Inside a lamp post connection and cut-out unit.

[@garyhardman8369]

Wise words about the fuse Clive. I witnessed the aftermath, when somebody decided to replace a HRC fuse, with a few stands of copper wire. The venue was a large chemical works; large enough to have a dedicated 132kV substation, equipped with two transformers. (and its own fire brigade, but more of that later) A switchgear company was on site, carrying out some refurbishment work, which meant one of the transformers was out of service. The site manager for the aforementioned switchgear company had a portacabin, which had a temporary electrical feed from a supply pillar equipped with switch-fuse units. On this particular day, the supply to the portacabin was lost, rendering the making of cups of tea impossible. The culprit was found to be a blown 32A HRC fuse in the pillar. After exhausting the available number of spare fuses, you would have thought that the gentleman in question would have investigated the cause of the fault - but no, he proceeded to replace the fuse with copper wire. I was doing some testing, maybe a hundred yards away, when he threw the switch in. There was a very loud bang, and as I turned around to look, there was a small 'mushroom cloud' of smoke rising above the pillar. The supply pillar was fed from a tertiary winding on the 132kV transformer. The feed to the portacabin was an armoured cable less than ten metres long, which had developed a short-circuit, after being run over many times by site traffic. Fortunately, the chap was not badly injured, but the noise and smoke alerted the site 'fire brigade', who came racing to the scene. Furthermore, the fault had blown the 200A fuse upstream, which left the transformer cooling fans inoperative - resulting in a panic call to the DNO to replace. Two morals to this story: 1/ If a fuse blows twice, find out why. 2/ always replace a fuse with the same type.

[@debug9424]

I'd add a third one: 3/ Always have redundancy on everything that is critical (like the transformer fans)

[@jonjohnson1259]

That could of ended so much worse I cant believe that someone who's supposed to be in charge could do something so dumb

[@Meanie010]

If only a blown fuse signaled some kind of abnormal characteristic of the power supply....

[@der.Schtefan]

What I love about your channel is that even though you have explained Back-EMF diodes, and what high current breaking capability fuses are so many times, you don't get tired to explain it in each relevant video again, and you always do it in a manner that I don't skip it, but keep listening to you. Other channels would either repeat it in a robotic manner, or just link to a former video (or won't explain it at all) Huge respect!

[@MayaPosch]

I love the background noise of singing birds while Clive is doing his thing. It's so peaceful :)

[@WineScrounger]

Maya Posch I thought it was just me that heard them 😌

[@jwflame]

For mounting in a panel enclosure, something based on half of one of the brass items from the cutout should work. A single brass tube piece with a square top flange, the tube with a threaded section next to the flange and the rest knurled, which could fit through a metal panel with a securing nut on the outside, and the armour secured with the jubilee clip onto the knurled section below the nut. Wires through the centre. Square section inside the enclosure would prevent rotation when tightening the nut, provided the hole was cut at a suitable distance from the back/front/side of the enclosure. Earth terminal on the inside square flange, so that the connection is maintained even if the securing nut became loose.

[@maicod]

Lamp fitter to coworker: "hiya matey here's a new lamp post connector" then drops it and it then has a crack and says "boss won't notice and I make Clive a happy man"

[@michaelwebber4033]

Our street lights in New Zealand don't use anything like this. Most of the ones I've worked on just have a standard HRC fuse carries mounted on a bar in the bottom. I really like this idea, it's neat and tidy and makes a lot of sense. Also we don't use SWA cables to connect street lighting. It's PVC PVC standard here. SWA is used more in industrial, power stations and oil and gas installations in New Zealand.

[@channelsixtysix066]

"So If I Pull This Out And It Is Quite Stiff ...." - Clive, can't you wait 'til after the video's finished? 😆 I sometimes go through our local Clipsal catalogue looking at their latest electrical connecting technology it's all very interesting. Mate, you know you have a loyal fan base, when they hang on every word you say. 👍

[@mattdy93]

I'm an electrician for a street lighting company and the amount of times you pull the fuse and it is just a bit of 2.5mm instead of a fuse is unbelievable!,

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yeah. It's not a great situation. Especially when the trainees are shown how to do it by the older guys.

[@mattdy93]

bigclivedotcom the worst iv seen was a 32mm copper pipe cut to fit inside a bs88 mains fuse carrier ... street lighting is a strange old game with how it's regulated! Seems to be as Long as it works then that's all that matters

[@Kryptar1]

Thumbs up for the quality drawings in this video :)

[@kissingfrogs]

bigclive's drawings are awesome. he must practice before doing a vid

[@letsgocamping88]

I’m sure BC must have had a bit of SWA and a gland in there somewhere.

[@StreetLightOnline]

Lighting columns on SWA cables around here tend to have the cables terminated into separate gland plates, in order to assist with testing individual lengths of cable. The 'jubilee clip' method for clamping the armouring is not used, as over time, the exposed strands are susceptible to corrosion in the damp column bases, which can result in high earth loop impedance readings.

