aeae Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 hello, an old condo has the breaker that you can see on the photo. can you confirm that the green cable is the earth / ground cable ? And is it standard that it's not connected anywhere ? I want to change the breaker, what kind of breaker do I need to buy to connect this green cable, and it is simple to do ? thank you for your great help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre Hanot Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 45 Amps 2 pole breaker. Top line side. red , black 240 volts. + Green ground. Load side bottom. With a ground/green connection. Trace your line to the outside main somewhere before any work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GinBoy2 Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 (edited) You are between a rock and a hard place here. Chances are there is no solid connection to a ground. In a western situation you'd be fine connecting it to a copper water line, but this Thailand and that's not an option. Now i read it says 'Safe-F-Cut' which in Thai speak is as good as it gets. If there is a short the Safe-T-Cut is supposed to trip. So changing the breaker probably won't buy you anything in terms of protection from electrocution and death! Edited October 18, 2021 by GinBoy2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossy Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 Is that the only breaker in your unit? Do you have 3-pin outlets? The green/yellow probably is earth and since there are two wires it might actually be joining to a wire going to an actual earth, or it might not ... Moving to "Electrical". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bankruatsteve Posted October 18, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 18, 2021 3 hours ago, GinBoy2 said: Now i read it says 'Safe-F-Cut' which in Thai speak is as good as it gets. The brand is Safe-T-Cut, but that is not RCBO. IE: no RCD protection. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwasaki Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 (edited) More info needed. Ground floor. Middle floor. Top floor. Have got any other earth connection like say the shower which very important. Have neighbours got earth connections. Does the building have any steel structure. Edited October 19, 2021 by Kwasaki 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post johng Posted October 19, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 19, 2021 Don't be fooled by the colours of the wires they mean nothing as can be seen in the photo, incoming black and green outgoing red and black...the green wires taped together could be earth but could just as easily be live ! And the "Safe T cut" breaker in the photo is just a breaker/fuse not an earth leakage breaker "Safe T cut" do make earth leakage breakers ( RCBO) as do other brand names...you can tell it's RCBO because it will have a "test" button on it which you are supposed to press once in a while to test the earth leakage part actually still works. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeae Posted October 19, 2021 Author Share Posted October 19, 2021 (edited) 8 hours ago, Crossy said: Is that the only breaker in your unit? Do you have 3-pin outlets? The green/yellow probably is earth and since there are two wires it might actually be joining to a wire going to an actual earth, or it might not ... Moving to "Electrical". yes it's the only breaker in condo, what can I buy to replace please ? and I am sure that ground is connected to building, I asks technicians and they confirmed. if the breaker was good, to what would the ground be connected please ? yes 3 pins outlets on wall. thanks again Edited October 19, 2021 by aeae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossy Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 1 minute ago, aeae said: yes it's the only unit, what can I buy to replace please ? and I am sure that ground is connected to building, I asks technicians and they confirmed. if the breaker was good, to what would the ground be connected please ? thanks again You could replace that breaker with an RCBO which provides earth leakage and shock protection, you should be able to get one that fits in that box. The ground wire can stay as it is as the RCBO doesn't need it. Let me check what you can get on Lazada to drop in to that same space. You will of course need the building techs to change it, not a DIY job on a live system. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeae Posted October 19, 2021 Author Share Posted October 19, 2021 2 minutes ago, Crossy said: You could replace that breaker with an RCBO which provides earth leakage and shock protection, you should be able to get one that fits in that box. The ground wire can stay as it is as the RCBO doesn't need it. Let me check what you can get on Lazada to drop in to that same space. You will of course need the building techs to change it, not a DIY job on a live system. Thank you so much, but I prefer to change the full box. And if I cut the electricity from the meters room in the building, I guess that there is not risk to change the box myself ? If the green ground / earth doesn't need to be connected, can you show me how the wires that I show on photo should be connected to the new breaker box ? thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossy Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Nothing to stop you changing the whole box for a proper consumer-unit, but that woulds also need you to separate out your various circuits. It looks like you just have two circuits (two wires in each outgoing terminal). You still need to verify that earth really is earth, one of these is your friend https://www.lazada.co.th/products/i316566794-s634644285.html If you do just want to replace the existing breaker and make things safer then:- https://www.lazada.co.th/products/sale-nano-rcbo-2p-32a-10ka-din-ple42c32-thunelectric-home-improvement-equipment-i2539245045-s9033042963.html 32A or https://www.lazada.co.th/products/sale-nano-rcbo-2p-50a-10ka-din-ple42c50-thunelectric-home-i2014826002-s6492008130.html 50A I didn't see an actual 45A unit in my quick search, they might be available. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossy Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 Loads of small consumer units on Lazada, something like this:- https://www.lazada.co.th/products/consumer-unit-4-ccs-ccul-04-4-eco-5-i2828092221-s10315426028.html? but there are many others too. They come with instructions but I'd still get the building chaps (or their sparks) to do it for you ???? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sometimewoodworker Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 58 minutes ago, aeae said: if I cut the electricity from the meters room in the building, I guess that there is not risk to change the box myself ? That, In Thailand, is not sure. In fact all good (living ???? ) sparkies will treat all circuits as live until they are tested as dead. You also need to be sure that you can lock the disconnect switch off. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aeae Posted October 19, 2021 Author Share Posted October 19, 2021 9 hours ago, Crossy said: Loads of small consumer units on Lazada, something like this:- https://www.lazada.co.th/products/consumer-unit-4-ccs-ccul-04-4-eco-5-i2828092221-s10315426028.html? but there are many others too. They come with instructions but I'd still get the building chaps (or their sparks) to do it for you ???? Is is a famous brand ? or any cheap brand is enough ? Buy the way, I checked in the condo row fake rood, and only 2 cables, the black and the green go into the room, does it mean that the ground is not connected ? Should the ground be coming from the meter box as the green and black wires are coming ? Or can a earth wire be connected directly to the ground from inside the condo (1st floor condo with only car park under). thank you so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackdd Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 Get a multimeter and check the voltage between phase and ground, if it's 230v it could actually be ground. It could of course also just be connected to neutral, would then also show 230v, no idea how to figure out if it's a real ground other than tracing the cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3NUMBAS Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 to the condos steelwork if it has any Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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