Virtual wiring practice

mjtefc9 · Nov 11, 2020

Morning all,

I have been looking for an online tool or site that I can practice my wiring .. does one exist - I can't find it ??

I am starting my level 3 after a year out and want to get my practice in..

Alternatively could anyone point me in the direction of a mock set up I could do at home?

Mark

mjtefc9 · Nov 13, 2020

Lucien Nunes said:
Energising is really the very last stage anyway and even the dead tests should be something of a formality. If you are practising craft skills of intstallation work, most errors you commit will be evident to the naked eye and by feel. If work is carried out correctly and looks and feels right, it will almost certainly test fine. OTOH, testing will not necessarily reveal poor quality work; only work that is so bad it doesn't even function from the get-go.

When your work is demonstrably sound and consistent, and your dead test results dependable, then it will be quite safe to energise your board with real mains.

Thank you for this!

mjtefc9 · Nov 13, 2020

Lucien Nunes said:
Energising is really the very last stage anyway and even the dead tests should be something of a formality. If you are practising craft skills of intstallation work, most errors you commit will be evident to the naked eye and by feel. If work is carried out correctly and looks and feels right, it will almost certainly test fine. OTOH, testing will not necessarily reveal poor quality work; only work that is so bad it doesn't even function from the get-go.

When your work is demonstrably sound and consistent, and your dead test results dependable, then it will be quite safe

Lucien Nunes said:
In college we used the expensive Megger multimeters and we obviously get readings whilst dead testing.

With these meters, I take it you either correct or incorrect no specific reading ?

Lucien Nunes said:
Energising is really the very last stage anyway and even the dead tests should be something of a formality. If you are practising craft skills of intstallation work, most errors you commit will be evident to the naked eye and by feel. If work is carried out correctly and looks and feels right, it will almost certainly test fine. OTOH, testing will not necessarily reveal poor quality work; only work that is so bad it doesn't even function from the get-go.

When your work is demonstrably sound and consistent, and your dead test results dependable, then it will be quite safe to energise your board with real mains.

In college we used the expensive Megger multimeters and we obviously get readings whilst dead testing.

With these meters, I take it you either correct or incorrect no specific reading ?

Lister1987 · Nov 13, 2020

mjtefc9 said:
Thank you pal

Good point @Vortigern I know I've gotvan emergency light fitting on my rig, still working on PIR (used a fan isolator to "cut" my ring circuit to a radial and back again)

Vortigern · Nov 13, 2020

I recall we must have used a transformer when building test rigs a bit of time ago now. We had to be careful not to mix the lamps up because of the xformer supply. I suppose seeing the Yellow site transformers there I just assumed that was what was used I can see how that would not work. As a matter of fact do you actually have an MFT @mjtefc9 or is that a bit too far away financially. There was an MFT on here pretty cheap, don't know if it's gone now though. Search KT65DL if you are interested.

mjtefc9 · Nov 13, 2020

Vortigern said:
I recall we must have used a transformer when building test rigs a bit of time ago now. We had to be careful not to mix the lamps up because of the xformer supply. I suppose seeing the Yellow site transformers there I just assumed that was what was used I can see how that would not work. As a matter of fact do you actually have an MFT @mjtefc9 or is that a bit too far away financially. There was an MFT on here pretty cheap, don't know if it's gone now though. Search KT65DL if you are interested.

Thanks.. no I don't have one yet. I didn't want to spend hundreds yet, and a few on her suggested voltage and continuity testers with proving units.. but I don't think they will do my testing needs will they?

Vortigern · Nov 13, 2020

Well it's hard to gauge where exactly you are at. I am guessing you mostly want to build a rig and just practice real life scenarios/installation techniques. Such as a mini ring circuit, lighting circuits etc. So testing may not be so critical at the moment. I think a voltage tester was suggested for safe isolation in case you go a step further and liven up the rig. You would need an MFT for the full set of tests. I think there was also an insulation tester as well being sold in the past couple of days. That would be handy for you if you do go live as at least you can determine on a dead test whether there would be a big bang if you switched it on. This making it safer for you, and you could be more confident before switching on. It was quite cheap (£80) I think. i.e. if your reading was below regs requirements you would have to investigate before going live.

Vortigern · Nov 13, 2020

You know I bet there is loads of kit thrown out by the sparks on here. I was just thinking if you or others wanted say a consumer unit or emergency light etc. I say that because I have a box change coming up and there will be a consumer unit that will just get recycled or you might be able to use it. Imagine doing a rig with a consumer unit and a few circuits, attempting to do a dummy trial on that. Just a thought.