Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

well me strip lights got a try ..... these are flat strips / arrays of LEDs on a flat panel .... with some sort of driver unit behind the panel .... forgot - - yeh, I forgot - - to take some pix of the guts .... I'll rectify that again
Jeeeeeeez they are 'kin bright ....


without diffuser .....








with diffuser ....






camera doesn't do it justice TBF ..... it's a 'clean' light if that makes any sense ..... sharp and bright.


I now have a dilemma
me 40ft tool box has 5 x 4ft twins - 20 ft of lighting and has a decent light level ......
do I replace them with these 24ft of 4 x 6ft eye schorchers ???


seems a waste of awesomeness, putting them in't mower shed, which'll only get switched on occasionally and stick the 4 fts in the mower shed ... nigh on same output from these HF fluros, just not as sharp ..... or 'bright'
got enough wiring going on already though ......................... but ????

having found a label inside one of these units today ... been trying to suss a source for more of them ....





seem to have some connections with Screwfix???? but are a
" dormant company incorporated on 26 March 2007 with the registered office located in Yeovil, Somerset. Powersmith Limited has been running for 11 years 11 months. There are currently 2 active directors and 0 active secretaries according to the latest confirmation statement submitted on 22nd June 2018."


https://suite.endole.co.uk/insight/c...rsmith-limited


Most odd? more research required !!




got on well yesterday with the equipment installation for the wiring ....




Consumer unit mount ...











with conduits into the trunking for more cabling


rest of the sockets (for now) up .. need some more square trunking to run further back into the shed .... do it while I'm 'in the zone'








and turned my attention to getting the light units up in the ridge .... the 4 fts'll have to stay in the box .... can not be arsed to strip and refit that !!





managed to get the second one up by the end of play today .... between everything else ... one more to do tomorrow, perhaps .... been quite a battle getting them up .... balanced on a few planks spanning my high level shelving.... ridge is an uncomfortable height above ... not tall enough to be good stood up and a bit too high off yer knees .... been an interesting, uncomfortable day

[v8druid]

150 psi / 10 bar is the upper limit for blue MDPE for water services. Probably fine if not too warm. When we had major water issues here about 18 months ago the relief valve at the pumping station stuck and iirc we had about 14 bar plus a huge water hammer when they reconnected their burst main. Several joints failed then but I think it was the water hammer rather than the pressure afterwards. It burst the main a second time so they fitted a fire hydrant in our front garden, left it open uwhile they turned on again, then closed the hydrant. RESULT as we now have our own hydrant :)

I take it there was no water at the hydrant when they left it open or you'd have had your own pool too
I might make up a test piece of MDPE and fittings, give it 150 psi and close it off ... see how long it holds pressure for with a clock in the line somewhere .... better tether the fittings though, in case

[v8druid]

Did you feel a wee buzz in the fibres today V8 ?

HUH !! ?? ...... not that I'm aware of, but I did feel a wee foot in the bollox around lunchtime, when Clara stood on mine don't seem to have a crying emoji

[AndrewMawson]

150 psi / 10 bar is the upper limit for blue MDPE for water services. Probably fine if not too warm. When we had major water issues here about 18 months ago the relief valve at the pumping station stuck and iirc we had about 14 bar plus a huge water hammer when they reconnected their burst main. Several joints failed then but I think it was the water hammer rather than the pressure afterwards. It burst the main a second time so they fitted a fire hydrant in our front garden, left it open while they turned on again, then closed the hydrant. RESULT as we now have our own hydrant :)

[Muz]

Did you feel a wee buzz in the fibres today V8 ?

[v8druid]

found some of these LED type 'fluorescents' earlier in the week ....

Non Corrosive LED Batten Striplight

• LED
• 4000K (Natural White)
• Integrated LED module
• lamp type 51W LED Module (SMD 2835)
• IP65
• 240V - 25,000 hours life
• Not dimmable
• lumens per watt 5750

need summat to go in the roof of the black shed and these are no dearer than HF fluorescents so took the chance after being told they're pretty damned good light from 'em and having had a conversation with the suppliers
will be interesting to see how they perform .... they'll be 12 ft in the air ..... give one a boot up, 'fore they go up ... if they don't cut it they'll Ebay again, no sweat
did ask 'em if they have/had any more, but don't expect to in the near future

Been into the local leccy emporium earlier in the week for some back boxes for some MK metalclad socket fronts I have sat - got loads of 'em .... took a pattern with me and showed him what I wanted .. he produced a box of five and I left armed with them and a load of trunking ..
got some of the trunk up



and a few switch back boxes



outside floods switch box



then pulled a socket box out to get a couple up and .........

