Crossy

Resistor colour code - We learned that one too Family friendly version: - Black Beetles Running On Your Garden Bring Very Good Weather.

We only have mains outdoor lights on the upstairs sitting area, unfortunately the one place suitable for a photo-switch can "see" the lights it controls. For ages I was using a carefully shaded sensor but in the end gave up and just put them on a timer. All our other outside lights are solar and controlled by the solar charge controllers.

Power ON, finger on the end. You can also check the screws on the small breakers, they should light the neon.

Electrons do not worry about the colour of the insulation. Electricians look at the colour, then check the function anyway!

Power ON for all neon tests (care please).

Not at the fitting. The swap would be at the supply end.

Just check the most annoying ones 🙂 You should also check that your incoming supply isn't reversed. The bar on the left with all the white wires should NOT light the neon.

Do you have a neon-screwdriver (the type you put your finger on the end to check for live)? If so, with the switch pulled off the wall and turned ON (light lit) check if the terminals of the switch light the neon (they should). If they don't and with the switch OFF one terminal is live and the other isn't then you have a switched neutral. Switched neutral is the No.1 cause of lights glowing (or CFLs flashing) when off.

Really, I thought red was for the second 120V phase. So red and black are both hot, white/grey is neutral and green is ground.

All good stuff above. The problem with charging directly from solar is that solar isn't constant. That coupled with EV chargers being fixed rate (or at least not remotely controllable) makes life a bit difficult. By far the easiest / cheapest way to do this is to go grid-tie with an inverter that has a current-transformer so it can be set to not export to the grid (with an electronic meter you really don't want to export). A 5kW grid-tie inverter with about 6kW of panels will easily power your granny-lead during the day and any excess generated will go to offset your daytime domestic usage (which also applies whilst you're out and about in the EV). There are solutions that provide a variable charge rate EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) but off the shelf units are expensive and not everyone wants to start playing with something like Open-EVSE.

Thanks for the photo. Looks fine. I was a bit worried that your man had somehow hooked up the LED unit to the existing choke/starter which could lead to "interesting" effects if it wasn't specifically designed to be that way. Now you know how to read your meter did you manage to check the supply voltage?

UK regs allow any colour for earth, so long as it's over-sleeved green/yellow at connection points. Domestic twin and earth has a bare (uninsulated) earth core, sleeving required at the ends of course. What is absolutely not permitted is the use of a green/yellow core for anything other than earth (no over-sleeve permitted). In Thailand, pretty much anything goes in domestic 😞

It's all about the money of course. The US is not the boss of Thailand no matter how much they like to think they are. Any country following US or, more likely UN, sanctions do so on an individual and purely voluntary basis.

Pop the cover off one of your fittings and post a photo please

It never hurts to add some extra "help" to the organisms in the tanks. Remember the tanks will be naturally full, but it's mostly water. It's the sludge that can build up that's the issue and what needs pumping occasionally. Are your tanks the concrete-ring type or the moulded plastic chaps?

2A is more than a "leak". Is the cable to the house underground or on poles? If it's on poles examine carefully, particularly at the top of the meter pole, that's where any hooky connection is going to be, use binoculars if you have them. It's worth talking to your PEA guy, many of them are happy to do a bit of moonlighting.

I would have thought it's too far north. The isthmus is 90km wide as opposed to about 70km at Ranong. There's also the minor issue of there being another country in the way.

This icon is just so apt for this thread. Fetching my coat

Flickering when large loads are applied is often a loose connection. Get your man to check all the terminals in your distribution board, and (if it's not sealed) the meter. If the meter is sealed you'll need to get the supply authority to check.

For the engineers - Your starter for 10 - What is the mirror for and how do you use it? Each small division on the scale is 5V when set to 250V So, for 220V the needle should be 4 small divisions past the 200 mark.

Gawd there really is some total b*****ks being spoken in this thread. Firstly, your 8kW heater will draw about 36A on full chat, assuming that the supply voltage isn't collapsing due to excessive load. I would go and buy a cheap digital meter, they are small $$$ now and reading an analog meter is becoming a dying art. I actually have that exact meter for when I'm feeling nostalgic (actually, there are times when an analog meter is the best tool for the job) LEDs shouldn't be popping rapidly unless there's something pretty wrong with the supply (or the local shops have real junk) Daft question, when you replaced the fluorescents you did remove all the exiting "stuff" inside the fitting (choke, starter etc.) didn't you? Anyway, task a would be to measure the incoming supply voltage with no load (everything turned off). That should be worst case for over-voltage.

Looks OK to me ^^^ I've been here 19 years and my spoken Thai as at about 18-month old kid level. I understand a lot more than that but being somewhat deaf I don't really hear the tones and so I fail to be able to imitate them. Like Cantonese (another tonal language) getting the tones wrong is always rude!! You want a hard language, try Tagalog. Even the Filipinos would rather use English!

Sorry GG, this thread has the potential to slaughter this rule.

This one can use wires from 6mm2 to 50mm2 on the main and 6mm2 to 35mm2 on the tap.

Did you mean "February"??