Category Archives: Electrical & Security

Electrical & Security

BRK 86RAC Smoke Detector Replacement and Additions (UK)

11 Comments

Updated 6 January 2022

I have two BRK 86RAC Ionisation type smoke detector, one in the Hall and the other on the upstairs Landing, these were installed by the builder and in 2008 I added a heat detector (690MBX) in the garage, all three devices are mains powered with battery backup and are interlinked so that they all alert to a detection.

BRK 86RAC
BRK 86RAC Discontinued ionisation smoke detector.

Checking the batteries in the smoke detector I noticed the unit has a life of 10 years from date of manufacture which was 21 June 2002, as the date of noticing this was 4 March 2018, they are well overdue for replacement!

The BRK 86RAC is no longer produced and has been replaced by the  BRK 670MBX.

brk

Checking my local Screwfix had BRK ionisation smoke dectors (part number 81969) for £12.99 and the surface mounting kit (part number 30152) for £2.99, I thought I would add two more to my system, so bought  four of everything.

On opening the boxes, I didn’t realise that the detectors came with 9v PP3 type batteries, so wasted £6.00 buying them, and the other thing was that they are not a direct replacement, the 86RAC base is a smaller size and the plugin connector is a different style.

parts
In the box are the above plus instructions, sticker for the consumer unit and protective detector cover, no fixing screws are supplied.
Fitting –

First job was to isolate the mains supply to the existing detectors which are on their own dedicated circuit, once this was done I twisted the detectors from the base to allow me to take photographs of the wiring.

The existing wiring was Black to Neutral, Brown to Live and Orange striped is the interconnect wire, 670MBX uses Blue for Neutral, Brown to Live and Grey for the interlink, the existing detector had a ferrite bobbin through which all the detector wires passed, whereas the new model doesn’t, I decided to reuse these on the replacement units.

old

Once the cable colours were recorded, the detector was unpluged and the base completely disconnected to allow the replacement of the new base, once this was screwed into place, the connections were remade.

base

The wiring in the base looks more complicated than it should due to the change of cable colours, the existing 1mm CSA 3 core and earth used the pre EU harmonisation wire colour convention of Red, Yellow and Blue,  the cable to the new additional detectors which I have installed are in the office and IT cupboard, uses harmonised colours of  Brown, Black and Grey, as the installation has mixed wire colouring, a warning notice to this effect is fixed to the consumer unit.

While the new detector was on the desk, the battery was dated and connected, without a battery installed the detector will not engage in the base, this is a safety feature.

After making the connections, the detector base was fixed to the surface fitting by two supplied screws, the cardboard sealing gasket was then pressed into place covering the detector base fixing holes, the next step was to plug the lead into the base of the detector and lastly twist the detector into the base.

new

Within the baseplate of the detector is a small plastic extrusion  which can be removed, this is used once the detector is installed as a locking clip preventing the detector being removed from the base with the clip in place.

With all detectors connected and new ones installed, mains power was turned back on, and each detector was then checked that it showed a continuous green LED for power healthy and a flashing red LED every 60 seconds to show the detector is functioning.

The center test button on each detector was pressed and held, this caused the local unit to sound, followed a moment later by all the other interconnected heads.

I had already sealed the cables passing through the ceiling, the final job was to seal the base to the ceiling and paint the exposed part of the ceiling as a result of the base being smaller than the original one.

A point to note was that I was going to use flushed in circular dry lining boxes to make the connections in and hold the base, this would have made the smoke detector sit closer to the ceiling but would of meant a large hole being made, so I decided against it.

Job was very straightforward, adding new detectors was easy as I looped off the landing detector to the other units which were only a few meters away.

Electrical & Security

Sonoff Power Switching & Hive Light in Workshop

Leave a comment

Sonoff Power Switching & Hive Light in Workshop

I’ve wanted to do a few tweaks to the home workshop for a while, and today I finally got round to it.

The easiest job was done first, this was to install an additional light fixture to house a Hive Smart Light, this has been added to the global Group ‘Lights’ in the Hive App, by the simple Alexa command ‘Lights On’ or Lights Off, all Hive lights and sockets with connected lights operate, this is really handy feature should we hear any noises in the night.

