sometimewoodworker

The glowing lights are due to the electronics. It is very easy to design the circuit so that they don’t glow but it saves a little bit to leave off the bits that cut the glow.

It may stop the glow by swapping the line and neutral however it is equally possible that that is not enough.

The reason for the glow is due to the extremely small current required for the LEDs to light, though I’m not an electronics engineer one usual item to control the glow is a capacitor and discharge resistor.

17 minutes ago, cliveshep said:

I always scan all documents and print them out in colour producing one legible set for my annual extension but last year they upset my wife by demanding an additional set in black & white at Chang Wattana. She got mad because she is the one to go downstairs to get 25 pages of copies, which by the way, are as usual almost indecipherable with pictures mostly blacked out of details. As we had a booking time this made us late. 

 

We were not the only ones caught out by this, lots of disgruntled ex-pats vocalising their thoughts on the Thai Imm Service which were far from complimentary. I did not disagree!

 

So my question is - in order to prepare now and not get caught out again - is this now a requirement of the Imm Bureau as when printing I can always print a legible set in B & W so the  I.O's are happy bunnies? I.e two sets, one of which (if not both) must be in black and white?

Talk to CW and ask them, this is because each office can make their own requirements 

However in my office you are always required to present 2 copies of all documents, there is no requirement for any to be in B&W only. Some of the second set are required to be in colour (photos), some don’t matter. NB this is for the marriage extension only. 

6 hours ago, carlyai said:

Tried Roiet and Kuchinari and no hab.

That is why I buy from AliExpress, it may take up to 3 months (usually about a week) but you can get what you order and find almost anything.

Yes I have had items arrive faulty, resulting in a refund.

Yes I have had an incorrect item shipped, resulting in a refund or corrected item sent no cost

Yes I have had an item never arrive, resulting in a refund.

the percentage of problems is less than 0.01% of items purchased. The percentage of problems uncorrected is zero

10 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Thailand 230 Volt

Slightly interested but wrong information. 
The standard supply voltage in Thailand is more often a hope than a prediction.

where you are in relation to the supply is going to govern the usual unloaded voltage for your situation. Where the larger consumers are in relation to you is going to govern the loaded voltage.

as an example in our village the unloaded voltage is 225v anything higher is virtually never seen. The loaded voltage (we don’t have any big consumers) can go as far down as 180v or lower. 

8 hours ago, cowellandrew said:

Scratching head wont help!

It could generate enough static electricity to have some fun with 

4 hours ago, ABCDBKK said:

!

4 hours ago, ABCDBKK said:

AC units use the most electricity out of anything in the home.

That depends on your home. Just ask anyone with teenage females in the house. It is not uncommon to find them taking hot showers that could be well over 30 minutes long, more than once a day. So in a situation like that the hot water will be using the most power, possibly 3 time as much as the AC units!

The AC units could be part of the problem however he doesn’t say what the unconditioned temperature is. If he is dropping the temperature from the high 30s low 40s then a drop of 20 degrees will contribute a large part of the problem. But it’s far more likely that there is a vampire using the power. AC units, even big ones are far more efficient than most people think.

If he/his GF is taking hour long hot showers that will be eating the power.

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

 

This probably isn't helping your consumption, do you have pet penguins?

In our bedroom our ac is set to about the same temperature but that is because I have 3 cats who like to keep me warm for a large percentage of the night 😉 

You need to do some serious investigation. You are being charged correctly for the measured units, but that doesn’t mean that you are actually using the units yourself. We managed to use a similar amount in May last year but our February bill was 582 units. We have 5 AC units plus a large amount of lights and 4 fridges

You need to find the meter and cut all power to your unit and see if it is still running up the meter. If it isn’t then start turning power items back on and see what is actually running the meter up.
 

If with all you apartment power off the meter is running then what is being powered my your meter. If it is still running cut the power at the meter ad see who complains that the power has been cut!

Running grey water into a septic tank will virtually always cause it to overflow. Running kitchen waste without a grease trap will coat the walls of the system with a waterproof layer so reducing its possible natural ability to allow water to percolate out.

The only way you can run grey water into septic tank is if you have a large leach field connected probably over 100 meters.

Also you should never run grey water into a black water tank as that will guarantee that the waste cannot be held long enough to breakdown.

FWIW moderate amounts of toilet paper into a black water system causes no problems. But that is in the ½ a roll per month range, SWMBO runs through ½ a 36 roll pack a month, so for her moderate would be enough to clog the tank.

4 hours ago, carlyai said:

Strange (to me anyway) I could not buy green heatshrink.  I sprayed the yellow heatshrink green. 🙂

Here is a supplier 

There is much misinformation regarding LEDs

1) LEDs last a very long time, true and false.

• True: if you under run them you can get many years of useful life
• False: the vast majority of lights run the LEDs as hard as possible, this will cause LEDs to burn out

2) The price of the LEDs have a direct relationship to the lifetime.

• True: the difference is big enough as quality LEDs have a guarantee and the guarantee costs more that improving the quality of the product 
• False: with smaller differences it’s likely marketing 
• True: the components of the driver can be engineered to reduce heat generated, better engineering, better thermal performance both increase driver lifetime 

3) you can’t buy LEDs that have a virtual guarantee of a much longer life

• false: Philips has made the Dubai LEDs because the Emir of the Emirate of Dubai told them to make them. A version of the Dubai LED is available in the U.K. it is more than double the cost of an equivalent high quality bulb and at 545 baht for an 800 lumen bulb it is expensive. I don’t know if it’s as good as the Dubai version 

16 minutes ago, norbra said:

Sheryl, You must slow down,the problem is only with the bathroom light,correct?