[@MalleusSemperVictor]

Just stick a .223 cartridge in there. 200 amps rated and will allow quick service due to obvious audio/visual cue.

[@PetrosArgy]

It's always fascinating to see the differences between North American and European electrical fittings. We all have long standing traditions which include some great ideas and some god awful ones. Our lock nuts here are simple to use, even in tight spaces (they're designed to be tightened using a screwdriver and pliers as the hammer) but that cut out enclosure is a really cool idea from a safety standpoint. Most pole lights here would have a hand hole and we'd use traditional wire nuts to terminate to the lamp leads. The only thing I don't like about the unit is how little wire bending space it has, but that's typical for European enclosures in general. It's also amazing that no one has come up with a better method to terminate the concentric Earth/armor wires other than what you've described. Oetiker clamps would at least be less bulky and more tamper proof.

[@Milamberinx]

My Amazon Echo got really sarcy at about 12:55 when Clive said "that's ah clamped around", Alexa said "Ok, here's your round of applause clap clap clap clap".

[@hrnekbezucha]

Can I just ask what made you buy one? No judgements or anything I just don't understand what people find appealing about these devices.

[@Milamberinx]

Unregulated Powersupply I find it useful for controlling my lights. I have lamps around my rooms and controlling them individually would be less ergonomic.

[@Milamberinx]

Well, it listens to every word after I say the word 'Alexa' which, not knowing anyone named Alexa, isn't something I say in general conversation. So no, I'm not uncomfortable. Well not because of the echo at least!

[@Milamberinx]

Yes, the little round device listens to everything, fair enough. Of course I was answering the question about whether I felt uncomfortable with the big corporation listening. If I discovered the echos were sending everything they heard to the corporate overlords I would unplug them. However if there is ever something that can perform the same kinds of tasks entirely locally I shall be acquiring that.

[@AttilaAsztalos]

Just make sure you never, ever talk about hardwood floors. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/25/amazon-alexa-recorded-owners-conversation-sent-random-contact/

[@mre7781]

Clive you always describe the ways things can fail in a great way just like in this video about it arcing over and exploding causing burns. Every time i hear you come out with such scenarios i often wish you would demonstrate these. With your knowledge i would imagine that you could create such explosive exciting scenarios in a controlled way. I would imagine your viewers and you would enjoy doing/seeing something like this. Maybe?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Much as I'd love to, the only way I could emulate it correctly would probably involve taking out the power for the entire neighbourhood.

[@disgruntled181]

bigclivedotcom Than you could do it at least once without anyone getting too suspicious ;)

[@mrb692]

ElectroBoom plays fast and loose with the angry pixies from yonder wall receptical. You might find what you’re looking for there

[@00lightning]

Yeah electroboom will definitely be what your looking for. his channel has good shock value. (pun intended) he shocks and burns himself purposely to show the dangers and how not to do things all while teaching some interesting stuff.

[@PeregrineBF]

He's never done arc flash. He probably never will. It's not fun. There are some security camera videos of it (and the results) around. Don't watch them if you want to eat / have just eaten. Edit: Safety training video, with incident video and pictures of some victims. Includes a 4th degree burn victim's legs, which had to be amputated due to the damage. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWatkImwoJVkgc0

[@tcpnetworks]

In Australia, we use a quick-disconnect style connector. They are fused and accept SWA, but the disconnect allows for the pole to be knocked-over without risking electrocution. The plug disconnects and makes the supply safe without killing all of the lights.

[@Mr.Unacceptable]

Worm clamp hose clamp worm gear clamp but the first time I've heard of them called Jubilee clamps. Never know what you are going to learn here. Thanks Clive. I've worked with them in many jobs and nobody has ever mentioned the name before. Not many Canadians know the actual name of these clamps.

[@BenEyah]

I remember when I was a kid maybe 8 or 9 I think, was playing with some friends at the bottom of my grandmas street in the school holidays. It was 2 rows of back to back houses, then a street across and another set of houses to the bottom, on the furthest left as you're looking down was like 8 house streets which ended with a big wall with an end of a house in line with the street that goes across (made it echo quite a bit). There was what would now be an old concrete lamp post (kerb side) , cover plate was off, wire had been chopped, about 6" of the cut wire was next to the house on the floor..... Had the brilliant idea of I'll fix it n put the wire on, let's just say, if it would have been now police would be swarming thinking a bomb went off. Ended with a very big flash, a very big plume of smoke, a ridiculous bang and black fingers with a sprinkle of running around 'cause it hurt. Thinking of it now, luckily it was only just that and no burns. Meant I could hide what I'd been doing from my grandma and mum when she picked me up :D

[@schwartzenheimer1]

Now I know what a 'jubilee clip' is. Yes, we call them 'hose clamps'...thanks!

