Daft Bugger

[SUNRAY]

Just how many times can a person do the same test and get the same results without trying something different?

Another walking distance job from Sunrays house. Customer had a water leak very early Sunday morning resulting in water running out of light fittings, he described as: "The clicker switch thingy in the fuse box won't go back on."

My boss assumed RCD covering several circuits and my brief was to make temporaries/disconnect to get some power back on.

Armed with basic tools including non calibrated insulation tester and some random lengths of cable, I found there were no signs of drips and everything was drying nicely, the emergency plumber attended to stop the flood and repaired on Monday morning. He told Customer it would dry out and the electrics would reset the following day.

The 'clicker switch thingy' is a 6A, in all RCBO 5way CU, for all the lights in a little 2 bed terrace. He demonstrated twice that it trips instantly when reset, I must have tested N&L to E half a dozen times and found nothing, well about 8MΩ. I opened the 3 fittings he reckoned the water was coming out of and only found water evidence in one and even that was dry. I was so intent on the issue being water It stupidly took more than half hour before it occurred to me to test N to L and found a short which was very quickly found to be a faulty bedroom LED.

 

[securespark]

I've tripped myself up several times in my career chasing red herrings. My favourite one was the customer who told me all the outside lights had stopped working at the same time. I checked the supply at the board, the FCUs, all fine and dandy.

Turned out all the lamps had failed but he only noticed when the last one went out, leaving him in darkness....

 

[ericmark]

It is of cause the last thing you check, as you stop checking once found, however years ago bulbs had integral fuses, idea was if as it failed there was ionisation in the bulb, the integral fuse would rupture rather than one loosing the whole circuit, however as we moved to B6 MCB's the MCB would trip first, so the whole idea was then flawed.

Using a B6 MCB as most ceiling roses rated at 5 or 6 amp, lack of a fuse in the bulb did not really cause a problem, it was still wrong to miss it out, as most B22d bulb holders rated at 2 amp, but in the main there was no problem with a 6 amp B type overload. However we are permitted up to 16 amp on lighting, and I found to my cost, when a CFL goes short circuit it can weld the pins to the bulb holder, I was rather annoyed at having to change an outside lamp as the bulb had welded into the holder. I have always tried to not exceed a B6 with lighting as a result.

But we tend to rely on the bulb marking, if it says 6 watt, we assume it uses 6 watt, early days of the CFL I did check a few, and unlike the fluorescent tube, if marked 11 watt they used 11 watt, the fluorescent tube until we went to HF ballasts were very voltage dependent, I got caught out 110 volt 58 watt tubes, quick in head calculation was ½ amp each, so 16 amp should supply 32 fittings, but if I went for 25 that would leave some spare capacity however got a call and found actually using more like 22 amp. Swapped the auto transformers on first 20 to 127 volt instead of 110 volt and all was good. However clearly because it says 58 watt does not mean it uses 58 watt.

I see at quick glance house using 291 watt, so nothing using a really high load, likely freezers using that, but I have not really tested things in the house to see if using what is expected. I look at yesterday and see

battery will have charged overnight so 3.2 kWh at 8.95p so maybe 2.1 kWh at 31.31p so total bill for day = £1.5353 for day including the 59.14 standing charge, at £1.50 I am not really worried about what I am using per day. My average use is 7.5 kWh per day, even if all at 31.31p the total is only £3 per day including standing charge.

So the result is we stop worrying about electric used. So if we do get a rouge appliance using over the odds, it can escape unnoticed.

 

[jj4091]

I've tripped myself up several times in my career chasing red herrings. My favourite one was the customer who told me all the outside lights had stopped working at the same time. I checked the supply at the board, the FCUs, all fine and dandy.

Turned out all the lamps had failed but he only noticed when the last one went out, leaving him in darkness....

Even had that with 6 kitchen ceiling spots in a rental, tenant too tight to replace the lamps when they failed.

 

[SUNRAY]

Even had that with 6 kitchen ceiling spots in a rental, tenant too tight to replace the lamps when they failed.

I had that in a new installation and a dead new bulb, checked all the wiring and shorting out switch etc before trying a different bulb.

