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Mate building a man cave, doesn’t have a huge amount of headroom inside and there will only be about 30mm gap between plasterboard face and the celotex style insulation. Can gouge out some of the insulation if required but I rather not. Anyone recommend a low profile downlight please.

Mate asked if I could stop by at his daughters house that she has just bought as there was a cable sticking out of the wall with black tape on it, was passing so dropped in, first thing cable was live with just black tape on it. Fed from 32A socket MCB, thing that got me was the profile of the...

Remembering a thread from a year or so ago where Dave was looking fo power a 3 phase lathe using a single to 3 phase inverter. I had at that time just used Invertek inverters for the first time, today I was using my 72” x 2” belt sander which I had fitted the inverter onto and it reminded me of...

Friend of a friend asked me as a favour to see why 1/2 his downstairs sockets weren’t working. Went to his place, took cover off consumer unit, very scruffy inside, found 8 cables into one mcb and unsurprisingly one of them was slack and was melting its insulation and decided it didn’t want to...

My turn to ask a solar question, more a question of is there such a product available. Background info. Rural property, current system is: solar thermal 2 panel drain back system which feeds one of the coils in my 200L hot water cylinder. Was a good system as it means that in the summer it gave...

Went round to my mates today to help him fit his new gas hob. The instructions for the hob says Do Not Fit A Plug and at the cable end there is a sticker saying Do not fit plug. Why are they so against connecting it via a plug, I did fit it via a fused spur down rated to 3A but I just don’t see...

Neighbour asked me round to look at his roller door on his garage last weekend, whenever he pressed UP or down on his remote the door would drive down, and I suspect as it was driving down on the up command it wasn’t cutting out on the bottom limit, I had to knock the power off as it was...

Mystery item for today. Raking about in some of my shelves looking for a bracket and I came across this timer from the mining industry that dates from about 1980.  It is what looks like two identical but individually adjusted timers which each operates its own relay to the contact outputs at...

Found 40 of these in a box, any of you clever people any idea what they are. No not the ruler before anyone says that😀

Looks like the start of one of Daves thread. Bit of background, going to change this 3 phase star connected motor to delta connection. Had a wee chuckle when I saw the connection diagram inside the terminal box lid. I have included the name plate, the term box diagram and the connection block...

Story first: Fitted an RCBO board in my own house about 18 months ago after I rewired it, every 2 or 3 months the kitchen/ until ring 32A RCBO will trip. IR on circuit is perfect, now checked IR several times, had most of the face plates back off, checked that no insulation was pinched, thought...

A wee story for you from my sister in laws Birthday drink in her garden last night. When my wife and I walked round to hers sisters night last I settled down in the garden seat opened my first beer. SIL starting telling me that she got her first electric shock and it was like someone punching...

Just had a text from a bloke I know but haven’t seen in over a year, wants to upgrade his lighting in his workshop, asking what I recommend. He has a small one man business from at a guess 20m x 10m steel shed at the back of his house, he repairs stuff like JCB’s and small to medium bull...

Plumber currently fitting a new Combi boiler in my house, which control system should I fit onto it, a Hive or Nest system, only £30 or £40 between them so price not an issue. Just don’t know enough about them to make an informed decision. I do intend to control from my phone as I am often away...

 Having one of those 24 hour time slots where I can't find anything. Last night need my engineers V block for a wee project, no idea where it is, not in the lathe tool drawer where it should be. This morning, can't find the nut driver that goes into the battery drill for putting in those...

While up my loft today and pottering about, a question came into my head probably aimed at the guys doing a lot of house wiring, which isn't me as I was an industrial spark. My house was built in the early 60's it is red and black conduit wires contained in the conduit and the conduit is used...

Bought four of these Philips Maxos Peformer LED fittings at an auction because they were new and very cheap, thinking I could put them in my workshop to replace the ageing fluorescent fittings I have. I realise that these fittings require a track or a batten type back onto them, any idea where...

I am sure when you get to a certain age and acquired, purchased, given tools over the years there may be one or two in your collection you have no idea what there purpose is. This is the one in my collection I don't know what it is for, it must be for stretching or stripping something fairly...

My mate has an air compressor 240V so has a 200uf start and 30uf run capacitor on it. The compressor had sat for a couple of years in unused as my mate had said it died on him. I had a look at it last year tidied up the electrics on it, fitted a new starter, tested the motor changed the...

OK my little solar experts: Just come back from holiday checked the Sunny Beam monitor for the solar production and no generation since the 7th Feb. Looking in the event logs there is two or three events up toand between the end of Jan and the 1st of Feb with message 'Isolat. Resistance' but...