Registered Electrician/HV Technician here AMA

>>1157857
What is more lethal in an electric current, amps or volts?

>>1157863
current is what kills you. It's why stun guns and tazers do not generally kill people while they run 50k volts through them.

>>1157863
It depends on the situation and your skin resistance, if your body is dry it has about a 300Ω resistance, if it is wet through sweat it will be lower, down to about 50Ω, this is why people in showers die so much quicker than people with dry skin.
Also, when the current past the heart is taken into account, that will kill a person a lot sooner than just a shock to the right hand.

>>1157863
Oddly enough, DC is more dangerous if you are going to get an electric shock, it could be as low as 110VDC, but AC has the thing where it changes direction every half a cycle and goes through a current zero, which means you have a chance of being able to let go, not so with DC, it will make your hand and arm muscles clench and you will not be able to let go.

>>1157857
I was a lv/hv cable jointer in the UK for ten years, but gave it up as I got fed up of sitting in muddy holes, plus my knees are shot, what's the job market like for jointers in Nz?

>>1157857
I may have to work with HV ranging from 1kV to 30kV, mostly for prototyping some scientific instruments.
I have some understanding of physics, electronics, power supplies and some other EE knowledge, but I don't have much experience with HV safety.

What safety tips would you give? Literature or books to read? Standards for how to best keep things isolated at those high voltages?

In particular, think about the safety tips you'd give someone working on CRTs, dealing with flyback transformers or generating the high voltages needed to deflect particles (electrons in the case of a CRT), or generating voltages to do the extraction work enough to pull electrons out and then accelerate them (this isn't really limited to electrons though, can be any charged particle).

I'm a hobbyist and I'd be doing this by myself, I won't be actually making a CRT, but the operating principles are similar (involves extracting some particles using high voltages, accelerating them, deflecting, and various other electromagnetic or electrostatic lenses).
Obviously there's some safety tips here beyond just the HV dangers, for example, it's important to shield the vacuum chambers where all this is happening, as X-rays are generated when the electrons collide with the specimen, screen, and so on.

From real-world examples of this, I've seen some older models choose to submerge HV PSUs into oil to reduce arcing.

What tips would you give me, besides >hire a pro? (I'm a hobbyist and I plan to do all this myself, while hiring a pro is possible, a lot of the work here does involve higher voltages, 1kV to 30kV on the high side, 200-700V on middle and 100V on low, and obviously regular low voltages like 3.3, 5, 12V and so on for internal control circuitry, which is the same as everyone is used to during regular electronics work).

>>1157857

For an appartment with 2-wire installation what's better? Bootleg ground or no ground?

>>1157916
replace receptacle with a GFCI receptacle

>>1157936

Don't those need you to have a ground wire?

>>1157857
>electrician for 25a
>posts pic of horrible wiring

>>1157952
>25a

Romance-speaker detected

>>1157993
>Romance-speaker
nope, just an ISO nazi

why the fuck is it illegal to replace a fucking light switch when all it is is disconnecting 3 wires and reconnecting them?

Did you calibrate your equipments? If yes, how, when and for how much?
Did you sent to adjust too?

I have a mild technical knowledge and I always had good school results in natural sciences without much effort.

Now I'm really interested in learning about electronics, I want to be able to practice it as a hobby.

Where do I start? I have no idea.

>>1158054
Where do you live? Most places allow you to work on your own home without any weird shit like that.

>>1158144
Australia.. like i get not being allowed to do certain things (sort of not really) but its not even electrical work really, i just want to match my old switches to my new ones. only legal way ends up costing $1000 dollarydoos

>>1158148
>Australia
your country is funny
you always act so tough and manly
and then in reality you have the strictest health and safety regulations
and some of the most patronizing laws in the whole world

I guess OP is kill...

>>1157916
Bootleg ground is never a good idea. The ground wire is primarily for safety, and only secondarily for providing ground potential.

>>1157882
Are you building an electron microscope? The shielding on those tends not to be that thick. HV tech has changed over the years but personally I don't have experience over 2kV so I dunno what to tell you. Though interlocks are a good idea.

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>>1157857
I have this flyback transformer, how do I get high voltage from it?
I want to do a glowing ball lamp or something like that. I used to have one of those and had a small fbt just like this one to pump up high voltage.

