Druidic Dabblings and General Twaddle !!

[V8Druid]

well we've actually had a decent Easter w/end for once ...... bloody warm here today not that I'm complaining, really

Had the pleasure of Daz's company for several hours on Friday .... came down to collect these ....

.......(as his on his duck are a tad on the bollo-ed side ).....

........... have a mooch about, generally chew the fat and attach his seal of approval to the 'Drema, after some seat time playing with it ... think he may be back for some more of the view ... soon .....and almost certainly accompanied next time

Was great to meet you and have a proper chat at last Darren, rather than passing ''Hiyas'' at Welland or brief tel. con.s

As said Boyo ... welcome anytime yer fancy chilling in the sun, for a few hours and letting the world go by !!



gave the Countax yet another clean out yesterday morning in an attempt to get yon lawn, as short as poss .....

can't believe the amount that accumulates in the deck in a few cuts !!!

Blades off .. good clean around the spindles and a serious touch up with the 4" grinder .... desired result achieved ... one very short cut lawn !!

spotted some lodgers in the 'Drema's wheel wedge as I walked past it ....

couldn't see any inhabitants and guessing it's a bird rather than a mouse ... access'd be interesting for a long tailed furry friend!!

Better have a good look around it elsewhere ..... don't want anything catching fire !!!!

 

[V8Druid]

another gorgeous day in Druid central ..... stretched the Dane's legs again this afternoon ... it's never run so well .... all 'cos of a dodgy ign. switch ..... one for the memory banks

put the Countax's sweeper over over it all and collected up the Dane's carnage ....

can be a bit bit exciting keeping all four of its wheels on the deck ... bit like riding a racing sidecar at times, whilst trying to keep enough of a bum cheek on the seat's cut out to keep it running

should be good for a. n. other week, or more, now it's good and short ...... bank, t'other side of the driveway's next .... that can be a fun hour

 

[Charlie]

Nice looking grass, it does a great job

 

[V8Druid]

Nice looking grass, it does a great job

ta muchly ..... was a dirt bank a few years ago and a bramble engulfed wilderness before that in 2010 ..... 200 quidsworth of grass seed and some effort with Jakie turned it into what you see

the Dane was the result of much consideration as to a suitable weapon ..... I like the fact that I can just step off the back, if things get out of hand ... as they did a few times before it got introduced to a set of herringbone tyres ..... turf tyres were a dead loss ..... but great for drifting with ..... unfortunately, at the time, I was still an apprentice Dane jockey and ended up where I really did not want to be, a few times resulting in having to recover it with either a tow rope, or in a couple of cases .... the 'Drema, to extract it out the ditch .. it weighs half a tonne

there was a 3ft drop off the side of the blacktop, 'til I filled it in

and 'fore anyone says it ....... yes Jakie used to have a drip

on edit

this is the only pic I have of 'the wilderness' that it was when we moved in ......

 

[Quattromike]

View attachment 6261
and 'fore anyone says it ....... yes Jakie used to have a drip

Are you sure it was just a drip

 

[V8Druid]

Are you sure it was just a drip

believe it or not ...... yes, but it depended on the angle of dangle as to where it dripped from ... took a bit of finding, but did eventually track it down ..... can't even recall exactly what the issue was now, but IIRC was a weeping joint .... that tracked everywhere ........ all marks long gone

 

[V8Druid]

guess where I've been this afternoon summoned up the enthusiasm for another look at it

goggles, mask, CO meter, etc. and ventured back into the roof space, where I'd left everything a couple of weeks ago, when I abandoned me post feeling rough as a dog.

got a fair bit sorted and one pair of tails for me catenary re-routed through the isolator and from thence to the boxes.
still got the 10mm tails to 'persuade' down into the consumer unit from the isolator, to feed the black shed with ..... Pam was off out at 5 and I wasn't allowed to play with the live bits, once she'd left, so a job for the morning

took a couple of pix of Pam's 'new' sleeper flower boxes, this morning, before it pee-ed down ..... they're maturing nicely

today's rain has knocked seven bells out of the tulips

 

[Left hooker]

That image of your loft space is moving messing with my eyes

 

[V8Druid]

That image of your loft space is moving messing with my eyes

it's the bit over the utility extension Stu, where the back door is ... well tight lil' spot and tight on cable length too .... be glad to have it finished tomorrow

 

[V8Druid]

I would really like to meet the muppet who wired our consumer unit ....

what a pig's guts ..... no one seems to take a pride in their work anymore, or the extra few minutes to make a tidy job of it ... should be shot !!

tails inserted gynecologically and suitably inserted in their final resting places amongst the mayhem already there

was time to go see if everything was as it should be ..... now't had tripped or gone off pop .....

well happy with the results ......other than a weird anomaly with the outside floods ??????

I have them set up on a two way circuit, which can be activated/switched off from, either the house, or a switch on the outside of the shed ....
was fine one way .... t'other 'way' they were briefly flashing on ??????

lot of head scratching, circuit checking, wiring investigating, more head scratching and it came to me ......

these IP67 switches I like, for outdoor use, have a 'tell tale' neon in them, so's you can find 'em in the dark. The neon can be wired one of three ways .... on a one way circuit only, it would appear ....
pity the data sheet with them doesn't say it can't be done, on a two way circuit, even though they're a two way switch!!

the flashing was the neon triggering the LED floods, through a 'sort of' 'leak' to live ..... took it out of circuit ... problem cured .... took a little thought, but sussed it in the end .

now awaiting darkness to see just what sort of results we have .... both in't shed and outside.

the tests were followed by .... another hour back in me favorite place to square up and secure everything ....

