Dimwit Brit would rather not electrocute himself

[RJRS1301]

I would suggest you call a "licenced" sparky, let them light up your life

[RJRS1301]

1 hour ago, JAG said:

Red to red and black to black,

Switch it on and stand well back!

while wearing rubber soled shoes and touching nothing

[Alidiver]

Reasonable question

In UK we have 3 wires to a light fitting, live, switched live and neutral. I see no reason why things should be different here. 

Use a test probe or isolate at the consumer unit. 

[Crossy]

4 minutes ago, Alidiver said:

I see no reason why things should be different here. 

 

Sadly such an assumption could be terminal ????

 

[sometimewoodworker]

10 hours ago, saengd said:

 

19 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Don’t you mean MCB?

You must be American.

 

Not at all, I’m well aware what an RCD is, if I were a yank I would have suggested a GFI/GCFI

 

If you go back and read the thread you will find that it was a single circuit that was supposed to be isolated. Typically individual circuits are controlled by MCBs while the set of circuits is protected by an RCBO/RCCD/RCD. 

 

 

[Cranky]

22 hours ago, Daffy D said:

As usual a simple question gets complicated by some stupid answers.

 

This is Thailand and the only way to be sure that you won't kill yourself is to turn off the mains switch in your consumer unit.

 

 

 

 

Or get a Qualified Thai Electrician to do it....good luck with that

[Nanaplaza666]

22 hours ago, tifino said:

is the wall switch a double ganged one?

Really ???? He doesn't even know if turning of the lightswitch is enough , and you talking about double ganged . No offence to toolong but more of a REALLY to tifino . 

[sometimewoodworker]

49 minutes ago, Alidiver said:

Reasonable question

In UK we have 3 wires to a light fitting, live, switched live and neutral. I see no reason why things should be different here. 

Use a test probe or isolate at the consumer unit. 

No you don’t. You may have 3 if so then it is switched line, neutral and earth. However you can have 11 or some other numbers like 5 or 8, possibly even 14. All of these are acceptable lighting wiring.

However to the light itself you have 2, as they are almost all plastic, neutral and switched line. Though if you have an unusual metal fitting then your must add an earth 

 

It would seem that your electrical knowledge is somewhat lacking.

Edited March 14, 2020 by sometimewoodworker

[Boomer6969]

22 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Actually they would have fuse wire inside that you replaced when blown.  And they do still have main round fuse in many homes here.

Wonder how many airconditionners are running in this home?

[rwill]

When you turn the switch to the off position the light goes off because it is not getting electricity.  So yes it is safe to work with the switch off if everything is working normal.  As long as someone doesn't come around and turn it back on again.

[ThaidDown]

2 minutes ago, rwill said:

When you turn the switch to the off position the light goes off because it is not getting electricity.  So yes it is safe to work with the switch off if everything is working normal.  As long as someone doesn't come around and turn it back on again.

Do not rely on this.

The wall switch may only be switching  the neutral. The wire at the fitting could still be live.

 

[Muzzique]

I made the mistake of assuming the light switch was wired correctly in my walk-in wardrobe and that when I switched it off it would cut the circuit as it should do. The result was I flew 15 feet backwards off my step ladder, out of the door and across the room sporting a brand new hairstyle.  Best turn it off at the mains unless you are sure the switch was wired by a skilled electrician. Don't make assumptions unless you want frizzy hair.

[lopburi3]

5 minutes ago, rwill said:

When you turn the switch to the off position the light goes off because it is not getting electricity.  So yes it is safe to work with the switch off if everything is working normal.  As long as someone doesn't come around and turn it back on again.

Totally false - it can and often is still getting electric live line but the neutral has been removed by the switch.  You touch grounded and become part of the circuit.

[toolpush]

2 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Be extra careful with those. In good condition with no faults they are OK, but they can and do fail in such a way as to give full mains voltage and current. You do not want to find that out up a ladder as the shock may not be deadly but combined with knocking you off the steps it maybe very nasty or terminal.

 

 

I agree. I use a multimeter and before I test a circuit I want to work on, I test the multimeter in a live socket first. I have worked on various lighting circuits in various houses in Thailand and more often than not, the neutral is switched instead of the load/live side. I will tell anybody that is planning on working with electricity that if they aren't sure and aren't comfortable about working on it, DON'T do it. It can kill you.

