T_Dog

Good tip about the recent edition. The ones I was sifting through at Surawong were the older folded ones. I did stop at the Riders Corner and looked at the paper map they had for sale. Not very impressive and not up to the quality of GT-Rider maps, nor the detail of what I was looking for. I asked about the GPS files and electronic formats of maps but the gals there did not know anything about electronic formats that I think might be available.

Download this pdf from the Royal Thai Survey Dept. It's the index map for 1:50,000 topos

You are da man! I tried searching for exactly that but it was no joy for me. Thanks.

Went to buy some 1:50000 toporaphic maps of the mountains north of Mae Taeng at a bookstore today and someone had walked off with the sheet-to-area cross reference. Anyone have a cross reference from area to sheet number for Northern Thailand?

Just got this from Dr. Morgan

ACUTE GASTRO - INTESTINAL VIRAL INFECTION AROUND CHIANG MAI

Recently We have been seeing many patients especially young schooling students come in with acute fever and gastro-intestinal symptoms mainly nausea, vomiting and fever.

Some blood work was done and it seems likely to be acute viral infection.

We therefore would like to inform our patients, to be aware of the problem, please make sure that your kids wash their hands thoroughly, eat freshly cooked food and avoid uncooked food and non-peeled fruits. Use alcohol rubbing gel whenever touching any objects in public places/school/kinder garden.

If your family members develop the following symptoms.

- Acute high fever

- Nausea/vomiting

- Diarrhea

- Stomachache

- Body Aching

Rehydration with electrolyte drink and supportive treatment ( ie paracetamol for fever)is recommended. If rehydration can not be addressed, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Just had a bout of those exact symptoms for 24 hours. All is fine now but the body aches are still there a bit. Never heard of an epidemic of this sort, but there must be some conditions causing it.

If you had asked this 2 years ago there would have been only one answer, "No Way".

However, things have changed. Spring terminals such as are found in Wago terminals are gaining acceptance in the UK, indeed they are the only type of connector that is defined as 'Maintenance Free' for use in inaccessible locations. I have specified Wago connectors in place of taped joints or the rather better wire nuts when wiring our new build.

Whether I would use locally manufactured outlets and switches I'm not so sure, quality of the spring contacts is vital for these connections to remain reliable and safe.

I think you are on the right track, keeping screw terminals in the kitchen and only using the push type in low current, readily accessible locations.

Is there a cost advantage / penalty for the items themselves?

Thanks Crossy....I am using the Mitsumi outlets and Panasonic switches. The Mitsumi's look to be the same quality as the Panasonic outlets at 40% of the cost. The only cost penalty is the time it takes to bend the wire around the screw terminal and tighten it down. I am thinking I will just take my time and use the screw terminals on all connections. Peace of mind as long as I remember to tighten each one!

I've never seen an actual failure of a back-stabbed outlet, but there seems to be a lot of controversy on this if one does a web search. Have already decided to use the screw terminals for the kitchen outlets where currents are high, but the rest of the house sure would get wired faster by using the push-in holes, otherwise known as back-stabbing. Curious as to the opinions (and actual experiences) of those building and involved in the electrical trade.

Remember that the RCD's compare L current with N current and if they are different, it trips. What that means is that all loads connected to an RCD through an MCB must have dedicated neutrals to that RCD. If you have an ohm meter, you might want to check how those bars are connected and isolated as that might help. I looked at some of these types of boxes and decided to go with RCBOs to help keep things simple and to help in isolation of problems.

I had to get my 150i taken to the garage today.

It cut out just as I arrived home yesterday and won't start today.

By a process of elimination, I suspect it will probably be a fuel, fuel line, fuel system or spark plug problem. Only 23,000 kms on the clock.

Somebody has been having a lot of fun! That is a lot of road in one year.

Indeed, although much of it to work and back.

The garage didn't go into great detail. Oil change (irrelevant 3000km), new air filter (irrelevant 3000km but mechanic quote "black"), new spark plug (as suspected).

