Any good resources/videos for 3 phase or industrial stuff?

[Electrics]

I've been watching Residual Current on youtube (great vids and great bloke btw) and really love watching the more industrial/commercial side of things.

Are there any resources that teach how 3 phase works? Even college syllabuses seem to be very light on 3 phase stuff.

How do people learn this stuff if they're not working with it daily at work?

Thanks in advance.

 

[telectrix]

try Big Clive's youtube videos.

 

[Electrics]

try Big Clive's youtube videos.

Never heard of him but will give them a go. Thanks mate.

 

[ElectroChem]

If you want some laughs on the high-power side of the trade, try Photonic Induction on youtube. He's just recently come back from a few years break, heaps of fun to watch him play around with (and more often than not destroy) some gear.

 

[Lister1987]

GSH Electrical and Joe Robinson training on YouTube will have 3 phase stuff in, thr latter dealing with prominently thr electrical science behind it.

John Ward also does some theory stuff. Thr Engineering Mindset also good with this.

.what exactly is it you're after? You mention Mikey's channel, that's pretty much 3 phase work as you'd likely see it which leads me to think is it the theory you're after?

 

[Electrics]

GSH Electrical and Joe Robinson training on YouTube will have 3 phase stuff in, thr latter dealing with prominently thr electrical science behind it.

John Ward also does some theory stuff. Thr Engineering Mindset also good with this.

.what exactly is it you're after? You mention Mikey's channel, that's pretty much 3 phase work as you'd likely see it which leads me to think is it the theory you're after?

Mostly just to see the practicality behind how they work differently to single phase in terms of how they're wired up etc. Like do you take all 3 phases to each outlet or can you split them? If there a certain way of wiring them up eg i've seen some L1 L2 L3 but then on the other side L3 L2 L1 in reverse order. Just something to get familiar with the boards and how they are different from single phase. I can work out single phase stuff quite easily by looking at it but 3 phase stuff confuses me a bit as there always seems to be extra parts, bigger stuff, converters and isolators and all sorts of funky stuff.

Not only that but i've read through the level 3 books (both EAL and C&G) and they don't really touch on 3 phase much. How do people learn about it if they're never taught it? Is it very much a thing where you have to have a job doing it to be in the know or is there some sort of extra training that helps you figure all this stuff out?

Same with industrial. If you work on house bashing during an apprenticeship for 3 years and do the Level 3 you're not going to be able to suss out an industrial supply even with 10 years experience unless you're actually employed by a firm who does that sort of stuff. So how do you learn without the job? Is there a way?

 

[ElectroChem]

Mostly just to see the practicality behind how they work differently to single phase in terms of how they're wired up etc. Like do you take all 3 phases to each outlet or can you split them? If there a certain way of wiring them up eg i've seen some L1 L2 L3 but then on the other side L3 L2 L1 in reverse order. Just something to get familiar with the boards and how they are different from single phase. I can work out single phase stuff quite easily by looking at it but 3 phase stuff confuses me a bit as there always seems to be extra parts, bigger stuff, converters and isolators and all sorts of funky stuff.

Not only that but i've read through the level 3 books (both EAL and C&G) and they don't really touch on 3 phase much. How do people learn about it if they're never taught it? Is it very much a thing where you have to have a job doing it to be in the know or is there some sort of extra training that helps you figure all this stuff out?

Same with industrial. If you work on house bashing during an apprenticeship for 3 years and do the Level 3 you're not going to be able to suss out an industrial supply even with 10 years experience unless you're actually employed by a firm who does that sort of stuff. So how do you learn without the job? Is there a way?

Quite a bit to cover here, but I'll do my best.
Background: I'm an industrial trained electrician coming up on 8 years in the trade. In Australia we have to do a full 4-year apprenticeship to be trade qualified, so some aspects of my training will be quite different to the UK.

Like do you take all 3 phases to each outlet or can you split them?
That depends on the type of outlet. Installations with 3-phase power still have a neutral available, so for single-phase outlets you would run a circuit from the board that picked up one of the active phases plus the neutral.
3-phase outlets will use all three actives, sometimes without the neutral and sometimes with, depending on the type of load being supplied.

3 phase stuff confuses me a bit as there always seems to be extra parts, bigger stuff, converters and isolators and all sorts of funky stuff.
At its core 3-phase uses all the same control gear as single, just three times
The nature of things is that if a system needs 3-phase power, it's more likely to be big and complicated to begin with. We use all the extra funky stuff to do interesting things with electrickery.

How do people learn about it if they're never taught it? Is it very much a thing where you have to have a job doing it to be in the know...
This is the crux of the issue when trying to 'move up' in the trade. Industrial sparkies love to lay s*** on "house bashers" because part of our ego is that we work with the more complex gear and systems.
If you don't learn it as part of your training, it can be really hard to get a break into this side of the business, and no amount of book learning can match live training.
If you're genuinely interested in getting some experience and learning that side of things, my best suggestion would be to find some of the guys on here or a local business that works industrial and ask to help out. I'd certainly be more than happy to ramble on to a TA while we're doing a cable pull, and more than once I've taken time at the end of a day to run an apprentice or helper through the line we've been working on and explain things.

 

[Electrics]

Quite a bit to cover here, but I'll do my best.
Background: I'm an industrial trained electrician coming up on 8 years in the trade. In Australia we have to do a full 4-year apprenticeship to be trade qualified, so some aspects of my training will be quite different to the UK.

Like do you take all 3 phases to each outlet or can you split them?
That depends on the type of outlet. Installations with 3-phase power still have a neutral available, so for single-phase outlets you would run a circuit from the board that picked up one of the active phases plus the neutral.
3-phase outlets will use all three actives, sometimes without the neutral and sometimes with, depending on the type of load being supplied.