If that is the case then forget the rest of the house,forget about switchboards.

If you want to look further yourself you could remove the bathroom light switch cover, connect your meter, set to 250 AC and with the light switch in the OFF position, test the 2 wires connected to the switch, the meter should show near full scale deflection,if it does then test again with your heater in action,if the deflection is the same then your heater is not a problem.

If the meter deflection is reduced then you have a supply voltage problem This sould make further diagnosis easier,maybe loose connection at switch or light

 

@norbra it already obvious that the voltage is being reduced, the amount of the reduction is probably worth finding out but that will only be useful to try to get the PEA to change the supply to a phase that is not loaded as much.

37 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

1. I completely shut off the water heater and took shower without it, and found that running water at all, even without the heater, also  caused the lightb to flicker just not as rapidly. Definitely no way the water pump, located on ground floor outside the house, shares a neutral wire with the hot water heater.  So the  flickering was related to dip in power supply and presumably otherwise unrelated to the water heater which - contrary to the claim of local "electricians" - does not draw more power than it is supposed to, per the specs.

 

You have already found that the lamp that was flickering was rather substandard

LAMPTAN are a quality supplier so worth using but the light you illustrated uses the 4 pin fittings that were originally in you fluorescent fittings. It’s not clear if the fixture can use the 2 cables you now have

The flicker with the pump running is the power being dropped by the load of the pump, it will be greater if the shower is also running. This means that the voltage of the supply to your house is being dropped by the load you are using (this is not uncommon, my voltage is dropped by 20V by a 20A load, usual voltage 225v, add two showers and the water pump drops my supply down to 190v or less)

2 hours ago, Crossy said:

Gawd there really is some total b*****ks being spoken in this thread.

☔

So true

The flicker of the light in the shower only, strongly suggests that the shower circuit is problematic, it could be that the circuit uses cables that are too small, but that is only a possibility, it could be that the connections are not tight, this is more likely. It is quite possible that the light is sensitive to the power drop caused by the shower. It is likely that a different LED fixture will behave differently and may not be as affected by the power drop.

If you have the same lights in the rest of the house and they are not affected by the shower usage this is a stronger suggestion that the shower circuit itself needs looking at. 
 

Unfortunately what you really need is an actual electriction, these are hard to find for domestic installations and harder to know if they do know the job. It is possible that if you talk to the PEA boss he may have someone who moonlights in his free time 
 

11 minutes ago, stix40 said:

Guys what happens at the end of the one year extension based on marriage? 

Do you keep extending report etc or do you have to apply from scratch? 

Thank you in advance.

You keep on extending it 1 year at a time, there are some here who have renewed the extension for more than 30 years. Personally I have renewed it for about 6 years.

1 hour ago, rufusbucher said:

Look for a wax polish available in centimeters,

I have never seen or heard of polish measured in centimetres 

8 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

There are examples of extensions from a 90 day stamp and extension eg to visit wife that takes stay past 90 days and TM47 not required. 

That is dependent on the particular immigration office you attend. Some offices will automatically do the report others will not.

17 minutes ago, Lemsta69 said:

 

Of course it's relevant. 

It isn’t 

14 hours ago, Lemsta69 said:

 

Seems he's back in on a TR ergo there is no 90-day clock.

The entry status is irrelevant.
 

It is 90 days in Thailand.

If you exit before you have reached 90 days there is no report requirement.

Just following up so you know that responses are being read.

Since it’s zero cost to get I have a Giffgaff SIM on the way that I can activate near the time of our trip, all going well.

the Giffgaff bundles seems to be extremely well priced if we are in the U.K. 

That doesn’t mean that I will not follow up on other suggestions 

8 minutes ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

She's coming tomorrow. Not sure how I'll break it to her but I'm done paying. If she wants go back to Phuket and find a new ATM. I'll give her a couple of months "severance" because I'm too nice, but I'm done with this bs. I have other girls I like and there's no reason to pay for one I don't even want or see anymore.

With the further information the daily 1,500 is more than 3 times the total expenses for the household.

It is absolutely clear that you are being milked as hard as she possibly can, she knows there is going to be an end to the gravy train so is trying hard to get as much as possible.

I really don’t see any reason for you to add another 90,000 gift but it is your money. 
 

Personally I would be rather or very concerned with any meeting that is not in public. A coffee shop or restaurant is a much safer situation. You already know that she regards truth as a foreign concept. Please avoid needing legal advice on a drug possession charge.

1 hour ago, carlyai said:

I'll go with Crossy's idea and place some green heat shrink over the cable I decide to be earth in the outside Consumer Unit.

At the moment I'm not inclined to re-wire the run with correct colored wires and as SWMBO is replanting along the driveway I need to finish it or it will be difficult to get my ladder safely against the driveway wall.

One of my Thai friends just fell of his ladder, busting his knee and toes and last month Wifey fell of the ladder last month and had a big infection and stiches in her leg.

Absolutely the most pragmatic solution, not to mention the fastest. 
 

Those suggestions of replacing the cables ostensibly for standardised colours ignore the fact that Thai electrons are not  prejudiced and will happily use the most convenient cable, along with the fact that standards change so changing all the cable is pointless, this doesn’t address the point that while cable is not very expensive the labour of changing it for no valid reason is. If you have a genuine need to replace a damaged cable then there is an opportunity to stop being colour prejudiced 

It looks as if the various U.K. banks and other companies are increasingly requiring a U.K. phone number for things like OTP and other security measures.

Since I hope to be in the U.K. in a while I would appreciate information on the cheapest company to maintain a prepaid U.K. number. I guess that there will be TopUps required and I have a U.K. bank for that

Any feedback will be welcome.

jerome