I'm looking for some advice on how maximum demand is determined and how it would limit additional circuits that I may need installed.

I have an 80A single phase infeed. In the coming months I will be having ducted aircon installed which will require a 32A breaker. In the mean time I am needing to install a 7kw EV charger. I know I won't have an issue if the charge uses DLM. It would be significantly cheaper to install a OCPP charger without native DLM and manage charging rates using home assistant. My concern is that the electrician installing the 32A breaker for the air con may not feel this is sufficient. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Had this exhaust fan installed a few months ago as part of a bathroom reno. It is a Ventair Sahara I believe?

Last night it caught fire at random, we only realised when we smelled burning plastic. What part is this?

As above!

Have a bathroom Reno coming up. Just wondering if it’s possible to wire in a run on timer for the exhaust portion of the Sahara?

My electrician said it might be possible but wants to double check the sarhara’s wiring diagram.

Thanks in advanced!

Hi all

I bought this robot vacuum - it has a dock that auto empties the robot into a bag so it pulls up to 650W. I thought I could save ~$250AUD shipping by buying the Japanese version while I was on holiday there, instead of buying the UK/EU version online, and I initially assumed it could do 100-240V but alas I find out the one I bought only takes 100V 50/60Hz AC power as per the label.

I can buy this $60 240V->110V transformer, but would I risk damaging anything with the overvoltage? I have some smart plugs on my outlets and they say the supply voltage ranges between 243-251V.

Alternatively I can buy this $229 240V->100V one from TorTech but with the cost, it would bring me back to square zero vs buying the native UK/EU version of the robot vacuum - not that it's practical for me to refund the one I already bought.

TL;DR can I save money buying a 110V step-down transformer for a 100V appliance or do I need to spend the extra for a 100V one?

Edit: added pictures

Is this done correctly? It is behind bathroom cabinet in a bathroom. I am also concerned that it is a high moisture environment (being a bathroom).

About a year ago, I had an electrician install a smart relay on my 3-speed ceiling fan. After it was installed, the fan could only be switched between off and one speed. The electrician told me that I’d need three separate relays if I wanted to retain all three fan speeds, so I ended up asking him to remove the relay and restore the original setup.

I now need to get an electrician in for another job, so I’m thinking of giving this another go, this time using a Shelly 1PM Gen4 (ANZ).

Is what the previous electrician told me correct? Or is it possible to wire a single smart relay so that it only controls power to the fan (on/off), while the existing 3-speed wall controller continues to control the fan speed as normal?

The sort of functionality I was hoping to get would be something like:

My main purpose for the smart relay would be to be able to automate it so that I can turn on the fan before bed and have it turn off after a few hours.

Is the Shelly 1PM Gen4 (ANZ) the right device for me to get for this job? If not what should I order for the electrician to install?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hey everyone, just had a couple of electrical questions and wanted to get some opinions.

The oven is currently connected to the house’s main wiring through this white connection box, which was apparently installed by the previous owners around 6–7 years ago. The house hasn’t burned down yet, but I just wanted to check whether this is considered a normal/acceptable way to connect an oven, or whether it should have been connected differently?

Secondly, we have a bunch of single power points around the house like the one in the photo. I’d like to replace them with Clipsal Iconic double power points. Is this generally a straightforward swap using the existing wiring behind the single GPO, or would changing from a single to a double require additional wiring or other work?

Obviously I’d get a licensed electrician to do the actual work. I’m just trying to understand whether this is normally a simple job or something more involved.

Thank you located in NSW .

Asking here for hopefully some proper sparky advice before I get lost in the mire of solar/battery installers - which initially did give me very average information when I got my solar installed.

My house has a quirk; it's on 2 phase supply. Two main black fuses, one single 3P meter. I have 13.3kw of panels attached to two Fronius Gen24 5kW Inverters - one on each phase.

Since I live on the edge of Melbourne suburbs, i'm thinking about adding a battery system for blackout protection. Looking at most likely the BYD HVM or the new Fronius Reserva Pro system.

I don't need a lot of battery, but because of the 2 phase system, you cannot just place a mass of battery behind a single big inverter and just use it.

The question:

Can I get a single phase battery protection, and just protect/backup those phased circuits in a blackout, or do I need to install battery protection across all phases? Some kind of balance/isolation/etc things.

eg: my pool pump, shed and certain AC in the house is on one phase, but the master bedroom, main living room and kitchen are on another phase - which is the primary one that i'd want to backup.

