Wire chart, and other general electrickery stuff

[tbone]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

strands          Nominal           Resistance per          Approx                      Voltage drop

                               
    and               CSA of             metre (ohms)           Cont. Current              over 5m
diameter mm       Core (mm2)       (at 20 deg c)           Rating (Amps)             at max current
                                                  (A)                         (B)                          5 x Ax B =
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    9/030                 0.65                  0.0294                     5.75                        0.845v
14/030                1.00                 0.0189                      8.75                        0.827v
21/030                1.50                 0.0125                    12.75                        0.797v
28/030                2.00                 0.0094                    17.50                        0.823v
35/030                2.50                 0.0075                    21.75                        0.816v
44/030                3.00                 0.0060                    25.50                        0.765v
206/030              16.00                                             110.00
194/040              25.00                                             170.00
                       

[tazet]

Tbone if you send this to me in an excel format then I can add it to the site. To someone like me who hasn't got a clue about this stuff that doesn't make a lot of sence like this.

[tbone]

Before we start wiring up our projects, lets have a look at and try to gets to grips with a basic understanding of electricity.
The first thing we need to understand  is that there is no such thing as “volts” of electricity.
Voltage is like the “pressure” in a water pipe, when the tap is turned OFF. - No water flows = “no electricity”
(you can “feel” the pressure if you stick your thumb over the end of the tap and turn it on. … it tries to push your thumb away, BUT, if you press HARD enough , no water comes out = that is, you are “resisting” the flow of water, which is the same as a “high resistance” in electrical terms, stopping an electric “current” from flowing)
IF the tap is turned OFF, we have LOTS of pressure (voltage) but NO water flow (current)in the pipe feeding the tap.
When you turn the tap on, the water starts to flow in the pipe. - and this is the “same” as electrical “current” flowing in a wire.
Yeah, i know i said electricity and not plumbing, so.....
Lets use these “ideas” with electricity.
Take car battery.
The PRESSURE is the 12 VOLTS of electrical “pressure” that exists across the battery terminals,
BUT
IF nothing is connected to the battery, no electrical CURRENT can flow because although the “pressure” or voltage is there, there is nowhere for the “flow ” to go, unless you make a path for it across the terminals, ……. so…..
What if we make that path by attaching a 21w lamp or bulb to the battery, with two wires, one on the + side and one on the - side.
Now we have 12volts (pressure) supplying 1.75 AMPS (current flow) to the 21 WATT (power) lamp.     
So to summerise, we use Volts (pressure), Amps (flow) and Watts (power) when talking about electricity.
If you`ve read this far, i guess it means i havent bored you to death and you manged to make sense of my explanation, you may even be asking " how do you know its supplying 1.75 Amps?", for that, i can thank a clever man that lived a long time ago and came up with a mathmatical equasion to help me out, and that is .......Amps=Watts/Volts.
So you can work out the amp rating of anything as long as you know the wattage and voltage! (of course if i was using 2 21w lamps, the Amperage would double)
This becomes useful when you start your wiring project because it allows you to select the correct cable and fuse sizes too.

[tbone]

Now you know how to work out Amps, you can select your cable. The cable needs to be able to carry the correct Amperage for your consumer unit (the thing you are wiring up), NEVER use a cable that is not at least the same Amp rating as the consumer, always go to the next size over whats needed rather than smaller. Even if you fit the correct rated fuse to a smaller cable, the cable will get hot, the insulation will melt and if your lucky the fuse will blow, if your unlucky, you could end up with your pride and joy bursting into flames.
Staying with my example of a 21w lamp, i could quite happily use the smallest cable, 0.65mm2, as that has a rating of 5.75Amps, and a single lamp will draw 1.75Amps (A= W/V).
If however i were wiring a twin headlamp system using a 60w lamp in each, i would need cable capable of handling 10A (60w/12v=5a x2 lamps = 10A), for this i would have to use the 1.5mm2 cable, which can take upto 12.75A (always go bigger).
Of course, both these circuits would have an appropriate fuse fitted too.

[tbone]

As it seems to lead nicely on, lets have a quick look at fuses.
A fuse in any circuit is a must have, its job is to protect not ony the consumer unit in a power surge, but also the cable that connects it.
As with most things in life, you`ll rarely get an exact match of fuse to the current you need to supply, and you`ll find that different styles of fuse offer vastly different amp ranges available, for example, you can get a 1amp glass fuse, but not a 1amp standard blade fuse, the lowest standard blade fuse has a 3A rating. So its worth considering all the circuits you need to make before selecting your style of fuse. NEVER fit a fuse that is rated higher than the cable.
Having said that, lets stick with my single 21w lamp, its pulling 1.75A and i`ve used 5.75A rated cable, so what fuse do i need? Well a 1Amp fuse is out the question, it needs to be bigger than 1.75A but less than 5.75A.
Fuses will not blow exactly on their specified rating, they go over that sometimes by double the rating, the fuse rating refers to the amount of Amps that it can handle continiously. So with that in mind i would choose a 2.5a or 3a fuse (depending on the style) to protect my circuit.

[Hillbilly Deluxe]

'Tis the work of the devil himself,all this electrickery.

[tbone]

This is a modified version of the original reliant wiring diagram. It`s drawn using the same colour coded wires that reliant used and has the non trike applicable harnesses omitted. There are however 2 things worth noting, both relate to the switchgear that you decide to use,
Firstly, if using a starter button, it will be wired in between the ignition switch and soleniod on the red wire.
Secondly, if using an ignition kill switch, this would be wired in between the ignition switch and coil, on the white circuit.

[Manky Monkey]

You've been a busy bunny TB! Thanks, we'll get that online soon, (ish). 

[tbone]

Took longer than i thought it would tracing all those wires  .
Thats the best i could do sizewise and still make it readable, when downloaded and opened, it looks a lot better 

[madron]

tbone got a couple of jobs for you when ya free like wiring all my chops n trikes as i have no idea about wirin em even went on a auto electrics course till he sez electrics like water i left before he woke up

[tbone]

Its easier to draw out than actualy wire up, thanks for the offer anyway 

[spanners]

clever chap  that  ,t bone,  he,s just answered many questions that customers have asked me over the years  that i knew and understood  but just couldn,t  explain  to the customer

  a very clever chap to have onboard the manky monkey mother ship   

[Manky Monkey]

Aye, that's why we pay him so much -ha, ha, ha, ha!!!

[tbone]

i`m paid in cake crumbs  .  Tis a labour of love, just trying to put a little back after all i`ve taken out.

[Manky Monkey]

Have another crumblet.