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Thread: Restricted Electrical Work - Disconnect/Reconnect

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    Default Restricted Electrical Work - Disconnect/Reconnect

    Hi,

    Im in need of some advice.

    I have been working with a small company for many years installing and servicing Alarms/Access/Surveillance in mostly commercial/industrial premises.. I hold an open licence and Sec Installers Licence etc.

    Quite often as you would know it is necessary to have a GPO installed/relocated to supply equipment, and then I become dependant on another trade for something which in general is a quite simple task.

    Hunting around on google and TAFE sites I came accross the Restricted Electrical Work - Disconnect/Reconnect course.

    Has anyone completed this course and is it at all useful?
    Are there any other options that I should look in to?

    TIA.



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    restricted electrical means no fixed wiring, so no SO's. just for flexible leads coming off appliances ect.

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    No good then, thanks.

    Be nice to have a sparky in employ and be able to work on a full licence.. however it would be mostly wasted.
    And it would be a shame to change from a good job to work with one.

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    I'd agree with the other post, basically to install new points you need a qualified supervisors certificate, ie full licence.

    And of course everyone fills in their Notification Of Electrical Wiring and submits it to the supply aurthority for new points............

    I sometimes wonder the logic behind some of the licences, I mean people can get one to test and tag leads etc, and give legal clearance the things are 'safe to be used'............the one mentioned above allows a plumber to disconnect and reconnect a HWS, or a fitter to disconnect and reconnect a 3 phase motor............think I feel happier if a person who actually undersatands wires and connection (ie security installer) was allowed to install a new GPO and submit the paper, and have a percentage if their work inspected by the supply authority..........

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    in the uk you can get a licence that allows the installation of a "fused spur" which is similar to installing a GPO.

    I think that some sort of licencing in australia for this would be a great idea.

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    With all the solar and wind stuff I have i get the man up for the paper work.

    As soon as he leaves I "fix it".

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    Quote Originally Posted by z80 View Post
    With all the solar and wind stuff I have i get the man up for the paper work.

    As soon as he leaves I "fix it".
    Now that raises an interesting question. How wide ranging is the requirement for an electricians licence. I would not have thought it was needed if you were not connected to the mains, but I am probably wrong. So if you are running off an inverter ( say on a boat ) does the power cabling still need to be done by a sparkie?

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    Quote Originally Posted by watchdog View Post
    Now that raises an interesting question. How wide ranging is the requirement for an electricians licence. I would not have thought it was needed if you were not connected to the mains, but I am probably wrong. So if you are running off an inverter ( say on a boat ) does the power cabling still need to be done by a sparkie?
    Yes all "low voltage" wiring requires a full licence, boats and caravans need to be double insulated too from memory. It's supposedly a safety thing but as far as I can tell it's just a bunch of electricians making the rules to protect their own industry.

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    ummm well I think your forgetting ELV (extra Low voltage) which covers up to 50VAC or 120V (ripple free DC) from what I remember a licence is not required for these.

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    The magic word is invertor, if you want 12V to 32 V in a boat your fine. 110 V AC or 240V AC both require adherance to the law for licencing. I'd suspect there may be loopholes for boats manufactured overseas however.

    So if you are running off an inverter ( say on a boat )

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    Quote Originally Posted by Redwight View Post
    Yes all "low voltage" wiring requires a full licence, boats and caravans need to be double insulated too from memory. It's supposedly a safety thing but as far as I can tell it's just a bunch of electricians making the rules to protect their own industry.
    Double pole is the term your looking for. It means that when something is switched off it switches both the active and neutral. The reasoning being it is that the boat/caravans service main is an extension lead. If it is lead is wired incorrectly it may still operate your 240v drill but once you connect it to the boat/caravan it can liven up all metal surfaces i.e. fridge toasted outside skin of the van.
    You won’t find many electricians doing security work as they are out there earning a proper wage and not making small change off some tafe course that they did. lol

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    LOL. proper wage.

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    I have done both, I held a restricted license long before I had a full electrical license. The answer is simple, do another trade, loads of us have, I know Plumbers that are also Electricians, Fitters that are Electricians, Electricians that are Instrument Fitters and so on. I see the same problem all the time in the Air conditioning industry and loads of Fridgies just end up doing their Electrical trade too. The above posts are right the Restricted License is just for Disconnect and Reconnect of Motors or in the case of Plumbers Hotties. It is a lot easier these day to do it but would depend on which state you are in. In NSW one can do it with out serving an apprenticeship but you still have to go to TECH for the trade course. There is no quick 6 week course and neither there should, electricity kills and the thing I reminds DIY hacks all the time is, if your house burns down, what chance do you have of an insurance pay out when extra power points are wired in with extension cord!

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    I held an R or latter on known as an S grade license as I was involved in industrial electronics. To get the license I had to prove I had prior experience which was pretty easy to do plus an exam and practical test at the electrical inspector’s office.

    That from memory was to disconnect a three phase motor and make it safe while considering there was an imaginary person on life support in the next room. The steps where to isolate the circuit and attach a work tag to the switch board then disconnect the motor and make the wiring safe.

    I let the license lapse a long time age because I no longer work in that industry but just prior I received a notice that they here pulling licenses unless you had formal electrical or electronics training which I do so that was not a problem but I later heard they where granulating the license to specific type of work to further limit what could be done.