Job done.

Only ~23,000km and your brand new fuel injected bike suffered a fouled spark plug? That's really not normal... Wonder what was the cause?

Might have just been a bad spark plug as I have had them fail in the past as well. Sounds like the air filter was black, not the plug.

Dave,

It sounds like your full service company is purchasing the material. Is that correct? If so, it might be reasonable for them to charge more for changes or for discoveries in the build process. Thai builders are usually very experienced so the outer deck changes might be required based on real needs. Have you asked them for their reasoning on the changes? Large decks might require extra steel and ground beams to avoid cracking. On the hot/cold water issue, I'd point that out in the contract and make them provide it. It is a bit hard to provide advice without knowing the company and site/house details, but a good relationship with your builder is imperative if you are building in Thailand. We have made changes in our build as well but since we are buying the material it has been a non-event.

I had to get my 150i taken to the garage today.

It cut out just as I arrived home yesterday and won't start today.

By a process of elimination, I suspect it will probably be a fuel, fuel line, fuel system or spark plug problem. Only 23,000 kms on the clock.

Somebody has been having a lot of fun! That is a lot of road in one year.

Our welding friends didn't manage to swap L&N did they? Could have introduced just enough leakage to drop the RCBO.

It tripping with the power off is worrying, that incoming breaker is double pole I assume.

.........

That was one of the first things I checked but they were correct. The breaker is indeed a double-pole unit.

Thanks all for the comments and ideas. Onward ever on this one....

T_dog, did you use an insulation tester or a regular multimeter to check your extension?

Does it trip with JUST the extension cord (nothing in the other end)?

It really does sound like a ground fault somewhere although you could try replacing the RCBO. Is there any possibility that your workers have managed to bypass either the live or neutral of the RCBO possibly with their welder ground?

10mA on a site cable is pushing things anyway, 30mA would be more reliable (i.e. it would stay in).

Yes, it is tripping with nothing connected on the far end. This is happening with the main breaker OFF. I did not think it possible that it could do that but the circuitry inside the RCBO might have enough storage in capacitors to keep it working for a while. My bet is that something in the RCBO failed and that now it can not handle a large capacitive load like the long extension cord.

Just used a multi-meter to check the resistance, so no high voltage insulation testing done. No jury rigging done by the crew except when the welders came and connected right to the mains and disconnected after they left. No problems for two months with hundreds of tools used, welders coming and going, etc. It may be that transients from the welders damaged the RCBO. The failure happened on the day they left and disconnected two welders from the mains (before the main breaker.) Thinking through this a bit, damage from transients could be a likely cause.

First one should disconnect the conductors from the RCBO and with an insulation tester 250/500V check the insulation to earth This should be above 1 megohm. L and N .

　

　

Done..... 100's of megohms, both conductors so no leakage to ground or to the other conductor. Another item that might be of interest.... The RCBO works okay until the extension cord is plugged in. But, plug the extension cord in with the main breaker on and it trips right away. Turn the main breaker off, and the RCBO will again trip off right away. We did replace the extension cord and had the same behavior.

Put in a construction service drop with a Square D panel in a weather-proof box two months ago. Inside there is a 32 breaker for the cement mixer and a 16 Amp RCBO (10 mA RCD level) both made by Square D. The 16 Amp RCBO was put in to protect the construction workers.

Connected to the 16 Amp RCBO is an automatic 18 watt security light up above on the pole, and two outlets. The only connection on the outlet is a 30 meter extension cord (two conductor) to another security light and day time connection to construction tools.

Things have been fine for two months but a few days ago, the RCBO tripped off and would not reset. Trouble-shooting this I found that even with the main breaker turned off, the RCBO still will not reset. The only way to get it to reset is to disconnect BOTH the outgoing neutral and load lines on the RCBO itself. (In other words, if the main breaker is turned off, the RCBO will not reset (it immediately will trip) if the 50 meter extension cord and light are connected to the load and neutral connections of the RCBO. Disconnect them from the RCBO with main breaker still off and then the RCBO can be reset to "ready".) I measure zero volts from incoming 25mm main neutral to ground and 240 volts from incoming 25mm load to ground with main breaker on or off so no system ground faults likely.

