Electical Contractor

Every fiber in an installed fiber optic cable needs testing for loss. The insertion loss test is the standard test required by every network and cabling standard around the world. Superficially, loss testing is easy.

Nonmetallic-sheathed (NM) cable with less pulling resistance? Self-healing aluminum cables? Cable that burns with limited smoke? Cable is not just cable anymore. If you are like me, you grumble when things go awry.

Derating of conductors Q: One of my residential wiring jobs was turned down because I did not derate four two-wire-with-ground NM-B cables where they pass through a single hole in an upper wood plate.

Flexible cord terminations Q: May a properly sized flexible cord with 15-ampere male attachment plugs on both ends be used to supply an optional standby generator for a small business? The cord is intended to plug into a receptacle on the generator and a receptacle on the outside of the building.

Contractors and installers generally are concerned with cabling, not networks. Installing and testing cabling to standards such as TIA-568 is the heart of their voice/data/video work. Cabling standards writers are primarily concerned with performance and interoperability.

Fire case histories make an argument for requiring survivability of all fire alarm system circuits. A fire occurred in the London Apartments for the elderly in Delaware, Ohio, on March 12, 1994. Manual fire alarm boxes and corridor smoke detectors were connected to the building’s fire alarm system.

A house is no longer just a place to live. People now have different views of what a house should do for them and what should be contained within. Some only want a phone line and one personal computer in their new or renovated home.

Every year, fiber optics gains more converts and more market share. And each year, many of its proponents predict the demise of copper wiring. Don't believe it-not yet.

When Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) considered construction of The Ray and Maria Stata Center for Computer, Information, and Intelligence Sciences, the facility committee wanted something bold.