are a set of fundamental relationships, which govern how electric and magnetic fields interact. The equations explain how these fields are generated and interact with each other, ... read more..


Control Theory

By Steven McFadyen on 3/29/2012 10:18 PM

Control theory looks at how systems work and are controlled from a mathematical view.  This note gives a brief introduction to some of the concepts – more of a notepad of concepts really, whi... read more..


Large Hadron Collider

By Steven McFadyen on 3/31/2010 6:49 AM

The 27 km, Euro 6 billion  Collider lies on the border between France and Switzerland, took nearly 30 years to complete.  Some of the lofty goals for the collider include the search for and... read more..


Harmonised Cable Codes and Colours

By Steven McFadyen on 8/28/2013 2:17 PM

Within Europe the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) has standardised the both the designation and colour of cables.   These are published in CENELEC document... read more..


Fault Calculation - Per Unit System

By Steven McFadyen on 3/27/2013 12:54 PM

Per unit fault calculations is a method whereby system impedances and quantities are normalised across different voltage levels to a common base.  By removing the impact of varying voltages, the... read more..


UPS - Uninterruptible Power Supply

By Steven McFadyen on 8/21/2013 3:21 PM

A UPS is an uninterruptible power supply.  It is a device which maintains a continuous supply of electrical power, even in the event of failure of the mains (utility) supply.  A UPS is inst... read more..


ANSI (IEEE) Protective Device Numbering

By Steven McFadyen on 3/22/2012 11:40 AM

The widely used United Sates standard ANSI/IEEE C37.2 'Electrical Power System Device Function Numbers, Acronyms, and Contact Designations' deals with protective device function numbering and acronyms. ... read more..


International System of Units (SI System)

By Steven McFadyen on 4/9/2012 1:47 PM

The International System of Units (abbreviated SI) is the world's most widely used system of units.  The system consists of a set of units and prefixes. read more..




Understanding Motor Duty Rating

One of the comments on my Motor Starting Series was asking for something on duty cycles. Here it is. As a purchaser of a motor, you have responsibility...

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was born exactly at midnight on July 10, 1856 in the tiny village of Smiljan, Lika in Croatia. In his late teens, Tesla left the village to...

Difference Between Live and Dead Tank Circuit Breakers

A quick post in connection with an email question: Live Tank - the circuit breaker the switching unit is located in an insulator bushing which is live...

ABB Technical Guides - Motor Operation

ABB has produced a range of technical guides that offer concise explanations of the major technologies and technical issues in low voltage AC drives. ...

How to Size Power Cable Duct

Some colleagues had an issue earlier in the week on sizing conduits to be cast in concrete for some power cables . It became clear that none of us had...

myElectrical - Cable Sizing Tool Upgrade

Our IEE cable sizing was wrote a few years ago and had become rough around the edges. I thought it was time to give the tool a service. Unfortunately when...

Why use catalogues

I'm a fan of using manufacturers catalogues. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, if your involved in the purchase of equipment, you will likely...

Large Hadron Collider

The 27 km, Euro 6 billion  Collider lies on the border between France and Switzerland, took nearly 30 years to complete.  Some of the lofty goals for the...

Voltage Levels to IEC 60038

The standard aims to consolidate AC and traction voltages within the industry and defines the following bands: band 1 - A.C. systems 100 V to 1...

Questions - Reputation and Privilege

Our question and answer system while letting you do exactly what it says, is much more.  It is a dynamic user driven system, where our users not only ask...

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