RE: Urgent question on AW10's

[Eamon O'Gorman <eamonogorman@xxxxxxx>]

Has anyone had any thought on the safety aspect of having lighting/heating
automated. Say for example someone unaware of the set up in your house goes
to change a light fitting for example. Now this light may be activated by a
PIR after a certain time. There he is working away, having turned off the
light from the switch, then dusk sets in, he climbs up his ladder, and
bang...... Following on for this, does anyone know what the resulting
implications would be when he sues, would a normal house insurance cover
"automated homes".

Eamon
-----Original Message-----
From:	Kevin Hawkins [SMTP:tivo@xxxxxxx]
Sent:	Monday, April 23, 2001 1:20 AM
To:	ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject:	Re: [ukha_d] Urgent question on AW10's

<< File: ATT00000.htm >>   I must really say that I am gob
smacked here -
Mains IS a problem and it
is lethal. Treat it with the utmost respect. There is an inference from
this
post you can experiment with live mains if you have an RCB all will be well
- and that if you dont you'll just blow a fuse. This is NOT true and I
don't
think Kenneth meant it to sound that way. It's just ambiguous.

Whilst most 'sparkies'  flaunt the risks they also do so in an educated
way.
Whilst it is probable that you are unlikey to come to harm with RCB's in
circuit the biggest risk is not knowing if they are protecting you,
particularly if you are not knowledgeable.

I would strongly recommend - let me rephrase that - ABSOLUTELY INSIST -
that you NEVER NEVER work on a live mains circuit - always ensure that the
fuse is removed (or tripped) for that circuit before you do anything. (
also
make sure also that no other person will reset the fuse if it is a trip
type
eg for a lighting circuit shared with other people).  Use a mains neon
tester on the live wire to prove the circuit is dead, Make sure you are
reasonably well earthed when you do this (it makes the neon indicator
brighter and more definative) - and only ever physically touch the top end
of the screwdriver.

Having said that what you are trying to achieve here is fairly straight
forward and lots of people here can give you advice. The timers are likely
to be fed by one common llive supply (brown or red wire) that is split into
3 switched live supplies after the timer switches (still red or brown
wires)
it is each of these 3 that you need to intercept and either connect in
series with through a relay (Timer ON permanent) or in parallel with from
the main supply to the switched (Timer OFF permanently).

I you have a fax I will send you a sketch of what to do if that would
help but please never get complacent about the mains - and never work on it
live even if there is an RCB on the supply. If in doubt get an electrician
in.

I am sorry if I am ranting and raving to people who know all these
things
but I have a past experience in this area that I would never wish to see
happen again.

Kevin

on 23/4/01 12:43 am, Kenneth Watt at kennethwatt@xxxxxxx wrote:


Mains is not a problem, you just need to follow some basic rules and have a
meter to hand :o) anyway, a little jolt is good for the heart now and then,
at least that's what my boss used to tell me! Don't worry about
experimenting, particularly if you have an RCD unit, you really can't do
any
harm if you have one of those. Fused supplies are a bit more tricky if you
do the wrong thing, but still as long as your not holding an open live
&
neutral the worst you can do is pop a fuse.