[@00lightning]

schwartzenheimer1 +1. jubilee clip/clamp is a new one for me too. I've heard worm clamp also, but it's usually just hose clamp.

[@Mat0305]

Jubilee clip is a manufacturers name that became commonly used as a generic term. Kinda like Hoover for vacuum cleaner or as many electricians call their insulation testers "meggers"

[@FrontSideBus]

schwartzenheimer1 I prefer to call them "cunt clips"...

[@JasperJanssen]

One of the big things about meter fuses is that they need a specified, low resistance, to avoid having a large voltage drop across the meter when measuring current, which these things don’t necessarily do.

[@jp-um2fr]

Sorry Clive but I gave up on John Ward when he twice moaned on and on about mains neon testing screwdrivers. There are millions in use and must have saved many lives. 'Oh those negative waves man'. Super video Clive as always. I bet you remember the old pitch soaked cloth insulating tape. Great stuff to sniff, reminded me of Trafalgar.

[@Duncathon]

Frying pan washer? That’s a new one on me. Literally every sparky I trained with and have worked with since calls it a banjo. Separately, would you class concentric cables (the type used by the DNO for PME supplies) as “armoured”? The ones I’ve seen have always had copper wire wrap as the outer part of the cable with solid core aluminium conductors for the phases. I wouldn’t rely on the copper outer for mechanical protection as it’s nowhere near as durable as steel. Also, I totally agree that using the SWA as the CPC never seems like a great idea, especially as the maximum permissible loop values were reduced in one of the more recent regulation updates (2nd Amendment of the 17th?). I know it’s possible if you oversize the cable to ensure there’s enough steel to get the resistance low enough, but in most cases it’s likely cheaper to run a smaller 3 or 5 core cable to achieve your disconnection times more effectively. A separate CPC will always be more reliable too as the armouring terminations are very susceptible to damp which will negatively effect the loop values due to inevitable corrosion of the joint.

[@mattyschofield]

This is the first time I've ever thought I needed the step in and make a point on one of your brilliant videos, i think it's important I let you know that only you call it a frying pan .....it's a monocle...... some idiots from the Manchester way call a banjo with makes me chuckle but it's still a monocle

[@SOUL_Creations]

It would have been really neat seeing this unit all wired up! :)

[@bigclivedotcom]

No probs. Just pop the lid off a local lamp post.

[@ovidiulu]

A information dense video with great insight into proper industrial connections and fusing. Thank you.

[@letsgocamping88]

Panels with removable plates to mount the glands in help no end. Makes my job a hell of a lot easier when changing large industrial motors.

[@WineScrounger]

Benjamin Harvey oh yes. I don’t buy enclosures without them.

[@benbaselet2026]

Wohoo, now after watching this I'm a certified electromagician and I can get rich quick doing these \o/

[@bigclivedotcom]

In the UK you could actually just attend a one day slideshow called G39 and you would be fully certified.

[@benbaselet2026]

bigclivedotcom Here in Finland it's not quite as bad. First you need a degree, then you need to take the standards test and the 6 months of work experience before getting the permit I think.

[@mavos1211]

Pentti Kantanen congratulations on passing.

[@KS1776]

In US we do four year apprenticeship then take journeyman test 2 year as journeyman then you are qualified to take master/contractor exam if you pass the congrats you must also take a minimum of 12 continuing education hours per 2 years ending on the even year.

[@jimbo149]

bigclivedotcom That has changed since I left the UK in 1976, we had to do a 4 year tech course and 5 year apprenticeship. In Aus since then. You have to be a licenced electrician to touch anything over low voltage.

[@Chuckiele]

12:25 That "pulling out" gesture combined with the cock'n'balls drawing is just pure gold :D

[@sparkydave2783]

Clive, I think it’s more likely that the DNO cable would be concentric cable as part of a PME supply. Would also work for SWA too though, I fully agree.

[@sdgelectronics]

Never heard frying pan washer. We call it a banjo!

[@JGprojects]

Great description / annotations Clive, never seen one of these before.

[@InvadersDie]

Is is possible to use multiple smaller fuses to make up for one bigger fuze? Why not though?

[@boonedockjourneyman7979]

Very cool to see how the big stuff works. We industrial controls today feel like LEGOs in your hand. Fun to wonder how things worked before DIN rail enclosures.

[@ConorNoakes]

Unless I’m mistaken, you’ve not been allowed to use the armour as the Earth conductor for a good long while now, @bigclivedotcom ?

[@HIDLad001]

Are these similar to the cutouts you have in domestic installations in a UK house?

[@bigclivedotcom]

Different style for a larger fuse.

[@echothehusky]

Tighten the gland to the panel before terminating the cable into it. It is much easier to hold the locknut still while tightening the gland from the outside.