>>1157857
Done any work on plc systems?

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Here's the pin description, beginning from the bottom, clockwise:
H-V
Nothing
AFC
123V
12V
25V
ABL
GND
185V
HEAT

>>1157948
Technically no, it operates based on an imbalance between line and neutral. You are the path to ground in some instances during a fault whether or not there is a protective earth available, without an earth it's just bumped up to all cases instead of some. It should be rated to trip at something like 30mA which is just enough to kill you.

Where do you primarily work? My dads an electrician and he works on huge sites for factories and plants and shit. Hard work but he's paid well.

>>1157882
If you have the capability to use oil as a dielectric you should do it; esp as a hobbyist it is far safer for you.

NZfag here. Why are electricians here fucking useless? Almost every single one I know does shit work, charges a fortune and has a massively overinflated sense of self importance because he has a piece of paper saying he can fiddle with wires.

I have never had an electrician touch any wires in my house, wired it myself, paid some guy I knew to sign the off. Every electrical job I have done around the house whether going into the switchboard or fucking with lighting circuits I have done myself. Come at me government, it's my house you cocksuckers.

>>1158148
Just fucking do it mate. No one will know, fuck those laws.

>>1157870
P2P resistance is in the tens of kilo or even greater ohm range...

>>1157857
Do they really consider 33kV HV in NZ?

>>1157875
Damn, thats a bloody hard job in some real nasty conditions. Telecoms or utility?

>>1157882
Isolation transformers, rubber mats, never work with both hands at the same time and always presume its live and lethal. Always be well aware of your environment, others and identify hazards.

>>1158065
The first step would be to come up with a project, then break it down into simple steps and research how to do them. I find need is the best drive when learning something

>>1158054
The idea behind making this restriction is safety, in theory a laudable goal. The problem is that it gets applied with a broad brush and the infinite blunt power of bureaucracy and a bade misunderstanding of the magnitude of risk.

>tl;dr
>sometimes people burn down their house and kill cute families because they fucked up.
>aus response: ban all wire-touching.

>>1157872

This is the most stupid shit i've ever heard in my entire life. Seriously.

I'm an electrician in germany (230V AC at 50Hz)

And AC is the more dangerous type of Voltage due to the 50 times a sec changing.

This will bring your heart out of rhythm and you will die from
ventricular fibrillation.

In US and A it's 60 times a second.


>Chance of letting go

Show me that person who is able to time the exact moment of zero in the sinuswave by the speed of 50/60 changes a second.

Fucking faggot, scumbags like you are the reason so many people die from electricity.

>>1158383

Not OP but i sometimes do.


Mostly Siemens S7 or Siemens Logo.

>>1158144

In Italy you can't do any electrical work if you're not a licensed electrician.

>didn't stop me from redoing my electrical system from scratch

How the fuck is the (((government))) supposed to know anyway?

>>1158875

>Do shit
>House burns down
>Ask the latest offical electrician if he did this
>He says no
>You get spaghetti in your pockets

>>1158882

>latest official electrician is unknown and possibly long dead

My house was built in the '50s and still had the original shitty electricals.

Also i'm not retarded so your argument is invalid anyway.

>>1158863
>Show me that person who is able to time the exact moment of zero in the sinuswave by the speed of 50/60 changes a second.

It's not the zero crossing that enables this.

It's the fact that it's AC. The normal electrochemical signal from your nervous system, despite being far weaker, can still bias the average current one way or another. That's not the case with DC, which simply drowns it out completely.

The caveat is that DC requires a higher voltage to be hazardous, since AC passes more easily through a human's naturally-capacitive body.

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>>1158384
Well, first of all, you're only going to be using 3 of the pins on the bottom. The HV line is your ground, which will be one end of the spark gap. Two of those pins will be where you input the pulsed current to actually use the transformer. If you're going for long arcs in atmosphere, it helps to submerge the entire transformer in olive oil to prevent arcing across the pins, which will end up destroying the transformer. I made this flyback transformer pvc pipe thing to kill scorpions in my back yard; all you need is a CFL ballast, a 1kv or higher ceramic capacitor, high-voltage wires, and your flyback transformer. Look up how to use a flyback with a cfl ballast on youtube and you'll see how easy it is.

