Another Newbie, Help/advice Wanted

[JoWW]

Hi

I'm just finishing my 2357 Level 2, got my Requirements of 17th Edition cert and looking to do Level 3 in September. Only slight downside to this is I'm having to do them with no proper work experience as I'm apparently too old for an apprenticeship (29 and i've been written off already lol) and I'm struggling to find anywhere that will take me on paid because I'm not fully qualified yet. Bit of a problem so if you know anyone that wants a female part qualified sparky around Bradford/Leeds please let me know lol!

Can anyone give me any advice on a good first multifunction tester? Wanted to go all out and get a Megger as thats what I am familiar with however my budget won't stretch that far. Thought about ebay but i'm reluctant to take a chance with a second hand one so thinking of buying a Metrel but read a few mixed reviews??

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[steptoe]

Metrel is fine from my experience of them,

Id buy one of them before Id buy a megger TBH.

 

[JoWW]

Thank you  : O)

 

[steptoe]

you will soon be told,

and Id agree fully,

have a word with our forum sponsor, and member, megger mark from isswww , he will be able to guide to what you actually need, rather than what you think you need,

some of these testers have loads of stuff you will never use, especially as a beginner,

in over 20 years I have NEVER used any form of PC connectivity, or logging or anything like that, so it may be wasted money if you dont need that.

 

[NozSpark]

you will soon be told,

and Id agree fully,

have a word with our forum sponsor, and member, megger mark from isswww , he will be able to guide to what you actually need, rather than what you think you need,

some of these testers have loads of stuff you will never use, especially as a beginner,

in over 20 years I have NEVER used any form of PC connectivity, or logging or anything like that, so it may be wasted money if you dont need that.

I have a Metrel alphapat and that has test result logging and PC connectivity,,, I've used that function twice in the 8 years I've had it, that function is a total waste of time IMHO... the tester itself feels to be good quality and is really easy to use

 

[misssweden]

Hi

I'm just finishing my 2357 Level 2, got my Requirements of 17th Edition cert and looking to do Level 3 in September. Only slight downside to this is I'm having to do them with no proper work experience as I'm apparently too old for an apprenticeship (29 and i've been written off already lol) and I'm struggling to find anywhere that will take me on paid because I'm not fully qualified yet. Bit of a problem so if you know anyone that wants a female part qualified sparky around Bradford/Leeds please let me know lol!

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

You are not too old for an apprenticeship! I am 26 and I've been offered one, and among the apprentices at my college there is one guy who is in his late 40's!

What you are too old for is government funding for your apprenticeship. However, there will be student loans available from August (or sometime around then) for over-24's who wants to do an apprenticeship.

You're too far up north for me to be able to point you in the direction of where to apply, however it might be worth trying National Grid (I can't remember from the top of my head when their deadline is for applications unfortunately), British Gas and possibly MoD. Good luck and keep trying, you can do it

 

[JoWW]

Thanks you.

I kind of guessed some of the tester features would be a bit of a gimmick eg the Bluetooth and all that. I'll try a metre and see how I get on.

I've tried a few different places and they've all said they want a school leaver rather than someone my age, guess its probably because they don't have to pay them very much which makes sense business wise. Will keep trying though hopefully something will turn up.

 

[misssweden]

Try this, I've just found it so I don't know if it is of any use. (The pink layout doesn't really help it's credability...)

http://www.jobsforthegirls.com/are-you-an-electrical-contractor/

 

[kme]

I`ll back up steptoe, with regards to Megger Mark of ISSWWW - as a sponsor, he gives VERY good advice & deals for forum members ( so don`t forget to mention you got his name from here!).

As regards choice of tester - I`d always say buy the absolute best your budget will stretch to. A good meter will be your best friend. and you want something which operates in a way you`re comfortably with - see if you can "have a go" of some in awholesalers, to get the feel of them, and decide which one works best with you.

 

[Robin Spark]

Well Megger Mark from isswww.co.uk is really helpful and will do his utmost to look after you. He really helped me out this week which meant i could go to work today!

Give him a call, you've got nothing to lose but i havent found anywhere else in the past that combines both great prices and aftersales service!

Dont think i want to start a debate on which tester to use but you'll probably be best with lower spec fluke 1651b or lowest spec megger. Im not too sure on metrel, ideal etc as to there reliability.

 

[JoWW]

Thanks Miss Sweden, I had a look on there but there was nothing local to me. I can get plenty of voluntary oppertunities but without milking the whole single parent thing I need to cover my childcare costs so it's a little bit tricky for me to juggle it lol. I'm doing the odd bit here and there where I can.

Thanks guys for advice on the tester, I've bought a Metrel MI 3002 Eurotest DL purely as I got it for the bargain price of £320 brand new. How good it is I am yet to establish but seems ok so far so hopefully will tide me over until I can afford better if it proves not to be much cop.

I tried the Flukes but thought they were a bit slow response wise, whether it was just the unit I borrowed or not I don't know.

 

[Sharpend]

I believe you are able to claim child care costs from the benefit system if you are working.

 

[JoWW]

You can't claim anything if you work on a voluntary basis i.e without pay. Even the benefits office will not pay you benefits unless it's work experience they've organised (they don't offer work experience in trades) or it's for a charitable organisation. So working volunatry is a no go on both the childcare costs and for paying bills.

Passed my level 2 now and I've managed to source some bit jobs on flexi time which seems to be working out quite well around childcare etc so fingers crossed I can round a few more up and make something permenant of it. Not ideal as i'd really like to shaddow someone regularly thats got years of experience/knowledge but something is better than nothing : O) That and I've been told my level 3 is now £3k next year instead of £1k because of government cuts to education funding so I need to get saving fast! lol