Led Lolly Yellow Lolly

5 minutes ago, JAN said:

Times I left at "5"

 

This is almost certainly your tripping problem (in isolation from all the other problems mentioned in this thread). Personally I think it's poor design to have one of these phase guards tripping a manual reset breaker, particularly where the power is as flakey as it is in Thailand.

3 phase motors are always the logical choice if you have 3 phase power available, no start capacitor to keep failing.

You have some blade fuses and surge arresters under the transformer. If I was going to be picky, the crossbar with those fuses is mounted way too low. It's common here to see them so low you can reach out and touch them.

FWIW the first line of defense against lightning is those arcing horns on the ceramic insulators on the transformer. Second line of defense is the surge arresters where those blade fuses are. Third line of defense is the MOVs in your indoor panel.

Can you take a pic of the transformer up on the pole and any switchgear around it? Do you know if this panel goes directly to it?

I also just realised that surge protection doesn't look like it's rated for use as a primary surge arrestor. Please take clearer pictures.

These three phase conductors are all hooked up to phase 1.

I don't want to scare you but I wouldn't want to use your pool. Proper electricals with swimming pool equipotential safe zoning is a whole area of expertise in and of itself!

This system is clearly a mess. It was probably fine when installed but it's been hacked up later by idiots. The more I look at it the more I despair about the way things are here.

Is that meter the one the PEA/MEA comes to read? If so, it's possible this installation might be directly connected to the transformer unfused (I've seen it done). This would be bad, very very bad. Do yourself a favour and get a pro on site to assess things. A pro doesn't cost 300 Baht per day and make everything safe with reassuring words.

... which would explain the erroneous neutral count...

13 minutes ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

Count the wires on the neutral bus. The count is wrong for the downstream supplied buildings unless they used microscopic neutral conductors.

Oh good god, can't be sure but it looks like the ground bus is being used as the neutral bus!

Count the wires on the neutral bus. The count is wrong for the downstream supplied buildings unless they used microscopic neutral conductors.

What's going on here? Two phase conductors appear to be missing...

Also, the breaker opposite this one has secondary wires that are obviously too small for this breaker and they seem to go to a wire nut kludge. You've had the clowns in for sure.

What the hell is this? Red wire spliced into a blue wire with a wrap of PVC tape, looks like the local Somchai the know it all has been busy here...

NE bond also appears to be missing but it's hard to tell, maybe the one under the same screw as the Neutral incomer. It's debatable if it should be present here without knowing more about the site.

Further to the above, this is a 480 volt arc flash. You DO NOT want it to happen, believe me. You should ALWAYS be cogniscent of the possibility this might occur when working on live panels downstream of a transformer like that. . .

Of note to me in the above images:

- Firstly, that EasyPact looks like might have residual current leakage detection built in. I can't really see the model number clearly, but if so, this is more likely to be the root of your trip issues rather than over-current.

- Secondly, the phase guards are missing from one of those incomers, the one with the MOVs below it. This is hazardous.

- Thirdly, those improvised bus bars sticking out above the phase guards of the EasyPact. That's really disgraceful. I suspect whoever did that couldn't make the cable terminations fit in the breaker, and so kludged it. A 50KVA transformer will be capable of producing a very serious and dangerous arc flash event, and that kludge is on the transformer side of the breaker. I would personally condemn this installation until this is remedied.

It looks like the installation has been modified by 'someone' ???

To see how much current each phase is drawing, change the ammeter selector to something other than the 0 point, you can go switch everything on and do a load test.

Under no circumstances whatsoever would I order something that costly from Lazada. The only places I order big purchases from are official brand websites (e.g my latest phone (Xperia 1 II) direct from official Sony Thailand website). If I have to, I'll go buy in person, regardless of additional expenditure.

I use Lazada for small purchases but it's an online cesspit.

Looks like you have some good material for this topic

Think about the advice given if you get caught in the open in an electrical storm, crouch down, hands on head, feet together. This is to avoid step potential, which could be tens or even hundreds of thousands of volts per metre as the lightning charge dissipates. This phenomenon radiates out across the ground for hundreds of metres from the point lightning hits the ground.

If you have multiple unbonded ground rods, the charge between rods will find a shorter less resistant path than the ground/soil (LAN cables, internal wiring etc etc). This will be the end of all your stuff.

On 6/3/2021 at 8:56 AM, NCC1701A said:

 

i had the same problem. very common. i got a 8' copper rod and drove it in the ground outside my window.

 

This works but you want to avoid driving multiple ground rods for individual devices/rooms if you can. You're creating a ground differential hazard (think lightning strikes nearby) which can cause huge damage or injury with galvanically separate ground points. Multiple ground rods where necessary should be bonded together. Grounding is a surprisingly complex topic.

32 minutes ago, stubuzz said:

Is it normal for the copper coated grounding rods to rust?

Yes it's normal but undesirable. The rods aren't solid copper, they're copper clad steel. It's common practice to completely bury ground rods in concrete in Thailand but it's completely stupid, as there is then no way to later inspect the ground rod. You leave it sticking out of the ground, or in a ground pit, and then spray the connection with paint to keep the corrosion in check. Where they MUST be buried, they should be exothermically welded rather than clamped.

Since closing our hotel, waiting for covid to phvck off, all the minibar stock is going out of date. I see it as my solemn duty to make sure it all gets drunk before the BBF date. This is a big plomplem.

3 hours ago, malibukid said:

this is why its foolish to drive in the backwards country

Electing not to drive won't help you. All you have to do is be walking or sitting near a road.

I know that. I'm making a general observation. I think that was reasonably clear from my post.