..... why after 50 odd years of production have MK seen fit to change their Metalclad range of gear FFS new ones are 'smooooooooth' radius-ed corners .....



with a swaged back box, to achieve this



there must be millions of the old raised edge type that you will still see everywhere .... and of which I have many faces, but the back boxes have disappeared from my stocks, over time
would not believe the fun and games I've had sourcing some of the original system's boxes -- even though they still produce them !!

sorted five (all they had) coming yesterday ... if they were right ... as for the new style, well .... they'm way too big and the faces drop inside them
WTF fix summat that ain't broke ???

well Vicki picked up me box of five Metalclad MK back boxes for me yesterday .... right ones they were too
My 8 way consumer unit arrived this afternoon with the posty .... very pleased with it .... will do nicely



shudder to think what it'd have cost me locally .... a damned sight more than Ebay's 32 quid for sure and plenty of room in the IP65 enclosure for all I have to do in there.

LED strip lights arrived late this morning, but not had a chance to open those up yet ... been a long 'Clara day' !! and no chance of opening up the 6ft+ boxes with her marauding about .... and it's been some bit wet here today
pretty sure I have all other items required to get the job wrapped up, bar a few new IP67 placcy cable glands, which'll take a few minutes to install at their positions, in the end of two lines for outside floods .... local place didn't have any with a small enough bore, so had to order 'em ... you guessed it ... the place with everything

Hoping for a dry day tomorrow .... got our water system to service, before I can get on, after our UV lamp decided to die , earlier in the week.
Always keep a service kit sat for it .... forecast was looking good - ish for tomorrow - dry at least, 'til the evening and not too bad Sunday either

[v8druid]

I've used blue MDPE 25 mm water pipe and its standard compression fittings for decades for compressed air. I've literally hundreds of metres of it underground between buildings, and clipped up high within buildings. In all that time I've only had one failure, and that was using a standard black blanking plug in a Tee fitting where the branch was for later use. The black plastic is harder than the blue and the gripper needed more tightening than normal. The MDPE is rated for 150 psi and my air network runs at a tad over 100 psi.

For sealing off the ends of 110 mm ducts where pipes emerge I use the flexible rubber boots they sell to reduce pipe diameter IF I remember to thread them on first, otherwise I pack the duct with screwed up paper leaving about a inch, and seal off with squirty foam. That way you can easily pick it out later. The pull through is always tied to something to avoid tears !

Impressed the MDPE copes with air pressure like that, although I always ran my 'ring' in work at 150psi ... but it was 2" galvy pipe, plus it was used for inflating/checking commercial tyres a lot so needed a lot more than 100psi ..... surprising how much extra volume/capacity 400 ft of 2" nom. bore gives you for air storage

do you think it'd cope with 150 psi regularly Andrew ?? ..... might shove a length in with the new cable up to the new box's location ... either in the duct, or beside it in the deck ... would soon spot a leak/blowout if it was laid in the ground although in the duct'd get it into the shed, without any hassle .. be handy for mower tyres ... currently use a clean propane bottle I refill with air ... makes a great air tank on wheels , but has to be refilled

[AndrewMawson]

I've used blue MDPE 25 mm water pipe and its standard compression fittings for decades for compressed air. I've literally hundreds of metres of it underground between buildings, and clipped up high within buildings. In all that time I've only had one failure, and that was using a standard black blanking plug in a Tee fitting where the branch was for later use. The black plastic is harder than the blue and the gripper needed more tightening than normal. The MDPE is rated for 150 psi and my air network runs at a tad over 100 psi.

For sealing off the ends of 110 mm ducts where pipes emerge I use the flexible rubber boots they sell to reduce pipe diameter IF I remember to thread them on first, otherwise I pack the duct with screwed up paper leaving about a inch, and seal off with squirty foam. That way you can easily pick it out later. The pull through is always tied to something to avoid tears !