[Grusa]

I can't believe there are 5 pages of replies to such a simple question!

 

Get one of these, easily available and cheap, test each wire, if it glows, ask an expert, if not, go ahead.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glow-Mains-Tester-Screwdriver-Professional/dp/B07QX19WT4

[lopburi3]

1 minute ago, Grusa said:

I can't believe there are 5 pages of replies to such a simple question!

 

Get one of these, easily available and cheap, test each wire, if it glows, ask an expert, if not, go ahead.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glow-Mains-Tester-Screwdriver-Professional/dp/B07QX19WT4

This is not an outlet where that might be a safe procedure but a light fixture where it likely has to be disassembled to access a wire - not something that should be done by anyone without experience.  Yes if a screw in fixture he may be able to remove bulb to access contacts but that is not without risks for shorting and knocking him off ladder.  Let such work be done by those getting paid to do it and hopefully have some experience.

[rosst]

Better to ask and feel like a fool than to not ask and die because you are a fool. 

Full mark's for asking the question but with Thai electrics be very careful. 

Turn off the breaker identify it by the method described earlier and thank you for proving you are not an idiot. 

[zaZa9]

A falang friend who was a retired electrician came around and pulled all the fuses ... and the neighbours also aging shop house lost all its power!

It is then we understood Thailand. 555

 

 

 

[sometimewoodworker]

49 minutes ago, zaZa9 said:

A falang friend who was a retired electrician came around and pulled all the fuses ... and the neighbours also aging shop house lost all its power!

It is then we understood Thailand. 555

And your high lecy bill? ???? 

[brianthainess]

On 3/13/2020 at 6:08 PM, lopburi3 said:

Thanks a lot - my new built house here in Bangkok has wire fuse as main cut off when sold in 1975 and was not aware we were in the stone age then.  Expect there are still many such knife switches in use.

This is NOT a fuse! it is simply an on off switch. if it as a newly built house it should have an REC cut out. this will shut of if any current that goes through you to ground, Even with power turned off it should flip if N and L touch together. wear rubber shoes to be on the safe side. Power and lights should be on separate circuits. Add pic of your main power board that will help.

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

This is NOT a fuse! it is simply an on off switch. if it as a newly built house it should have an REC cut out. this will shut of if any current that goes through you to ground, Even with power turned off it should flip if N and L touch together. wear rubber shoes to be on the safe side. Power and lights should be on separate circuits. Add pic of your main power board that will help.

Please engage brain before operating keyboard.

 

It is a fused Knife switch. The fuses are under the large green section, the raised part could even slide or hinge to give access.

 

You can find a few for sale if you click here.

 

this a different make but the reason for the long body is obvious.

Edited March 14, 2020 by sometimewoodworker

[Metropolitian]

In a good installation the contacts at the lightbulb fitting should always be dead when the switch is off.

 

But it is not always like that, especially here with a lot more 'grey' installations.

 

Gang switch:  mostly used at stairwells. There are a few ways to wire those.

                     One of the simplest is shown in the picture;

 

Borrowed neutral; I have seen not only neutrals are borrowed here, but live wires too.

                            In my house, the old aircon was connected to those wall breakers which was connected to the incoming wires.

                           'Pulling the fuse' from the consumer unit, so switching off the breakers wont 'kill' the feed to the breaker on the wall and aircon.

 

Fuses: 'pulling the fuse' from the consumer unit is a old term mainly in the UK, in my country it was 'unscrewing the fuse'. We still have the saying 'the fuse has blown' when the breaker just tripped.

          Fuses are still in use, in home and outside. In home in these knife switches both line L and N are fused. And some extension cords has fuses. And they say human has fuses too

          Outside, at the transformer from the electic company it is linked/switched to the HV lines with a big fuse.

 

 

For the OP: Better be safe, turn off the electric by the consumer unit main switch and work on day, having light from outside or use pocketlight (your phone?).

                  Test first the electric is really cut with these screwdrivers with neon lights.

 

[Crossy]

If our OP wasn't confused to start with ...

 

@Toolong get a local sparks in.

 

Since a great number of our posters appear to have been attracted by the "Dimwit Brit" thread title I'm going to close this now.