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| Introduction | |
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| About This Book | |
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| Conventions Used in This Book | |
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| What You Don't Have to Read | |
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| Foolish Assumptions | |
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| How This Book Is Organized | |
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| Installing Power Distribution and Basic Wiring | |
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| Adding Communication, Audio, and Video Systems | |
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| Installing Home Networks and Advanced Technology | |
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| Security and Safety Systems | |
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| Extending Technology to Outdoor Living Spaces | |
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| The Part of Tens | |
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| Appendixes | |
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| Icons Used in This Book | |
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| Where to Go from Here | |
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| Installing Power Distribution and Basic Wiring | |
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| Designing Your Digital Dream Home | |
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| Living on Digital Easy Street | |
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| Planning Your Digital Dream Home | |
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| Designing for new construction | |
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| Remodeling an existing residence | |
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| Completing single-focus projects | |
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| Choosing the Contractor - or Being Your Own | |
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| Selecting a contractor | |
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| Being your own contractor | |
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| Gathering Tools and Equipment | |
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| Hand tools | |
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| Power tools | |
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| Test equipment | |
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| Bringing In the Services | |
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| Understanding the Power You Need | |
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| Alternating stuff | |
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| Transforming current with transformers | |
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| Amps and volts and other terms | |
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| Meeting Power Company and Code Requirements | |
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| Getting permitted | |
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| Installing in light of code requirements | |
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| Choosing a circuit panel | |
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| Choosing a distribution-panel location | |
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| Installing Electrical Services | |
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| Setting up temporary service | |
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| Looking up to overhead electrical service | |
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| Going underground | |
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| Connecting the electrical distribution panel | |
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| Grounding your service | |
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| Roughing In the Wiring | |
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| Laying Out Receptacles (Legally) | |
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| Spacing receptacles | |
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| When to use GFI receptacles | |
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| Setting box heights | |
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| Making sure the box is flush | |
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| Mounting boxes during rewiring projects | |
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| Calculating box fill | |
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| Drilling Holes for Wiring | |
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| Drilling the framing | |
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| Drilling joists | |
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| Pulling Wires | |
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| Wiring to Code | |
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| Diagramming | |
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| Wiring the rest of the house | |
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| Wiring dryers and ranges | |
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| Wiring closets | |
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| Trimming Your Home's Electrical System | |
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| Selecting Device Styles and Colors | |
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| Working with Receptacles and Switches | |
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| Installing receptacles and GFIs | |
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| Installing switches | |
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| Flushing and Leveling Electrical Devices | |
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| Testing Your Installations | |
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| Controlling Your Life Remotely | |
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| Controlling Your Gadgets Remotely | |
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| Infrared and radio frequency remotes | |
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| Motion sensors | |
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| X10 remotes and devices | |
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| Using Timers for Around-the-Clock Control | |
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| Adding Communication, Audio, and Video Systems | |
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| Wiring Your Home Phone System | |
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| Wiring Your Phone Service | |
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| Planning service entrances | |
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| Planning internal house wiring | |
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| Wiring for Conventional Phones | |
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| Installing a Home PBX System | |
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| Integrating VoIP | |
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| Understanding how VoIP works | |
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| Choosing a VoIP phone adapter | |
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| Choosing a VoIP service provider | |
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| Videoconferencing from Home | |
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| Equipping for videoconferencing | |
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| Using gateways for multi-point conferencing | |
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| Installing a Public Address System | |
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| Planning a Home Communications System | |
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| Selecting locations | |
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| Choosing wire | |
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| Selecting amplifiers and speakers | |
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| Choosing intercom components | |
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| Installing the Hardware | |
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| Installing LV rings | |
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| Installing a central control unit | |
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| Connecting radio antennas | |
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| Installing and wiring remote locations | |
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| Installing Cable TV and Advanced Digital Services | |
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| Readying Your Home for Prime Time | |
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| Bringing TV service into your home | |
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| Installing TV cable jacks | |
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| Installing TV cable | |
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| Connecting the common distribution point | |
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| Installing for a Fiber Optic Future | |
