bbz404

Ok thanks will do.

Do you happen to have a source address for this image?

Or did you take a photo at the PEA?

Thanks

I don't know about the PEA inspection. But a permanent meter is installed and all the procedures have been done. Total cost was around 25,000 Baht for the meter and the PEA inspection.

For the electrician, I will print him some of the PEA knowledge documents found here (PEA) and ask him to walk me through the entire installation.

Crossy, thanks a lot.

I will check Tesco for these plugs as HomePro didn't have them.

For the earth leakage, thanks also. I am no expert at all and I am trying to familiarize myself with some of the terminology.

I read in your IMPORTANT INFORMATION post that there is some regulation in place that required RCD protections for water heaters, outside outlets and so on. I wonder how we got our supply connected just 2 weeks ago even though we clearly don't have any RCD protection installed (I was not there for the supply connection by the PEA in Rayong)?

So I've made an appointment with the electrician and will discuss with him about these things next week. I will bring that PEA sheet with me. I think  I prefer individual RCDs for the concerned outlets so that we don't have faulty trips when we're not there (as this will be a weekend house).

The breakers are definitely the US style ones (Safe T Cut US breakers) but i will ask them to take the lid off and send me a photo. 

How come Safe-T-Cut don't sell RCD for US style breaker format even though everything is supplied from them? Weird. Everything is quite new to me but I want to have an as safe as possible installation from the start.

By the way. Here are the photos of my consumer central unit. I don't see any RCD breakers and the main breaker is 100A. What are your thoughts on that? Shouldn't the water heaters, oven, electric hob, washing machine etc have RCD circuit breakers? Thanks for your help. 

At moderator: sorry please move this thread to the electrical forum

So our newly built house will be completed soon and I have made sure that proper grounding was installed to all electrical outlets.

Last week, the water pump was installed and of course, the plug is only a 2-pin plug without grounding. Same as for our fridge. I've already searched the forum and you can use the grounding wire of the appliance and attach it to a new plug to connect it to the grounded outlet.

In HomePro, all I've found was this: HomePro Plug Anybody knows if these are suitable?

I want to do it for both the water pump and the fridge.

Second question: I'm also looking for an extension cord reel. Same problem: they have 3 pin outlets to connect to but the plug is only 2-pin and thus not grounded (Cord Reel). Any idea on where to find a suitable one (besides HomePro)?

And lastly: My dishwasher installed in our BKK rental house is from Siemens and came with a SCHUKO plug AND an adapter to the Thai 3-pin system since SCHUKO plugs are not grounded when connected to a Thai style outlet. Any idea where I can find these adapter cords or simple adapters? All I found on Lazada was SCHUKO to British 3 pin system which would work in Thailand I guess but I'd prefer the Thai round pin ones if possible. Also, I don't really trust Lazada cheap China items to be properly wired.

Thanks for all your help!

My wife and I just got approved our mortgage with BBL for a house in Rayong. It's in her name, she is currently at home and I have been working in Thailand legitimately for over 2 years. 

BBL was actually the only bank that was not scared of talking to a foreigner-thai couple. We have tried a couple of the other banks (SCB, Krungsri, KBank) but it was clear that they were reluctant. I'm still waiting on UOB to give me their rates. 

What I found was that compared to a car loan, housing loans are handled very amateur-like. There are no experts or banking agents working only on housing loans and who could go through with you on all the details. They are merely collecting information and forwarding it to the HQ who will maybe call once or twice and then unilaterally make a decision on the loan amount and interest rates to be granted. With my car loan, the bank guy came to my house and filled out the paperwork and handled everything super smoothly. I didn't have to go to the bank once and for that they only make 28K in interest! Why they don't put more effort into the housing loan service is a mystery to me. 

Also, we got approved based on my income as a guarantor which, had I been Thai, would have allowed me to benefit from the much lower High-Income Earner interest rates. But now, just because of my foreign citizenship, we're being discriminated against by having to pay the normal rates assessed on my wife only (who doesn't work). Our offer from BBL is for 10 years but I intend to pay back the whole mortgage within 3 years anyway, so the interest rate hike bothers me, but only to a certain extent.

Just wait until you put your foot down with 4 adults in the car. Even less satisfying...

I used to live in Germany and regularly drove more than 200km/h on the motorway there.