The light can also be turned on independatly via the Hive  App or via interfaces to other Apps’ or IFTTT.

hive light

I bought a cheap and cheerful circular light fitting for the Hive light as it’s very easy to wipe clean.  In the application I was using the hive light for, the lamp required an unswitched mains supply.

The besa box Tee above the Exocutor had the ‘loop in, loop out’ wiring for the suspended light, the new fixture was simply fed from permanent live from this and was up and running within 5 minutes.

The second job is something that I have wanted to for ages but the cost of the technology was prohibitive, until now!

workshop

The picture above shows my conversion of a garage into a workshop, this was done in 2007, after the walls were lined, the dado trunking and socket outlets were installed, you can make out that I have used Red and White sockets, the Red ones are not switched via a contactor, whereas the white ones are.

white red

Operating any of the three ‘Emergency Off’ latching buttons, will disconnect the sockets and non Red fused connection units.  A Red LED indicator by the bench  illuminates when the Power to the sockets is ON.

stop

The existing arrangement works fine , but I have always wanted an easy remote ‘power off’ ability, as I have had to check on countless occasions if I have left a soldering iron ON, my usual ‘gotcha’ is the compressor ‘kicking in’, in the middle of the night.

With the cost of internet enabled and Alexa compatable WiFi Smart switches coming down to a ridiculous price of £4.39, now was the time to make the addition of remote operation.

iso

To the left of the change-over switch is the consumer unit feeding the Garage sockets via a 20A MCB, a 3A MCB is for the contactors control circuit via the latching stop buttons.

The idea was to install a Sonoff Basic WiFi Smart Switch to switch the supply to the contactors control circuit.

wires

Cables fished in, Left side is the supply to the Sonoff, the Right side is the Sonoff’s switched output.

box

Sonoff connected and cables dressed in to consumer unit.

finished

Completed job with Sonoff showing link to server established, before starting the work I configured the Sonoff in the house and enabled the power to be ON by default, once this was done I checked that it work in the Garage.

The configuration is very easy and the App is EWelink, also this is linked to Alexa, the image below is a screen shot of the EWelink App.

app

The blog on the Rig switching is HERE.

Update – 5 Jan 18, E-WeLink servers have failed this means that control of the Sonoff devices is not possible, no time given as to restoration of service 🙁

14 Jan 18 – Service back up and running and all Sonoff devices now working.

Electrical & Security

Home Generator & Backup Switching

16 Comments

Updated 31 January 2023

This blog is from 2014 updated in Feb 2018 and refreshed in July 2022.

A few years ago just before Christmas we had an extended power outage, not only didn’t the telly work :-(,  but all the food in the fridge/freezer was nearly spoiled which would have been a disaster, it was at that point I decided to install an external power inlet point for a petrol generator and some form of switching.

I decided early on that I only needed the essentials to be on the generator backup, this included the heating, lighting, kitchen power circuit and cooking, it was important that I confirmed which circuit breaker control which circuit, this is important as I need to isolate high current consuming circuits so as not to overload the generator when online.

The generator I bought was a Honda 3kVA manual pull start unit off eBay (it later transpired that it wasn’t a genuine Honda, you’ve got to love shysters), which should be plenty big enough, if we need to heat water for hot drinks we’ll use the gas hob kettle rather than the electric one so as not to overload the genny, I can keep an eye on actual consumption due to a digital power monitor which is incorporated into the transfer switch enclosure.

As the generator is a manual pull start their was no point having an automatic power transfer switch, so I built a manual one.

So, outside in the meter cupboard is a 16A switched male socket inlet, this has been modified with a power indicator which illuminates when the generator is running, the generator plugs into this external outlet via small lead, two things to note, first that the petrol generator is outside so that fumes can’t get into the house and secondly that the power lead from the generator to the house uses a female socket to ensure that no exposed pins can be touched with the generator running, removing any shock risk.

From the external socket a 4mm cable feeds into one side of a power transfer switch, this switch has a capacity of 125 amps and is a break before make type, this will ensure that it is not possible to back feed power to the generator from the utility supply during the manual switching operation.

The supply from the utility company also go to this transfer switch, the output of the switch goes to the consumer unit and from here to each of the circuits in the house.

