I was doing some homemade circuit wiring and had a plug wired to a push button switch, wired to the load,(lamp light) then wired back to the plug. My question is the first time around I used 14g wire and it worked fine, light came on at the push button. Second time I used the same plug, 16gauge wire wired to the switch, to the load(this time a miniature bulb that sat in a smaller version of those pull lights in closets) and then back to the plug. When it was switched on nothing happened. So I went back to the 16gauge and wired it up and the bulb popped. Is this because the wire used is to small and not rated to carry the amps provided by the wall receptacle?
No. If the wire had been too thin, the light would still have lit and the wire would have become warm if you were passing too high a current through it. The wire will only carry the current demanded by the load. An internal lamp draws very little current. If the lamp didn't light, it was for other reasons, not the thickness of the wire.
the only thing i can think is you may have accidentally put it on 240
Not sure, but I think you used a 12 V bulb instead of a 110V.
Maybe an electrician would have done it better and stopped you almost killing yourself or starting a fire!
