News Forum - Too many wires: Prayut says he wants communication cables underground

[Bluesofa]

10 minutes ago, Malc-Thai said:

I'm really not a 100% but if the cable underground has a broken insulation then a limited amount of water around will conduct the electricity that will cause muscle spasm if you come into contact.. further away from the source will result in less electrical flow .. similar to an overhead railway line if to touch the cable you will get a belt but you can walk on the track with nothing happening 

That's a more straightforward one.
You can walk on the track safely because there is no voltage. If you touch the overhead supply while in contact with the ground, you complete the circuit from the supply to earth through your body. That usually results in instant death, as IIRC the UK system is around 25KV.

[Stardust]

12 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

And most of those boards are not actually earthed. We rented a place in a Land and Houses gated village in Chiang Mai - all quality stuff etc. BUT the board was not earthed properly - I pulled out the cheap 'green' wire that was basically sitting on the ground. I installed a proper earth cable connected to an earth rod that went down about 60 cms.  Then we had to turn on and off every power point and connection to test and validate which safety switch was for what group of connections. The wiring and safety switching was all good, but they were all labelled wrong - every one - unbelievable.   

Mostly it isn't even labeled in Thailand

[Bluesofa]

33 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

I hear what you are saying, but my original point was that besides being installed cheaply and incorrectly, there are a lot of 'cowboys' in Thailand that will try and illegally connect to the power cables - they currently do it all the time.  There have been many deaths in Thailand from people coming into contact with illegally connected wiring - and also from poorly installed wiring.  With anything electric in Thailand always be very very careful - never even touch a metal pole in the footpath. I remember when a tourist died a few years back doing just that, and a kid died who was digging in the sand at a beach - lots of others too. 

Put the internet and comms in the ground - but I hope they dont try to do the power cables. And if they do, then be very very careful when there is lots of rain/flooding. 

Regarding the telecoms cabling.

Decades ago while doing my telecoms engineer apprenticeship, I was up a pole checking some cabling. In those days there were still some very old unshielded open wires.

As I leant forward to inspect something, my forehead made contact with one of the old open copper cables. It must have been just as there was an incoming call on that line. I jumped, but fortunately didn't lose my footing at the top of a forty-five-foot pole.
The guy I was with below me was really concerned - he couldn't stop laughing.

The UK phone system runs on 50V DC. However, the ringing current is (or was) 75V AC.

[Malc-Thai]

17 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

I hear what you are saying, but my original point was that besides being installed cheaply and incorrectly, there are a lot of 'cowboys' in Thailand that will try and illegally connect to the power cables - they currently do it all the time.  There have been many deaths in Thailand from people coming into contact with illegally connected wiring - and also from poorly installed wiring.  With anything electric in Thailand always be very very careful - never even touch a metal pole in the footpath. I remember when a tourist died a few years back doing just that, and a kid died who was digging in the sand at a beach - lots of others too. 

Put the internet and comms in the ground - but I hope they dont try to do the power cables. And if they do, then be very very careful when there is lots of rain/flooding. 

Yrs some metal posts have the electric connections at ground level and leak electricity and become live.. They've just put the power cables in the ground along beach road in patong. They've dug and installed the plastic pipes underground to inspection points on the second road up and will be soon installing underground there I presume.. problem that road often floods by 1 foot of water even the inspection points just concrete pits with no water tight seals so the tubing will flood.. 

[Bluesofa]

35 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

And most of those boards are not actually earthed. We rented a place in a Land and Houses gated village in Chiang Mai - all quality stuff etc. BUT the board was not earthed properly - I pulled out the cheap 'green' wire that was basically sitting on the ground. I installed a proper earth cable connected to an earth rod that went down about 60 cms.  Then we had to turn on and off every power point and connection to test and validate which safety switch was for what group of connections. The wiring and safety switching was all good, but they were all labelled wrong - every one - unbelievable.   

It's absolutely believable. I posted a comment about that very subject two weeks ago:
https://thethaiger.com/talk/topic/8042-news-forum-unlicensed-construction-may-be-cause-of-koh-larn-resort-death/?do=findComment&comment=105079

 

[Stardust]

23 minutes ago, Bluesofa said:

Regarding the telecoms cabling.

Decades ago while doing my telecoms engineer apprenticeship, I was up a pole checking some cabling. In those days there were still some very old unshielded open wires.

As I leant forward to inspect something, my forehead made contact with one of the old open copper cables. It must have been just as there was an incoming call on that line. I jumped, but fortunately didn't lose my footing at the top of a forty-five-foot pole.
The guy I was with below me was really concerned - he couldn't stop laughing.

The UK phone system runs on 50V DC. However, the ringing current is (or was) 75V AC.

Don't forget that they mix electricity cables and comunication cables on the poles and all are in the same colour.like it happened a few weeks ago to an technician in Chonbury/Pattaya who wanted to cut a comunication cable but it wasnt that and got electroluted and were hanging in the tree 2 days til sombody found him. 

[Bluesofa]

18 minutes ago, Malc-Thai said:

Yrs some metal posts have the electric connections at ground level and leak electricity and become live.. They've just put the power cables in the ground along beach road in patong. They've dug and installed the plastic pipes underground to inspection points on the second road up and will be soon installing underground there I presume.. problem that road often floods by 1 foot of water even the inspection points just concrete pits with no water tight seals so the tubing will flood.. 