Operation – under normal conditions, the transfer switch is set to Utility supply, this is confirmed by a green 230vAC LED wired directly across the supply via a1A fuse.

On a sustained power outage, the generator is hooked up and started, the switch on the external socket inlet is turned to ON and the Red generator power available LED is lit, (the 230vAC LED is wired directly across the generator supply at the switch via 1A fuse).

Non essential circuit breakers in the consumer unit are turned to the OFF position, once done, the transfer switch generator power available LED is checked, and if still available, the transfer switch is operated to import power to the consumer unit from the generator.

As the transfer switch is in the garage, I would not know if the Utility power had been restored, I therefore fitted a 230vAC buzzer across the Utility supply via a switch, restoration of utility supply is indicated by an audible tone which obviously is switched OFF in normal Utility power operation.

To check that the generator is not being electrically overloaded, an ACM20 panel meter was fitted, this displays, amongst other things is power (Watts) being drawn, which is very useful for this monitoring function.

original
Original electricity cupboard
moded
Supply company lowered the isolator to make room for the generator intake switch.
generator intake
Generator intake.
125A break before make transfer switch.
panel display
Digital Volts, Amps, Kw and frequency meter.
acm20Download
switch
Transfer switch mounted next to garage dado power consumer unit.
Transfer switch fully installed with both Utility and Generator power available.
consumer
Consumer modified to RCBO and remote power off to garage supply
smart
Smart meter installed August 2017
Generator plugged in
Generator plugged in on test.

System on test, instruction by the consumer unit, give the start-up and shutdown process including which breakers to turn off before changing over, the transfer switch panel meter is used for monitoring load to make sure the generator is not overloaded.

Update

17th December 2022 – I’ve noticed over a few months that the ACM20 display has been acting weird, and today it finally gave up giving me believable readings, so a new one is on order from Mouser.co.uk for the sum of £80.47.

31 January 2023 – Taken a while but finally got round to replacing the original meter, the details of the new one are:

  • www.murata-ps.com
  • ACM20-4-AC1-R-F-C
  • Part Number – 4900204

The only issue I had was getting the Current Transformer wires the right way round as I had to extend them, you know if its wrong when the Wattage stays at zero!

Electrical & Security

Smart Meter Installation

1 Comment

I have been after getting a Smart Meter installed for the past few years so I could monitor my energy usage in near real time, my original supplier (EON) said that as my gas was supplied via IGT infrastructure, they could not install Smart Metering, speaking to British Gas (BG) and my IGT they said this wasn’t a problem, so I switched supplier.

Surprise, surprise, when I came to register for a Smart Meter to be installed British Gas, they said it was not possible for the same reason that EON gave.

I took the case to OFGEM, but my case was undermined as the telephone conversation recording with the BG operative and myself could not be found, however, due to an extensive e-mail trail, OFGEM ruled that BG were to give me a written apology.

Winding forward to the 24 August 2017, I upgraded my British Gas mobile app and ‘Book a Smart Meter’ button appeared,  with a wry smile I pressed the button and hey presto it accepted my booking, whereas previously this has been declined, and an appointment was set for 3 August 2017 between 13:00 and 17:00.

The BG guy rang before he arrived, he introduced himself as Ashley and was really friendly, taking him to the external meter cupboards I had my fingers crossed that nothing would get in the way to causing a cancellation, as it was, no problems were presented so the installation of gas and electricity smart meters could go ahead.

The picture above shows my old meter with an OWL energy monitor transmitter with a clamp on Current Transformer attached to the incoming phase wire, Ashley started on the electricity meter swap out first after checking the nearest socket with a plug in tester   for confirmation of correct polarity and earth continuity, he turned off the consumer units main isolator and central heating boiler before pulling the main service fuse.

Due to the larger size of the smart meter, he had to shorten the tails from the cut-out, apart from that, the exchange took about 40 minutes in total and the OWL monitor is now redundant!

Smart Meter all connected.

The replacement of the gas smart meter was a bit more challenging as the new meter would not fit without meter exit pipework modifications.

Ashley isolated the gas supply and stripped out the old meter, regulator and anaconda pipe, replacing the regulator and pipe with new, he offered the meter up and noted where the meter outlet pipe needed modifying.