>>1158866
How often has hit happen to you when you common, for exemple plc and frequency controller, together and when the frequency controller brakes it takes the DO on the plc with it?

>>1158885
post pics

I want to run electrical out to a shop about 80-100 feet from the nearest panel.

I want 220V/110V tools in there total of no more than 50 amps maximum load

What size and type or conductors do I need for direct burial without a pipe and the soil is rocky so max depth about 10"

Its a backyard with in an area where there wont be any other stuff dug it except a plant or two

>>1159234
PS It goes straight out the wall into the ground, then a run past a raised garden bed

>>1159234
16 mm^2 Cu

>>1159234
10mm^2 Cu 3~ +N +Pe should do but i would pull 16mm^2 since its always good to be to large unless your spending a huge amount of money.

Also dont forget to sand around the cable and such.

>>1159234
Holy fucking shit 50A! Residential houses don't have main breakers over here that can take that punishment. It's usually 3*25 or 3*32 depending on if you heat with electricity or not. And how big your sauna is.

>>1159322
>Holy fucking shit 50A!
and yet you are getting more power out of your connection than our burger-bro
because you aren't double cucked on phase and voltage

What's your opinion on electroboom on youtube?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPHrSDnH6JI
He looks like a pretty down to earth, professional guy.

>>1158888
also, AC 120v rms is much higher peak to peak, so the current that may flow through the body when the voltage is somewhere in the 170s could stop the heart even if the 110v DC doesn't.

>>1159234

Honestly, since you are running 220v, I would suggest you carry over ONLY 220v and have a transformer to setup down to the 110v and take those points where necessary.

Saves you on pretty much everything

>>1158148

>tfw Australian
>light bulb blows and trips breaker
>can't change light bulb and flip back on breaker or the bronze will be at your front door
>electrician charges 300AUD just to come out
>croc gets hims before he gets to your front door
>company still charges you anyway
>Steve Irwin is dead so there is no one to move the croc
>it's getting kind of thirsty in this house since the drop bear got the last 3 plumbers
>would love to leave the house but the house leaving authority won't authorize it since there is a a layer of dust on your door step that may cause you to slip
>you could clean it yourself but that is illegal and the dingo got your normal house keeper and your abbo backup is still drunk on VB
>pretty thirsty m8

>>1158447
You'll be sweet as long as you don't have an electrical fire. Then you're pretty much buggered I guess

>>1157857
What's a good resource for looking into building automation I'm recently registered and somehow ended up doing mostly mechanical stuff.
How often do you manapouri mega?
Klien or wiha.
Notideal or raddies.
What do you think of bizline?
How in the fuck do you deal with managing apprentices? I swear to god I wasnt this dumb and completely useless with tools.
Best method of getting those old plastic covers off the bars on switchboard pans.
I use 2 breakers to isolate the one I'm fucking with but I've seen/know of more than a few people blowing themselvs up removing them.
HOW TO COC? do I go super detailed autist or just general?

Is it a good job? I want to join ibew, and I have connections inside the union, but I feel like I should go to college for some reason.

>>1157857
how long does it take to become a low voltage technician?

>>1161126
However long it takes you to land a job as a low voltage technician. No joke.

Also NZ fag here. Booked in to do an appliance test and tag course next month, my boss wants to know if il be able to check cables up to 600v with this qualification. Can I or does that kind of voltage take a 3 year apprenticeship just to be able to test and tag cables?

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>>1160625

>>1158054
Its not

>>1157857
What's the best (ie. easiest, safest) way to modify my electrical switchboard to get some free electricity?

>>1158863
You seem upset.

>>1161241
Test tagging is a fucking disgusting legally enforced scam. Both the people at the government who designed/enforce it as well as scummy test tag company owners who participate in this ponzi scheme should be fucking shot. I'm not even kidding. Fuck you for getting involved with it.

There was a guy on a site I was at, got hit for a 1000 dollar fine because the god damned microwave in his van wasn't test tagged. I now keep all my corded tools and chargers locked and in my van at all times, fucked if some dickhead worksafe inspector is going to be poking his nose in my shit. Jesus I hate those guys.

>>1163250
>Find incoming mains
>Cut a hole in your wall before the cable hits the meter
>Flip breaker on street box
>Join your new cable into oncoming cable and take into roof/under floor
>Join relevant appliance cables into it and enjoy free power

Purely hypothetical of course.

