study material - examples anyone?

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starbright28

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
i found through studying and taking the test so much that I have some key areas that I don't know a lot about. my list is as follows:

  • va & kva calculations
  • Minimum size conductor for a group of motors
  • maximum load on any cord and plug connect utilization equipment when connected to branch circuit
  • ampacity of wire with ambient air temperature
  • conduit change outside ambient air temperature. say goes from summer 70 to winter -20. do you just take the value in teh chart and that is it?
  • one line diagrams - an explanation on them. like if you pushed down a pushbutton, what will the motor do, run jog, not work, etc.?
  • how much to add to feeder (continuous load)
  • range calculations - especially ones that are mixed kw ratings and how to work the problem.
I figured that I would ask the question here because someone else may have the same trouble and woud like some good explanation or examples to study off of.

If anyone would like to contribute - please reply!

That hard one fore me is finding a good one line diagram to learn, disect, etc and figure out.

thanks in advance!
 
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starbright28

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
I have the book - Ugly's. Yes it has helped some, but it doesn't give explanations to stuff. well not good enough in my opinoin. Yes i do agree that it is good to have and hang on forever however it's just a quick reference, not a whole study guide.

any other suggestions?
 
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starbright28

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
Maybe i didn't make my first post clear.

i have looked at all sites and have mike holt book, other study books, etc. but it seems i still get hung up on the bullted items. is there anything else out there that anyone is willing to share???
 
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ItsHot

Senior Member
Location
A little piece of heaven!
understanding

understanding

Hey starbright. The things you have listed seems to be most all the major areas of the trade. First try to have a general understanding of each topic. Why is it important? What it relates too? etc.,etc.. What helped me after using all the materials/references ( ugly's, NEC,etc.) was to get notebooks and label them..grounding,loads,transformers, and write notes on what you know, and do not know. Questions to yourself on things you understand and do not understand. If you have failed exam 4 times the reason is simple! And it is the reason most everyone fails. You did not prepare yourself, you did not know the material. Has your time working in the trade given you enough knowledge to understand the sections of the exam?? Some helpful books in addition to Mikes'. "Preparations for Electrical Exam(?) Questions & Answers for Electrician's Examinations (Audel) Dewalt's Electrical exam prep book. These I have recently noticed and they have "mock" exams to take after each study section.Practic doing the calculation formulas. Then use a variety of material to learn, including this forum/site. Relax! As you said "you will pass"!!
 
joe tedesco

joe tedesco

Senior Member
Location
Boston, Massachusetts
starbright28 said:
i found through studying and taking the test so much that I have some key areas that I don't know a lot about. my list is as follows:

  • va & kva calculations
  • Minimum size conductor for a group of motors
  • maximum load on any cord and plug connect utilization equipment when connected to branch circuit
  • ampacity of wire with ambient air temperature
  • conduit change outside ambient air temperature. say goes from summer 70 to winter -20. do you just take the value in teh chart and that is it?
  • one line diagrams - an explanation on them. like if you pushed down a pushbutton, what will the motor do, run jog, not work, etc.?
  • how much to add to feeder (continuous load)
  • range calculations - especially ones that are mixed kw ratings and how to work the problem.
I figured that I would ask the question here because someone else may have the same trouble and woud like some good explanation or examples to study off of.

If anyone would like to contribute - please reply!

That hard one fore me is finding a good one line diagram to learn, disect, etc and figure out.

thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Look here for information provided by Minnesota:

http://www.electricity.state.mn.us/Elec_lic/Exams/LicensingExaminationGuide.pdf
 
Pierre C Belarge

Pierre C Belarge

Senior Member
Location
Westchester County, New York
If you have failed the previous tests you have taken and you have prepared yourself with many different study guides, maybe it is that you are not understanding what you are reading.

A pocket dictionary (i recommend for all students) will help you to understand some of the terms not defined in the NEC so you can understand better what you are actually reading.

good luck on your next test.
 
cadpoint

cadpoint

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
U know

U know

:wink:
mdshunk said:
There's this guy, Mike Holt, who authors electrical books. Some of us think he has some pretty good educational material.
Click to expand...

Psst:
Use the Search: (insert subject)

Study mike's front page theres also a link to many diagrams & illustrations someone else linked it earlier this weekend.

Yeah what he said, buy your own books ! :?
 
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Rockyd

Rockyd

Senior Member
Location
Nevada
Occupation
Retired after 40 years as an electrician.
Starbright,

You need field time, actually working on the equipment. A year in the field would have you in a completely different boat. Just like an Engineer in Training, some things can be picked up by osmosis, but some just have to be experienced. Got to learn to walk before you can run....
 
