Electrical Repair

Don't test an alternator by disconnecting the negative battery cable. Use a voltmeter instead to conduct a simple, safe test.

Replace your car's badly corroded battery cable terminals with new ones in about an hour. New terminals cost less than $20.

Replace any switch in the house with an X10 switch and you can remotely control electric devices in a detached garage—or anywhere else in…

Not all dimmer switches are the same, and if you buy one that's not rated for the total wattage of the lights it controls, you could have…

Replace the ballast when your fluorescent light flickers or makes an annoying hum. The repair will only take about 10 minutes.

Correctly connect hot and neutral wires when you replace a lamp switch and socket to keep your lamp safe. Even an inexpensive plug and cord has…

Use special motion-activated switches rated for electronic (rather than magnetic) ballasts in most new fluorescent lights. Check the ballast in…

Most of the time you can find the cause of nuisance tripping of an arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) and correct the problem without calling…

In about 30 minutes you can repair the electrical wiring in almost any lamp—and make it safe as well.

Burned-out holiday lights, even the cheap kind, are often fixable with a small investment of time and money. Here’s how to diagnose and fix…

When an electrical device flashes strange numbers, grab your owner's manual. It may be flashing a fault code that'll help diagnose a problem.

Replace a faulty well pump switch in about an hour; no special tools or skills required.

Control bathroom humidity more efficiently with a new type of humidistat switch that turns an exhaust fan on and off in response to changing…

Replace smoke alarms before they fail. It takes only about 10 minutes to replace a hard-wired type safely.

A cheap switch and an expensive switch will both turn a light on, but fixtures that draw more power require the larger, more durable parts built…

These simple lawn irrigation system fixes will solve 90 percent of the common breakdowns. You'll save on repair bills and keep your lawn…

Fix expensive earbuds by resoldering broken electrical connections. It's a quick and easy process.

Run an underground electrical line into the garden to power an outdoor light or a pond pump. Here’s the quickest and cheapest method for…

Tired of groping for pull chains in the dark? Wireless, piezoelectric switches allow you to control lights using nothing more than the energy…

One solution for a flickering light bulb is to bend the tab in the socket slightly upward to assure a better electrical contact. The fix takes…