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| Understanding fiber optic cable | |
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| Consider your fiber optic strategy | |
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| Choosing home fiber optic service | |
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| Connecting to fiber optic devices | |
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| Hooking up to the ONT | |
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| Checking availability | |
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| Adding Stereo and Surround Sound | |
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| Considering Whole-House Sound Systems | |
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| Using monophonic sound | |
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| Enhancing audio with stereo sound | |
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| Selecting stereo speaker locations | |
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| Encompassing your listeners with surround sound | |
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| Choosing and Installing Speakers | |
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| Wiring multi-room systems | |
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| Choosing speakers | |
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| Wiring in the speakers | |
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| Wiring Family Rooms and Home Theaters | |
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| Designing for Adaptable Family Rooms | |
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| Lighting Your Family Room | |
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| Measuring light levels | |
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| Selecting fluorescent fixtures | |
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| Using recessed fixtures | |
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| Using track fixtures | |
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| Supplementing with lamps and task lighting | |
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| Controlling your family room lights | |
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| Planning Family Room Outlets | |
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| Designing Your Dedicated Home Theater | |
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| Maintaining access to the equipment | |
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| Including a control center | |
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| Maintaining clear sound zones | |
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| Installing Video Systems and Cameras | |
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| Selecting Video Components | |
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| Reviewing camera features | |
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| Choosing a video surveillance system | |
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| Installing Your Video System | |
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| Positioning cameras | |
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| Supplying power to your cameras | |
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| Connecting cameras to the network | |
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| Installing Home Networks and Advanced Technology | |
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| Home Networks and Internet Connections | |
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| Understanding Internet Terminology: Stirring the Alphabet Soup | |
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| POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) | |
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| IP (Internet Protocol) addresses | |
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| DNS (Domain Name Services) | |
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| DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) | |
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| Reviewing Your Internet Connection Options | |
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| Dial-up service | |
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| ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) | |
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| T-1 lines | |
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| Fractional T-1 | |
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| Broadband cable | |
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| DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) | |
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| Fiber optic service | |
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| BPL (Broadband Over Power Lines) | |
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| Area wireless services | |
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| Connecting Your Home Network to the Internet | |
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| Installing a DSL or cable modem | |
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| Installing and configuring a router | |
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| Using firewalls | |
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| Understanding hubs and switches | |
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| Preparing to Wire Your Digital Home for Networking | |
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| Understanding Wireless "Wiring" | |
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| Setting Up Your Home Network | |
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| Integrating Computer Controls and Voice Technology | |
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| Selecting Home Automation Components | |
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| Choosing automation software | |
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| Selecting a computer to run HAL | |
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| Wiring Your Home Automation Computer | |
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| Connecting HAL to the telephone | |
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| Installing voice-command stations | |
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| Interfacing with the home's electrical system | |
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| Providing backup power to the automation system | |
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| Networking your automation system | |
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| Programming the automation interfaces | |
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| Security and Safety Systems | |
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| Working with Security Zones and Alarm Systems | |
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| Protecting Your Home with Alarms | |
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| Comparing intrusion alarms | |
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| Understanding sensors | |
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| Wiring and installing sensors | |
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| Increasing safety with supplemental alarms | |
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| Surveilling Your Surroundings | |
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| Digital cameras | |
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| Closed-circuit television (CCTV) | |
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| Webcams | |
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| Integrating Alarm and Communication Systems | |
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| Improving Your Home's Safety | |
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| Get the facts for your area | |
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| Screen visitors | |
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| Make some security elements visible | |
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| Secure your home | |
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| Backup and Alternative Power | |
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| Identifying Your Home's Critical Systems | |
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| Comparing Types of Backup Power | |
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| Uninterruptible power supplies | |
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| Inverter systems | |
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| Green power systems | |
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| External combustion steam systems | |
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| Internal combustion systems | |
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| Interfacing Backup Systems to Your Electrical System | |
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| Alternative Energy Systems | |
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| Choosing an inverter | |
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| Caring for batteries | |
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| Extending Technology to Outdoor Living Spaces | |