[@awolmadandy]

i worked for virgin media servicing street cabinets. one of the jobs was inspecting the main cutout fir correct fuse rating and checking for shrinkage on the micc cable. Most street lights unless in a managed area all seem to have micc cable. very rare to find a light column or cabinet with swa cable feeding it. unless it was on a sub main. I did find the odd nail in place of a main fuse and the odd cabinet with a dropped neutral. The above cutout is the later type, some of the lucy ones are ok but can be britle. The older bill type were black and broke easily. i still have my g39 documents from the training i did.

[@HurricaneOK1]

.......How is it possible that 1) you need to emphasise strongly PUT THE CORRECT FUSE IN. DON'T WRAP IT IN WIRE OR TINFOIL... When... 2) The only people who should be poking at these anyway are trained and registered "electricians" or "linesmen" who know thaat.... BUT STILL 3) I just know that you TOTALLY still need to tell them that anyway ... HOWEVER 4) A bunch of them still won't listen and will still ram a gum wrapper or a broken chunk of screwdriver shaft in there anyway :D ? I recently serviced a second hand washing machine I bought. The thing wanted a fast blow 5A fuse, of the "extremely common" variety. However, somebody had put a carefully trimmed segment of new-looking protective earth cable in the fuse holder instead......... HOW DID THEY HAVE THAT BUT NOT A 5A FUSE? Or a bit of 5A fuse wire? It costs like $.50 and you can get a card with like 30cm each of 5, 10 and 15A fuse wire on it from any supermarket......... Or you can get the little glass fuse bought individually for like $0.10....... Or you can buy 1,000 of them from China for like $1. I just........... Ugh...... And...... Low impedance thick protective earth wire seems like almost the worst possible thing to replace a blown fuse with... And in a washing machine.... That's the kind of person who probably deserves to pull the same crap up a ladder next to a streetlight, and have a giant "fuse" arcsplosion launch them 50m into the sky.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Thanks to certain vested financial interests that present themselves as safety organisations in the UK you can do a couple of one day slideshow "courses" and be a fully certified street lighting electrician. Training standards have plummeted since the 90's. Modern training is nothing more than transfer of liability onto unskilled labour.

[@HurricaneOK1]

I hear you. It's technically longer to become any "skilled" tradesperson here....... But..... Problem is...... The quality of the teaching/the pressure on "teachers" to get the $$$ for the institute means that they can't fail people... And also that there's a bunch of non-English speakers who come to NZ due to how once upon a time our tertiary education was OK. So...... I've spoken to a few disaffected lecturers... Including *engineers*....... Who "teach" things like two year diplomas......... To students from India/China/etc........... Who don't really speak any English more than the equivalent of English speakers learning enough French to ask when the next train is... Whereas I got taught how to run household/farm wiring by a veteran of both world wars who taught it good.... Then again (kind of) back when tertiary education wasn't appalling here... And for household wiring, it's three f---ing wires and there's like three different sizes of wire, maybe like five to ten different broad categories of household wiring associated thing (switches, sockets, heaters, enclosures....) A few pages of important standards/rules......... And it just isn't that hard I didn't think.......?! BUT it is extremely dangerous if you mess it up.... Which is why there's laws and allegedly trained/experienced professionals who are supposed to be doing a lot of it........ But turns out.... Not really? Or at least not if you're doing it for the Government itself, which is also the nation's biggest landlord............? The end result is..... If you want.... I can share what *might* be some of the worst "electrical" work done by an "electrician" in the history of the world....... It's in video format and only ~couple of minutes long. I hope Í'm not overselling it.... But... It's pretty bad... And it's NOT the bath-o-cutor bathroom fan duct.... It's new incompetence... And it's probably even worse (?) But I do hope to keep it secret for now... For legal reasons, that I'm happy to disclose but again can't really disclose in public just yet.... Oh, I can also share the logo of the "electrician" company who did it... Which is itself hilarious. When asked "Hey what's the deal with your logo....?" dude said "Yeah it's just a sad old snot mate. I get asked that a lot..." - The logo actually is a sad, old looking green booger creature, snot-green with jaundiced droopy looking eyes, carrying a ladder over it's shoulder, and the ladder is carelessly/accidentally smacking into an overhead lightbulb... And the booger looks sad and concerned about that...... I swear I'm not making that up....... It's on their website even, so you can verify it.... And I have photos of it on their vans......

[@scottg6265]

flic.kr/p/gXAuZ1

[@HurricaneOK1]

Brilliant. Ah, that's good.

[@wtfhaveidone6589]

Jim, I think you meant to say that the angry pixies would ARCSPLAIN proper fusing to him.

[@Josh__Stevens]

Hi Clive, im sure 90% of the time these cutouts would be fed by split concentric cable when used in a street furniture application rather than SWA.

[@ll-uy8yf]

Can these be used in a domestic installation for garden lighting?

[@bigclivedotcom]

You'd normally just use a fused supply and junction boxes for that.