He cut out the existing pipe and soldered in a prefabricated swept connector and it was a perfect fit.

Link to Landis & Gyr Gas Meter Information

He tightened all connectors after replacing all ‘O’ rings with new ones and gave his works a pressure and leak test, once finished he sealed the outlet hole from the meter cupboard with flue cement.

He then ran through the display and went on his way, overall it took about 2 hours to fit the two meters and one major positive was that he found a loose connection on the neutral from electricity isolator switch to my consumer unit, so well pleased that he did a quality job.

Link to Smart Monitor User Guide

I opted for 1/2 hour reading to be captured throughout the day, the combined log is automatically uploaded daily to a remote server via the mobile network, logging into My Energy Portal (28/2/22 Portal Down)will allow you to see you consumption breakdown over time:

So, all done, its taken a few years to get and at one point I thought I would have to wait until 2020, fortunately I was wrong.

Updates

11 August 17, my mobile and online British Gas app no longer show half-hourly usage, instead they show seasonal overall consumption, I have raised a service ticket to see if this can be returned to as it was, the old IGT card was mentioned during my converstaion with the service desk and I said I have a screen grab posted to the internet, so I know it was working!!

16 August 17, Yeah!! My Energy portal is back working showing 1/2 hourly usage figures.

4 September 17, noticed that the gas reading was not being updated on the remote display after 30 minutes of use, it to update with all the reading the next day and then at random times the gas icon would light, BG coming out on 2 Nov 17 to replace the  display.

3 November 17, indoor display changed by BG but he could not wait the 30 minutes to see if gas registered on the display, unfortunately it still doesn’t update.

14 November 17, spoke to BG Smartmeter department on 0333 2029821 and there is nothing that can be done to get my display to show gas readings every 30 mins, they are working on the issue, but as yet there is no fix.  Meter consumption readings are updating via the Vodaphone network  ok.

I’m disappointed as the display does not give the functionality as advertised, but it is free so I’ve nowhere to go with this.

16 December 17, not sure if its a fluke or not, plugged the display in upstairs and after a week or so of not showing gas being used, it suddenly started working.

Electrical & Security

Pulsar Evolution 800 UPS Repair

4 Comments

I have had an MGE Pulsar Evolution 800 Uninteruptable power Supply for about 8 years through which my computer and other sensitive kit is fed and I serviced it with new batteries in January 17.

This UPS delivers 800VA or 520 Watts (Calculator for Watts/VA HERE.) and is at 67% loading when in use, giving a back up time of 9m 35s, which is more than adequate for my needs.

In early February the UPS stopped working completely, no output or indication of power in, the one I have cost £10 second hand off eBay so I couldn’t complain when it stopped working.

MGE UPS

Before looking for another replacement, I opened it up the check for the obvious, such as internal fuses blown or PCB track damage, looking  near the power regulator stage I noticed a bulging capacitor which is a sure sign that it has failed.

PCB

Mother Board

PCB caps
Bulging Capacitors

Everything else passed a visual inspection, so I bought a pack of 5x 10uF 450v 105c capacitors from eBay for £1.59.

After changing the capacitors, I measured the old capacitors and they had both failed as the meter should be displaying 9.5uF to 10.5uF.

Cap meter
Faulty capacitors

UPS front panel

Once reassembled, I powering up the UPS after inserting the batteries, the UPS kicked in to self-test mode and was working 🙂

Everything is back in place working and I have software monitoring its performance and everything is looking good so far.

A copy of the Pulsar Evolution 800 manual is HERE.

Solution Pac software for the UPS can be downloaded from HERE.

Software dashboard

Software options

Electrical & Security

Widow Maker Plug Top

Leave a comment

I was given a 13.8v Power Supply Unit at a local radio rally so thought I’d check it out, first job was the plug top, this is what I found;

20160502_111900 (Small)

I rewired the plug and used the optional extra strain relief, this was the before picture.

20160502_112541 (Small) 20160502_112548 (Small)

It was only after I put the plug back  and inspected it, that I noticed the condition of the outside of the plug and the lethal exposed conductor.

Once a new plug was fitted the PSU worked fine, just a cautionary tale, always double check everything from a rally.