Environmental conditions of residential electrical connections

Abstract

Data is presented for temperature and humidity inside various electrical enclosures in residential structures. Conditions within the enclosures are seen to be harsh relative to the indoor ambient that is used for standard qualification tests. There are large temperature excursions and sustained periods of high humidity. Based on the long-term data, a method is presented for estimating the temperature and humidity extremes that are encountered by connections in a representative cross section of residential wiring system applications.