How do you define live? If you touch it do you receive a shock, or is there some other characteristic?

I wonder what's causing that - the earth wire on the pole (it's the bottom one going pole-to-pole) at a guess must be in contact with something with low insulation, causing a relatively low current leak to earth? If it was a direct contact the supply would constantly be tripping out.
Well I'd hope so. Perhaps the ground is too dry?

Thailand uses the PME system (Protective Multiple Earthing). Yeah I know - rather an irony using the word 'protective' in Thailand.

[Bluesofa]

5 minutes ago, Stardust said:

Don't forget that they mix electricity cables and comunication cables on the poles and all are in the same colour.like it happened a few weeks ago to an technician in Chonbury/Pattaya who wanted to cut a comunication cable but it wasnt that and got electroluted and were hanging in the tree 2 days til sombody found him. 

How could it take two days to find him?

Again going back to my British Telecom days, a 'joint user' pole (telecom & electric) was very rare and it was only in rural areas.
There were stringent rules - which were followed. Any telecoms cabling had to be below the electric supply and separated by 1.2metres (four feet in old money).

[AussieBob]

41 minutes ago, Bluesofa said:

Regarding the telecoms cabling.

Decades ago while doing my telecoms engineer apprenticeship, I was up a pole checking some cabling. In those days there were still some very old unshielded open wires.

As I leant forward to inspect something, my forehead made contact with one of the old open copper cables. It must have been just as there was an incoming call on that line. I jumped, but fortunately didn't lose my footing at the top of a forty-five-foot pole.
The guy I was with below me was really concerned - he couldn't stop laughing.

The UK phone system runs on 50V DC. However, the ringing current is (or was) 75V AC.

Lucky boy  

Aint mates great - you get a 'shock' and are almost seriously hurt, and they laugh their heads off at you.

 

[Stardust]

9 minutes ago, Bluesofa said:

How could it take two days to find him?

Again going back to my British Telecom days, a 'joint user' pole (telecom & electric) was very rare and it was only in rural areas.
There were stringent rules - which were followed. Any telecoms cabling had to be below the electric supply and separated by 1.2metres (four feet in old money).

It was also in the Thaiger, but nobody could ask him anymore why he could hang 2 days in the tree. But as you know you have between the buildings often land without used or buildings and in tropical countries it is then like a jungle very quickly.

[Malc-Thai]

24 minutes ago, Bluesofa said:

How do you define live? If you touch it do you receive a shock, or is there some other characteristic?

I wonder what's causing that - the earth wire on the pole (it's the bottom one going pole-to-pole) at a guess must be in contact with something with low insulation, causing a relatively low current leak to earth? If it was a direct contact the supply would constantly be tripping out.
Well I'd hope so. Perhaps the ground is too dry?

Thailand uses the PME system (Protective Multiple Earthing). Yeah I know - rather an irony using the word 'protective' in Thailand.

Sometimes water can build up inside the post and above the terminals had 1 in UK did that and didn't trip the power breaker also going back to the railway line.. what if the overhead cable dropped down into a flooded track, would you walk through that flood water? ..sorry not trying to argue.. sadly I only know little about electricity from college 

[Bluesofa]

15 minutes ago, AussieBob said:

Lucky boy  

Aint mates great - you get a 'shock' and are almost seriously hurt, and they laugh their heads off at you.

Oh definitely!

there was a guy in a telephone exchange doing some work on a low voltage supply that was called Flicker Earth.
The guy wore metal framed glasses and while looking closely at some wiring, managed to get his head and glasses caught.
They were caught across the 50V DC supply and the flicker earth, which meant he kept getting a small shock every one second.
He was stuck there, everyone else was on the floor laughing.

[Bluesofa]

11 minutes ago, Malc-Thai said:

Sometimes water can build up inside the post and above the terminals had 1 in UK did that and didn't trip the power breaker also going back to the railway line.. what if the overhead cable dropped down into a flooded track, would you walk through that flood water? ..sorry not trying to argue.. sadly I only know little about electricity from college 

The water build-up inside the terminals is a classic example of a 'low insulation' fault.

[Dedinbed]

2 minutes ago, Bluesofa said:

He was stuck there, everyone else was on the floor laughing

Ohm my God .. Watt is wrong with you ..

[Bluesofa]

8 minutes ago, Dedinbed said:

Ohm my God .. Watt is wrong with you ..

My resistance was low.
Watt - he invented the steam engine. You must be thinking of Alexander Graham Bell.

[Dedinbed]

1 minute ago, Bluesofa said:

My resistance was low.

Shocking .. how are you feeling currently .. 

[Bluesofa]

Just now, Dedinbed said:

Shocking .. how are you feeling currently .. 

Completely flat.

[Dedinbed]

Just now, Bluesofa said:

Completely flat.

You'll need amp-le time to get over that then ..

[Bluesofa]

1 minute ago, Dedinbed said:

You'll need amp-le time to get over that then ..

Let's hope I get a complete discharge at court over the charge of assault and battery.

[Dedinbed]

1 minute ago, Bluesofa said:

Let's hope I get a complete discharge at court over the charge of assault and battery.

I'd volt outta court just in case ..