Druidic Dabblings and General Twaddle !!

[V8Druid]

These are the units on the back of the LED arrays in those lights James ....

no where near as heavy as a fluro choke
been a loooong day in't shed ....... got all the 'ground level' stuff finished

and buttoned up

before turning my attentions to the 'aerial' bits in the ridge of the shed and the light units

Pleased to say that by half six, I'd got 'em all strung out, wired in and all ready for some leccy ..... my arms are hanging off tonight .... all overhead work and me iffy left shoulder has had some serious exercise the last few days ..... after several weeks of nursing it, for it to repair itself, I needed to use it and it had to have it
Couple of short bits of trunking left to fit, for the outside flood lights, then get them up and wired in, as well and the shed end is finished .... the house end is also gonna be fun, up in a small attic space, python wrestling, to pick up a supply and installing a 2 way switch for the exterior floods.
gonna be good having lights and power out there to say now't of the exteriors to hand from inside the house .... 'tis 'kin dark out there, in the nights.


@Regy53 ...... forgot to post/thought I had posted this, last night .... damn me the draft was still here, when I opened up the thread .... impressed .... was as much as you could do to keep a post up long enough, to compose it, on CEF

 

[Regy53]

[QUOTE="V8Druid, post: 9423, member

before turning my attentions to the 'aerial' bits in the ridge of the shed and the light units

Pleased to say that by half six, I'd got 'em all strung out, wired in and all ready for some leccy ..... my arms are hanging off tonight .... all overhead work and me iffy left shoulder has had some serious exercise the last few days ..... after several weeks of nursing it, for it to repair itself, I needed to use it and it had to have it
Couple of short bits of trunking left to fit, for the outside flood lights, then get them up and wired in, as well and the shed end is finished .... the house end is also gonna be fun, up in a small attic space, python wrestling, to pick up a supply and installing a 2 way switch for the exterior floods.
gonna be good having lights and power out there to say now't of the exteriors to hand from inside the house .... 'tis 'kin dark out there, in the nights.


@Regy53 ...... forgot to post/thought I had posted this, last night .... damn me the draft was still here, when I opened up the thread .... impressed .... was as much as you could do to keep a post up long enough, to compose it, on CEF[/QUOTE]

 

[Regy53]

aim to please @V8Druid

 

[V8Druid]

.... so after the revelation above .. I was about to start with ....... limited progress today, due to a 07.20 kick off/Clara arrival .... her mummy had an interview this morning, so we had an early start to our day too

atrocious weather this morning - horizontal rain and wind to blow you off your feet, if you didn't watch it ... cats won't even venture out and I don't blame them

had an hour putting the flood lights and mounts/enclosures together, for the shed pine ends, when it eased off a tad, plus a major tidy up in me tool box .. like a bomb'd dropped in there .... then the little un returned , so some grand dadding required

when the posty arrived after lunch, with some glands i'd been waiting for, I escaped for half an hour to finish off me lights. Failed to get any of these glands locally ..... can get bigger ones, but these PG9s (4-8 mm) are unobtainable

so these are ready to go up in the morning, whilst Clara's in nursery ....

bit frustrating that Gewiss don't do a black version of the boxes .. they'm gonna have to have a coat of the black stuff

get these connected and a couple of wires in the junction box, on the wall, beside the drive and I can give it some power with me RS Safe Bloc, at the house end of the 'python', for a test of everything
then i can turn me attention to getting it into the house ..... by the most favoured method/route, which will obviously have to meet approval from SWMBO .... she's already changed her mind about route/method twice now

Whilst it weren't chucking it down, thought i'd get a couple of pix of why I am in fear of an imminent bang occurring, in the round and black dept., on the 'Drema ... and why i considered it time/prudent to actively seek and acquire some new bouncy bits

as said, although there's plenty of tread/rubber on 'em .... it's only a question of time .... and these pix are an average example. Annoying really, as damned fine other-wise

Can guarantee summat'll let go at the most inopportune moment .............. and I have enough grey hairs already, from my fair share of exploding black things

 

[V8Druid]

aim to please @V8Druid

have to say Ross I was bloody impressed ...... I was pleasantly surprised to discover a post draft waiting for me, a few weeks ago, after the leccy kept going off, but that was only minutes ... that one above had been sat there since yesterday evening, awaiting me to press the post button AWESOME!!