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| Wiring Outside the House | |
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| Powering Sunrooms | |
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| Installing power and lighting | |
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| Bringing entertainment to the sunroom | |
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| Electrifying Patios and Decks | |
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| Lighting Your Garden | |
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| Delivering Electricity to Outbuildings | |
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| Retrofitting power to existing outbuildings | |
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| Wiring in workshops | |
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| Lighting outbuildings | |
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| Installing network, phone, TV, and intercom service | |
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| Wiring for sheds | |
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| Installing Saunas | |
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| Selecting a sauna stove | |
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| Supplying power | |
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| Installing the sauna stove control | |
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| Wiring near Pools and Hot Tubs | |
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| Pumping Water on Your Property | |
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| Powering well pumps | |
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| Installing garden and waterfall pumps | |
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| Using waste system pumps | |
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| Outdoor Electronics | |
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| Designing around the Weather | |
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| Running wires in bulkheads | |
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| Wiring directly to the point of use | |
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| Using Electronic Devices in Outdoor Kitchens | |
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| Wiring Outdoor Theaters or Sound Systems | |
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| Controlling outdoor theaters or sound systems | |
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| Planning the theater space | |
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| Installing a Home Weather Station | |
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| The Part of Tens | |
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| The Ten Best Wiring Web Sites | |
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| Wiring Devices | |
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| Wire and Cable | |
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| Home Electronics | |
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| Home Security | |
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| Networking and Electronics Technology | |
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| Networked Video Surveillance | |
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| Solar and Alternative Energy | |
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| Digital Home Media | |
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| Outdoor Living | |
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| Remodeling and Repair Projects | |
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| The Ten Biggest Wiring Mistakes | |
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| Not Leaving Enough Slack | |
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| Not Paying Attention to Details | |
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| Including Lighting Loads on Receptacle Circuits | |
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| Ignoring Physics | |
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| Gravity | |
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| Wind | |
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| Water | |
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| Fire | |
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| Installations Not Designed for Use and Abuse | |
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| Improperly Interpreting the National Electrical Code | |
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| When Grounding Is Not Grounding | |
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| Ignoring the BOCA or IRC Codes | |
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| Not Following Your Own Consistency Rules | |
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| Minimizing Wiring Runs and Circuit Counts | |
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| Ten Troubleshooting Tips | |
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| Collect the History | |
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| Who witnessed the point of failure? | |
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| What was happening at the time? | |
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| Where was the device when it failed? | |
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| How did it fail? | |
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| When did the failure occur? | |
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| Why did it fail? | |
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| Understand the Process | |
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| Plan the Approach | |
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| Follow Safety Procedures | |
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| Eliminate the Obvious | |
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| Begin at the Beginning | |
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| Avoid the Replacement Trap | |
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| Check the Vital Signs | |
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| Eliminate the Cause | |
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| Verify the Repair | |
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| Appendixes | |
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| Product Sources | |
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| Big-Box Stores | |
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| Best Buy | |
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| Circuit City | |
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| The Home Depot | |
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| Lowe's | |
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| Small-Box Stores | |
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| Micro Center | |
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| RadioShack | |
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| Wholesale Electric and Contractor Suppliers | |
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| Crescent Electric Supply Company | |
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| GE Supply | |
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| Graybar Electric Company | |
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| Home Automated Living | |
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| WESCO International | |
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| What Mr. Ohm Wanted You to Know | |
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| Using the Basic Ohm's Law Formula | |
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| Measuring current in amps | |
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| Measuring electromotive force in volts | |
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| Calculating Electrical Values | |
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| Calculating power in watts | |
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| Calculating energy use in watt-hours | |
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| Measuring power in AC circuits | |
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| Using the NFPA Wire Properties Table | |
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| Selecting Conductors | |
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| Limitations for using small conductors | |
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| Bundling conductors together | |
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| Using non-metallic cable (NMC) | |
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| Converting between Celsius and Fahrenheit | |
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| Ethernet Length Limits | |
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| About the CD | |
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| System Requirements | |
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| Using the CD with Microsoft Windows | |
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| What You'll Find | |
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| If You've Got Problems (Of the CD Kind) | |
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| Index | |