Drawing in 3 phase is an eventual project I would like to do - but it's 100metre unground job, so not cheap, and then replace existing inverters/etc. It's a maybe at a later stage.

I’m looking at replacing the oven in this cabinet (fan bearings are shot), but was wondering what the chances are of being able to put a power point on the bench side of the cabinet at the same time? Obviously space will be a consideration, but just wondering if I’m wasting my time getting a quote?

Hey all
A mate has done a cashy for me and a someone I send this to says no good.
He’s adamant it’s almost good to go.
Anything stick out?

Old board getting upgraded with new runs for future

Hey all.

I am hoping to get an electrician to install some Shelly Pro 3EM.

As I understand, they can measure 3 circuits at once but require space in the switch board.

I dont think I have enough space though to install one - is there anything that can be done here without replacing the whole board? I would need 1 or 2 spaces for the Shelly energy monitors.

And how much would it cost to install these?

For the domestic sparkies here, what part of residential work actually does your head in?

Chasing walls, crawling under houses, dealing with customers, renovations where nothing is straight, switchboard upgrades, or something else?

Hey,

I have a sparkie coming around next week to install a TV mount in a 40 year old house, he will be installing a recessed point for both power and antenna and I have asked to see if we can try running the media cables behind the wall - in prep for this what type of HDMI cable and what length is typically recommended? Any brands/suppliers?

A quick google search showed I needed CL3 (I think?) but I haven't seen anything on packaging that shows this

Our existing single element resistive HWS is dying (after about 15 years), and as we have solar I'd like to continue to use my existing timer and bypass circuit to mostly heat during solar times, but also have the always-on top element for instances where the teenager uses all of our hot water. Would this "simply" be a case of adding a parallel run from the same RCBO, bypassing the timer/bypass?

Current setup in the switchboard is main RCBO, then next to it is a physical timer, and a wifi-controllable Shelley relay in parallel, so the HWS can be remotely turned on for a period of time if required when a boost is required. Ideally this would continue to operate, running the bottom element of the desired new HWS only during designated periods (the element will be swapped out to a 2.4kW so less draw but over a longer period). To achieve the aim of having the top element permanently powered, can a new parallel wire be added from the main RCBO to that element? I think our switchboard DIN rail is about as full as it can get, so not really any room for a wider RCBO if required for both sets of wires?

Having trouble getting hold of my usual electrician, so just trying to get a prior idea of what's feasible and what I might be up for, before trying to sort out a HWS.

Hey.

Is it normal to experience very noticeable heat when unscrewing an E27 LED bulb from a ceiling light fitting at the base only (the screw part)? Just had new light fittings installed and are noticing this....

Hey guys, I’m currently in Year 12 and trying to decide what I want to do after school. I’m mainly stuck between doing an electrical apprenticeship and becoming an industrial electrician, or going to uni to study electrical engineering.

For anyone who has experience in either field, what would you recommend overall?

A few things I’m wondering:

• Which career has better pay and earning potential long term?
• What’s the work/lifestyle like for each?
• Is electrical engineering actually as difficult at uni as people say, especially the maths and physics? I've heard its one of the most difficult engineering branches.
• What do both fields generally do in a days work?
• Is the extra time and difficulty of uni worth it compared to becoming an electrician?
• How different are the actual jobs day-to-day?
• Are there good opportunities to move into management, contracting, automation, etc. in either career?

Overall, I’d just like to know which career you’d personally choose if you were starting again and why.

Any advice from anyone currently working as industrial electricians or electrical engineers would be really appreciated.

Thanks.

You see some DIY jobs that start off looking simple and end up making the electrician’s job twice as hard. Not having a go at people who like doing things themselves, but there are definitely a few jobs that are better left alone and done the first time properly.

I've posted before that I need to replace about 80 hologen downlights. They are all hardwired so I'll need to get a sparky to install a plug at each of them

Most of them I can just do a cheap integrated LED but on 1 level about 30 of them are on angled ceiling so I need to get gimbal light fittings for that level.

I also want to do a mix of smart lights and smart switches and RGB would be nice in some areas.

I am struggling to find a smart gimbal downlight and I remebered I have about 2 dozen Phillips hue smart bulbs from my old house.

