How Old Was You When You Became Interested In Electrics?

[OnlQQker]

I was 7. I painstakingly removed 2 screws from a power socket with a small pair of scissors and then tried to unscrew the live in the same fashion.
This is how I became painfully became interested in them, how about you?

 

[Des 56]

15 years old took a exam for a pit apprenticeship,it would either be as electrician or fitter
Have to be honest,I had no interest whatsoever in electrics
I wanted the outdoors not a coal mine
this would have been nicer

 

[KennyKen]

Me neither.
I was only ever interested in building/fabricating things from metal and wood. I got into electrics due to my maintenance apprenticeship. Truth is i'm not all that interested in it even now 30 odd years later. I'm more interested in science, in particular quantum mechanics and the other end of the scale cosmology.
The only thing about electrics that interests me is the science, design and problem solving. The installation, especially domestic, bores me but has always been part of my job one way or another.
I take my hat off to those that love electrics and are lucky enough to earn a living from something they really enjoy.

I got a few books by Jim Al-Khalili. Who delves into the Quantum World. Fantastic bloke who loved giving seminars at the science museum. He’s an expert on Entropy and pretty good at explaining about quarks & Neutrinos in Layman’s terms.

 

[static zap]

Source URL: How Old Was You When You Became Interested In Electrics? - https://www.electriciansforums.net/threads/how-old-was-you-when-you-became-interested-in-electrics.181973/page-2#post-1599481

..Jim Al-Khalili....
He’s an expert on Entropy.../(quantum theories)

It's a very jumbled up world , and despite nature (or-The Mrs) wants to be that way !
(When no one is looking ?)

 

[electric al]

Are you guys brothers?

To answer OP I was 21

Maybe they brothers to another mother

 

[Simon47]

Wow, how lovely to see that again. I was given mine in about 1967.

Ah yes, I got two boxes of the old Philips electronics kit handed down to me by my brothers. Before that I had a kit where all the components were mounted on plastic carriers with studs sticking out - you put them through holes in a large (well it seemed large when I was "somewhat smaller" than I am today) PCB and bolted them down with little nuts. I remember they were still in the attic until about 3 years ago when mum downsized - I can't remember what I did with them now I think I'd have kept them to hand down to the grand kids when they are old enough. The ancient VCR (so old it still had "piano key" that semi-mechanically operated the mechanism) definitely went !

I'd been taking things to pieces ever since I could hold a screwdriver: my father was often infuriated but it rarely stopped me.

Hmm, that sounds familiar !

As to how old I was when I got started, no idea. One of those "as long as I can remember" things and definitely before I got to double digits. Dad was an electrician (working for a general sparky firm I think), by the time I came along he worked in R&D at Brush Electrical Machines which sounded interesting from some of the stories he'd tell. I think mum found it "difficult" with a husband and 3 boys all interested in anything electrical ?

 

[Ziggie]

I was about 4 . My father fixed old radios and early TV’s for the OAPs and my playing was wiring 15amp plugs. The best lesson was “if you want to talk to dad, put your hands in your pockets”. He did all the work for free and he was taught during the war in the RAF as a direction finder for Lancaster stationed at Newmarket. The tote was his home.

 

[Chris1234]

I think it was this book when I was 9 or 10.
One of the first things I built was an electric motor from this book. I may (or may not) teach it to my local Cub group, but fear they are too young.

My first electric shock that I remember was when I was on the CB radio, I had a 12v PSU which had the cover missing, so I stuffed a pair of socks over the live terminals.
One day I couldn´t find any socks and saw this pair, grabbed them, and you know the rest!

 

[Phil Thompson]

Got my first dig about 12 or 13 putting a plug in with no back to check id wired the light up properly, didnt switch it off before going to remove it again lol

 

[James360]

6 year old my grandad bought me a book called the boy electrician for christmas and told me to read it then after that working with my grandad in his radio repair workshop in the back bed room of my nanas house were he made a good living repairing radios record player etc etc those were the days 49 years ago

 

[brianmoooore]

Market day in the nearest town was Tuesday, and when my parents went there for their weekly shop, I would go with them (must have been pre school) and spend my pennies (the 1d type) in Woolworths on little MES lamps, batten holders to suit, odd bits of wire and batteries, bring them home, and with the aid of some brass stud type paper clips and some stiff wire to make switches, would wire them into all kinds of circuits.
First 240 volt belt was not too long after. Electricity at the time was courtesy of a Lister start-o-matic generator set, which started up automatically when the first light or appliance was switched on and stopped when the last appliance was turned off. It was strictly forbidden to fire up the generator during daylight hours without good reason, so one day, when I wanted electricity for some trivial reason, I decided to see if the generator was running by sticking something metallic into the live side of a socket in my bedroom. It was running!
Forward a few years to when I was eleven years old. Mains electricity was coming to the area, and the whole place had to be rewired to meet the regs. A newly qualified electrician turned up to do the job, and I shadowed him the whole time he was there, learning a lot
along the way, and sparking an interest that later became my career.
The newly qualified electrician later went on to found one of the largest electrical contracting firms in the whole area.

 

[frank_91]

Around 15 I think

 

[Trainspotter]

I first got interested in electricity around aged 8, our street had an HV fault feeding the Local secondary sub station (11kv to 415v), watched the SSEB (local DNO) Dig up the road and the old school jointers piece in a part of cable (PILC) paper insulated lead cable, grew from there ended up serving my craft apprenticeship, (unfortunately not with the DNO as wanted), moved into power generation then water industry doing pumps, water treatment plant, now on the railway sorting trains, to this day still wished I had got into the DNO or as it was known "the board", been good though as been all over the world on the power generation equipment, good to see how other countries do it, although sometimes had to step back from a few panels etc as some countries leave a lot of health and safety and best practice etc sitting in the box

 

[Ray Pooley]

16. At college studying ONC Year 1 Mech and Elec Engineering. Precusor to HNC and BSc. Not quite the same as installing electrical installations but more to do with the design and function of electric motors and electronics. Nevertheless a very good grounding as far as electrical principals are concerned. Interest in electrical installations came much later in life.

 

[mambo]

Late starter in my 30s after working as a hod carrier....my mate was a sparky and he would ask me to work for him as a mate...

Started going in college for evening classes

 

[Callan]

Late starter in my 30s after working as a hod carrier....my mate was a sparky and he would ask me to work for him as a mate...

Started going in college for evening classes

I start evening training soon well weekends actually. I’m just wondering would you recommend it? Thanks