Thailand is different and so the focus on how to drive changes. We have test driven the HR-V extensively and it has plenty of power for our use (Bangkok traffic 65%, upcountry driving 35%). It can easily reach 140km/h even fully loaded and that is more than enough for 99% of Thai roads.

Also the complaints about the CVT are in my opinion exaggerated. For city traffic, nothing is quieter. And the responsiveness is ok.

Overall, the 1.8 liter engine is great. Had it been offered only with the 1.5 liter engine as in Europe though, I would not have bought it. That engine is definitely underpowered!

Dear all,

Just picked up our new HR-V EL from the dealer on Saturday. Great car over all, but the inbuilt radio is bull***t.

I already knew that the new entertainment system was reduced in size compared to the late 2015 model and the HDMI, USB and AUX ports moved (idiotically) to the unit's right side right in the middle of your line of sight from the driver's seat.

So far, so bad. But does anyone know about the following issues with the unit:

- can brightness be adjusted on the touchscreen? I cannot find any settings for this. Or is it linked with the brightness of the driver console?

- can I display the clock somehow? (the settings option is greyed for some reason. Now, I only have a clock in the driver's information screen. Passengers cannot see it.
- the mirroring of the iPhone through the AV adapter is not full screen. Even if tapping on full screen, it doesn't use the whole screen. Can this be adjusted?

When comparing this in built system with the one that I have read about in the US manual, one can only be jealous of the functions the Americans are getting (wallpaper adjustments, digital radio, Honda Link etc.).

If anyone has suggestions on how to improve the system, I will be very thankful. Can a new, improved, software be uploaded for example?

Thanks and all the best!

Mind you I never made a cash advance, but why would that incur charges if it was within my credit amount?

Most (not all) credit cards have a 3% cash advance fee. So if your credit card has a cash advance fee you would still pay that fee even if you had a credit balance that immediately paid off the advance off with no interest charge.

Is there a cash advance fee on Bkk bank visa platinum card IF you have overpaid and there is a positive balance on your card ?

Now I don't have the card, but I bet the cash advance fee still applies. But since you have a positive balance on the card part/all of the cash advance would be paid off immediately which in turn prevents interest charges from starting to accrue on the cash advance amount from the movement of the cash advance.

If your positive balance is say 10,000 baht and you do a cash advance of 10,000 the cash advance fee applies but the cash advance is also immediately paid off...no cash advance interest will occur.

If the positive balance is say 5,000 baht and you do a cash advance of 10,000 the cash advance fee applies, 5K of the 10K is immediately paid off, and cash advance interest immediately starts accruing on the unpaid 5K portion.

My Citibank Thai credit card charges interest on cash advances from the day you withdraw the amount, no matter if there is a positive balance (impossible with Citi anyway) or you pay 100% of outstanding balance on time. The cash advance is separate from this and should thus be used only in case of true emergencies.

I will use this old thread for my problem and wondering if anyone has some advice:

I have recently ordered a new HR-V from Honda. We will be putting 550K down and i would like to charge 200K to my Thai credit card. They said, that they add a 3% surcharge, which I will have to pay in cash. Obviously, I will not do that. If they insist, I will pay the 200K in cash.

The reason I want to use my credit card is so I can get Thai Airways miles for this purchase. It's not because I do not have the money. So, do you think that there is some wiggle room with Honda on negotiating the waiver of these fees? Up until now, Honda has been very, very stingy when offering perks on my purchase.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Btw, Honda dealer is on Raminthra in Bang Khen.

All these motorbike rentals that conveniently don't have any insurance for there bikes, of course they do, you cannot get a tax disk without at least the government tax which everybody has to have.

They should make it law that all rental bikes are fully covered including theft and not try and con tourists into paying over inflated price.

Good luck with getting anything more than 3rd class insurance for a bike/scooter under 250cc in Thailand. It doesn't exist.

I have insured my 125cc Grand Filano with First Class Insurance through AXA. Yes, it does exist but is not promoted/known of by Thai dealers and Thai people.

Premium btw is less than 5,000 THB with a coverage of 80% of 50,000 to my own bike.

It sounds as though you will need to enter Thailand on a 30-day visa-exempt entry, convert to a 90-day Non-O at immigration before that expires and then during the final 30 days of your Non-O, apply for an extension of stay based on retirement. Except for the visa-exempt to Non-O conversion, visas are not available in-country. Now would be a good time to start thinking about the financial requirements for these.

A conversion from Tourist Visa to Non-B is also possible in-country. My company took care of everything.

