A Guide To the New AM2

[sammers230]

I'll start my introducing myself my name is Sam and am a apprentice electrician in Plymouth.

After coming across the help guide setup by Barge I thought I would post a little updater to the AM2 as I have recently just sat mine and am awaiting results, fingers crossed all goes well .

There is a lot from Barges thread that is a lot of help talk.electricianforum.co.uk/student-learning-zone-c-g-2330-levels-2-3-c-g-2381-c-g-2391-other-co/5905-guide-am2-installation.html I have added a link so that other can have a look at some of the things that were involved and what is now involved with the AM2.

1 PREPARE:

To start it really is a matter is failure to prepare = prepare to fail. although I did not have a revision day as the college I go uses the NET's candidate checklist to find your weaknesses which then follows with a one on one to go through everything your feel you need to work on, any materials you can get for revision will help you no end

2 ONLINE EXAM

part of the AM2 as a whole is an hour online exam, even talking to my examiner he said that even they cant put their finger on how tell people how to revise as it is a very broad spectrum that it covers and varies vastly I has two trunking calculation questions and a conduit calc not that many but out of 30 Q's I had three calculation questions and the other lad I went to my exam with (as our college sends pair up) didn't have any instead he has questions about air conditioning units and bacteria growth. all I can really say for this is find what you are unsure about and revise it before you go.

3 INSTALLATION

Compared to the old AM2 there is only wiring and second fixing involved in the AM2 now as the steel conduit and MIMS (PYRO / MICC) have been removed, dont get me wrong knowing how to terminate MIMS is very useful as there is still slot out there and some jobs can still require it so its always good to learn.

Before starting your installation they will get you to fill out a risk assessment and to complete a safe isolation on the bay you will be doing your installation in, when doing this make sure you do your ten point check as the incomer is three phase for house bashers it may not be something your familiar with but what you should check between is:

L1-N L2-NL3-N

L1-E L2-E L3-E

L1-L2 L1-L3 L2-L3

N-E

The exam for the installation is 8.5 hours long which is plenty of time if you keep a steady pace and make sure you don't rush through things, as Barge said in his "Take it serious, but make sure you keep your cool" for the install the sections are as follows

RING MAIN
For the installation there is a ring main which has two sockets a FCU and a IP rated socket which is wired as a spur from the socket that is on the dado trunking this is wired to the RCBO on the board which has a connector block coming from the terminals to stop the screw heads getting chewed up.
16A 3 PHASE SOCKET
this is just a straight forward socket fed from a isolator in PVC singles and from the mains board to the isolator in a 4 core armored so you will need to use the sheath as a CPC so no forgetting your banjo (or earth nut which I had in my box of bits) when connecting this don't forget to follow your colours properly and connect the right colours in the correct sequence so your phase rotation is correct.
CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM
As this is a safety circuit you are expected to install this as an independent circuit it is wired in FP200 on both parts from the board to the FCU and then from the FCU to the Detector this should be pretty straight forward to be done.
LIGHTING CIRCUIT
With the lighting circuit it is a intermediate switching arrangement which should be pretty simple to do just remember to sleave your conductors and remember to wire it using flat twin and flat three core and not PVC singles.
MOTOR
With the motor circuit there is not real diagrams but the DOL starter is prewired so all you need to do is bring your three phase and neutral supply in to the DOL using PVC singles and then from the DOL to the motor with SY flex be careful to use the SY glands to do this, if your not familiar with SY glands they look like someone has cut two slices down the threads you use these to thread the sheath through and the washers so that when you do up your lock nut it clamps down on the sheath also, remember to use your banjos here aswell (or earth nuts).
DONT
forget to set your thermal overload aswell, I cant give you a setting as I do not know what your motor Kw rating will be as the center I was at out of the four bays three has different size motors, trying to google some help i came across alot of chunder (as usual when looking for something specific) to put short to work out your overload you need to find out your motor rating and convert that into an amperage by dividing your Kw by the voltage dont forget that its three phase for 400v
E.g a 0.5Kw motor to get amperage convert Kw to watts simple 500 watts then its just 500 / 400 = 1.25
get a 110% value by 1.25 x 1.1 = 1.375
to then be able to set your thermal overload halve your answer which would leave me with 0.69 when rounded to 2dp
HEATING CIRCUIT
This circuit is a straight forward 2.5 PVC singles with 1.5 CPC to the FCU and from there the central heating system its a modified S plan which the diagram is supplied for you, the system incorporates a solar thermal system this is pretty straight forward as it is just wiring by numbers follow the diagram properly and you shouldn't go wrong
It says that you are to wire the system using PVC singles and PVC flex i would recoment using the singles to wire the heating controler and the room stat and wire everything else in flex as its on tray.
thats pretty much the installation part for the AM2 I will add to this post soon with info on the testing and fault finding, I hope reading both Barges and my guide to the AM2 will help you find preparing for your exam a little easier and a little more relaxed toward it as really its stuff you usually do day in day out but there is abit from all sides of the industry so house bashers could do with knowing abit of commercial and industrial and vice versa.