[@dr666demento]

''20,000 amps sounds huge''. I've seen Phontonic Induction put 1,000 amps at 1 volt through a wrench (spanner) and watched it quickly turn into white goo. So, yeah, 20k amps is nothing to fool around with.

[@userPrehistoricman]

His thunder capacitor obliterated fuses with rupture current ratings of 80kA

[@volvo09]

Prehistoricman - I wonder what that sounds like live, and not through a mic that will clip.

[@benkerr9051]

The prospective short circuit fault current at a UK single phase cablehead is 16000 amps. And that is at 230 volts. If you are directly in front of it when it blows, and not wearing flameproof overalls, 1000 volt gloves and a face visor, you'd be better off if it killed you, than surviving with the severe burns you're likely to get. It really depends on the type of supply. in flats, with a pvc supply cable, protected by a 100 amp fuse in the common stair cupboard, its going to be much less severe than with an old paper insulated lead covered supply, which may be coming from a 400 amp fuse in a substation half a mile up the road. The 400 amp fuse often won't blow, at least not right away,and the fault will keep erupting until it blows itself clear.

[@Rogermalaya]

ben kerr n to

[@chrisfraser8575]

Big Clive, have you ever considered doing a video on why we use 230V and 115V AC and not 415V AC e.g like used in commercial settings? Wouldn't a higher voltage be more efficient?

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's for safety. The higher voltage raises the potential fault current and would require that things like plugs and sockets were more rugged. 400/415V is better suited to environments requiring more power and the advantage of the phase rotation provided by all three phases allowing for simpler motors.

[@chrisfraser8575]

bigclivedotcom That's useful to know. I'm still trying to wrap my head around two phase vs three phase.

[@chrisfraser8575]

bigclivedotcom That's useful to know. I'm still trying to wrap my head around two phase vs three phase.

[@twocvbloke]

The majority of the streetlighting here is attached directly to the overhead powerline poles, with taps off the phase & neutrals going to the magic box of tricks (which used to be a more impressive looking thing before they replaced the SOX lights with LED), presumably they're all individually fused inside rather than being run of one fuse... :)

[@CKOD]

Are those HRC fuses rated for DC also though? The meter fuse is good for 1kv AC or DC. I suspect that being rated for that much DC is at least part of what drives up the price.

[@intelmacs]

If it was a direct feed from the DNO a similar but different type of cut out is used. As DNOs do not use SWA but instead combined neutral earth cables, the entry glad at the bottom is simply a rubber grommet.

[@TheManLab7]

I call them banjos personally. Those stamped steel nuts. I personally use a nocking screwdriver and a hammer to tighten them up if you can’t get a pair of grips onto it

[@TheChipmunk2008]

I've put armour into the earth bar before.... to do the lot takes a LOT of spare earth terminals

[@phonotical]

Isn't there any kind of spray rubber/latex for helping to waterproof things

[@bigclivedotcom]

You get re-enterable polymer gels. Not so great for things like fuse contacts.

[@peterg.8245]

My city just rewired our lights with stranded aluminum, a hydraulic crimper, and a roll of friction tape. Some loops have already failed in less than a year.

[@tbelding]

That happens with aluminum if you don't use the proper connectors. It can be great stuff - but it's a LOT harder to use than copper.

[@imc7691]

Most modern lampposts are fitted with mcb and fuse version. Plus they use normal swa glands.

[@sparkyprojects]

I used to use the outer nut to tighten the armour gland to the panel, you only need light force on the inner nut, but i agree, why do they make those nuts so thin, even worse are the thin knurled ring nuts that come with some glands. I too will use 3 core and use the 3rd wire as earth if i want a good earth, i read somewhere once that they were saying the armour shouldn't be used for earth continuity, you're supposed to run a separate earth wire, not sure if that ever came to fruition

[@Gooberslot]

Could the difference in cost between fuses have to do with those being rated for 250v vs 600 or 1000v for a multimeter fuse? Also, I suspect those are produced in much greater quantity than the multimeter fuses which would also lower the price.

[@superdupergrover9857]

that sheet steel nut- I've seen those used in automobiles. I imagine they are cheaper to make. They are a pain to deal with when you do have good access to them, yet you seldom do.

[@lordmuntague]

About time you and JW did a joint vid, you both have interesting takes on this stuff.

[@fun_ghoul]

Meh. I prefer to smoke the joints.

[@lordmuntague]

Uncle Joe: Nah, joints rot your brain. I like your mint balls though... kzbin.info/www/bejne/j2jEoKx8ZcqhhLc

[@fun_ghoul]

_"Nah, joints rot your brain."_ Is that your excuse?

[@lordmuntague]

Uncle Joe: Nope, Guinness was my downfall...

[@fun_ghoul]

_"Nope, Guinness was my downfall..."_ Some of the finest whiskies in the world come from Ireland, and you resort to drinking from their sewers? I don't get it.

