House wiring Part III : Wire size

Wire size

Type of cable	Size (mm)	Best for
	1.5	Lighting point, fan, normal point
	2.5	Plug point
	4	Appliances require more electricity, air conditioners, water heater

Above table only mention wire size commonly use in a normal household. There are other larger wire size in the market but mostly only for industrial usage. Larger size also means higher price and also for higher electricity usage.

For 2.5mm wire, one roll (I think around 100m long) cost around RM50 – RM100 depending on the size and quality. It can be used for both plug point and lighting point but in term of suitability, 1.5 mm is much preferred for lighting and fan point. Why? Most switch box have smaller wire holes if compare to plug point box. When you do some looping, this tiny hole will give you a hard time if you use 2.5 mm wire.

House wiring Part II : Wire color code

Wire	Color
Earth (E)	Green (Standard: Green or Yellow)
Neutral (N)	No colored (White or Black) (Standard: Black or Blue)
Live (L)	Other colored except Green (Standard: Red or Brown)

This is only a general guide for the color code system. One way to know a live wire is by using a test pen.

Carefully touch the open wire with a test pen then touch with one finger at the back of the test pen. If the bulb is illuminate, it is the live wire. The Neutral wire is any other wire except the Green wire because generally, Green wire is the Earth.

Before cut
After cut

For my house, they use green, black and red wire. But for some lamp and fan points there are only green and black wires. In this case, the black wire or sometimes red wires need to be cut. Then use the test pen method to know which one is the Live wire. The other wire will be the Neutral wire.

Note:
Usually, electrical appliance use standard wire color code. The best way to know the wire type is by reading the manual or look for the E, N and L marking.

Some electrical appliance such as fluorescent light and ceiling fan only have Neutral and Live wire. The Earth wire you have to fix it by clamping the tip between the ceiling and the light casing or for fan, screw it to the down rod.

House wiring Part I : Introduction and Cost

Last Sunday, I planned to install a study lamp and also add a couple of wall power plug in my daughter’s room by myself. It’s already been 2 years since I did the house wiring but luckily I still have my unpublished and unfinished blog note left forgotten inside my old dying external hard disk. So, here the blog note (edited for current writing).

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2 years ago, I moved to a new house. Like other new developed house, the developer provides only basic wiring without any electrical equipment such as ceiling fan and light. With only 2 fan point and only a few power point, the house need a lot of wiring.

To calculate the total damage if I hire an electrician to do the work, I asked 4 electricians to quote their price:

2009 price

	Price	Note
Power Point	RM70 to RM80 per point. (price for conceal wiring)	For each additional power point, need to add RM10 to RM15
Water Heater	RM120	Not includes water heater installation, just the wiring
Air-Cond	RM150
Normal lamp wiring	RM40	This is normal wiring where they just loop from another existing fan or lamp wiring. Add RM5 for light installation.
Ceiling Fan	RM40-RM50	Add RM15 for fan installation. Fan hook cost RM5
Exhaust fan (kitchen)	RM70 with installation

Empty wall

From the quoted price, the total price for complete wiring of my single storey house will be almost RM2,000. This is the total price for several new power plugs, new fan and light points and also installing the electrical equipments. The price doesn't include electrical equipment.

So, with very tight budget I decided to do most of the wiring with a guide from a friendly electrician.

Above price list doesn't include down light point because I don't plan to install any. But from my survey, the price per point is around RM35 - RM50 not include hole drilling and fitting light. Mostly add RM5 to fit the light bulb.

Before we proceed, please note that:

1. This is only for information purpose. I am not a certified electrician so seek your respected electrician for any electrical work. I done all the wiring with a guide from an electrician.
   
2. I don't know the exact term for certain items, so I use which ever I think best suit based on my understanding.
   
3. Please cut off the electricity at the Circuit Breaker (CB) in the Breaker Box before you do any wiring.
4. This is only applicable for single phase not 3-phase wiring which I don't have any clue about it.
   

