Conventional wiring vs modern wiring

[Thys LOW Elektries]

Since the dawn of the new "PV electricians", shoddy workmanship and dodgy wiring became the norm of the day, luckily a few of them knows what they do so not all of them are bad.
Since you have a dual supply, reverse feed, etc. in the db they start to take shortcuts.
I have noticed a number of times the supply enters the breaker at the bottom instead of at the top, I know the supply can from any side but I believe Eskom and the Inverter supply should enter the breaker at the top. The load should be at the bottom of the breaker, which makes it a lot easier when tracing wires and doing troubleshooting.
Also, the main DB must have warning labels that warn you that there is a dual supply and the risk of reverse feed. Normally the Inverter sub-DB has stickers galore but the main DB has nothing.

Greetings

[Isetech]

I am guilty of bottom entry for the supply cable, I do fit a label on the front "line" and "load" and yes I do verify the isolator is compatible (the reason I dont use onesto)

It makes it easier to fit the bussbar at the top to link the breakers.

By the way this use to be the norm back when we used the old heineman/fuchs green toggle isolator for many many years.

Since the dawn of the new "PV electricians", shoddy workmanship and dodgy wiring became the norm of the day, luckily a few of them knows what they do so not all of them are bad.
Since you have a dual supply, reverse feed, etc. in the db they start to take shortcuts.
I have noticed a number of times the supply enters the breaker at the bottom instead of at the top, I know the supply can from any side but I believe Eskom and the Inverter supply should enter the breaker at the top. The load should be at the bottom of the breaker, which makes it a lot easier when tracing wires and doing troubleshooting.
Also, the main DB must have warning labels that warn you that there is a dual supply and the risk of reverse feed. Normally the Inverter sub-DB has stickers galore but the main DB has nothing.

Greetings

[Isetech]

Something else to consider, the better quality mcb's have the busbar slots at the bottom and the top, which dont interfere with the wires fitted with the bussbar (a common place for bad connections)

Doing something for many years doesnt make it the right way.

If you follow any of the UK yotube channels you will notice how its done, is it the right way, maybe not but it makes snese to have the bussbar at the bottom.

[Thys LOW Elektries]

I agree with everything you say.
I think the bottom line is: "Unless obvious, make sure your labeling is in place." and always test before working!
I think we tend to accept that because we were trained to do things in a certain manner that, that is the only and right way to do things.
Once in a while, you run into someone smarter, wiser and with more experience and they teach you something new, thank you

[Isetech]

I have been through many changes in the electrical industry, for example from conduit to now using twin+E. I did my trade test (allround no restriction elctrican) using steel conduit (cut and thread).

We moved over to bosal conduit, then PVC conduit and then the dreaded Twin+E. I have even done a full (thousands of metres on a project at Alusaf) installation using alluminum conduit. It took me years to move away from the tradtional pipe and wire. It was quite an adjustment, going from chasing walls and installing pipes on site, to creating wiring looms on the workshop floor, rolling up all the and throwing them across the rafters.

Even silly things like the dawn of eye level ovens and hobs, became quite a story, because we stopped using traditional 6 mm wire for stoves and moved to 4mm with 2 isolators, it was another phase that we went through.

The geyser is another component which has gone through some changes, from using 4 mm wire (which I still use if the geyser is a 4 kw) to 2.5 mm, to now connecting to the earth leakage, why

The old heineman/fuschs, bottom entry isolator, its just makes sense, the way we wire DB is actuall a waste of time and money, I beleive the only reason we do it the way it is done is because heiemen became the top seller, it doesnt make it right, just anptehr good example of the sheep being led in a certain direction. That dreaded thing called "common sense" flew out the window. The next time you wire up a DB, look at how much time and money you could save. We will leave the earth and neutral bars for a another day. One of the reasons I only use Hager DB's (space and the earth neutral system.

Another was star delta to VSD's, I have worked on many old hand operated star delta switchgear, we then moved to star delta using timers and contactors, and now we just slap a VSD. A rule of thumb back in th day was anything over 5 kw had to be star delta.

Then there is the is the old ripple relay, people think load shedding is something new, we just got spoilt for many years. With all the modern tech available, I can't understand why we can control heavy loads, rather than switching off an entire suburb.

The new inverter even have a control to allow the council to increase the feedback from your solar sytem into the grid from solar panels. I believe it will happen, itas just going to take time.

I would love to spend a day chatting to mr Taylor from Taylor electrical, man he must have some stories to tell about the evolution of the elctrical industry. The man is still on the tools, 20 years longer than me and I have already been in this industry for over 40 years.

I have been blessed with the oportunity to work with everything from a socket outlet in a domestic dwelling, to intrisically safe DB's in the pharmaceutical indudtry and everything in between.

Share your experiences or changes you have noticed in the elctrical industry.

[Isetech]

Then you get the regs like the euro socket, you can only shake your head and smile.

By the way I did find an application wher eit was a good idea, above the table at a mug and bean, handy if you use a laptop or need to charge your phone.

17 socket outlets in my kitchen, only the one in my cupboard where I charge my phone. Even my coffee machine has an over sized 15 amp 3 pin plug top.