Got any electrifying puns?

>>1157857
>New Zealand
does this mean new zealand have electricity?

>>1157857
is your name Mark?

>>1163250
Electricity isn't free, actually nothing is free. Someone has to pay for it, just not you. That's why its called stealing.
>>1163280
That's fucked, over here we pat test mainly for insurance, there's a legal obligation to ensure electrical appliances are safe but there is no requirement for testing specifically, that's just how its usually done. It's obviously bullshit though, someone can chew up a cord the day after it's tagged and nobody gives a fuck for two years because its passed right? So it must be fine, never mind its sparking and on fire.

>>1159324
>>Holy fucking shit 50A!
Yeah but its so good to work with 60hz for control

>>1163250
Nothings free and if you dont know what your doing you might die so do it.

>>1161176
what about training? school? certification?
can i just get a job with no formal training?

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>>1159322
>>1159324

Holy shit. The legal minimum breaker size here in Canada is 100A @ 240v. Most new houses have a 200A panel. The bigger Travel trailers and motorhomes have 240v 50A connections ffs....

It's cute how many people call <50kV "high voltage". In the US that's referred to as medium voltage. Transmission voltages range from 12kV to 750kV, and it's only "high voltage" if it's >100kV. >>1158381
"Flyback" transformers require a really high frequency to operate. You need a resonant circuit firing transistors really fucking fast to get anything worthwhile out of it.
>>1158447
Unions.
>>1158888
Nice quads, but fuck you're so wrong.
>>1158905
Isolate that shit with an SSR or ice cube next time.
>>1160615
Seconded. Or if you're in the US run a 10-3 and use 1 leg/neutral for 120 and 2 legs for 240.
>>1161125
Unions suck the life out of you, steal your money, and 70% of the time turn you into a lazy entitled prick. Go to school. Learn something specific. You don't need a B.S. to make $150k but you'll likely never get there as a regular union hall elechicken. Learn PLCs, commissioning, or protection and controls.
>>1165195
Get your foot in the door. They'll tell you what you need to do to progress and often help you get where you want to be if you're smart and work hard.

>NETA-IV Commissioning engineer
>I turn on substations and power plants for a living

>>1158888
Nerve impulses are in the range of +-15mV man I don't see how the tiny current produced by that voltage will have an effect on a few milliamps of AC current

>>1165271
>You need a resonant circuit firing transistors really fucking fast to get anything worthwhile out of it.
Is that DIY-able

>>1165244
> legal minimum
Wow that sounds pretty fucking retarded I thought you guys were cool?
>>1165271
It's US standards that are pussified, ISO says something like <1kv is low voltage. Pretty sure freedomland refers to line voltage as medium? High? Used up all your categories before you even get started!
Makes sense I guess looking at how fucking retarded backwards gauge sizes are, make the number get smaller as the gauge gets bigger? Protip: Base it on its actual measured size! At least then its standardised. Fuck me get it together guys how do you manage to put your trousers on in the morning Jesus fuck.

Answer this >>1165802 op

>>1165787
Do you pull out a fucking micrometer and measure every wire to see if it's a 5mm or a 7mm? No. You either read the number on the insulation or work with it often enough to eyeball it. Since this is what we've all grown up with this is what we'll use till we die. Admittedly there are some fucking strange things to get used to. 10-32 and 1/4-20 are standard bolt sizes, 12-8 is what we call ring terminals for control wire, 4-10 is a cable with 4 10-gauge conductors, and 4/0 wire carries 18x the current as a #4 wire.

>>1165271
>Unions
LOL, you're deluded. Opinion discarded.

>>1165955
Lazy union hall cocksucker detected.

>>1158875
>>>1158144
>In Italy you can't do any electrical work if you're not a licensed electrician.

Ma che cazzo dici?

>>1165787
>be euro
>middle voltage is a subset of high voltage

What is the best way to gain an apprenticeship as an Electrician nowadays? I want to do a pre-trade qualification in electrotechnology but it's so expensive, and doesn't guarantee me a job. Wat do? - Ausfag here

>>1166137
>be euro
>follow iec like sane countries
>have no idea what you are talking about

>>1166386
that's because medium voltage isn't defined in the standards, faggot

>>1166543
right
so wtf are you on about then?
bibblewog voltage isn't defined either, where does that show up in your imaginary world of standards?

