Gordon's Light and Sound
No matter what kind of electrical project you have, Gordon's Light and Sound LLC has the knowledge
and experience to handle the job. 25 years experience in the electrical field, and in the Central
Florida/Greater Orlando area, both residential and commercial.
We can help you design your lighting needs as well as install the type of light needed for your unique
situation, whether it is task lighting for your kitchen, or accent lighting in the living room, your lighting
vision can be fulfilled.
Want to control your lights from a keypad, remote control, or from your car? We can help you control
one light or every light in your home.
Need to hang a paddle fan, add and outlet inside or outside, move a switch, add a circuit? We can help.
Do you have a breaker or GFI receptacle that is tripping? Troubleshooting and repair is our specialty.
State Certified Electrical Contractor. License #EC13003164
407-221-4768
What you should know before starting your electrical project.
GFCI: If you are adding outlets outside, whether for landscape lighting, Christmas lights, or general
purpose outlets for weed trimmers etc, the outlets must be GFCI protected. The acronym stands for
Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter, or you may hear it called GFI as well, which the same thing. Either term
is used by electricians and they are interchangeable.
A GFI receptacle or breaker is designed to detect a leakage to ground of as little as 5/1000th of an amp
to ground. Commonly, your body is that path to ground, and the GFCI receptacle opens the circuit within
milliseconds to protect you from serious harm.
You will recognize the GFI outlets by the buttons on
the face of the outlet. Some older outlets have red,
yellow or black buttons, while most of the newer
ones have buttons that are the same color as the
receptacle. The breaker will have a button on it as
well, but don't confuse it with an Arc Fault Breaker,
which is discussed as a different topic.

AFCI: Arc Fault Circuit Interrupter.
Annually, over 40,000 fires are attributed to home electrical wiring. These fires result in over 350 deaths
and over 1,400 injuries each year. Arcing faults are one of the major causes of these fires. When
unwanted arcing occurs, it generates high temperatures that can ignite nearby combustibles such as
wood, paper, and carpets.
HOW THE AFCI WORKS
The AFCI circuitry continuously monitors current flow through the AFCI. AFCIs use unique current
sensing circuitry to discriminate between normal and unwanted arcing conditions. Once an unwanted
arcing condition is detected, the control circuitry in the AFCI trips the internal contacts, thus de-
energizing the circuit and reducing the potential for a fire to occur. An AFCI should not trip during
normal arcing conditions, which can occur when a switch is opened or a plug is pulled from a receptacle.
Conventional circuit breakers only respond to overloads and short circuits; so they do not
protect against arcing conditions that produce erratic current flow. An AFCI is selective so that normal
arcs do not cause it to trip.
Ault, Singh, and Smith, “1996 Residential Fire Loss Estimates”, October 1998, U.S. Consumer
Product Safety Commission, Directorate for Epidemiology and Health Sciences