|
A brief history
Although I've got City & Guilds 2381, 2391,2382, 2377 and various other Domestic & Installation Testing
Certificates, I'm not Part P and stay away from new domestic installations, they can be time consuming and their
are already a lot of main stream electricians who can help you, some better than others like R&T Electrical (this
plug must be worth a pint of Stella please Ralph). I prefere fault finding and repair. I've done the 17th edition
wiring regs course and must admit 17th edition is a lot better than 16th. BS7671:2008 is easier to use and has a lot of new
sections covering everything from solar panels to house boats, it does seem that what ever you do you need an RCD now though! A
good local supplier in Maldon of electrical bits are Blackwater electrical supplies, friendly service and have found something
in stock for every problem I have strolled in there with! I always find word of mouth recommendation means
more than a full page multi-coloured advert and like to put in a good word for companies who I have found good service
from. Back to my own work, I prefer inspection and fault finding (including PAT testing) which
is were my experience is based instead of spending days running cables through walls, especially when my plastering
is not to hot (ask my wife about the hallway!!). Fault finding, repairs and replacement of light fittings, sockets
and damaged cables are common requests, be it a pub where light switches are worn out or finding why a RCD keeps
tripping in a rented property, I offer a fast, safe service. Caravan parks & Marinas are also a speciality
as its often a mix of 230v and 12V systems. I actually assemble a Caravan park consumer box which is an IP65 enclosure
with hinged access panel, 30mA RCD, 10 Amp breaker and a 16A industrial 240V blue connector all for £40 + VAT
+ P&P with discounts available on quantities over 100 pcs. I don't do CCTV installations as a norm, but
will supply covert or special camera systems. One of my more interesting designs is a self-contained digital camera/recorder
built into a fence post for catching trespassers and fly-tippers. I also have cameras disguised as alarm motion detectors
or clocks which again can be set up remotely to photo people or vehicles that are not supposed to be there. These are handy
as they can run from a battery and will take a photo every few seconds when movement is picked up. They store the photos on
a standard SD memory card so you can take the card out and see what photos it took on your own PC. Please note you must
still have warning signs up to say cameras are in use even if they are covert! An interesting new use for
a night vision camera is to see what wildlife comes into your garden at night. In our village we have everything
from Bats and Badgers to Fox and Weasels.
| night vision CCTV |
|
Another common domestic install request is for AV equipment. Not fantastic huge multi 100 inch screens in 10 rooms,
but simply setting up a scart cable system to watch your satellite in high quality RGB, adding infrared pickups
in other rooms so you can control your satellite from your bedroom TV or installing a video over cat5 system so that you can
watch your favourite movie in any room. If you look on Bluedelta's website you can see the sort of products available,
most are simple enough to install yourself. Infrared pick ups ( Smart or Magic eyes ) are useful devices, most people
like to keep their satellite decoder hidden away in a cupboard, but to use the remote control you have to open the door.
Not if you use an IR repeater, this is a little device that sits on your TV with a wire going into the RF 2 on your sat box.
It picks up the IR from your remote and injects it directly into the satellite box so your remote does not have to be pointed
at the sat box itself. Handy little device for just under £10.00!
Silly thing I have found that effects some satellite boxes and modems is the polarity of the incoming phone line.
I've found that 50% of the phone lines I have checked are wired the wrong way round and nobody would know under
normal circumstances! The phone line still works OK and you get a dialing tone but some equipment needs the connections
to be a specific way round. If you click up on the 'telephone wiring explained' it gives you a clue as to what it should be,
its simple to change over if it is wrong by reversing the pair of cable connections (the tip & ring).
A good little telephone / modem line tester is made by Eaglehawk products and available via accdata.co.uk
or ebay, it confirms you have the correct voltage, polarity and dial tone via LEDs on a simple plug in device for under £20.
I'm not to certain what this problem does to broadband, but after the cable change it certainly reduced
'drop outs' on my system and now seems to be running at full speed.
If you don't know how fast your broadband speed is, have a look at the Speedtest.net link.
|
|
 |
|
Call outs to the Maldon and Burnham locations are free, I will confirm a price for the job when I have seen what
I have to do before I start work.
PAT testing is £1.00 per item with a £10 admin fee for qtys of up to 200 devices. I can work out of office hours
at no extra cost for PAT testing as I have to switch off computers, tills etc while testing.
|
| Web based night camera |
The cost of cameras for CCTV are coming down, you can get a good day/night vision camera for under £50, even 4 channel
DVRs are under £200 for digital recording from 4 cameras.
It may sound obvious, but if you are going to mount a camera outside, make certain you buy a water/weather proof
camera!
Common problem when I get called to investigate an outside camera that is not working is water damage on the circuit
board or power input connector.
Another problem has been people using wireless cameras with long thin power cables. This causes voltage drop and
sometimes the camera won't work because not enough electricity is getting to the end of the cable. Have a look on the camera
technical data for its working voltage range ie 10 to 16V, if you measure 10V at the end of your power cable without the camera
plugged in (this is called the off load reading), it will be less when the camera is connected (on load).
|
| Solar powered entry light, battery powered and quick to install |
Problem with solar power anything in the UK is the weather and the cost in relation to power. These lights cost £30,
as soon as you get it you need to replace the 600mA AA cells with 2000mA and cover half the sensor to stop it going off
when people or cars go past in the street. Besides that they are good lights! I must admit that solar panels
are getting cheaper in relation to power output increasing, let me know if you have a solar project to design and cost up
as I would now say it is a viable option. On a system I have been testing recently, an 80W solar panel puts out a fairly consistant
4.5 amps on a normal UK summer day.
|
| Extra phone sockets are another regular request |
Besides the wrong polarity easy problem on phone cables, new phone sockets are a pain, especially when you
connect up an ADSL modem. Often the modem should be connected to your master socket which is miles away from your PC. "No
problem, just run a new comms cable" they say....... yea, right, its always easier said than done!
I'll have a look at the job, but extension sockets are 5% electrical work and 95% routing the cables.
I've got all the parts and tools to make up network/comms cables, if you need a particular length, let me know along
with which connectors ( RJ11, RJ12 or RJ45 ). Please note that Broadband suppliers recommend that phone cables between
the master socket and your PC/modem should not be more than 10mtrs long.
|
| Cat5 video distribution equipment |
Another regular Sky box request:
How do I turn the power on for my RF2 to work with IR repeaters?
Select the Services menu on you Sky handset, press 4 0 1 Select 4 then step down to RF
outlet power. change this to ON then go down to save settings and press select.
Feel free to contact me with any electrical problems, be it a lap top that is not charging or a faulty crimping machine.
Often I can offer free advise over the phone or put you in touch with somebody who can help if it is not within my expertise.
A few slightly more unusual projects have fixed recently include a 1950s printing press and a hot tub
lighting system.
|
| Commercial Distribution board |
|
|
|
|
|