[@-a6833]

hcr fuse, street lights, this might be a very very long shot but have you been reading my reddit topic about a blown sonoff switch? Ofc something completely different, but it just happened to be last week

[@WaltonPete]

Have you used up all your spiral bound lined paper pads? I have a friend who used to do electrical installation and he hates SWA cable, so much so that he changed career to install security systems!

[@Monkeh616]

Clive, it sounds like you need to introduce yourself to the Piranha nut. Nice deep brass nut with set screws to lock and a stud for the earth connection. No 'frying pan' (? always heard them called banjo) washers, no drilling extra holes in the box.

[@bigclivedotcom]

It's a good idea, but I wonder how it would fare when used in high density SWA termination.

[@Monkeh616]

They're barely any bigger around than the crappy pressed steel nuts, and you don't need space for bolting the banjos - so better. More flyleads I guess, but that's not hugely problematic - I don't really like the practice of sharing them anyway.

[@axeman6560]

Top , tutorial and advice. Try and avoid low quality jubilee clips, seen some very rusty ones .

[@2009dudeman]

Finally, someone calls out the Meter manufacturers on a Channel I watch xD In all seriousness though, it really is ridiculous, My snap-on meter has two fuses, both HRC rated at 1Kv or so, at 500ma and 10A, the 500ma costs $35, and the 10A cost me $45. They aren't expensive compared to other fuses, but you can get another fuse of that same size and rating easily, not to mention if something goes wrong with it and you send it back with non snap-on fuses, it voids the warranty.

[@mrb692]

2009dudeman Keep the blown OEM fuse in the toolbox, and swap it back in when it’s time for warranty work :P

[@disgruntled181]

2009dudeman I have an old Mac copy of a Fluke with those pricey fuses, after a while I soldered in agc type fuse holders so I could use them instead of the Mac fuses, but same rating.

[@HIDLad001]

The 15A HRC fuse in my Fluke 27/FM has an interrupting capacity of 100kA at 600V! (the 1A fuse can also interrupt 10kA.)

[@risvegliato]

You are right about meter fuses. If you have to replace the 440mA (44/100) or 11A fuses in a fluke meter they are about ten quid each. I dont see how they can justify that price. At the end of the day, its a piece of wire in a ceramic tube with silica sand in it. Cost = pennies.

[@TheCORC964]

When I was a bit younger (and dumber) there was a streetlight in front of my house, one morning I woke up to look out the window and notice the cover on the post was off. Being the idiot I was back then I thought it’d be funny to remove the fuse and short the live and neutral going into the isolator. Long story short it made an almighty bang and sent sparks flying everywhere and also caused a catastrophic failure in the step down transformer up the street and causing it to catch fire and cut power to the whole neighbourhood. Could’ve easily been killed doing this and looking back on it I feel very stupid 😂. I never did get caught, safe to say I won’t do that again.

[@raykent3211]

I don't quite get this and hope someone will be kind enough to explain. In the UK you have about 240v at up to to 13A in an ordinary fused plug. About 3 kw. Is there a street lamp that needs more power than that? Are they not individually fused but rather daisy chained? In short, why are they fitted with fuses that support such enormous current rather than fuses which blow at, say, 10 amps?

[@bigclivedotcom]

You could fit one with a lower current fuse. Everything is rated higher for ruggedness and to allow for future loads. Like car charge points.

[@Nexfero]

I wish multimeters used those fuses, i recently replaced the ten amp fuse in my Fluke 23 and it cost almost twenty bucks.

[@phonotical]

I have noticed more and more street lights have been swapping over to leds, which would be nice if they actually put them on when it was dark. . .

[@throttlebottle5906]

oh, so you want lights and have them powered also! :))

[@gartmorn]

Are jubilee clips still used as much in industry? I know that before I retired we weren't allowed to use them to connect water hoses because of their suspect integrity but not sure if they were frowned upon for electrical use by then? I know if you were over zealous tightening them, or if they had been used a few times, the threads and/or tightening screw could shear!

[@andymurray64]

Nice video Clive!

[@SimoWill75]

8:20 Oil&Gas you absolutely must use a serrated washer on the gland.

[@acat6821]

Tip clive for tighten and loosening locknuts, handtight, then get a old flathead screwy and a hammer... nd knock it around untill tight. Works everytime

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yeah, I've used that trick a lot in the past.

[@amigaman9433]

for someone who worked a fair bit with SWA on domestic supplies for workshops I can recommend getting a proper pair of armoured cable strippers like ARMOURSLICE by C.K Tools, it will keep everything nice a square to the cores and makes using glands so much easier.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Not seen that one. I tried various others in the past and always ended up going back to my hacksaw and knife.

[@amigaman9433]

the nice thing about the CK stripper is you can replace the blades as you use them to score the steel armour and can then snap each strand off the same length, but not a cheap option if you only do the odd SWA fitment lots of videos on YT

[@mikep-j894]

If like me you don't like the banjo washers and the thin nuts, you will be pleased to know that thick brass pirahna nuts are much better, and there are some that include a locking grub screw, and have been around as a better solution for at least a decade.

