LED bulbs

[Tommy T.]

6 hours ago, Gary D said:

Whole house surge protectors in the UK are about £70 (4400 pesos) they sit on the DIN rail beside the breakers in the consumer unit.

 https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-type-2-surge-protection-device-20ka/688gx

Regarding inverters the switch over should be instant, actually you run the house from the inverter full time and all that changes is the main goes away leaving the battery support.

That's all great information - thanks! I hope I can find whole-house surge protectors like that here. Although that function might be integral with the AVR previously described? Whatever there is, I want it all to protect all my electrics and electronics right from the start. I don't want to have all those problems that Mike has described due, possibly to that super high voltage issue. Solar panels and batteries will have to wait a while as my finances recover from the house build.

[Tommy T.]

5 hours ago, bastonjock said:

Time to chuck my 2 pesos worth in

Hi Baston. Thanks for your information - worth lots more than 2 pesos - at least 4! I plan to incorporate a lot of the ideas from you guys on the forum when doing the electrics in our house.

[bastonjock]

Ive just been into the electrical wholesaler  ,it appears that they are now reccomending surge protectors if you have LED lights 

The have various manufacturers putting their goods on display and the new fuse boards now incorporate surge protectors  , the surge protectors pop out on over voltage 

In the UK we have technical updates every 5 years or so , the latest update called the 18th edition ,( I have not done the course yet) includes surge protectors , they should have a rating in joules the higher the number the better the protection , the ones in the tech books are listed also as lightening protectors , they better quality ones are being listed at around 9000 peso 

Edited July 12, 2019 by bastonjock
18th edition upgrade

[Gary D]

23 hours ago, bastonjock said:

Time to chuck my 2 pesos worth in

The AVRs are a great way to protect your equipment , in the UK they are fittee after the power supply and are usually reserved for computers and monitors 

With regard to his 50hz versus 60 Hz ,most appliances will not be trouble by this difference, the majority of the worlds electrical equipment work on this range 

There are items called voltage sensitive relays ,these control the change over to battery or generator when the mains fail

Forgot to add,  that LEDs are better for your eyes , the switching off and switching on is what shortens 5heir life , the quality has greatly improved over the last 4 or 5 years , having a ground or earth is also a very good idea , the most important wire is the ground wire , it will save your life 

As far as three phase goes , all generated electricity starts as 3 phase , you have three wires ,each carrying a phase , to achieve 230volts , you have a neutral , between each phase and neutral you will find 230 volts , between each phase you will find 400 to 420 volts depending on the country 

If you want to measure amperage you will need a clamp meter , some of the cheap Chinese meters are pretty good , if you want an accurate reading you will need a calibrated instrument , the cheaper meters can be out bu 10% the better ones that are calibrated 2% , I cant remember the exact regulation but meters have a maximum 5% either way redundancy in them 

Just to throw my 2 pesos in, the mains in the Philippines is phase and ground. There is no neutral supplied from the generation. I always add a third wire safety earth.

[Tommy T.]

14 hours ago, bastonjock said:

The have various manufacturers putting their goods on display and the new fuse boards now incorporate surge protectors  , the surge protectors pop out on over voltage 

 

That sounds good, baston, but I think I prefer the whole-power system of using the AVR rather than just the surge protection that pops like a circuit breaker requiring reset. I am thinking about what happens when I am away, the thing pops and no one is there to reset. The freezer and light will be off and also motion detector and cctv? Again, I am ignorant about all the nuances but that AVR technology really sounds like the ticket for hands-off electrical care.

 

7 hours ago, Gary D said:

Just to throw my 2 pesos in, the mains in the Philippines is phase and ground. There is no neutral supplied from the generation. I always add a third wire safety earth.

And, Gary...right with those two sentences, you just decided me to do exactly the same. We are meeting with our contractor today and I am right now making a note to make certain everything is grounded in our new house. Thank you for your excellent input!

[Jack Peterson]

 After all this Technology, I wonder if the Bulbs are going to last any Longer than the 2 years we seem to have all agreed on at  present? Maybe one of you will come back in two or three years and give a report 

[Tommy T.]

23 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 After all this Technology, I wonder if the Bulbs are going to last any Longer than the 2 years we seem to have all agreed on at  present? Maybe one of you will come back in two or three years and give a report 

Count on it, Jack! So long as I last another two years!

[Tommy T.]

On 7/13/2019 at 1:00 AM, Gary D said:

Just to throw my 2 pesos in, the mains in the Philippines is phase and ground. There is no neutral supplied from the generation. I always add a third wire safety earth.

Hi Gary... Just wanted to thank you again for your comments about grounding. We met - as promised - with the contractors last night and I brought up the grounding issue. They said that, yes they could and would do that. They weren't so sure about the AVR and said they would check with Davao City Light to make sure that was okay with them... I have a feeling DCL will have no clue what they are talking about and may say NO just based on their ignorance... I hope that is not the case. I will let you know how this progresses. But I am totally convinced that grounding and AVR will be essential to longevity of electrical appliances, etc. in our home and also to our safety and reduction of possibility of fire. 

An aside here - and I believe it is still on topic...  I learned from talking with L and the contractors and others around here that "proper wire connections," in absence of "shove in" connectors at switches and outlets (at least the Philippine way!) is to twist the wires together and wrap them in electrical tape! So we discussed this and I was able to produce proper wire connectors and a wire nut that I had left over from my electrical kit on the yacht for examples. I told them that no wires should be just twisted together and wrapped. They must use wire nuts and then tape them - all clockwise - as I learned from a pro years ago. They agreed to that too. I will be out inspecting during construction, but I trust these kids to do it right. I hope my trust is not misplaced...

[intrepid]

18 minutes ago, Tommy T. said:

I will be out inspecting during construction, but I trust these kids to do it right. I hope my trust is not misplaced...

This is a great idea.  Just remember to follow through.  Even if they get ahead of you don't be afraid to take some screws out here and there to inspect.  It will give you a piece of mind.  I had shipped a lot of wire nuts when we moved.  However, I have seem them here and there in some stores since we located here.  Good luck with you project.

[Tommy T.]

2 minutes ago, intrepid said:

This is a great idea.  Just remember to follow through.  Even if they get ahead of you don't be afraid to take some screws out here and there to inspect.  It will give you a piece of mind.  I had shipped a lot of wire nuts when we moved.  However, I have seem them here and there in some stores since we located here.  Good luck with you project.

Thanks for the advice. I hadn't thought about retro-checking, but that's a great idea! As the Filipinos like to say ...Noted, sir!

I will look around for wire nuts as I research tiles and other materials that will be required for the project.

Thanks for your good wishes! I am sure we will need every one we can get!