This is quite mysterious and I had planned on using quite a few RCBOs in the house panel but I don't want to spend the money if the Square D RCBOs are not reliable. It seems as if the 30 meter extension cord is detecting radio signals and providing enough energy to trip the RCBO. I'm wondering if anyone else has experience using the Square D RCBOs. It is installed per directions and it did indeed work for two solid months with no unexpected trips. If anyone can add insight to this behavior, it would be greatly appreciated.

First pitter patters hit the tent about an hour ago and now it is a steady rain here in Mae Taeng. Roughing it with the laptop in the tent. Sure has been a fast season change. Two nights ago it was very cold sleeping but very warm last night.

Rain, rain, rain rain rain ....... won't this rain ever stop

Just wanted to re-up this thread in memory of Gotlost..

Must have been at least 15 drops at The Pun Pun..... gotta keep my eye on the river now.....

G

I was just sure it was going to rain somewhere nearby today. The frogs at my pond were in high spirits and resounding voice last night.

We are watching some monster cumulus clouds east of Mae Taeng at the moment. They appear to be going above 25,000 feet so I'll bet it is raining out that way. I expect there will be some lightning to watch once the sun goes down.

For basic health insurance, Siam Bank has a promotional offer at the moment. I just picked up the brochure today and it appears worth looking into. Biggest drawback is no coverage after 60. AIA might be the course for the long term however.

Edit for prices.... 46-60 years old: 28,500 Platinum, and 14,000 Silver program.

Still shopping for a water heater. Mex (Thai manufactured/Italian designed) makes a 9000 watt heater that looks pretty nice. Anyone buy one yet? They are actually available unlike most other brands that are not so it is on the current radar.

Nice tennis courts (and pool) at the Bann Nai Fun Ratchapruek moo bann but that is a ways out from downtown.

cmsally... We are going through this as well, and the majority of the advice we have gotten is use the plastic tanks with the fluid discharge from that going to a drainage field of perforated pipe over rock. The main advantage of the plastic tanks is that the bacteria stays very active digesting the, er, stuff, and ground water will not fill the tank during rains. For your size of house and occupants, a 1000 liter tank should be adequate. (We are putting in a 1600 liter unit.) Put it just below ground level and drop a 4 inch pipe with a screw on cap for clean out.

Also, you can use the rings for the grey water and kitchen drains which you want to keep separate from the toilet septic system.

Here is a link for more info:

http://www.coolthaihouse.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=640

Well the houses we rent out have not risen in last 7 years,

bought houses at good price and getting return of 10%

so its better than the banks and houses have increased

in value by 40/50% , so I am happy.

Too many houses for rent,not enough tenants, Bht too strong

thats why cannot put up rents, and also not greedy.

regards Worgeordie

The rental house availability is indeed very high right now. Last two houses we rented for 80% of asking rate and a friend has been able to reduce his rent each of three years running now. Sanukcode...just keep looking until you find a landlord willing to negotiate. If they are eager to get you as a tenant, they will be helpful later on. An unoccupied house doesn't provide much income to a land owner. Some desired areas like Nimenhemin are tougher, but you should be able to bargain just about everywhere else.

Sorry. Misread the post.

those be Chinese Pond Herons you got there Tywais, not Javan..

Thanks for that Goshawk! We see these guys watching our Tilapia, but luckily the pond slope is too steep for effective hunting.

And Tywais.... Impressive video for being hand held with the effective length of lens. The image stabilization must be doing its thing. Have you tried turning it off to see the difference?

Reality is stranger than fiction, because fiction needs to make sense.

-Rod Michado

Works fine on a Mac with FireFox. Haven't decided whether that bouncing audio spectrum analyzer display in the upper right corner is amusing or annoying yet though. It seems to follow any music I play!