 

[securespark]

One of my fave boobs back in the day when we used to fit a lot of angle batten lamp holders, I used to fit a PVC pattress which had the fixing screws for the lamp holder retained in the back of the pattress. So I'd screw the pattress down, then wire up the lamp holder and look for the screws to fix it to the pattress.

DOH!

Hager MB326E/MT B/Lampholder Pattress

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[Harry Bloomfield]

Actually, just yesterday.....

I keep the car battery near fully charged, via an added ciggy socket I put in, hidden by the glovebox lid. Except it stopped charging, unless I wiggled the plug, into just the right spot....

I checked the ciggy plug, 14v, but noticed the socket, had sunk into the soft surface, at the side of the glove box, so maybe the plug tip, was failing to touch the contact in the socket. I spent ages pulling the glove box out, making a neat, plastic washer surround for the socket, to prevent it sinking into the soft face, reassembled everything, and tested. STILL NOT MAKING RELIABLE CONTACT!

Pulled the glove box back out, re-checked everything, around the socket, and all fine. Rechecked the plug had 14v, it did, until the ground/-ve pins were squeezed, as they are when plugged into a ciggy socket.

 

[SUNRAY]

Actually, just yesterday.....

I keep the car battery near fully charged, via an added ciggy socket I put in, hidden by the glovebox lid. Except it stopped charging, unless I wiggled the plug, into just the right spot....

I checked the ciggy plug, 14v, but noticed the socket, had sunk into the soft surface, at the side of the glove box, so maybe the plug tip, was failing to touch the contact in the socket. I spent ages pulling the glove box out, making a neat, plastic washer surround for the socket, to prevent it sinking into the soft face, reassembled everything, and tested. STILL NOT MAKING RELIABLE CONTACT!

Pulled the glove box back out, re-checked everything, around the socket, and all fine. Rechecked the plug had 14v, it did, until the ground/-ve pins were squeezed, as they are when plugged into a ciggy socket.

I've got into the habit of fitting powerpoles for 12v interfaces. One of the bonus things about them being they are asexual.

 

[jj4091]

Actually, just yesterday.....

I keep the car battery near fully charged, via an added ciggy socket I put in, hidden by the glovebox lid.

Just done that myself, put it under front bumper so don't even have to unlock the car.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Just done that myself, put it under front bumper so don't even have to unlock the car.

I thought of doing that, but thought better of it, because it would be out in the weather. As I have it, I just drive in to the garage, plug dangles from a roof beam, I open the door, the reach over and plug it into the socket behind the glovebox lid. To finally confirm, it has definitely made good contact, I glance up through the sunroof, to check the LED is flashing. As I've said before - the charger is a simple voltage controlled one, it doesn't need any buttons to be pressed, and doesn't discharge the battery, if it is connected with no mains supply. The charger is on a smart plug, which Alexa powers up for 20 minutes each day - I don't like the idea of batteries being left on charge 24/7, via smart chargers, because I have had batteries wrecked by them before.

 

[foxhole]

I was doing a minor job in a kitchen for a young lady, getting dark I tried the light switch, nothing, she said sorry it’s not working, opened up the switch too find loose wire, reconnected , all good, I said how long have you lived without a kitchen light, she said
8 years!!!.

 

[SUNRAY]

I was doing a minor job in a kitchen for a young lady, getting dark I tried the light switch, nothing, she said sorry it’s not working, opened up the switch too find loose wire, reconnected , all good, I said how long have you lived without a kitchen light, she said
8 years!!!.

Slightly different, I used to visit a family, one of the homes where you enter via the back door and automatically put the kettle on, open the coffee container and put tea bags in cups yeah, when they started using the new set of wedding present containers marked 'tea, sugar and coffee' they managed to use the wrong ones, I visited their son who started as an apprentice at the same time as me so this situation and been going on for many years. One day I opened the coffee and was somewhat surprised to find... yep coffee.

I asked why? "Oh it's the first time they've both been empty at the same time

 

[sparkwright]

I've tripped myself up several times in my career chasing red herrings. My favourite one was the customer who told me all the outside lights had stopped working at the same time. I checked the supply at the board, the FCUs, all fine and dandy.

Turned out all the lamps had failed but he only noticed when the last one went out, leaving him in darkness....