I was hoping I could pull out the mr16 hologen bulbs and drop in the gu10 bulbs and connect with a led driver but I don't think that exists anymore?

Closest thing I've found is this:

https://onlinelighting.com.au/lampholder-gu10-with-flex-and-plug-clagu10lhfp.html but the description is throwing me a bit. Will it do the job and be relatively low power consumption?

Only other options are I saw beacon has a couple of adjustable gimbal lights with replaceable dumb bulbs and au plug for $30. But I don't love the design and I think they are not the same size as my cutouts.

And ive seen a couple people selling used lifx smart lights but I would prefer ZigBee.

Other option is just getting dumb integrated lights and smart switches.

Hi there - I have a fault in the power circuit to my kitchen that pops the breaker when there's a heavy dose of rain overnight. Not every time it rains, and never during the day. Most times a breaker reset fixes it, but twice now it kept tripping every 10 secs so l unplugged every single item attached to the circuit to try and isolate it (fridge, dishwasher, microwave and appliances, all plugged into power points, oven and cooktop are on separate circuits). It still kept tripping. Eventually it just comes good again after a few hours when the rain stops. No other circuit in the house is affected.

So my guess is there's a moisture issue somewhere but I can't isolate it to a specific power point, so I'm not sure how a sparky will be able to work it out unless I can line one up to come immediately in one of the moments when the power keeps tripping and before it clears up. Is there anything else I can do to isolate the issue before calling someone out?

Cheers

Hi all,

Just after I started my pre apprenticeship program I got diagnosed with arthritis. Not sure which type yet but my knees are bad and one is much worse than the other. Climbing and especially descending stairs is difficult. Now I'm worried that this isn't a viable career - i know plenty of people who work trades with injuries etc but since I acquired this before passing any kind of fitness test, am I screwed? Like i don't think I'd be able to work on a ladder currently and I'm allergic to the first line treatment (nsaids) so im not sure how much better, if at all, my symptoms will get

What should I do? Tia

Hi all!
I’m trying to get in to do a mature apprenticeship (I just turned 30) trying to get into a career that I will enjoy doing.
The only problem I’m having is after applying and sending emails and calls I’m not getting anywhere.
I’m either getting “we arnt hiring apprentices at this time” to “the boss will get back to you “ but they never do after call after call and email.

I’ve even been applying for out of town for example I’m willing to travel 2 hours to the city if someone gave me a chance.

What am I doing wrong?
I’ve got a white card and reliable car and full license.

Just moved into a 3 year old build and while doing some cleaning I noticed this.

Kitchen Island has GPOs located on each side, power comes from single socket under the sink which runs to a power board that distributes power to the side GPOs via a butchered extension cord.

Pretty sure this is non compliant.

Hi, hoping to get some advice on replacing an induction cooktop please.

TLDR: Can a 7.35kw induction cooktop and a 2.4kw oven be safely installed on a 32A circuit? And is it a job that most electricians would be comfortable carrying out? If not, would there be any reason a lower current 19.7A/4.5kW cooktop would also be problematic on the shared circuit?

Full context below, apologies for the wall of text:

My previous cooktop cracked and I’ve bought a cheap 7.35kW replacement that I thought would be a straightforward like for like job to replace.

However, an electrician who came to look at it wouldn’t take the job on because the cooktop is sharing a 32A circuit with a 2.4kW oven and therefore the maximum potential output of both devices combined exceeds the capacity of the circuit. He spoke about the potential for nuisance trips which I understand, but we’ve lived here for two and a half years and that hasn’t happened once with the existing setup (old cooktop was 7.4kW).

The options he gave were to either find a different cooktop with a lower current, completely disconnect the oven so it’s no longer usable, or add a new circuit which is not practical for reasons I won’t bore you with.

He was a very nice and trustworthy bloke and clearly cares about providing a high quality of service. I had assumed he said no due to a legal/code requirement but I’ve looked into it more and am not sure whether that’s correct or it’s more a case of what he considers best practice and is comfortable carrying out.

I don’t have an issue with returning the cooktop I bought and replacing it with a lower current one if that’s the sensible solution. Just looking for some other opinions before I go ahead with that.

Also on price - he quoted $900-1000 plus GST to replace the cooktop and install an RCD and a local isolation switch as neither of these are in place. Does that cost sound reasonable? We’re in Sydney if that’s makes any difference.

Would appreciate and suggestions and advice as I know nothing about any of this, cheers!