Which resources would you guys recommend that I can use to teach myself the basics so that I can DIY things on my own home?

>>1157857

Is the center ground socket of a duplex 120v outlet supposed to be up or down?

>>1166812
doesnt matter. in hospitals, standard procedure is to put ground up, so if a paper clip, or whatever, falls in the gap it'll hit the ground pin and bounce off instead of shorting and stopping the machine that's keeping the patient alive.

i prefer it down so it looks like a happy smiley face. if the patient dies, the smiley will comfort his family.

>>1166910
nice chuckle at that

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>>1157872
clearly dont know shit

>>1160625
Lost

>>1163281
Really? Nothing? No replies? Shocking.

>>1157857
What is the most expensive thing you ever worked on?

>>1158349
Yes, a SEM, but I may consider building some related/companion tools for it too, in the future, like a FIB.
>>1158427
Appears to be a good way of preventing/reducing arcing, but it also seems kind of messy to use, especially when prototyping.
>>1158827
Thanks for the tips, I've read of the exact same tips when working with even simpler devices, such as low-voltage SMPSes (from mains to 12/5V).

Hey bro current flows to the south island yeah??

>>1165244
Haha. There is some current.
Just to clarify, this is 100A*240V=24000W=24kW?

So a 25A*3*230V=17250W=17,250kW is basically the minimum you get. No legal minimums but I don't think smaller are sold..
@ 32A it's
32A*3*230V=22080W=22,080kW

But I think our neighbour have 3*25 and they supply the electricity to both us and them + the summer home by the sea and they popped one main breakers fuse once while we have been living here...
Might be 32A breaker this, I'm not sure.

My welding machine claims that it needs 25A breakers but I don't know. Need to test if I can pop 3*16A breakers with it. That is some wattage...

>>1165952

Jesus fuck you retarded yankee shithead. This it what EVERYONE does:
>You either read the number on the insulation or work with it often enough to eyeball it.

But you have the option to take out your
>fucking micrometer
And there is the added benefit of 2,5mm cable + 2,5mm cable equals 5mm cable. With "gauges there is no clear and precise logic behind it. Using cables especially on DIY projects is nice as you can just kludge it together as the mm^2 has the logic behind it.

When I was studying molecular biology some 15 years ago we were taught to use some stupid non-SI units can't remember what it was now. Because I wanted to be without conversion factors I used consistently SI trough my calculations. Those idiots of assistants on the lab courses when checked my calculations marked them as being wrong. Because they used different units. There are idiots in every field and on every continent...

>>1158749
It's used as sub-transmission there in most places.

>>1157857
1. Are there laws that mandate the undergrounding of distribution lines (medium voltage) in NZ?
2. Would an entirely underground distribution distribution grid be significantly less efficient due to current leakage and capacitance issues in the cables?
3. Would the extra cost of underground cables not be better spent on renewable energy generation?

>>1168787

Why 3 phase for residential?? Seems really unnecessary when you can get twice that power with 240v@100 or 200A.

>>1168911
The whole grid is 3~.
3~ 32A vs your two phase(?) 100 A. Same same. And 32 isn't the biggest option, you can get main breakers probably quite high but I haven't seen bigger than 63A (42,470kW. Big enough already or need bigger?).
Three phase has its advantages. One good thing is that it can be split into 3x230V. And three phase with its 400V and shorter peak to peak voltage has a nice amount of oomph. On motors you can swap the direction of rotation just by swapping two phases.

If there is a farmer with all his equipment and our family with our electric heating and these 25A breakers are big enough why crave for more?

I'm building a house and had to run a approx 150m cable. It was 4x50mm aluminium. Put in a 5x6mm copper cable in the same trench so that I have a 3x16A + schuko by the sea. The aluminium cable was 1000€. As was the copper. Cables are expensive so a high voltage low current system is superior if you ask my wallet.

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>>1168927
42,470kW is still less than my 200amp supply.

How many breakers do you get in a panel there? A lot of new houses here have almost all 40 breaker spaces filled.

Pic related has a 600v 1600A 3 phase supply. Pretty ridiculous for a house.