I've had that with outside bollards - all twelve lamps had blown. You just don't think all twelve could be gone before someone reports a problem.

 

[Adam_151]

I've had some strange co-incidences,remember I once went to a housing association job (I think) once, and I'm struggling to remember the exact issue, but I think it was something like the living room lights smell of burning and they were some brass things with cloudly glass panels... only it wasn't glass but some kind of plastic, and for some reason it was melting (either too big a lamp, or just s*** fittings) anyway, normally we would just put some pendants up and be done with it, but I say about that, and she says, "as it happens, we have just bought some new fittings here" Yeah, I know, chancing their luck, but its ok. I'm in a good mood at this point, so agree to put the fittings up.

I'm rushing because I've got other places to be, now for a simple fitting/switch/socket swap, we weren't required to do a full minor works on the cirucit, just do it and grab a quick earth loop at the replaced item and note it on the ticket. So change the two fittings power up, its a hager board with the flip down BS1361 carriers and the 5A fuse blows, thats strange, I know I connected them right and I know I haven't crushed a cable mounting it back to the ceiling, Ok, take it down and have a look - ah the connector block with the three unswitched lives, the cables had enough spring that it had bounced outwards, and sat against the outside of the fitting, which wouldn't have been an issue, but it managed to line up perfectly so the set screw that held the fitting to the bracket entered the connector block through where the driver goes in and made contact with the screw head - Now what are the chances of that happening,? so sort that out and put the fitting back. I think I might have even wrapped the connector in tape, that'll stop the ****** doing that!

Now I'm really in a rush and no longer in a good mood, I also need a new fuse, not a problem I know I have some because I needed some on the last job where a blown lamp had taken one out in a wylex standard board, there are 9 still in the box in the drivers door pocket of the van, so rush out and grab one, get the power back on, grab a couple of earth loop readings, all good, but not so fast I had parked the van on the street and in my haste I'd cut across the verge, and oh there had been dog mess there, and I'd trailed it in - on the carpet that had only just been fitted the day before. I was now definatly no longer in a good mood!

Sometimes when you are in a hurry, the universe will align to really screw things up!

 

[SUNRAY]

I've had some strange co-incidences,remember I once went to a housing association job (I think) once, and I'm struggling to remember the exact issue, but I think it was something like the living room lights smell of burning and they were some brass things with cloudly glass panels... only it wasn't glass but some kind of plastic, and for some reason it was melting (either too big a lamp, or just s*** fittings) anyway, normally we would just put some pendants up and be done with it, but I say about that, and she says, "as it happens, we have just bought some new fittings here" Yeah, I know, chancing their luck, but its ok. I'm in a good mood at this point, so agree to put the fittings up.

I'm rushing because I've got other places to be, now for a simple fitting/switch/socket swap, we weren't required to do a full minor works on the cirucit, just do it and grab a quick earth loop at the replaced item and note it on the ticket. So change the two fittings power up, its a hager board with the flip down BS1361 carriers and the 5A fuse blows, thats strange, I know I connected them right and I know I haven't crushed a cable mounting it back to the ceiling, Ok, take it down and have a look - ah the connector block with the three unswitched lives, the cables had enough spring that it had bounced outwards, and sat against the outside of the fitting, which wouldn't have been an issue, but it managed to line up perfectly so the set screw that held the fitting to the bracket entered the connector block through where the driver goes in and made contact with the screw head - Now what are the chances of that happening,? so sort that out and put the fitting back. I think I might have even wrapped the connector in tape, that'll stop the ****** doing that!

Now I'm really in a rush and no longer in a good mood, I also need a new fuse, not a problem I know I have some because I needed some on the last job where a blown lamp had taken one out in a wylex standard board, there are 9 still in the box in the drivers door pocket of the van, so rush out and grab one, get the power back on, grab a couple of earth loop readings, all good, but not so fast I had parked the van on the street and in my haste I'd cut across the verge, and oh there had been dog mess there, and I'd trailed it in - on the carpet that had only just been fitted the day before. I was now definatly no longer in a good mood!

Sometimes when you are in a hurry, the universe will align to really screw things up!

It's always the way... Always