 

[V8Druid]

Got these up Friday .....

clinging to a ladder ....wet and wild .... but wanted to get 'em up and the wiring finished in't shed ....

damn me ..... had to dive back into the ducting this morning after 'the boss' decided it'd be good to be able to isolate the far end one, rather than having them both on the one switch .... job done and SWMBO placated ..... she's gonna need to grow a bit though, to reach the pull cord for the far end light, above the doors .... they'm 7 ft tall

 

[modelman093]

I’ve just replaced a load of fluorescent tubes with LED, but to fit these you have to remove all the guts from the unit, ballasts etc. Then wire one end of the unit direct to the supply. They work well and give a nice light.

The trouble with the plug n play LED tubes where you replace the starter, is you are still running the ballast, so you can’t take advantage of the LED energy saving.

Point taken. Just spent most of the day altering the internal wiring of ten fittings so that only the led tube and the fuse are connected .All overhead work so just disconnected the ballasts and chokes but left them in place. No difference in light output but hopefully a reduction in juice used.

 

[Left hooker]

.... so after the revelation above .. I was about to start with ....... limited progress today, due to a 07.20 kick off/Clara arrival .... her mummy had an interview this morning, so we had an early start to our day too

atrocious weather this morning - horizontal rain and wind to blow you off your feet, if you didn't watch it ... cats won't even venture out and I don't blame them

had an hour putting the flood lights and mounts/enclosures together, for the shed pine ends, when it eased off a tad, plus a major tidy up in me tool box .. like a bomb'd dropped in there .... then the little un returned , so some grand dadding required

when the posty arrived after lunch, with some glands i'd been waiting for, I escaped for half an hour to finish off me lights. Failed to get any of these glands locally ..... can get bigger ones, but these PG9s (4-8 mm) are unobtainable

View attachment 5552

so these are ready to go up in the morning, whilst Clara's in nursery ....

View attachment 5553

bit frustrating that Gewiss don't do a black version of the boxes .. they'm gonna have to have a coat of the black stuff

get these connected and a couple of wires in the junction box, on the wall, beside the drive and I can give it some power with me RS Safe Bloc, at the house end of the 'python', for a test of everything
then i can turn me attention to getting it into the house ..... by the most favoured method/route, which will obviously have to meet approval from SWMBO .... she's already changed her mind about route/method twice now

Whilst it weren't chucking it down, thought i'd get a couple of pix of why I am in fear of an imminent bang occurring, in the round and black dept., on the 'Drema ... and why i considered it time/prudent to actively seek and acquire some new bouncy bits

View attachment 5554

View attachment 5555

View attachment 5556

View attachment 5557

as said, although there's plenty of tread/rubber on 'em .... it's only a question of time .... and these pix are an average example. Annoying really, as damned fine other-wise

Can guarantee summat'll let go at the most inopportune moment .............. and I have enough grey hairs already, from my fair share of exploding black things

Look like JCB sitemaster tyres at 6 months old

 

[V8Druid]

Look like JCB sitemaster tyres at 6 months old

that good Stu ... these are in excess of 21 yrs old though

 

[Shovelhands]

These are the tubes I’m using. Used 5&6 ft tubes at the moment, shorter must be available? Not sure if you can get 8 ft or not? I think the 8 ft fluorescent tubes are hard to come by now? If you can get 8 ft then I reckon they would want some support in the middle, like a pipe clip, as they are a plastic tube and fairly flexible.

I fitted 12 double 6ft units in a stable block, in a double row down the middle of the building, the light from them is brilliant and has transformed the building.

 

[V8Druid]

These are the tubes I’m using. Used 5&6 ft tubes at the moment, shorter must be available? Not sure if you can get 8 ft or not? I think the 8 ft fluorescent tubes are hard to come by now? If you can get 8 ft then I reckon they would want some support in the middle, like a pipe clip, as they are a plastic tube and fairly flexible.

I fitted 12 double 6ft units in a stable block, in a double row down the middle of the building, the light from them is brilliant and has transformed the building. View attachment 5649View attachment 5650View attachment 5651

Thanks Boyo .... and they have the same end pins as a std fluorescent James ?? So they're a light unit all unto themselves? ... just needs a mounting and a power supply (both ends or just the one ?? ) Couple of terry clips and leads ... stick 'em anywhere what sort of price are they ??

 

[Shovelhands]

Thanks Boyo .... and they have the same end pins as a std fluorescent James ?? So they're a light unit all unto themselves? ... just needs a mounting and a power supply (both ends or just the one ?? ) Couple of terry clips and leads ... stick 'em anywhere what sort of price are they ??

Sorry, yes, standard pin ends on them, just like a Fluorescent tube. So they fit straight in the mounting of a standard unit.
Totally self sufficient, power only to one end, which is labelled as such. As yes, I suppose you could stick them anywhere? Not sure how you make a nice safe job of connecting to them though, will be 240v after all, not 12v.........