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starbright28

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
Wow - there was a lot of remarks on this page. I guess some of the remarks I don't agree with - but that is what you get when you put yourself out there.

Okay - to follow up with my list.

  • va & kva calculations
This had to do with the transformers stuff. I understand (if i can find a good way of remembering) on how to do them. The problem - is remembering the first inital step and the equation, then I'm good to go.
  • Minimum size conductor for a group of motors
My bad - understand this now. I think i had an example problem that was a tricky one.

Maximum load on any cord and plug connect utilization equipment when connected to branch circuit
I had a hard time finding this answer but with responses I have gotten, I was able to find it now.
  • ampacity of wire with ambient air temperature
I had an example problem that I was struglling with. with answers and help from here, i understand now.
  • conduit change outside ambient air temperature. say goes from summer 70 to winter -20. do you just take the value in teh chart and that is it?
I wanted to clarify on what i was reading/what my notes said. it's easy to do, just wanted to be confirmed on.
  • one line diagrams - an explanation on them. like if you pushed down a pushbutton, what will the motor do, run jog, not work, etc.?
I have used field diagrams, and i used to draw them in cad. that doesn't mean i didn't fully understand them. i gue confusd when you push that start button what exactly is happening. it seems to me the motor would run no matter what and i don't udnerstand what it hicupps the motro for a jog area. i could look at examples all day long but without a great explanation, what does that do for me?
  • how much to add to feeder (continuous load)
an example that i had that i was working through. i wanted to see where in the code this was because i was having a hard time figuring out or finding the correct area.
  • range calculations - especially ones that are mixed kw ratings and how to work the problem.
i understand the range calculations, it is just when you have for example an 7kw, 12kx, 13 kw range and you round the 7kw range up to 12kw. I want to make sure i understand this next part.
okay you add all the ranges together - so 12kw+12kw+13kw=37kw
then you take 37 kw divide by 3 (total # of ranges)
you get 12.333 kw so you round it to 12 kw.
then from column c # of applicance - 14kw
you take 14kw times 1.15%= 16.1kw
That is your total kw range load. CORRECT?

What I don't understand is why we add all the ranges together and divide by the total number of ranges when in the end we don't really use that number at all and go straight to the chart. Unless i just did something wrong (and i would have to check my notes) PLEASE LET ME KNOW!


Now I want to add another calculation in there to make sure I am doing it correclty. I searched the website and yes I saw the online calculator for voltage drop.

What I want to do is this: is the %Volt Drop formula this: %VD= VD divided by Volts

Here is why I ask the question. I have this example I am working through and would like to know where I am going wrong.

3 phase circuit that is 110 feet long, 240 volt and has a load of 26 amps. What size copper conductors are require to limit the voltage drop to 3%?? use K=12.8.

Here is what I did:
1.732(12.8)26(100) divided by CM = voltage drop

voltage drop divided by 240 = 3%vd
--------------------------------------

I didn't get the answer #10 for size of conductor and I am wondering why. Where am I going wrong in the problem?
 
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nyerinfl

Senior Member
Location
Broward Co.
starbright28 said:
3 phase circuit that is 110 feet long, 240 volt and has a load of 26 amps. What size copper conductors are require to limit the voltage drop to 3%?? use K=12.8.

Here is what I did:
1.732(12.8)26(100) divided by CM = voltage drop

voltage drop divided by 240 = 3%vd
--------------------------------------

I didn't get the answer #10 for size of conductor and I am wondering why. Where am I going wrong in the problem?
Click to expand...

I would answer your ranges question, but I just got out of a debate about the use of 220.55 notes and don't want to get into it again so soon. You should be getting #10 as your answer:

1.732 x 12.9 x 26 x 100 = 58091 / 10380 (cmil of #10 ch 9 tbl 8) = 5.6 VD
240 x 3% = 7.2 VD allowable. 7.2 - 5.6 = 1.6 VD 'available'. You basically had it right, I'm not sure where or how you went wrong.
 
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starbright28

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
I found out why I wasn't getting a #10 for that answer - I wasn't reading my code book carefully in the Table 9 area. I thought it was a XXX,XXX number and was looking at a #1 until i looked at my calculator again closer and whoops - figured out what I did wrong.

Then I also found on the mikeholt.com site a good article on voltage drop to cofirm my formulas - so I feel much more squared away with that one.

Thanks!
 
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