    At the time one of the things I did was inspect new products in the factory in China and Hong Kong to allow electrical type testing back here in Oz. That involved determining the construction of transformers and insulation standards etc. That bought me in contact with the inspector’s office on a regular basis where I asked many time if there was some way to get a B grade and latter an A grade license. Unfortunately the sole path in Victoria is via a four year apprenticeship. I would be happy to do tafe courses and sit whatever regulatory and practical examinations needed but four years on apprentice wages and at my age is not practical or possible for me.

    Prior to the past election the ETU in Victoria where running a media campaign to stop two year electrical apprenticeships which is a pity as I believe that had more to do with protecting their own interests than that of the community. Now Mr KRudd is in it seems we will now import electricians from the USA etc rather than allow people here to have a go.

    I am not advocating lessening standard or letting untrained people loose but this industry needs reform if it’s the case in NSW that you can bypass the four year apprenticeship then that’s fantastic. That contrasts with the bull dust in Queensland where they were putting laws up that stopped appliance repair people working on things unless they where qualified electricians.

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    Quote Originally Posted by thing View Post
    Double pole is the term your looking for. It means that when something is switched off it switches both the active and neutral. The reasoning being it is that the boat/caravans service main is an extension lead. If it is lead is wired incorrectly it may still operate your 240v drill but once you connect it to the boat/caravan it can liven up all metal surfaces i.e. fridge toasted outside skin of the van.
    You won’t find many electricians doing security work as they are out there earning a proper wage and not making small change off some tafe course that they did. lol
    OK it's been a while since I looked into that. I only have QREL and two electronics trades but due to the self protecting nature of the industry then I now need to do an entire apprenticeship to get a full licence; I possibly could get a small time reduction for having done some TA work previously but I doubt that most bosses would trip over themselves to increase the value of their slave ATM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Redwight View Post
    OK it's been a while since I looked into that..

    More info here


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    A Disconnect/Reconnect License

    Is mainly for plumbers to Disconnect/Reconnect hot water services, heaters etc

    And in industrial situations for the Fitters to Disconnect/Reconnect Motors

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    Quote Originally Posted by SystemRat View Post
    I held an R or latter on known as an S grade license as I was involved in industrial electronics. To get the license I had to prove I had prior experience which was pretty easy to do plus an exam and practical test at the electrical inspector’s office.

    That from memory was to disconnect a three phase motor and make it safe while considering there was an imaginary person on life support in the next room. The steps where to isolate the circuit and attach a work tag to the switch board then disconnect the motor and make the wiring safe.

    I let the license lapse a long time age because I no longer work in that industry but just prior I received a notice that they here pulling licenses unless you had formal electrical or electronics training which I do so that was not a problem but I later heard they where granulating the license to specific type of work to further limit what could be done.

    At the time one of the things I did was inspect new products in the factory in China and Hong Kong to allow electrical type testing back here in Oz. That involved determining the construction of transformers and insulation standards etc. That bought me in contact with the inspector’s office on a regular basis where I asked many time if there was some way to get a B grade and latter an A grade license. Unfortunately the sole path in Victoria is via a four year apprenticeship. I would be happy to do tafe courses and sit whatever regulatory and practical examinations needed but four years on apprentice wages and at my age is not practical or possible for me.

    Prior to the past election the ETU in Victoria where running a media campaign to stop two year electrical apprenticeships which is a pity as I believe that had more to do with protecting their own interests than that of the community. Now Mr KRudd is in it seems we will now import electricians from the USA etc rather than allow people here to have a go.

    I am not advocating lessening standard or letting untrained people loose but this industry needs reform if it’s the case in NSW that you can bypass the four year apprenticeship then that’s fantastic. That contrasts with the bull dust in Queensland where they were putting laws up that stopped appliance repair people working on things unless they where qualified electricians.
    I'm in QLD and that's part of what I'm on about.
    Quote Originally Posted by nev View Post
    A Disconnect/Reconnect License

    Is mainly for plumbers to Disconnect/Reconnect hot water services, heaters etc

    And in industrial situations for the Fitters to Disconnect/Reconnect Motors
    We were looking into it at work as we were placing a bunch of 20A switch mode supplies in, ended up using heavy duty outdoor GPO's inside.
    TAFE training would require me to be in Brisbane, I'm actually way out west so a career change might do the trick.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Redwight View Post
    Yes all "low voltage" wiring requires a full licence, boats and caravans need to be double insulated too from memory. It's supposedly a safety thing but as far as I can tell it's just a bunch of electricians making the rules to protect their own industry.
    its not mate, its the governing bodies covering their arses!!!

    I've been a licenced sparky for over 17 years and all the changes I have seen in this time is incredible!

    would you rather someone with this amount of experience wiring up your house/factory etc or would you want someone with expertise in a different area, say a mechanic(no disrespect to mechs either as they do a great job too), wiring up your house???

    Horses for courses.....

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    Quote Originally Posted by mudcrab View Post
    ummm well I think your forgetting ELV (extra Low voltage) which covers up to 50VAC or 120V (ripple free DC) from what I remember a licence is not required for these.
    correct!

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