- Joined
- 27 Jan 2008
- Messages
- 29,231
- Reaction score
- 3,585
- Location
- Llanfair Caereinion, Nr Welshpool
- Country
Over my lifetime things have changed, some things we have no option, teletext, telegram for example, others are due to my own choice, like not using a slide rule, giving up packet radio, others it is 50/50 like the loose of RAYNET, some areas it is still active.
The BS 1363 plug and socket, FCU etc, we invented before I was born, been modified with thinner cable, and pins to allow the use of insulation around the pins, and the volt drop permitted has changed so also the length of the ring final, but it has stayed reasonably static.
The banks of relays has given way to the PLC, and the auto-transformer and star/delta starter replaced with drives (inverters) and the use of DC for variable speed has also been replaced with the drives, and also the idea of retaining the wiring diagram in ones head, today no option, you have to read the instructions.
As an apprentice there was a them and us, we looked down on the house basher as being the basic electrician, the central heating was the most complex circuit the domestic electrician had to work with, today domestic is far more complex, but also the industrial scene has moved on, not sure if I returned I could hack it. Before I retired the laptop was the first tool one went to, today my son can keep machines running without even leaving home. With SCADA etc.
We have acronyms like RCD, PLC, IT, which can mean many things like recreational craft directive, programmable logic control, and insulated from earth, and we have to try to guess what it means, not so long ago a thread talked about a new kitchen, and it seems it was only a upgrade and not moving to a new location, and we on the forum have to guess.
The two way switching did have two main options, that’s no longer true, we have wireless switches. And as to power use, I remember the twin tub with mangle, where all cooking had to be curtailed on washing day, so even if the washing machine did draw 3 kW, with nothing else running it hardly mattered. Today the hot fill washing machine seems to have gone, but also the dryer is now only using 650 watts, and uses a heat pump.
But there are still some who hang onto the old methods, and the vented tumble drier can in real terms use the same as the heat pump, the air and water cooled dryers however often have no option to set power being used.
But some things never change, we still have steam trains in my village, and I have returned to using a bike, OK an e-bike but still a bike. So how have the rest of you adjusted to the changing world?
The BS 1363 plug and socket, FCU etc, we invented before I was born, been modified with thinner cable, and pins to allow the use of insulation around the pins, and the volt drop permitted has changed so also the length of the ring final, but it has stayed reasonably static.
The banks of relays has given way to the PLC, and the auto-transformer and star/delta starter replaced with drives (inverters) and the use of DC for variable speed has also been replaced with the drives, and also the idea of retaining the wiring diagram in ones head, today no option, you have to read the instructions.
As an apprentice there was a them and us, we looked down on the house basher as being the basic electrician, the central heating was the most complex circuit the domestic electrician had to work with, today domestic is far more complex, but also the industrial scene has moved on, not sure if I returned I could hack it. Before I retired the laptop was the first tool one went to, today my son can keep machines running without even leaving home. With SCADA etc.
We have acronyms like RCD, PLC, IT, which can mean many things like recreational craft directive, programmable logic control, and insulated from earth, and we have to try to guess what it means, not so long ago a thread talked about a new kitchen, and it seems it was only a upgrade and not moving to a new location, and we on the forum have to guess.
The two way switching did have two main options, that’s no longer true, we have wireless switches. And as to power use, I remember the twin tub with mangle, where all cooking had to be curtailed on washing day, so even if the washing machine did draw 3 kW, with nothing else running it hardly mattered. Today the hot fill washing machine seems to have gone, but also the dryer is now only using 650 watts, and uses a heat pump.
But there are still some who hang onto the old methods, and the vented tumble drier can in real terms use the same as the heat pump, the air and water cooled dryers however often have no option to set power being used.
But some things never change, we still have steam trains in my village, and I have returned to using a bike, OK an e-bike but still a bike. So how have the rest of you adjusted to the changing world?
