What might have happened to cause this fault?

[securespark]

Does that involve the use of a British Standard finger....jabbing them in the guts and shouting, "you incompetent fool!!" ?

 

[conny]

No, jabbing them in the eye and saying,

"Now can you SEE where you are going wrong?"

 

[cjard]

you are not an electrician are you?

No, but I know how a multimeter is wired internally, and why a neon screwriver works. A voltmeter wouldnt be very good if its internal resistor was of low value, because it would allow significant current flow between its terminals and could potentially destroy ciruitry it was connected to

=Spark123]You even have a handy neutral and earth to connect the black probe to!

Indeed, and I had the black probe connected thus first.. I was just confused by the reading, and hadnt even considered the wire to behave like a capacitor

I'm amazed by the politeness of the professionals on this topic. The work you're doing is clearly illegal, because it's stunningly incompetent and unsafe

Maybe they just make fewer assumptions and offer helpful advice, rather than an excess of assumptions so they can offer criticism.

I'm all for the notion of making clear, concise and informative questions when seeking help on a forum where the answers are delivered free; a question well asked saves the respondents a large about of drill-down time. While outlining the extent of your professionalism by inferring my lack of it, you could have additionally included some assistance for me to improve my professionalism and benefit from your experience by adding a little constructiveness to your extensive criticism..

I note your points, however, and I thank you for the time you put into your post. I'll endeavour to seek help elsewhere so that next time I interact with you, I use words that you find more agreeable

In closing, I'd like to quote from the homepage of this site:

DIY - Home Improvement - Do It Yourself
DIY can be both challenging and rewarding - this is where DIYnot.com aims to help. Our expert teams have brought together hundreds of information pages. Why not Do It Yourself?

Why not? Because a professional like Softus, will treat you with scorn and contempt and not help you improve your ability to use the knowledgeable resource here.

As noted, thanks for the pointers as to what was wrong with my post.. I'll do some reading around and see if I can find out the "why" as soon as I can!

Regards
cj

 

[ban-all-sheds]

and why a neon screwriver works.

It works by putting you in the current path.

a professional like Softus

 

[mattylad]

Cjard, welcome to DIYnot, where the professionals help the DIYr

 

[Softus]

I'm amazed by the politeness of the professionals on this topic. The work you're doing is clearly illegal, because it's stunningly incompetent and unsafe

Maybe they just make fewer assumptions and offer helpful advice, rather than an excess of assumptions so they can offer criticism.

I infer that you think I made a lot of assumptions.

I made no assumptions at all, and there were ten question marks in my post.

In closing, I'd like to quote from the homepage of this site:

DIY - Home Improvement - Do It Yourself
DIY can be both challenging and rewarding - this is where DIYnot.com aims to help. Our expert teams have brought together hundreds of information pages. Why not Do It Yourself?

Please state how many of the "hundreds of information pages" that you read before creating this topic. It would also be useful to know exactly how many of the recommended books on UK Electrics you bought/borrowed and read. You did read the Wiki, didn't you?

Why not? Because a professional like Softus, will treat you with scorn and contempt and not help you improve your ability to use the knowledgeable resource here.

Notwithstanding what I've already written, you actually have a fair point, and I admire the decency you've used in the making of it.

However, I've never said that I'm a professional, and this topic is nothing to do with being an amateur, or not being one.

The 'scorn and contempt' is the equivalent of slapping someone who's hysterical - it makes a reality check difficult to ignore.

Since you've quoted part of the site ethos, I feel entitled to quote back the very first part of one of the three sticky topics at the top of the "Electrics UK" forum, viz:

Please be aware of building regulation "Part P" which is here which covers electrical work on the fixed wiring in domestic dwellings in England and Wales.

Please click the link for each topic.

1) WIRING A CEILING LIGHT.
2) INTERMEDIATE SWITCH
3) 2 WAY SWITCHING
....

Within that handful of lines there's a link to information on the exact subject that you're interested in.

How much of it did you read?

In summary, the question I'm most interested in is this:

How many times have you seen, in the hundreds of information pages that you're implicitly encouraged to read, someone being advised to make their own body part of an electrical circuit that's connected to the National Grid?