How long can you hang on to the battery?
Mike
Mike
Electrical education?
- Thread starter 493 Mike
- Start date
Probably not long, but it would be a rather dramatic event..
ynst
Well-Known Member
It's been out of print for a number of years but you can still find it on the Internet.
Written before engine management systems came into vogue.
First edition 1989
Second edition (spelling errors corrected, chapters added) 1993
Follow-up edition covering wiring kit installations was never published as Tex Smith Publishing folded.
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ynst
Well-Known Member
When I worked for a company upfitting first responder vehicles, the "lead electrician" was a licensed electrician (commercial-residential) and because of that license he was designated the lead electrician.
EVERY vehicle was wired like he was wiring a multi-room house. i.e. a bundle of wires tied to another bundle of wires, tied to yet another bundle of wires. And the bundle splices weren't end-to-end splices, either. They were two or three wires into one, all parallel into one end of a big butt splice sort of like what you'd find behind the cover on your living room wall sockets. The other end of the butt splice was left open to the elements under the hood. He used thin-wall shrink tube butt splices as well.
To make things worse, everyone was supposed to follow his lead.
Given the fact that the majority of the jobs were police cruisers with an expected life span of around 2 years, the harnesses were close to the failure point when the vehicles were traded in, stripped, and sent to auction.
DPW and Fire department command center pick-ups on the other hand started coming back for re-work after a couple of years or so due to electrical failures, usually caused by wires coming loose due to bad crimps and/or connector corrosion.
One wire from source to destination is the best way. If you have to go through a bulkhead, use a weatherproof connector.
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One of the popular sayings with myself and friends is "Stay in your own lane"
I have seen some hideous workmanship by residential electricians doing industrial work at sites. I have also seen the reverse - industrial electricians doing residential work. Both equations are bad.
I was lucky that I was trained during my apprenticeship in a 50/50 situation and I was hammered to do residential the hard way - drilling down stud walls in tight spaces, fishing cables through walls, and not just being an asshole boring huge holes in walls every stud to pull cables. - or worse, smashing drywall down to run cables. I lost a few drills down walls and lost a lot of chains and draw-wires....but people were usually more grateful than if you walked out of their house with it looking like Swiss cheese.
Years later I worked for a guy who had work from the Govt doing State rentals (always neglected and bashed around) - he was an animal - would just smash walls to run cables and all the stuff I tried to never do. I hated that guy, and still do - for various reasons.
My industrial experience came from an older ex-Pom (emigrated from the UK in the '70's) and he made me work I n the crappiest situations....but it was a good all-round experience. If he was up a tall ladder, I had to constantly be watching him otherwise he would throw screwdrivers at me.
But he taught me stuff now that I'm glad I learned.
During my coursework at Tech during my apprenticeship I had about 8 guys who worked at the Steel Mill during its construction. Most of those guys were useless at everything. They spent all day at the Mill pulling cables or bolting ladder racks.....just cheap labour. None of them could bend conduit or even wire a simple switch. I dread to think how any of them progressed during their later careers.
I have seen some hideous workmanship by residential electricians doing industrial work at sites. I have also seen the reverse - industrial electricians doing residential work. Both equations are bad.
I was lucky that I was trained during my apprenticeship in a 50/50 situation and I was hammered to do residential the hard way - drilling down stud walls in tight spaces, fishing cables through walls, and not just being an asshole boring huge holes in walls every stud to pull cables. - or worse, smashing drywall down to run cables. I lost a few drills down walls and lost a lot of chains and draw-wires....but people were usually more grateful than if you walked out of their house with it looking like Swiss cheese.
Years later I worked for a guy who had work from the Govt doing State rentals (always neglected and bashed around) - he was an animal - would just smash walls to run cables and all the stuff I tried to never do. I hated that guy, and still do - for various reasons.
My industrial experience came from an older ex-Pom (emigrated from the UK in the '70's) and he made me work I n the crappiest situations....but it was a good all-round experience. If he was up a tall ladder, I had to constantly be watching him otherwise he would throw screwdrivers at me.
But he taught me stuff now that I'm glad I learned.During my coursework at Tech during my apprenticeship I had about 8 guys who worked at the Steel Mill during its construction. Most of those guys were useless at everything. They spent all day at the Mill pulling cables or bolting ladder racks.....just cheap labour. None of them could bend conduit or even wire a simple switch. I dread to think how any of them progressed during their later careers.
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