Electrical Advice

CAUTION! The UPS must be connected to a grounded AC power outlet with fuse or circuit breaker
protection. DO NOT plug the UPS into an outlet that is not grounded. If you need to de-energize this
equipment, turn off and unplug the UPS.

I read this as meaning an earth rod is required, as the whole idea of a UPS it to give power when the grid is down, and if the grid is down one can't rely on any earth from the DNO be it TN-S or TN-C-S.

As to linking neutral to earth during a power failure...

 

We have a 20 year old MK consumer unit with an RCD section covering 5 MCBs. It has several circuits which are not covered by RCD protection so my question is... would there be enough height inside the CU o accommodate RCBOs to cover the circuits in No's 1, 2 & 3 ways which have simple MCBs ?

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Old house . Failed on bonding got a read 0.26 on both water and gas. Ran 10mm earth . Cable run about 5 meters . Tested and reading still same gas pipe 0.26 water 0.27. What can cause high resistance? Multiple bonding ?

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All help appreciated with this one.
I am currently training for C&G 2365 level 2.
Here is a photo of the MET in my flat.
As you can see, it is TN-S.
But how do I know what CSA the cable from the sheath is ???
Because it's double-stranded I'm having a hard time judging.
Looks like something between 4 and 6 mm2 to me but I could easily be wrong.
It is an old installation, probably 1960's to 1980's is my guess.
Oh, and it's a looped supply which also goes to the flat above me.

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I have some incredibly sad news to share with you all..

Lucien lost his battle with cancer just after 5pm today.

He was surrounded by his family, a few friends and passed away peacefully.

There are electrical engineers and then you had Lucien.


Sit down and play this as loud as you can, it seems to be the only song that fits the evening.

I will try and keep you updated with further details unless others do.

We will be sounding our fog horn from the ocean liner RMS windsor castle...

 

Testing

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Testing

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I’m hoping I can get some help on here as I’m at a loss as to what to do.



My mother is disabled and currently shielding so it’s very difficult to get an electrician to come out. her toilet light switch fell off the ceiling and fell to bits (god knows how)



She needs light to access her toilet as it’s a risk that she falls at night



I bought a replacement switch click and collect from screwfix and connected it up to the existing wires (blue, brown, and earth) blue in the com and...

 

Sim's Electrical

Feel free to make use of the site - it has lessons and practice exams. It is a work in progress.

Most of all No adverts (other than Wix) and its FREE.

Please let me know if any of the information on there is out of date or incorrect and I will update it.

I hope you enjoy the hard work I have put into it

Simeon

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Ok sorry if I sound clueless here but I am doing college work designing a circuit. I want to use a radial socket circuit in twin and earth that covers an area of 60 m^2, the osg says in table h2.1 that a 32 A breaker with minimum 4 mm^2 CSA cable.


So I then do calculated known loads and assumed 200W loads for rest of sockets then I do design current Ib, this gives me a value of 17 A, which would mean a 20 A breaker is more appropriate, I don't do diversity for cable size since the loads...

 

Hello,

I am wanting to run some cable down to an outbuilding that will be used as an office (4 double sockets, lights and some sort of heating) I understand I need 10mm armoured cable to be safe. However the power will be taken from my garage consumer box, which in turn is taken from the main board via 2.5mm armoured cable.

However surely if I use 10mm will that just be overkill if it’s essentially taken from the main board with 2.5mm?

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Had an electrician fit an external security light today, he did it by splitting off an existing internal light cable.

I now have this switch, it only controls the internal light. Has the power in, security light out which is always on, and internal light out controlled by the switch.

I want to replace it with a better looking switch (vintage/industrial look). Is this one suitable?

If it is not suitable what do I need to search for...

 

For work, not medical….

Local wholesaler is offering these. Don’t know whether to go for it, or would it just be another toy that sits unused on the van.



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I am unsure how to display this on the form.
Normally i read from top to bottom to know the Flow , from Right to Left or Left to Right ..

But this is
RCD N
RCD L
Circuit 1
Circuit 2
Circuit 3
BLANK
BLANK
------
BLANK
Circuit 4
Circuit 3
Circuit 2
Circuit 1
RCD L
RCD N

How to display this, where the break is and which RCD (apart from looking at the Trip times) links to which

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Hi,

I have a bit of a challenge with my electrics. My consumer unit and meter are currently located under the stairs, right in the middle of my semi-detached house. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to run new cables from here. I’m considering installing solar panels, a battery, and an EV charger, but I need to route cables to the consumer unit. I see three possible options:


Reroute new cables (armoured): This would involve running new cables through the ceilings and walls, but I...

 

Hi just trying to get my head around how to go about pat testing a 3phase 415v 4 pole extension lead, on the first test (IEC polarity) it looks like it needs to see a closed circuit on each pole being L , N , E independently, obviously there is no neutral connection as it stops at the commando plug, do we have to connect the neutral outside of the commandos to get a correct reading. The pat tester is just faulting out with open circuit.

Currently connections are as follows, 230v plug live...

 

Morning lads.

Todays job is to go to in laws and firstly replace a cooker hood that went fzzzzz! Which is straightforward.
But I’ve also got to change the gas hob for an electric. Following an incident where gas was left on by increasingly forgetful mother in law.

There is an existing 32A protected, 6mm cable cooker supply switch that controls a double oven at the moment…. Total rated load 4.8kW

The new hob is 5 ring ceramic, rated 7350W

What’s the diversity on a 5 ring hob, and could...

 

https://timeled.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/time-led-766668-folding-floodlight-instructions-v1.pdf

I have lost the plug for the light in this link above. Could anyone send me a link to a replacement plug if they have one please

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Hi everyone,

I’m installing two smoke alarms and a heat alarm in a standard two-bedroom renovation. I was considering omitting RCBO protection for the smoke/heat circuits since they’re part of a safety system. Does that approach sound correct, or would it be better to integrate them into the lighting circuit instead?

Appreciate any advice!

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Hi,

We have just had a house survey done on my late parents home. The surveyor has picked up the fact that main electricity feed to the house comes in to the kitchen and the meters are attached inside the kitchen cupboard. This kitchen was fitted professionally and electrics completed by an electrician around 15years ago.
The houses were built in the late 60’s and once had a coal porch (?), side entrance. Probably 95% of this type of house have blocked this doorway and extended their...