thanks for having a read and I hope to see what you think of my guide.

 

[steptoe]

is this a new version?

perhaps we could get someone to edit and merge the appropriate parts,

 

[sammers230]

is this a new version?perhaps we could get someone to edit and merge the appropriate parts,

Yeah this is new version of the am2 I sat it this week and am awaiting my results, I was unable to post a link to barges thread as I am new on here and haven't done many posts yet it was pretty last as I was typing this up the other night and am going to add the rest later this evening. It would be good to get a merge on the relevant parts and I an planning on trying to put a couple sketches up so there's no big surprises for other who are soon to be going up.

 

[davez]

Great post! Thank you!

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 13:54 ---------- Previous post was made at 13:53 ----------

If you need more detailed help on the AM2 exam:

The New AM2 exam - complete guide to the new AM2 exam

 

[J111111111111]

Yes it is the new one

 

[1960pje]

Hi,

I sat my AM2 last week. Unfortunately I did not pass. The online exam was Ok because it is open book. The rest, well, nerves took over & I made silly mistakes. The advice I would give would be to  ' read the spec ' carefully i.e. cpc sizes, cable types etc. Remember idents, crimp rings on the cpc's etc.

The 'S' plan heating system I found extremely easy after having read horror stories about it takes hours to complete. If you follow the wiring diagram you can't go wrong. 45 minutes I reckon. Because I do 3Phase all day that was easy for me.

Testing is Ok, just take a deep breath, think about what you are measuring & the correct place to measure & you should be ok.

The grey area for me was fault finding. I still don't know what I did wrong & have to re-take it. I passed one section but not the other. The only faults that can be set are: open circuit, crossed wires, faulty components & visual i.e. no idents etc.

Good luck to all about to undergo this. It is quite intense but try to relax & think logically about what you are doing. When you reach this stage it should be everything you already know & have done before although I have never wired any heating system before.

I will update my progress after the re-sit.

 

[Learning Sparky]

How did you guys get on with the AM2?

I have mine next week. Looking forward to it in a way but know it'll be intense

 

[sammers230]

It will pretty much make you think about everything you have studied in the years running up to the exam. It's good that if you fail a section you don't have to re sit the whole thing.

Just as 1960pje has said, if you start to panic you will begin to struggle. If it happens just put your tools down for a minute and look at the spec and just plan in you mind the steps you are going to take.

Good luck and I hope your re sit went well.

 

[Serdel]

Hi all, for those who are about to take on the am2 practical assessment, here are some tips. 

