The guide
Sixteen sections plus appendices: glossary, a 30/60/90-day plan, inspection rejects, California licensing and permits, and Montecito rules. Each section ends with a Try it and Check yourself.
Open the guideResidential wiring · NEC 2023 · California · Montecito
Learn electrical work from your first day to master level. Read the guide, do the math in 3D, handle the tools in 3D, then test yourself. Every stage tells you what to open next, and your checkmarks stay on this device.
Safety first. Nothing here replaces lockout and tagout, a tester you have proved on a known source, or a licensed electrician. In California, electrical work for others needs a C-10 license. Code numbers follow the 2023 NEC, the base of the 2025 California Electrical Code (effective 1 January 2026). Where a number is marked verify, confirm it with the current code and County Building and Safety.
The set
Sixteen sections plus appendices: glossary, a 30/60/90-day plan, inspection rejects, California licensing and permits, and Montecito rules. Each section ends with a Try it and Check yourself.
Open the guideMove sliders and watch volts, amps, wire heat, box fill and service size change. Practice mode quizzes you with fresh numbers and tracks what you have mastered.
26 scenes · Quiz meOpen the mathEvery tool and device in a residential kit, animated in use, with when to use it, mistakes, safety, buying notes and Milwaukee equivalents with links to their photos.
178 tools · 50 scenesOpen the toolsNine pages for the truck: prove it dead, formulas, wire and breakers, box and conduit fill, service size, day-one kit, bends and spacing, Montecito rules. Its key numbers are in the quick reference below.
9 pages · letter sizeLearning path
Open a stage, work through its four parts, tick them off. Spend about a week on each. Stage 0 comes first for everyone, and no stage skips the Check yourself.
Quick reference
Pulled from the field guide. Always confirm against the code edition your inspector enforces.
Volts push, amps flow, watts do the work. A 12 Ω load on 120 V draws 10 A and makes 1,200 W.
A 3-hour-or-longer load may use only 80% of the breaker. A 20 A breaker carries 16 A continuous. A 32 A EV charger needs a 40 A breaker.
In living areas no point along the floor line is more than 6 ft from a receptacle, so they sit no more than 12 ft apart (210.52(A)).
| Bend | Multiplier | Shrink per in of rise |
|---|---|---|
| 10° | 6 | 1/16 in |
| 22.5° | 2.6 | 3/16 in |
| 30° | 2 | 1/4 in |
| 45° | 1.414 | 3/8 in |
| 60° | 1.155 | 1/2 in |
Mark spacing = rise × multiplier.
Add general loads (3 VA per sq ft, small-appliance and laundry circuits, with the first 3,000 VA at 100% and the rest at 35%), then fixed appliances, range and heating or cooling. Divide by 240 V.
Worked in the guide's service section and the Service scene.
Built for Montecito
Montecito is unincorporated Santa Barbara County. The City of Santa Barbara's rules do not apply here. Items marked verify could not be confirmed from official County text.
verify The permit exemption list, non-solar fees, inspection sequence, EV and energy amendments, exterior lighting limits, and flood-zone equipment heights.
Self-quiz
One question at a time with the reasoning after each answer. Your best score is saved on this device.