Can’t recall an exact price? Have to look back through my invoices. Somewhere between £15-20 each?

 

[V8Druid]

Sorry, yes, standard pin ends on them, just like a Fluorescent tube. So they fit straight in the mounting of a standard unit.
Totally self sufficient, power only to one end, which is labelled as such. As yes, I suppose you could stick them anywhere? Not sure how you make a nice safe job of connecting to them though, will be 240v after all, not 12v.........

Can’t recall an exact price? Have to look back through my invoices. Somewhere between £15-20 each?

keep forgetting that modern fittings are slide in and rotate .... used to the old style circular end caps where you'd spring them out and insert the pins into holes ... the holes actually gripped quite well too on their contacts .... some units were terry clip supports for the tubes and simply pushed the end caps onto the pins .... I've probably got some caps somewhere

Not a bad price though James, if replacing dead tubes/chokes in units -- saves the hassle of replacing the entire thing, but on a par with new replacements, less the stress of installation

 

[V8Druid]

so much for the forecast dry, 10C day here ..... 4C is closer to the mark and wet, on/off ...... put me meter over me tails at the house end of the python this morning, looking for earth leaks .. none found, so 'hot wired' the tails with the Safe Bloc and gave it some juice from a 13A socket source .... No blown fuses .... went and turned the consumer unit's main isolator on ..... all good ..... then the interior light MCB .... still good .... and hey presto ..... we had light, at the flick of a switch

awaiting the arrival of some cable clips for yon python and another 20mm cable duct, so's I can fix 'em to the wall and up into their final destination under the eaves, for a dive through the wall into the attic space above the house's consumer unit, for a couple up.
Local leccy place didn't have any clips ......



......unbelievable .....
so usual source for odds and sods ....
just looked at the tracking on 'em and despaired to find they're in Yodel's (in)capable hands .....
they're absolutely bloody hopeless .... can't understand how, or why anyone uses them

the 'boss' has conceded that the cables, clipped to the wall, is probably going to look fine ... better than trunked up the wall ..... yon armoured python isn't shiny and new, having spent decades in the roof of my workshop, before it got removed and relocated to my cable stock pile, when I cleared it out .... barely noticeable in fact ..... she's not noticed the shiny, new, 20mm duct that's going to have to run alongside the cable yet
hopefully Yodel will turn up tomorrow and I can spend a couple of hours grovelling in the attic space

 

[Gez_lewis]

that good Stu ... these are in excess of 21 yrs old though

I was going to say they look like our jcb at 12 month old

 

[V8Druid]

I was going to say they look like our jcb at 12 month old

but !! ....... they haven't had the 'hammer' your Jake's tyres have probably had they looked good 5 years ago when she arrived

 

[Gez_lewis]

Nothing's built to last anymore!

 

[V8Druid]

Nothing's built to last anymore!

regrettably rubber never was ... they haven't done badly though .... usually a tyre wears out long before it degrades

 

[V8Druid]

replaced the flexy conduit, the control cable was routed through, today ...
piece I'd used wasn't really long enough to get it all the way to where i wanted it, without a joint and wasn't happy trying to create a waterproof joint in this stuff
so having acquired a new 25m length, I cut the necessary amount, pulled the other one out and stuck the new in, once i'd persuaded the cable through it

then got it all back in and sanded up, marked and topped off with some more sand then some reasonably matching gravel, to fill the top up

May well replace the gravel when it gets warmer, with some of that cold lay tarmac ....
the stuff I've used in some potholes in the drive is still down three years on, so this lil' strip should be no problem

might try and route the cables behind the down pipe, which'll camouflage 'em a tad

 

[V8Druid]

Still waiting on me cable clips to arrive ... hopefully tomorrow, ..... according to tracking they've been in their Nantgarew depot since early Sunday morning so can't see why they didn't turn up today?
....... but had a funeral to attend at 1.30, so the day's been shot
ex colleague of my father's, who I have/had known a very long time
A real nice bloke, but not been well for some time and we all have to go eventually

My dad would've been 92 at the beginning of this month, so Bob must've been in his late seventies

Bob on the left, who's funeral it was today ... my dad on the right ..... BIG John Williams in the middle .... there were a few John Williams,s on traffic ..... '79 ... opening of the new forensic science laboratories unit in Chepstow ... which got shut several years ago
was nice to see a lot of familiar faces ..... even if they had all aged, even more than mine
Bob was an atheist so was a 'different' sort of service today ..... but I have to say ... it was a fine send off for him, with a moving eulogy from his youngest son and a packed crem. chapel / gathering hall .



fingers crossed for an early delivery tomorrow .... will be glad to get the other end of the cabling all routed and connected up