Tag
Distribution board
12 articles
ArticleHow to Do an Insulation Resistance Test on House Wiring: Isolating Safely, Choosing the Test Voltage, L–N and L–E Tests, Reading Megohms and Finding the FaultA house has just been rewired and the client wants the power on today. Another client's ground floor was flooded last week. A third has an RCD that trips "for no reason" every time…
ArticleHow to Use a Clamp Meter: Measuring Load Current Safely, Checking Circuits Against Breaker Ratings, Motor Inrush and Leakage Current BasicsA client says the breaker for the kitchen "trips every evening", another wants to know whether the old cable to the water heater can take a new, bigger unit, and a third suspects t…
ArticleGrid-tied solar wiring diagram: DC box, AC box and inverterA grid-tied solar wiring diagram for a home runs in one direction: PV array → DC box (DC fuses, DC breaker, DC surge protector) → grid-tied inverter → AC box (MCB/RCBO, AC surge pr…
ArticleHow to wire an RCD (RCBO/RCCB) at home: 30 mA choice and testingWiring a residual current device (RCD) correctly means: take the phase (L) and neutral (N) from the supply into the two top terminals, take exactly the L–N pair of the protected ci…
ArticleHow to Install Electricity Sub-Meters for Rental Rooms: Choosing the Meter, Wiring to Its Terminal Diagram, One Breaker per Room, Testing and Fair Billing RecordsA landlord has six rooms for rent behind one EVN meter, and every month there is the same argument about who used how much electricity. They ask you to fit a meter for each room. I…
ArticleHow to Earth (Ground) a House Safely: Earth Rod Installation, Earthing Conductor, Bonding and TestingA house can have new wiring, good MCBs and a 30 mA RCD, and still be unsafe if its earthing is poor. The earth connection lets a fault on a metal appliance case be detected and cle…
ArticleUnusually high electricity bill: checking the meter and tracing current leakage in the home“This month’s electricity bill has doubled, but we’re using everything the same as before.” “Could the house have a current leak?” “Or is the meter running wrong?” Electricians get…
ArticleInspecting the electrical system of an old house before buying, renovating or renting: signs of deteriorating wiring, insulation resistance testing and when to rewireA client calls: “I’m about to buy a townhouse built more than twenty years ago. The price is reasonable, but the distribution board looks very old. Could you come and check whether…
ArticleInstalling a surge protective device (SPD) in a home distribution board: choosing the type, wiring in the right position, short earth leads and checks after thunderstormsAfter a thunderstorm, a client calls: “Lightning struck near the house last night, and this morning the wifi modem, the camera recorder and the air-conditioner control board are al…
ArticleInstalling a changeover switch for a home generator: choosing the type, wiring mains and generator, preventing backfeed and operating safelyA customer calls: “We've been getting a lot of power cuts lately, so I just bought a 5 kVA petrol generator. The other day I made a cable with a plug on both ends, plugged one end…
ArticleSafe home charging sockets for e-scooters and e-bikes: charging location, dedicated cable and breaker, RCD protection and fire preventionA boarding-house owner calls: "There are eight or nine electric scooters in my row of rooms now, and every evening they're charged in the corridor from extension leads. Yesterday o…
ArticleInstalling a home distribution board: laying out MCBs and RCBOs and building a safe earthing systemThe distribution board is the "heart" of a home's electrical system. However neatly the cables are run, if the board is wired carelessly, fitted with the wrong protective devices o…