3 phase stuff confuses me a bit as there always seems to be extra parts, bigger stuff, converters and isolators and all sorts of funky stuff.
At its core 3-phase uses all the same control gear as single, just three times
The nature of things is that if a system needs 3-phase power, it's more likely to be big and complicated to begin with. We use all the extra funky stuff to do interesting things with electrickery.

How do people learn about it if they're never taught it? Is it very much a thing where you have to have a job doing it to be in the know...
This is the crux of the issue when trying to 'move up' in the trade. Industrial sparkies love to lay s*** on "house bashers" because part of our ego is that we work with the more complex gear and systems.
If you don't learn it as part of your training, it can be really hard to get a break into this side of the business, and no amount of book learning can match live training.
If you're genuinely interested in getting some experience and learning that side of things, my best suggestion would be to find some of the guys on here or a local business that works industrial and ask to help out. I'd certainly be more than happy to ramble on to a TA while we're doing a cable pull, and more than once I've taken time at the end of a day to run an apprentice or helper through the line we've been working on and explain things.

Wow thanks for taking the time to write this.

I guess the real question is - do you need the job doing these sorts of fits to know what you have written above or is there a resource/resources that at least teach you the basics of it? I find it weird that there doesn't seem to be any real course or anything that teaches you this side of the game because there's no way you can go from 3 bed terrace rewires to just jumping straight into industrial panels.

 

[Lister1987]

Wow thanks for taking the time to write this.

I guess the real question is - do you need the job doing these sorts of fits to know what you have written above or is there a resource/resources that at least teach you the basics of it? I find it weird that there doesn't seem to be any real course or anything that teaches you this side of the game because there's no way you can go from 3 bed terrace rewires to just jumping straight into industrial panels.

I disagree, if your understanding of the 3 phase fundamentals is sound then there is no reason you can't make the switch from domestic.

Your best bet is to go over the theory until it can be recalled without thinking, get hold of technical data from manufacturers and study it, get an understanding of the differences in switchgear; different BS standards compared to domestic.

A lot of the ways of working is different; RAMS for everything, probably one for wiping your arse too, once you've got the permit to do it - Safety is strict and stringently controlled so be sure to understand the hierarchy of control and where it applies and how.

If you're capable you could make yourself a 3 phase rig to test on, while there is no substitute for real world experience but fundamentaly it's just bigger switchgear, larger voltages and amperage and containment EVERYWHERE so make sure your containment skills are honed.

Oh and Arc Flash awareness is a top priority, that ---- is dangerous in commercial and industrial, moreso than domestic.

 

[Electrics]

I disagree, if your understanding of the 3 phase fundamentals is sound then there is no reason you can't make the switch from domestic.

Your best bet is to go over the theory until it can be recalled without thinking

Yeah i agree with that but where do you get to learn those fundamentals? The Level 3 books don't really have much in from what i can tell and certainly no board set ups with anything labelled. Do you know of any books or resources?

 

[Lister1987]

Yeah i agree with that but where do you get to learn those fundamentals? The Level 3 books don't really have much in from what i can tell and certainly no board set ups with anything labelled. Do you know of any books or resources?

The city and guilds books cover the theory behind 3 phase (star Delta etc), I guess the real question should be; what do you see as holes in your knowledge preventing you from grasping 3 phase (Practical experience aside)?

Board setups are pretty much similar to domestic just in a different orientation, neutral bars, earth bars, a main switch, busbars tend to run down thr center and are fixed, unlike most 1phaae domestic boards.

Manuals from manufacturers will help with diagrams etc

 

[Petej999]

Wow thanks for taking the time to write this.

I guess the real question is - do you need the job doing these sorts of fits to know what you have written above or is there a resource/resources that at least teach you the basics of it? I find it weird that there doesn't seem to be any real course or anything that teaches you this side of the game because there's no way you can go from 3 bed terrace rewires to just jumping straight into industrial panels.

The city and guilds books cover the theory behind 3 phase (star Delta etc), I guess the real question should be; what do you see as holes in your knowledge preventing you from grasping 3 phase (Practical experience aside)?

Board setups are pretty much similar to domestic just in a different orientation, neutral bars, earth bars, a main switch, busbars tend to run down thr center and are fixed, unlike most 1phaae domestic boards.

Manuals from manufacturers will help with diagrams etc

From reading this thread it would see m that transitioning fro Dom to IND all you need to do is watch a few Youtube Vids? ludicrous

 

[Electrics]

From reading this thread it would see m that transitioning fro Dom to IND all you need to do is watch a few Youtube Vids? ludicrous

Personally i agree it doesn't seem like most domestic installers, fully qualified or not, could just go jump on an industrial set up and know what they were doing.

So how would you personally gather the knowledge needed to know what you're doing industrial/commercial wise without a job doing it? Is there a training body? A course? A good book? I'm looking for anything here no matter how small

 

[Electrics]

The city and guilds books cover the theory behind 3 phase (star Delta etc), I guess the real question should be; what do you see as holes in your knowledge preventing you from grasping 3 phase (Practical experience aside)?

Board setups are pretty much similar to domestic just in a different orientation, neutral bars, earth bars, a main switch, busbars tend to run down thr center and are fixed, unlike most 1phaae domestic boards.

Manuals from manufacturers will help with diagrams etc

Ok thanks i'll check some manuals out.

 

[Petej999]

Personally i agree it doesn't seem like most domestic installers, fully qualified or not, could just go jump on an industrial set up and know what they were doing.

So how would you personally gather the knowledge needed to know what you're doing industrial/commercial wise without a job doing it? Is there a training body? A course? A good book? I'm looking for anything here no matter how small

Do a proper apprenticeship mate nothing like it for learning the ropes.