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>>1168937
jeezus, that is one ugly building. 1600A, theres a shitload of rooms, probably swimming pool(s), jacuzzis, 10-odd car garage - fill that with top of the line Teslas, watch your mainfuse pop. Its excessive, sure, but, then again, so is everything else in that shithole, apparently. 1600A supply dont mean you need to use that much either.

>>1168962

It is ugly. It looks like a hotel. It only has maybe 2 or 3 bedrooms and a medium sized pool. Most of the inside is open space. The house was originally supposed to be over 85k sqft but the wife said he could only have 26 000 sqft. 1600A would still be overkill but I could definitely have fun with that.

>>1166812
In some parts of the country they put the ground on bottom for most outlets, and flip them for the one in the room that's switched for a floor lamp.

>>1168937
>>1168962
>building a stickframe house this large

like, if you are going to go full retard like that why not build it out of solid stone?

>>1166812
I've read the code in three states and none specifically say one is right and the other is wrong. I have seen them ground on top and ground on the bottom. Generally, though, something like a night light or power brick expects the ground to be on the bottom of it is 'upsidedown' when you plug it in.

>>1163281
Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar.
One says, “I think I’ve lost an electron.”
The other says, “Are you sure?”
The first replies, “Yes, I’m positive…

>>1163281

A neutron walks into a bar and orders a drink. Upon being asked the price, the bartender responded, “For you? No charge.”)

>>1169093
NEC specifically says that either way is acceptable these days, after flip-flopping in a few updates.

You will still find the crusty-asshole 'sparkies who demand that they be ground-up "'cause this is commercial, duh, dun you know how tuh read?" or "'cause this is residential, duh, you an idjit?"

A majority of plugs and devices are molded for ground-down.

>>1157857

ok
got this outlet
seems normal neg and pos proper readings on probe
but when i plug in w saw or any other tool
theres probe reading on the case of the tool
what the fck is going on ?

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Anything that can be done about a 120vac to 12vdc transformer with coil hum?

>>1157857
I get zapped sometimes when welding, usually hands and fingers only because of bad positioning.

will I dieded

>>1169613

Dump thermal epoxy on the main inductors. Other than that, nothing practical.

>>1159322
Poster of the question here.

They have a 50A breaker in one panel they used for an arc welder

Here 220V is done by using 2 110 V circuits and the breaker goes across both

>>1169539
Check readings between a remote earth and each conductor

>>1168805
Most of our distribution lines are aerial all the HV stuff anyway. They start burying under 1000v

>>1168764
Look up hvdc link

>>1157863
two of those are the same thing you dumb cunt, neither are more lethal, it's a combination of the two and the way it enters and exits the body.

>put your finger in a light socket
>you burn your finger and then break your neck after falling off the ladder

>grab two phases with both hands
>you smack yourself in the face with both hands
>50/50 chance of going into cardiac arrest because the electricity passed across your chest
>>1157872
fucking neck yourself, i really hope you're memeing because you've just told everyone the exact opposite of fact.
>>1158541
this.
>>1158054
because of the oxygen thieves above

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>>1158895
>it helps to submerge the entire transformer in olive oil to prevent arcing across the pins
nigga olive oil is around 25% water, if you're going to submerge it in anything, use motor oil.

>>1171525

I wouldn't recommend olive oil desu...try baby oil...

>>1169643
that's from the HF start, it uses a high voltage generator to strike the arc for you, then the current flows through the weld instead of your body once it gets going. first thing i would check is if your gloves are wet? if not they are probably just worn from picking up hot shit/grinder work.

you won't die because it's such a short event and welders are not mains earth referenced.
next time grab both ends, torch and ground, hit the switch, better than a hot cup of coffee, yes sir.

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>>1168937
I'm on 400v 2500A, A+B redundancy.

Having it installed over the next three weeks with the diesel gensets, the electricians are nice guys

> too bad I'll have to kill them to keep the bunker location secret.

>>1171603
fuckin noice garage. what else are you planning to put down there? seems like a waste to do false flooring just for power distro.

>>1157863
Current. For the people who say voltage is responsible for the current, why does a 11000 V transformer kill you but a tazer doesn't?

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Not sure if you or anyone is here but I have a troubleshooting question.