[@Stef-X]

Big clive the led super hero. Am a bit of a newby to this grow light stuff, my friend gave me one he bought a few years back but it never worked for him, I've opened it up and all the inside parts work fine, I even had some row's of lights working, although it may have had something to do with me having my hand on the back of the LED chip board when I tried it out lol, it has 2 fan controllers each powering 4 12volt fan's, it has 6 light drivers looped with 155 volt out put and input of between 86-264, I don't know the amps, each drive power's 48x1w chips on a board of 288. There's no names on it anywhere or any other details, just the light array of R,B,O,W 210:50:14:14, 288*1w. If I added thermal paste (fresh), would this help any?? Does it definitely need the paste and heat sink to work?? If it don't work in the end, could I swap out the chip board for say 50w cob/Cree through the 6 drive's that are each powering 48w on the board?? Or could I remove the 6 drive's an use driverless LEDs, what's the best or cheapest way of going with this little project I have been trying to figure out for day's now. Any answers or suggestions are well appreciated, cos if you've read this far, you're owed a massive thank you.

[@RickDeckardt]

Cool, you filmed this during the day, can hear the birds in the background

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yeah, I usually film in the evening but filmed this during the day.

[@kissingfrogs]

I thought it was because the garden was lit up like guy fawkes with all the LEDs and LED strings that the birds think it is day

[@RavenLuni]

That was some excellent brain candy. I've recently been looking into what it would take to retrain as an electrician (software has finally sucked my soul dry) - havent turned up anything encouraging yet. Any tips?

[@mozismobile]

Those thin nuts... OMG. They're so awful. Although if you're lucky you can find an old, old pressed metal "spanner" that fits them. Which makes it slightly less awful. But it's usually impossible to find a replacement because they're invariably an odd size or the only option nis a 15mm thick stainless steel nut for 5 quid.

[@chasmosaurus3]

Michele Marie Dalene Often a panel is so tightly packed the only way to remove or install the fittings is with a hammer and screwdriver. For the larger sizes like 3" conduit, I don't usually have slip joints that size so hammer and screwdriver again.

[@ethanpoole3443]

Michele Marie Dalene But at least the US panel nuts usually have some biting teeth incorporated into them to prevent them backing off once tightened. It's still a pain to get a proper wrench into a tight panel, though, that part never changes.

[@scottgraham9205]

To say nothing of the eight sided bastards. Truely the most miserable thing to remove one from the middle row of three.

[@volvo09]

A whole single thread width of "nut".

[@osltam]

mozismobile the best alternative I’ve found are ‘piranha earth nuts’ - nice and fat and you don’t need the ‘frying pan washer’ or ‘banjo’: www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/PRPEN20.html

[@chrisleech1565]

In Canada Clive, they use this 1/8" thick serrated hex nut with indents to fix so called box connectors, allowing one to use a flat head screwdriver against the indents to pound them tight (loose) >> Palm or whatever is close by. 1/2" right up to 2.5" - 15A to 200A cable ie- 14Ga to 3/O ,.. all of it fixed into the panel with the same kind of little nut :-)

[@bigclivedotcom]

We make our own indents on these nuts with a screwdriver and hammer to do the same.

[@k4be.]

The meter fuses are expensive because they are rated to break DC fault currents too.

[@AintBigAintClever]

I guess we were lucky years ago when using the top contact in a kicked-in streetlight cutout to short the incomer that the feed was just for the car park... :D

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yeah, that could have been loud.

[@chasmosaurus3]

I have wondered about this in the past. I see those covers missing on streetlights all the time (or just taped over). I guess this counts as a conduit or chase and not a proper disconnect and doesn't get an arc flash hazard label.

[@volvo09]

I never touched a lamp post after kicking one and a bazillion wasps came flying out.

[@simonhopkins3867]

Good morning. Trust me I have no intention of going anywhere near something like that lol. Interesting topic all the same.

[@thingsmadebyjoe]

I never use the nut and banjo (frying pan). TLC sell a large nut, with serrations and a lug for earthing. I think they’re called Piranha nuts

[@davepusey]

Never realised that the actual armor was connected to earth. I always assumed it was 3-core and the armor was just for mechanical protection only.

[@JimSteinbrecher]

0:33 - "if i pull this out... and it _is_ quite stiff!"

[@ottoreuter6279]

What to expect after tugging on a gland?!

[@UndercoverFerret404]

You call it a DNO? Around here it's a DSO.. Distribution System Operator.

[@avejst]

Thanks for sharing 😀👍 Interesting stuff 👍

[@richardbas2948]

There is even a place to keep two spares! In the lid of this box you see them!