I like flexi semi-armoured conduit .... bit easier than SWA and greater choice of core numbers, as needed!!

trying to thread it all amongst the pig's guts, above the consumer, was as 'uphill' as it actually was in the unit, tight in a corner

got it sorted though ...... and I was out o' there

must fix a couple of permanent crawl boards in there, for future access to the isolator , for 'as and when' !!

Am I glad to have that end wrapped up !!

 

[Charlie]

Well done mate great neat job. One other thing that really bugs me with electrics is the complete lack of electricians ability to label anything

 

[V8Druid]

Well done mate great neat job. One other thing that really bugs me with electrics is the complete lack of electricians ability to label anything

Thanks @Charlie
..... tell me about it ..... if I thought I stood any chance at all of sussing it ... without issues ... I'd go buy a 24 way enclosure and a dose of extra MCBs/RCDs and re-do the whole bloody mess .... really is no need for this pig's guts .... plenty of tail lengths to spend a few extra minutes tidying and routing it all neatly ....... one day maybe when I feel like a challenge
be more enthused if the roof space was bigger

 

[V8Druid]

been a wild 36-48 hrs here ..... horizontal rain and howling winds ..... which continued well after the rain stopped ... and dried it all again

can not believe the grass growth in a couple of days and well happy to find it all dry enough to massacre this afternoon

Sparty did his usual trick of riding round on my lap whilst I tried to keep the mower on course ....

he draws the line at the Dane though

bit too damp for collecting up on turf tyres though

had a collector full off this ..... much to my amazement

sorted for a few more days and the evening has come out real nice ..... time for some grub

 

[V8Druid]

right gentlemen .... any leccies/sparkies on here
.... pitch darkness here last night - I mean 'kin black ... looked at the shed and the LED flood is flashing again ... very much reduced from the first 'fault/issue' ..barely visible and can't be seen in daylight at all .... but a faint pulse, all the same, maybe once every two seconds

standard two way circuit employed ......

been out and bought some more new switches again today, as the only thing I can think of is a faulty switch leaking voltage will swap them out tomorrow - one at a time and wait for dark ... pull cord is my first choice and the easiest to swap ...
can't be an earth leak or the RCB/MCBs'd be popping off ....
has to be a voltage leak triggering the LED flood ... if it was a faulty unit it'd show in the 'on' position .... in the 'off' position there should be ZERO voltage going to it

Checked all the wiring for earth leaks/cross leaks, with the meter, before it got 240 applied to it ... nothing found

any one care to contribute ??
this is officially pissing me off now

 

[Shovelhands]

Pull the live wire connected to it, anywhere convenient, I suppose closest to the light would be best. So you just leave the earth and the neutral connected. Then see what you’ve got?

 

[V8Druid]

Pull the live wire connected to it, anywhere convenient, I suppose closest to the light would be best. So you just leave the earth and the neutral connected. Then see what you’ve got?

I'd expect to see a cure James ..... it needs voltage to make it flash and that's in the live ...... not had any time to devote to it today, having had to do the fortnightly-ish hit on town to restock the larder (and get some replacement switches).

the current 'flash' level is so low it's barely visible in pitch black (thought I was seeing things last night 'til i went up close for a good look), so must be a very low level leak and is gonna take some tracing /spotting ..... will put a meter on it and see if it registers on a digi meter .... as said earlier nothing showed on the earth leak to live/neutral or the neutral to live tests, 'fore it 'went live' and can't be an earth leak or the breakers'd be tripping out .... the control cable between the two 2 ways is brand new, so will be real PO-ed if that were at fault ... it's fed through all the ducting/conduits, etc., but'd have metered out if it were faulty (I'd hope) ..... it's a weird one

 

[Quattromike]

I'd expect to see a cure James ..... it needs voltage to make it flash and that's in the live ...... not had any time to devote to it today, having had to do the fortnightly-ish hit on town to restock the larder (and get some replacement switches).

the current 'flash' level is so low it's barely visible in pitch black (thought I was seeing things last night 'til i went up close for a good look), so must be a very low level leak and is gonna take some tracing /spotting ..... will put a meter on it and see if it registers on a digi meter .... as said earlier nothing showed on the earth leak to live/neutral or the neutral to live tests, 'fore it 'went live' and can't be an earth leak or the breakers'd be tripping out .... the control cable between the two 2 ways is brand new, so will be real PO-ed if that were at fault ... it's fed through all the ducting/conduits, etc., but'd have metered out if it were faulty (I'd hope) ..... it's a weird one

I’m thinking if it were an ever so slight earth leak, it could on modern low power consumption leds give a bit of emit and not trip the rcd. Be worth checking what @Shovelhands mentioned above.

 

[V8Druid]

I’m thinking if it were an ever so slight earth leak, it could on modern low power consumption leds give a bit of emit and not trip the rcd. Be worth checking what @Shovelhands mentioned above.

absolutely Mike ...... trouble is ..... no earth leaks showing on the meter and can't imagine WTF it'd be .... been meticulous cabling this lot up ....... it's gonna take some finding, without any meter readings to guide me
with both 2 ways in the off position the supply line to the LED flood should be dead as roadkill, which is why my main suspect is a switch leak ....... 's bloody annoying, having been so thorough with the installation ...... if a switch swap doesn't cure it ....... ???????

 

[Charlie]

I vaguely remember something like this with a mates LED’s on his landy and it was the voltage difference between earth and neutral causing it. Fixed easily with a cheap small capacitor. Loads of info online.

 

[Charlie]

Does it stop if you remove the earth? If it has an earth that is?