RCBO circuit breaker teardown and extreme overload test

[dexters_lab]

fantastic video mike 

was your destruct-o-tron turned all the way to 3kj when you blew the breaker?

[mikeselectricstuff]

fantastic video mike 

was your destruct-o-tron turned all the way to 3kj when you blew the breaker?

Pretty much

[Seekonk]

"what forces are at work to move the arc towards the quencher. "

from Gaseous Conductors by James Dillon Cobine, a book that everyone should own.

[dexters_lab]

fantastic video mike 

was your destruct-o-tron turned all the way to 3kj when you blew the breaker?

Pretty much

lol nice, i think i would have done it outside, must have gone off with quite some volume! i use ear defenders when firing the magstim and thats only a lame 0.26 J!

[mikeselectricstuff]

fantastic video mike 

was your destruct-o-tron turned all the way to 3kj when you blew the breaker?

Pretty much

lol nice, i think i would have done it outside, must have gone off with quite some volume! i use ear defenders when firing the magstim and thats only a lame 0.26 J!

problem with outside is scaring the neighbours...

[Monkeh]

fantastic video mike 

was your destruct-o-tron turned all the way to 3kj when you blew the breaker?

Pretty much

lol nice, i think i would have done it outside, must have gone off with quite some volume! i use ear defenders when firing the magstim and thats only a lame 0.26 J!

problem with outside is scaring the neighbours...

They'll get used to it. Or you'll get very friendly with the local rozzers..

[mikeselectricstuff]

fantastic video mike 

was your destruct-o-tron turned all the way to 3kj when you blew the breaker?

Pretty much

lol nice, i think i would have done it outside, must have gone off with quite some volume! i use ear defenders when firing the magstim and thats only a lame 0.26 J!

problem with outside is scaring the neighbours...

They'll get used to it. Or you'll get very friendly with the local rozzers..

Would rather not.
Again.
Last time,  the combination of my 1MV Marx generator and an ungrounded garage door made my alarm system send a panic signal.

[dexters_lab]

fantastic video mike 

was your destruct-o-tron turned all the way to 3kj when you blew the breaker?

Pretty much

lol nice, i think i would have done it outside, must have gone off with quite some volume! i use ear defenders when firing the magstim and thats only a lame 0.26 J!

problem with outside is scaring the neighbours...

fair point, it gets noisy around me, it's not a quiet street so less of an issue

[Carrington]

In Spain we don't need build a "destruct-o-tron", the electric company does it for us.
After destroying a lot of electrical goods, along several streets, they just said: I didn't do it!  And that's all, problem solved!


This is what got into one of the sockets, and remained for more than 5 consecutive hours. 

[Monkeh]

Well they didn't do it! The guy who walked off with the copper did.

[Carrington]

Well they didn't do it! The guy who walked off with the copper did.

Yeah, something similar.

[Lightages]

In Spain we don't need build a "destruct-o-tron", the electric company does it for us.
After destroying a lot of electrical goods, along several streets, they just said: I didn't do it!  And that's all, problem solved!


This is what got into one of the sockets, and remained for more than 5 consecutive hours. 

And this is exactly why people need to pay attention to proper safety ratings on meters!

[Monkeh]

Just a lost neutral, not that horrific.

[Carrington]

Just a lost neutral, not that horrific.

That was exactly what happened, but... Who cut the neutral? And why?
In addition, why the electric company took longer than 5 hours to react (cutting off the supply)? 
I got in touch through their emergency number, to alert about the problem, as soon I noticed what was happening. And the operator did not believe me! 
Well, it might be reasonable, maybe they have many calls from trolls, but later I learned that many of my neighbors also called warning of the problem. 

So... Lesson learned! After that, I added under/over voltage and surge protection to the electrical installation.
Unfortunately when the electrical installation was made these protections wasn't mandatory, so nobody installed one.

[Monkeh]

Just a lost neutral, not that horrific.

That was exactly what happened, but... Who cut the neutral? And why?

Copper thief. Happens a lot.

[Carrington]

Copper thief. Happens a lot.

I hope that the next time they make a mistake and steal the phase line. 

[Brumby]

With that sort of phase imbalance, even chopping the neutral could cause a bit of a tickle if they weren't careful.

Copper thief. Happens a lot.

I hope that the next time they make a mistake and steal the phase line. 

I knew a guy who used to work for the section of the energy supplier in Sydney that looked after poles and wires - and he told me of someone who did just that one night.  Not sure whether it was 3.3kV or 11kV - but not pretty apparently.