[@JordyValentine]

So did anyone else used to kick the metal street light poles as a kid to make them turn off? Haha

[@kriss1_]

We went hunting for the one pole that took out the whole street, good fun

[@NOWThatsRichy]

TacticalBBQSauce Yes did that lots of times as a kid, if it was starting to get dark or light and you gave the post a thump it would switch on or off respectively, I actually did this a few days ago when walking by a nearby lampost at dusk and yes it turned on!

[@AAAyyyGGG]

Did it once and had a large plastic lens fall onto the pavement close by - that stopped me doing it ever again!! :-))

[@neil2742]

Multimeter fuses are expensive as they tend to be rated at higher voltage than 230V. My meter has fuses rated at 1kV

[@ToumalRakesh]

4:20 can anyone enlighten me about the John Wards bit? I was googling but didn't find anything.

[@geoffellis3019]

kzbin.info/door/2uFFhnMKyF82UY2TbXRaNg

[@scottgraham9205]

I think Big Clive saying "knurled" has replaced Big Clive saying "filament" as my favourite word ever.

[@1969elder]

The description in such detail with explosions and such umm is that the voice of experience?! Lol. 🤫

[@WineScrounger]

Those thin steel nuts, my god they’re horrible. I saw a nice variation on the theme a few years back where the gland had a decent brass nut that had a threaded hole in the side for attaching an earth connection. No idea if they took off or not but it must have been easier to do than shitting around with that wretched tin pot thing. No spanner in the world will fit it once it’s gone over the edge of an enclosure.

[@justinrutledge1221]

BigClive can I send you a genuine apple charger from America to take apart? It's from my old macbook pro that was replaced and I would love to see you take it apart and look at the build quality.

[@lumpyfishgravy]

Interesting, thanks Clive! Am I right in thinking there is often an RCBO downstream, too? I've been advised by a DNO to design for 50kA, but it doesn't need much test lead resistance to attenuate that down to manageable levels, so 50kA really only applies to fused prods. I'm not going to lie - there is a degree of dick-waving when it comes to fuse size: Fluke does it, so we all follow. But one practical reason the LST16 is not specified is because it's screw terminal. So you'd have someone over your shoulder saying you need to quote a torque setting which means the user needs a torque driver to do it properly, which is the only way certain UK industries do anything. You're right £10 for a fuse is a bit much but bear in mind it costs £30 to issue a prescription for 30p paracetamol. My advice is don't be blowing fuses!

[@bigclivedotcom]

There are rarely RCDs or RCBOs used in street lighting unless an external socket is added on a pole.

[@dusterdude238]

this unit reminds me of an episode of Mr bean. he is waiting for a bus because is his battery went flat,. and in the mean time an older gentleman was waiting also. and suffered a heart attack, so Mr bean runs to his car and gets jumper cables, pulls open the connection box and hooks them to the terminals and proceeds to restart the mans heart using mains voltage. Ha Ha

[@craigemmott4976]

That's a new one to me, frying pan washer. I know them as banjos

[@markmodray7698]

Neat to see how it is done in the UK. Things are so different here in the US. UK version sounds better, but we also use the shitty stamped metal nuts. Difference is ours are not hex, but have "nobs" you are supposed to be able to grip with pliers, or drive around with a screwdriver and hammer. They don't work for shit either.

[@chilledoutpaul]

We call them Banjo washers down here in the souf ! same as the carrots (orange pyro shrouds)😶‍🌫

[@JustSomeGuy1967]

Jubilee clamp?

[@evilutionltd]

Mark Jordan a hose clip made by the Jubilee company from England. It was such a common brand that people in the UK started calling all hose clamps of these types as Jubilee clips. Much like how people hoover their house despite not owning a Hoover.

[@JustSomeGuy1967]

Makes perfect sense!! thanks for the reply

[@geoffellis3019]

was a time when they were a Jubilee patent, when the patent expired Jubillee still meant quality, unlike most of the shite now

[@geoffellis3019]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_Clip

[@Chrisallengallery]

I used to kick the concrete style street lights when I was a rebel teen. We'd switch them all off. They'd come back on after about two minutes.

[@evilutionltd]

That fuse is interesting, looks similar to the “pyrofuse” they use on Tesla cars.

[@RobertSzasz]

evilution the pyrofuse contains normal fuses and a pyrotechnic element as a backup and controllable element. It's safer than a crowbar circuit (high power switch that shorts the incoming power, hopefully causing fuses to blow) as downstream protection because a crowbar, can cause lots of damage to everything upstream and when a very large lithium battery and crashes are involved you don't want extra insults.

[@RobertSzasz]

I think you have the way fuses work wrong. The sand filler is designed to diffuse and cool the metal plasma so it plates out and stops conducting, rather than encapsulate it.

[@ethanpoole3443]

Robert Szasz To be fair, you are both correct. The melting of the sand absorbs a great deal of heat, cooling the arc flash and helping to condense out the vaporized metal and extinguishing the arc...really just different perspectives on the same phenomena.