How to Wire a Light & Switch to a 24 Volt Battery for an Electrical School Project

A 24 volt flashlight bulb works for this school project

Educational school projects come in all shapes and sizes, but one of the best ways to explain about the m in everyday living is to wire up a 24 volt battery into a simple circuit with a switch. Virtually every electrical appliance has some type of switch to turn it on or off, and although this is a very basic representation of how a power source and a switch work together, the concept applies to every light or appliance that is electrically powered.

Things You'll Need

• 24 volt battery
• 24 volt flashlight bulb
• Toggle switch
• Hobby wire-3 pieces, 10 inches long
• Wire strippers
• Flat-blade screwdriver
• Duct tape
• Scissors

Instructions

1. Lay out your three pieces of 10 inch wire and strip the ends with a wire stripper. Leave approximately 1/2 inch of bare copper showing on each stripped end.

2. Attach two pieces of wire, one piece to each, to both the negative and positive poles on the 24 volt battery. The poles will be labeled "positive" and "negative", and depending on what type of battery you have, the attachment points may have wing nuts to screw the wires down with, or you can cut some small pieces of duct tape and just tape the wires on.

3. Attach the negative wire to one side of the toggle switch by unscrewing the screw in a counterclockwise direction, wrapping the wire around the attachment post, and screwing the screw down until it is tight and firm. At this point, flip the switch to the "off" position.

4. Screw down another piece of wire to the opposite side of the switch, the same way the last one was attached.

5. Grasp the wire coming off the negative pole of the battery and tape it to the metallic side of the flashlight bulb. The side of the bulb connects to the actual light element inside of the bulb proper. Cut a little duct tape strip with your scissors to do this, and make sure the wire is on securely.

6. Find the little protruding button on the bottom of the bulb. The button connects to the other side of the light element inside of the bulb. If possible, tape the wire onto the button with a tiny piece of duct tape. As an alternative method, you can literally just press the wire against the button with a finger, but be careful that it does not come into contact with the metallic side of the bulb.

7. Flip the toggle switch to the "on" position, and the bulb will light up, thereby completing the circuit and demonstrating how a switch with a power source will interrupt the flow of electricity to a bulb (or any other device, no matter how much voltage there is in the circuit) by turning it on or off.

References

• Klimaco: Basic Electrical Circuits Explained
• Energy Quest: Chapter 4: Circuits