Installing baby safety gate

When your child started to learn how to walk or use baby walker, it is time for you to search for safety gate. If you go to baby store, there are many styles of baby safety gates available to fit stairs and doorways and even some that are freestanding in the middle of a room. Some are pressure mounted and some are hardware mounted.

Pressure mounted is portable. You can mount it without any additional hardware and can be mount almost every, provided that the extension long enough to reach both side of wall. But if apply enough force, it can be push out of place since it isn't bolted to anything. So, not recommend to use this type at the top of stair.

Hardware mounted use screws or some tools to attach it to wall. It will permanently mark the wall but it much stronger than pressure mounted type. Because it is attach to wall, this type is not portable.

My experience
About 3 years ago, I bought Anakku pressure mounted safety gate plus its extension for my daughter. 6 months later, I kept it inside my store room and when I moved to new home, I lost the mount screws. So, now without the screw, I can't mount it to the kitchen door frame.

Solution?
I went to Anakku store to ask if they sold the screw separately, as expected, they don't. So, what the cheaper way to use back the gate? My answer, change from pressure mounted to hardware mounted gate.

I went to a hardware store to buy some tools and screws. Total cost only RM13.
1) 4 x triangle shape bracket = RM3
2) RM2 wall screws+plugs
3) 1 x tile drill bit = RM8 (look like pointing spear head)

How to drill through tile

Drilling through tile is different from drilling through normal stone wall. Tile can easily crack if not properly drill. So, these are some tips:

1. Make sure the space behind the tile is not hollow. Hollow tiles have higher risk of crack.
2. Use high quality tile. Lower quality may crack but not as important as to make sure the hollow tile. High quality tile also can crack if the space at the back is hollow.
3. Use correct drill bit. Tile has special drill bit. Masonry drill bit also can be use but will be risky.

Masonry drill bit

Tile drill bit

4. Apply some masking tape. Make sure to clean the tile before applying any tape.
   

Apply some tape

5. Use slow speed when drilling.
6. Don't set the drill to impact drill.
7. To prevent damage to the tile drill bit, use masonry drill bit to drill the wall behind the tile.

Finish drilling

Without masking tape

With triangle shape bracket fixed

With safety gate installed

Done!

The safety gate is very sturdy.

Kaspersky : How to do offline update

With current technology, internet can be access almost every where. From most basic narrowband dial-up connection to super fast broadband wi-fi connection, most users don't have problem updating their anti-virus database by online. But a few weeks ago I stumbled into a handful of computers with no internet connection. No cable connection and far away from each other. Like normal desktop, no wireless adapter installed. So how to update the database? I tried to use an USB wi-fi dongle but one computer already take almost half an hour, so to update all by the same method, is too time consuming.

So, like always, Uncle Google has the solution. I just need to update one computer and the rest by copying database.

What you need:
1) At least 2 PCs, one must have internet connection.
2) Recommended to have same Kaspersky anti-virus version.

What to do:
1st computer (with internet connection)
1) Open your Kaspersky.
2) Click Settings.

3) Select Update Center
4) Tick "Copy update to folder".
5) Browse to the folder you want to copy all database.
6) Click "OK".
7) Select "Update Center".
8) Run Update.
9) Wait till the update finish.
10) After all update finished, go to your save database folder from Step 5.
11) Copy all the folder and save it into your usb drive.

2nd computer (without internet)
1) Copy previous folder into 2nd computer.
2) Open Kaspersky antivirus.
3) Select Setting
4) Select "Update Center ".
5) Click "Update Source"
6) Click "+ Add".
7) Browse to the copied database folder.
8) Click "OK".
9) Go to Update Center.
10) Run Update.

The update will take only a few minutes. With this method, I can update multiple computer within shorter time. I guess if all computers have an intranet connection, probably can fasten up all update process by sharing the database folder.