You will be given an instruction booklet prior to your assessment. You will have an hour or so to read through it and you will have a chance to look at your rig before you start. Make sure to make notes, cable sizes, mcb's and make a plan of where to start. Familiarise yourself with the workshop, so you won't be running arround looking for tools or materials when you are working on your install. Remember you are on a timer and you have 8 and half hours to complete the install. You will be asked to install the following cables  2.5mm SWA cable to a rotary switch the single cores to a 16A TP&N socket , 2.5mm SY flex from a 3 phase DOL starter to a motor , 1.5mm FP200  cable to a carbon monoxide detector. Then you will have to wire up a ring main with a fused spur feeding an external socket. Then a lighting circuit with 2 way and intermediate switch and also two data points, you will use a punch down tool for this, pretty straight forward as it's colour coded and numbered. 

You will also wire up a heating system, it took me 2 hours for this one, you will follow a diagram for this step, make sure you get it right first time just pay attention on the drawing, it shows you how to wire ut up the assessor will test it at the end of your install to see if it works. 

My other advice, revise your testing and inspection, memorise all dead tests and live tests and more importantly revise your inspection sheets and how to fill them in. You are allowed to use onsite guide for this.  If your am2 centre offers a 2 day refresher, i strongly recommend doing it, they will go through it before you take on your install. 

Hope this post helps, there is probably more to add, feel free to ask me anything and I will be more specific. 

Good luck and remember, read the spec!!  Very Important to read rhe spec!!

 

[Warren Dahl]

Hello I have got my am2 next week it's a resit I sat it not that long ago and failed on the installation and testing, the installation I just ran out of time as I was doing my final circuit the heating system so I am not too worried about that I will just go quicker this time but the dead testing I am a bit unsure of, if there's any chance somebody could give me a step by step guide for how to test each circuit I would be very happy ? I can test I just want to know the correct procedure I just don't want. To have to come back and resit again. For example lighting circuit r1/r2=

ins res=

thank you 

 

[Andy™]

have a read through OSG, covers all the testing required. more in GN3 if you have it

 

[Warren Dahl]

Can u msg back mate please I've msgd u

 

[Sharpend]

You either know how to test or don't? I suspect you know how to get readings, maybe not your fault maybe just how you've been shown. I strongly recommend you obtain a copy of GN3 and have a thorough read then return with any questions. It is though very well explained and easy to understand.  

 

[Andy™]

dont ask questions like this by PM. you end up with only the opinion of the person you ask and no-one else benefits later reading through because its not public

since you have OSG start with chapter 10 on page 95.

 

[phil d]

I have to agree with the other posters on here, get a copy of GN3, you'll find it invaluable, especially as you are just setting out in the game, it's a bit like having the on site guide, it has a lot of useful info in it, even when you've been in the game for years, you occasionally need to refer to it for something. Think of it in the same way as you would if you were buying any other piece of kit, if you needed a certain meter or spanner or whatever you'd buy it because you need it, the same applies here, if you need to spend 30 quid on a book to help you qualify, then it's money well spent.

 

[Warren Dahl]

Thanks i will get right on it , take the chip of your shoulder Andy 

 

[phil d]

Thanks i will get right on it , take the chip of your shoulder Andy 

Warren, Andy hasn't got a "chip on his shoulder", yes he tells it as it is, we all do, he's trying to give you the best possible advice, remember it''s people like Andy, with chips on their shoulders that will be the most help to you in your future career, passing the exams is only the begining!

 

[Andy™]

Thanks i will get right on it , take the chip of your shoulder Andy 

go pick up your dummy and get on with it. moaning on a forum wont help, other than people will be less likely to want to help you int he first place

as for what test method AM2 wants, i dont know. its all changed since i done mine, but if you follow the guidance in OSG & GN3 then you cant really get it wrong

 

[Kevin-5]

How did you guys do with  AM2?

I have mine next week. It's not going to be easy but got to be done.

I need to work on testing and inspection, that's my weakest, any help on this?
For the rest of AM2 I found this website if it is of any help to anyone
taking the AM2 passam2.co.uk
 
Thanks in advance.

 

[Tony S]

Serde, please don't include your e-mail address. This is an open forum, anyone and everyone can use it to spam you.