For a while is my ceiling fan has stopped working, I noticed that the multi speed switch that it used was not working (lights that tell you that you've pressed a button didn't flash). So before I bought a new switch I decided to test to see if maybe the switch went bad for some reason by swapping it out with an identical working switch from another room. When I hooked it up and switched it on in the room with the "dead fan" I heard a pop sound come from ceiling fan itself and now the working switch is dead too.

I've tried looking this issue up and can't really find similar problems.

Here is a picture (sorry for it not being right side up) of the wiring. The two black wires have no labels anywhere and it doesn't seem to matter if I swap them out (I've tested it when it was working).

I'm 75% this is a problem I won't be able to fix myself, I just want to know what the hell could be causing this.

>>1171775
Bad motor killed switch-wire without switch to test. Will probably trip breaker-or start a fire! Good luck.

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I went going apartment hunting today and saw this at a place I otherwise liked.

Is it safe?

>>1171880
thats telephone wire. perhaps it was being used as a clothesline?

>>1171870
Well then that would explain why my ark faults have been tripping "randomly". Thanks.

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>>1171525
Maybe some kind of impure stone ground olive oil would have an insane water content like that, but regular extra virgin olive oil is about 0.1 grams of water per kilogram of oil at most. Here's the business end in direct contact with the oil. Notice that the arc chooses the air path rather than the liquid path—a really strong indicator that olive oil is a sufficient insulator for this purpose. Using new motor oil would be a waste and using used motor oil would be retarded. I think the best oil to use would be some sort of mineral oil, but why bother when cheap olive oil works just fine?

>>1171921
>ark faults
like what, sinking? crashing in the harbour?

>>1172069
Yes, exactly.

No but really, they're just breakers that are more sensitive. I replaced them months ago because I couldn't find out what the fuck was the cause because it would shut off multiple rooms and it would be "random" sobI had an electrician come out and he essentially just said "oh it's the ark faults, you should just replace them because they're annoying". I did that and it fixed the breaker flips but ended up in the situation that I'm in now. But I've now fixed it.

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>>1172971
Ended up replacing my first ever selling fan and multiple switches and the issues is now fixed. Feels pretty nice.

I have a stupid question, My grandfather just passed and left me his house. it was built by him and his brother back in 1947, it has the screw in glass fuse box and it's only a 80 amp service he told me. so i went and got a 100 amp breaker box from home depot, my question is if i change it myself do i need to have public service come out and change the main wires from the pole to the meter? or will it be ok as is? also apparently the black wire is supposed to be the hot wire? I'm used to 12v wiring but i figured i can just hook the new one up by just putting the wires back just like they are in the old one but i know eventually the inspector is going to come look at it. any tips/help is appreciated..

>>1173198
I'm not a certified electrician...

In the U.S., there are two hot wires.
Each is 120V from ground but they're 240V from each other.

Going to 100A from 80A would allow you to add another circuit, but don't exceed the original fuse Amp rating for an existing circuit.

I'd imagine the wire from the house to the pole is fine, but check the size and current rating of the wire from the fusebox to the meter.

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>>1173212
forgot pic

>>1173198
I'm the first guy to tell you that you should know how to do basic electrical work around your house. You should know to trip the breaker (remove the fuse in your case), replace a switch or outlet, stuff like that. This is not basic electrical work, and if you aren't sure if black is the hot wire, and don't even mention knowing how to test for it with a meter, you should not be attempting it. Call the man.

>>1173198
awesome thanks, i just wanted to be sure I was going to do it right the first time. the wires from the meter to the box look like 0 gauge to me so it should be ok, i dont really have alot of things pulling amps the main thing i wanted to do was hook up a 220 outlet to use my stick welder and i believe that draws around 60-80 amps so i'm going to try using 2 30amp breakers and see if they trip or not.

>>1173232
I've done alot of eletrical work but never replaced the main fuse panel. I just wanted to make sure it was correct before replacing the box. i swear every other time when doing outlets that the white was hot but it may have just been that way in the slum apartments i used to work at.

>>1173240
If true then I retract my previous admonishment. Black is hot in the States, red as well, usually... Check it with a meter, and Google that shit for the rest. I'm pretty well versed in electrical work, but I'd definitely ask around. There are some wonky, vague-ish codes out there that I'm sure you're about to dive right in to. Anon is also correct that you've probably got 2 legs of 120 coming in. Seriously, Google is your friend, don't trust this place. Good luck.