Interactive wiring diagrams
These are teaching diagrams: pictures of how a circuit behaves. Every one is drawn from the electrical relationships, not traced from a book, so the interactive layer is honest — the light really does depend on the switch positions, and the copper trace really follows the closed path. Under every set of switches there is a predict-then-check line: say what will happen, then flip it and see. The numbers on the cards are a suggested order; if you are brand new, the start-here path walks it.
Lighting (start here)
The three wires, then one switch, then two, then three. Every other circuit on the site is built from these.
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Hot, neutral, ground
The three conductors by the job each does — and a fault you can press to see the ground path go live.
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Single-pole switch wiring
The simplest lighting circuit — one switch breaking the hot to one fixture.
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Switch loop wiring
Supply fed at the light, a two-wire loop dropped to the switch, no neutral in the box.
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3-way switch wiring diagram
Control one light from two places with a pair of SPDT switches and two travellers.
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4-way switch wiring diagram
Control one light from three or more places by adding an intermediate switch.
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Series vs parallel lighting
Pull a lamp from each and see one string die while the other stays lit.
Receptacles
Brass side, silver side, the tab between — then the two devices that change the pattern on purpose.
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Duplex receptacle wiring
Brass and silver, the joining tabs, and why an empty outlet is still live.
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Split receptacle wiring
Break the brass tab: top half switched, bottom half always hot.
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GFCI wiring diagram
Line versus load, and why the line side stays hot after it trips.
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240V receptacle wiring
Two live legs across the load, no neutral, a two-pole breaker.
Motor control
A small current switching a big one, and the seal-in trick that makes a push-button latch.
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Contactor wiring diagram
A small coil pulls a large power contact closed to run a motor.
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Motor start/stop station
The seal-in circuit: press Start and the coil latches itself in.
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Motor control course
Twelve live ladder-diagram lessons: overloads, jog, reversing, timers, wye-delta.
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Forward / reverse starter
Interlocks — and the short circuit you get without them.
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On-delay and off-delay timers
A warning horn before a conveyor, a fan that runs on.
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Motor control fault finding
Eleven hidden faults, a meter, and the method that finds them.
Sensors
Switches that something other than a hand operates.
New to reading a schematic? How to read a schematic builds one from the symbols up, the symbols index shows what each mark means, the glossary explains the words that go with them, and Common wiring devices shows the actual switches and receptacles the diagrams are drawn around.
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