LED 4 ft and 5 ft tube wiring

[Derlyn]

Hi Ians

You and I have virtually the same pedigree. Started my apprenticeship on the railways in 1977. Salt River Works Cape Town. After qualifying I worked on the Saldanha Sishen project. It didn't take me too long to realize that good electricians had no chance of promotion. The boss didn't want to lose you so you weren't nominated for promotions. I resigned, started my own thing, never looked back and have not regretted it at all.

Off topic I know, but we have basically followed the same career path.

I decided long ago not to do any work for portnet, transnet etc. because I do not ..... I repeat ..... do not wear a hard hat & safety boots. Also stopped doing house sale coc's. Enough new installations, fault finding etc and it's all cash work. R1 in the pocket still beats R2 in the book. I'm not a credit provider.

I agree with you regarding quality of products. We won't see the quality we were used to again.

That said, I still ensure as far as is humanly possible, to use only SABS approved components or those that are covered by loa's. ( Cover my behind )

The reason I mentioned loa's in this post is because a large majority of electricians are under the impression that the SABS stamp must be on the product for it to be legal. That is not the case. I only learn't that about 2 years ago.

Regards Derek

[ians]

I started on the railways in 1982... by the time i qualified 7 years later ... (which included 2 years national service ...3 month township duties... and 3 month tech blocks every year) we were told that there were too many qualified artisans and because indians were being accepted for apprenticeships...back in around 1984...and didnt have to do national service ...they were being trained and qualified in less than 3 years... leaving us without posts by the time we qualified... 1600 of use were offered "trade hand" posts at half the going artisan rate.

I decided to leave and get experience in construction... factory maintenance etc ... a couple of year after i left ...i hear they started offering packages to try get rid of artisans...there just too many skilled people... look at this country today... yet i read an article yesterday indicating that they are still going to force white skilled people out of jobs to create race equity in eskom.

[Derlyn]

i just need to find a decent headlamp which is rechargeable ...bright enough and has the battery backup or a means for quick swop.

Saw a Magneto headlamp at Pick n Pay yesterday.

Not rechargeable, but judging by it's big brother, it must be a good buy @ R65.

Uses AAA batteries.

Derek

[ians]

Saw a Magneto headlamp at Pick n Pay yesterday.

Not rechargeable, but judging by it's big brother, it must be a good buy @ R65.

Uses AAA batteries.

Derek

I have setup an new charge station for AAA and AA batteries... got tired of wrecked equipment due to leaking duracell batteries... moved to energiser and dug out all my old uniross rechargeable batteries ... i was very surprised to see that 60 % of the old uniross rechargeables are still working.

[Derlyn]

Hi Ians

Just as an aside.

I have had numerous requests to install outside weatherproof emergency lighting.

I have searched high and low and cannot find weatherproof LED spotlights with battery backup that come on automatically in the event of a power failure.

I have however found waterproof enclosures from WACO with a clear perspex lid and quite reasonable. That Magneto lamp fits perfectly into this enclosure. This combination works well as a weatherproof emergency light and I now have some very satisfied customers.

Derek