How do I go about this?

[CountryFan]

I want to learn more about electrics, not necessarily become an electrician, just more competent and professional in my existing gas engineer role. I try to take as much information as I can from reputable sources, such as @flameport ‘s website/YT channel. However I thought I would try and teach myself some knowledge, but fell at the first hurdle - More on this further down.

I have covered electrics in my role and went on an essential electrics “course” a good number of years ago.

Precursor - I do tend to struggle to retain information and sometimes have to go over it again several times and still not understand it. I have received a few belts in my time, more often via stupidity though.

I’m not sure I fully grasp alternating current, other than it alternates at a frequency of 50 Hertz. I really struggle and hate maths - can anyone confirm how much is actually needed? I downloaded a book/pdf by Brian Scaddan and the first section is maths, I got 1 answer correct out of 7 . I have the on-site guide and blue 18th edition wiring regs book but it’s a minefield. I have a bit of the gear but less of an idea.

Probably be some more questions along the way

Thanks in advance for a) reading and b) providing any sort of decent answer, maybe even it’s telling me to give up, as I have so far.

 

[flameport]

Really depends on how much and exactly what you want to know - 'electrics' is a vast area of things.
Maths is certainly involved, but for many things won't be used often or even at all.

Scaddans books are ok, but they are written in an older style and assume a certain amount of prior knowledge. For the calculations parts it assumes you have a decent understanding of maths in general, without that you will be entirely lost.
The books were mostly written when people still went to college for several days each week and were intended for people attending those courses over a year or three.

 

[CountryFan]

Really depends on how much and exactly what you want to know - 'electrics' is a vast area of things. Maths is certainly involved, but for many things won't be used often or even at all.

At this stage,I’m not entirely sure. Probably just the domestic stuff like wiring and lighting. I work in social housing and have some basic knowledge but would like to back myself more when talking about things.

Scaddans books are ok, but they are written in an older style and assume a certain amount of prior knowledge. For the calculations parts it assumes you have a decent understanding of maths in general, without that you will be entirely lost.
The books were mostly written when people still went to college for several days each week and were intended for people attending those courses over a year or three.

Yep, certainly lost at the moment with indices, algebra or anything else . Any decent material worth purchasing then? I’ve seen 2nd hand books on eBay by Trevor Linsley and Peter Tanner, the latter seem to be popular. I’m surprised you haven’t written any yet

 

[flameport]

Probably just the domestic stuff like wiring and lighting.

Maths is really not used there. 99% of it is just the set of standard circuits as found in the On Site Guide, chapter 7.

 

[CountryFan]

Maths is really not used there. 99% of it is just the set of standard circuits as found in the On Site Guide, chapter 7.

Great and thank you. I shall have a read.

 

[CountryFan]

Maths is really not used there. 99% of it is just the set of standard circuits as found in the On Site Guide, chapter 7.

Would maths be needed for inspection and testing of domestic properties and/or is that not something I should venture into?

 

[mattylad]

There are apps that do all the calculations you need, also google for any math you do require so it's not a worry.

 

[pete01]

Would maths be needed for inspection and testing of domestic properties and/or is that not something I should venture into?

Im terrible at maths but I got through it somehow, day to day you dont need any, occasionally you might need simple ohms law to work out the load of an oven or machine or whatever.

 

[CountryFan]

Im terrible at maths but I got through it somehow, day to day you dont need any, occasionally you might need simple ohms law to work out the load of an oven or machine or whatever.

Great, Ohm's law i can do!

 

[ericmark]

My maths is poor, and it did limit what degree I could get, so only have a foundation degree, but once you leave academia not used that much.

I found too easy to make an error, so would use Excel or Java Script so I could test with known results, then use the figures I needed, but today those programs are already written, so if I want to find how many kWh is needed to heat 40 gallons of water 10ºC to 65ºC I go onto the internet and find a calculator.

But those calculations will be the same for gas and electric, so nothing new for you.

In the main, like gas, it is following the rules job, we are told that 106 meters is the limit for a ring final, and when I asked why, told due to volt drop, so we should work it out before starting, but in the main if the earth loop impedance is within the 1.38 Ω then the volt drop will not be that far out, so I would guess very few bother to measure it?

 

[JohnW2]

My maths is poor, and it did limit what degree I could get, so only have a foundation degree, but once you leave academia not used that much.

In terms of anything to do with electrical installations, certainly domestic ones, (rather than 'electrical engineering'), the amount of maths required is really pretty trivial - primarily just basic arithmetic and very simple algebra, none of which I would expect to be a problem for many people.

Much more important (in my opinion) is a good understanding of 'basic electrical principles' (sadly lacking in a good few so-called 'electricians' these days). I am reminded of the decades-old incident I often mention, when I 'showed the door' to a so-called 'electrician' who tried to ('aggressively') convince me that I needed an additional RCD close to a shower "because the shower was such a long way from the CU that any residual current would have become too weak to trip the RCD in the CU when it got there"

 

[pete01]

In terms of anything to do with electrical installations, certainly domestic ones, (rather than 'electrical engineering'), the amount of maths required is really pretty trivial - primarily just basic arithmetic and very simple algebra, none of which I would expect to be a problem for many people.

Much more important (in my opinion) is a good understanding of 'basic electrical principles' (sadly lacking in a good few so-called 'electricians' these days). I am reminded of the decades-old incident I often mention, when I 'showed the door' to a so-called 'electrician' who tried to ('aggressively') convince me that I needed an additional RCD close to a shower "because the shower was such a long way from the CU that any residual current would have become too weak to trip the RCD in the CU when it got there"

Thats funny I've not heard that before....bet he was shocked when he realised you knew what you were talking about.

 

[JohnW2]

Thats funny I've not heard that before....bet he was shocked when he realised you knew what you were talking about.

Not at all. He merely became increasingly aggressive, trying to convince me that he was the one who 'knew what he was talking about' (and that I was the one who didn't). What attempts he made to 'explain' all related to voltage drops, and he did not seem to understand that the same current flowed through the entire length of a conductor.

In fact, I've just remembered (and might not have mentioned this before), he totally shot himself in the foot when he attempted to convince me with an analogy, along the lines of ... "if you had a very long hose pipe with 1 litre/minute of water going into one end, you surely would not expect 1 litre/minute to come out of the other end"

I should add that that was 'the last straw'. He had previously said a number of things which indicated that he did not 'have a clue' and should not really be allowed anywhere near any electrical installation

 

[ericmark]

I am reminded of the decades-old incident I often mention, when I 'showed the door' to a so-called 'electrician' who tried to ('aggressively') convince me that I needed an additional RCD close to a shower "because the shower was such a long way from the CU that any residual current would have become too weak to trip the RCD in the CU when it got there"

Oh dear, I suppose with the old ELCB-v there may have been a point, I never ever tested one, not even seen a tester other than pictures looks the part, but never used one. Must have missed that day in collage.

 

[JohnW2]

Oh dear, I suppose with the old ELCB-v there may have been a point ...

I rather doubt it - I've always felt that the "-v" of ELCB-v (or the "VO" of VOELB) is really a bit misleading, since what actually 'operates' them (essentially a solenoid) is the current through their coil, the 'v' (or 'VO') being the voltage generated across the coil by the current flowing through the impedance of the coil.