Customer Reviews

The Black & Decker Complete Guide to Home Wiring: Including Information on Home Electronics & Wireless Technology, Revised Edition

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was getting ready to add a couple rooms to my house and wanted to do the electrical myself. I'm an electrical engineer and have done plenty of wiring throughout the years, but none of it that necessarily complied with the NEC. Oh sure I used 14 awg for 15 amp circuits and 12 awg for 20 amp circuits, but that was about the extent of the code compliance (out of ignorance of the code, not contempt). Well, I wanted to start following the letter of the law so I got the B&D "Complete Guide to Home Wiring".

Did this book meet my needs? No. Is it a bad book? No. The book just doesn't go into enough detail (and has errors) to give you all the information you'll need to wire a house. On the other hand, if all you're looking to do is replace some existing wiring or add on to a existing branch circuit, this may the book for you. If you're really wanting to understand the NEC (in a very straight forward manner), I would recommend getting "Electrical Wiring Residential" by Ray C. Mullin along with the NEC Pocket Guide to Residential Electrical Installations. Those two books alone will provide 99% of what you need to know for your remodel.

P.S. When I wrote to the editors of the B&D book to point out the errors that it contains (direct contradictions from one page to another), I got no response back from them. I guess they sell enough of them not to care.

I consider myself mechanically inclined but have never touched anything to do with electricity before. Well I bought a house a few years ago and it's either learn how to do it, or pay double and hire someone.

Most books always leave me with only 75% confidence to do the job myself but there are always some important parts that are confusing. Not with this book, it is step-by-step with full color detailed photos.

I went to Home Depot and got circuit breakers, receptacles, switches, GFCI's, etc. and they are exactly the same thing that are in the photos.

So far I have completely wired a 250sf addition, outside lights, and run a full 50amp sub panel to my garage with a dedicated 240 volt circuit for my compressor and welder. All from this one book.

Highly recommended

This book is an excellent reference when you have to tackle electrical jobs around the house, yourself. Honestly, I still don't have great ambitions like wiring a brand new room in the house or anything. I bought this to simply be informed. However, after reading some of the well-explained fundamentals and going over some of the projects clearly explained in the book, I've gained enough confidence to venture into projects of my own.

At first, I thought that when I hire an electrician to do some minor changes around the house, I won't be confused or fall for double-speak that I don't follow - because I would have information from the book.

After the book de-mystified some tasks and explained some basics, I was able to open up some ceiling lamps and change them without getting killed or abandoning the project.

Then when my cooktop was malfunctioning, I was able to trace the problem and fix it. I could read the wiring diagram attached to the cooktop and figure out where the problem was. The book doesn't show you how. But once you know a few things, you can build on that knowledge.

A part of my house lost power. I tracked the problem down to a covered box that had wiring held together with electrical tape and some of the wires appeared to have oxidized because of the bad connection. I cleaned up and joined the right wires with connectors, and fixed the problem.

My next step is to add a few ceiling fans in my home. Then maybe a wireless switch so I won't have to walk to my door in pitch darkness. Wire my yard for low-voltage lighting. I feel very inspired, because I feel very informed. And the book definitely paid for itself.

Highly recommended- it has high-quality photographs and wiring diagrams, and good clear instructions. It does not dig very deeply into theory, but it does give some in context. I was able to complete a number of home projects that ordinarily I would have hired an electrician for. As getting an electrician to even return a phone call around here is nearly impossible, let alone show up, I needed a good reliable howto manual, and this is it.

The Rex Cauldwell book is a good companion for this book, for readers who want the advanced course.

I used this book to completely wire a new bathroom. I used flex conduit and solid copper wiring to add two 20 amp circuits from my main service panel. I've never installed new electrical work before, but this book allowed me to install four receptacles, a pair of recessed lights, a pair of wall sconces and a combination exhaust fan/heater with no problems. Everything worked the first time I tried it (with absolutely no assistance from anyone).

I'm completely gutting and redoing the upstairs in my house built back in 1902. Using this book as a resource for planning new circuits to replace all the old knob-and-tube wiring. This book gives GREAT sample diagrams showing not only the circuit view, but a realistic "this is what it looks like in the real-world" views. Very helpful at figuring out and simplifying more complicated circuits (such as 3-way and 4-way light switch circuits, etc). Got this on a recommendation from a friend and it was WELL worth the money!

I am a novice do-it-yourselfer with some basic understanding and skills with home wiring. I thought the book was a great overall book on describing and depicting the various wiring scenarios you see in a home.

There's a good troubleshooting section that describes a lot of common problems and how to fix them.

One thing I wish it would have more info on is adding new outlets, lights, etc in a home with the walls finished. But still a great book.

I've purchased many books on these topics but this series is really well done. The illustrations are excellent and the overall layout makes it really easy for a first time do it yourselfer. I'm currently collecting all of the titles in the Black & Decker series and can't wait to begin using them in my home projects. Highly recommend for first timers. Good Luck!

This book is excellent! It gives you tons of pictures and diagrams (which help immensely) and covers a very wide verity of options, situations, problems and solutions. I can see I'm going to have this out a lot when I'm doing electrical work!!!!!

I wired my entire house (new construction) using this book as my guideline. Much of the wiring was more than basic but I found what I needed in this book to get the job done. After the rough in inspection and when I got the power on I used this book to help sort out the little problems. All finished and absolutely could not have accomplished this task without this book. Explanations, instructions, diagrams, and pictures are absolutely invaluable. I fully recommend this book. And a very big thanks to the author. By the way, I am not an electrician and prior to tackling this project had very little experience in this field.