Will the Volkswagen come with or without bogus software?

Guess it'll be a T5 transporter which is a hi-so minivan for Thai. In Europe only constructionworkers drive those

Transporters are nice vans though.

Why don't they go for a Maybach? Never seen those in Thailand and they are another level of a Benz.

Actually, the VW Transporter has become much too expensive for construction companies/workers. It is also a Hi-So vehicle in Germany with the Multivan or California lines being very popular with corporate middle class executives. They are ridiculously priced compared to their competitors from Mercedes or Ford. However, they retain value like crazy. A T4 Multivan of at least 10 years of age can run you far more than 10,000 Euros in Germany..

Yes, they are in dire need of IT security awareness. One example from today:

I got an email from my Bualuang securities adviser regarding some promotion. She had emailed to her clients directly with all email addresses in copy visible to everyone else!! I kindly made her aware of their own privacy statement in which it clearly says that they will not disclose any personal information without prior consent.

She apologized quite quickly and promised to take me out of her public mailing list. But this apparent lack of privacy concern is very discomforting.

My waterheaters have a C32 each.

Small aircon for bedroom C20

Big aircon C32

You must have very small aircons and small condo if it can have 2 on one breaker. That's probably why it goes off at night sometimes. At least it works or it wouldn't go off.

We have an earthleak breaker installed, maybe that's what the C stands for?

My kitchen has a 40 amp breaker for the separate fusebox there.

The main fusebox has 14 breakers, kitchen has 5.

HACO brand sells extensioncables with many outlets who have a separate fuse, they can be 2000 or 2500 watt and look of good quality. Never buy cheap extensioncables in thailand, i had several on fire in the past. Also in the condo i used an electric oven which put the walloutlet into smoking/flaming.

Be carefull here.....

The aircons are fairly small yes.

For the other breakers, one is for the water heater, one for all the outlets and one for the lights. Neither the two stove electrical plates, fridge, (now washing machine), microwave, oven or Entertainment has its own dedicated breaker. In 6 months, maybe it'll be time to move

Our OP needs to address a number of issues:-

1. Install some form of earth-leakage device (Safe-T-Cut) - Most Urgent
2. Check if that apparent earth really is one - difficult without test equipment
3. Replace his outlets and actually connect the 3rd pin
4. Earth his water heater

1. Can be sorted by a visit to HomePro who will also have an installation option - take it.

Whilst the sparks from 1. is there ask if he can check that 'earth', you can also ask him if he has a 'friend' who can do the other stuff.

Hi Crossy,

Thanks for your advice. I will have to talk to the owner and convince him that I want additional safety installed. I don't know what he will say regarding the new cables and outlets to be installed.

Anyway, this weekend I will go to Home Pro and look/ask around. I have one not far from me.

Ok. Yes the photo is upside down. Damn iPhone uploads ?

You really should have this topic moved to the electrical forum to get some input on exactly what you need to have done. Once you know that, you can start looking for the electrician.

Sophon

How Do I do that?

You can contact one of the moderators by PM, but the easiest way would probably be to click the "report" link under your post, and ask to have the topic moved.

Sophon

Ok done. Thx

You really should have this topic moved to the electrical forum to get some input on exactly what you need to have done. Once you know that, you can start looking for the electrician.

Sophon

How Do I do that?

Thank you all for your answers.

I don't know exactly what M5 means but I guess amp yes. The M6 is the water heater. The two aircon units are on an M5. We sometimes have outages on those in the middle of the night. Yes I agree somethings not right, it's the Thai way of installation ?

This is my unit. Only two cables coming in to the main breaker. Looks like no grounding.

I will check that tonight. The building is around 18 years old, I cannot believe there was no grounding installed at all.

As for electrical equipment, you're right. My Samsung fridge came with only a 2-pin plug and a small grounding installation at the frame. The Samsung Washing machine has a 3-pin plug. Funny thing is, that I only have 2-pin outlets in the whole place. So we connect to the only outlet where the owner just drilled a third hole into the outlet

Dear Forum,

Anyone know a reliable electrician that could install some grounding in an 11th floor condo unit in Din Daeng? We've bought a washing machine and I would feel safer if it were properly grounded. And while at it, he could ground the whole place so we will not feel a shock every time we touch the fridge or microwave with moist hands or try our luck every time we use the water heater in the shower

If he could understand some basic English, it would also be very helpful.

Thanks for any advice.