[v8druid]

Like a cripple yesterday morning ..... too much time on my knees saturday persuading the cables into their new home in the floor, making connections, sealing and securing everything ....


this channel contains our oil line from the tank (now in't black shed) and the boiler in the house ....





would've been happier to see it a few inches deeper, but I wasn't gonna disturb the oil line and it's only two to three inches wide so doesn't suffer much in the way of loading


the 'python' and a.n.other conduit, for lighting control, took some wrestling into place .





especially at the house end ....





was pretty rough here saturday and we were getting rained on by this point, so it got strung out/coiled up out the way (that barge board's looking a tad ropey)







Was gonna run them both along the bottom of the wall in a similar gulley, to the oil pipe's one, between the wall and the flag stones, then up the wall in the corner ..... but ..... couldn't get the buggers between the drain gulley and the wall ...some one'd gobbed a load of mortar in the gap ......so a rethink is being had

did manage to get the shed end trimmed, glanded up and terminated, ready for its box, before the light beat me





Sunday was seriously wild here .... horizontal rain and howling winds .... couldn't put anything down unless it's bloody heavy
got the box onto the shed end .....





a feed up to the consumer unit laid in ready, for when it arrives ....





I love Anaconda .... much easier to wrestle than pythons ...... everything got terminated .....





and 'buttoned down' for the night .......




any suggestions for capping that duct off? ..... but'd need to be able to open it again if need be .. in case ---- expanding styro foam???
the second gland and duct is to allow a.n.other cable up the patch, to provide a new leccy feed to me boxes, as and when they get relocated ... soon hopefully

[v8druid]

Best thing I did as I was adding buildings and rebuilding the house, was to lay 110 mm drain pipe as ducting in a network so that I can freely pulley cables anywhere I like.

i have hundreds of metres of these ducts and they have proved very useful. I'm a bit naughty in that I mix SWA carrying three phase in the same duct as has CAT5 data and telephone cables, and in some instances 25 mm blue MDPE carrying compressed air and mains water. Each has a 6 mm polypropylene pull through rope permanently in it for future expansion.

Man after my own heart ..... get it in there ..... never thought about using MDPE for air .... what do you use for unions ??

Can't beat forward planning

[AndrewMawson]

Best thing I did as I was adding buildings and rebuilding the house, was to lay 110 mm drain pipe as ducting in a network so that I can freely pulley cables anywhere I like.

i have hundreds of metres of these ducts and they have proved very useful. I'm a bit naughty in that I mix SWA carrying three phase in the same duct as has CAT5 data and telephone cables, and in some instances 25 mm blue MDPE carrying compressed air and mains water. Each has a 6 mm polypropylene pull through rope permanently in it for future expansion.

[v8druid]

........ so .. bit more progress today on the cable front





good old telecom duct pulling rope .....


used to have loads of this, but down to me last 60ft hank ..... just long enough for the 51 ft duct ... t'other end's tied to a ride on mower, just in case some handy sod decided to pull it


Had roll of armoured rolled out, along with 100ft of 8 core and an even longer length of phone cable ready for Pam's return after lunch.
needed two pairs of hands ... one to gently pull BT's haul line ... and mine to feed / push the python down the hole, with its mates





and a.n.other pull line, that can stay in there, for any future further requirements


went as sweet as ..... POP job





Ran out of light, by the time I'd gotten the end of the armoured prepped and ready to take a gland
.... also lost 45 minutes of the afternoon with a trip to town, for some larger shrouds, for the glands ..... could I buggery find my bigger shrouds

anyways ... no more pix tonight ... too 'kin dark for any of the IP67 enclosure and its contents, attached to the ends of the cables .... this end at least.
Hopefully dry enough in the morning to carry on cabling this lot up ....... just shut the doors on the carnage this evening as the bell had gone and I was well ready for me Chilli




Nice to be able to just lock it all up, ready for the next round ...... ding ding





was my biggest headache in work .... always having to have the place ready for 'action' the following day ... was rare to be able to just lock up and walk .... weekends only!!

[v8druid]

I have a capacitor discharge stud welder that would do the job a treat. A pair of 6 mm studs on the rear and a stainless bar and nuts to finish the job. If you get the settings right it should be invisible from the front.

LOL Andrew ....... regrettably ..... I don't ... but a good suggestion .... gonna be Sikaflex, I think and if that fails ... a few spots of stainless weld .... and a tube of Solvol Autosol for Pam to deal with any dis-colouration

[AndrewMawson]

I have a capacitor discharge stud welder that would do the job a treat. A pair of 6 mm studs on the rear and a stainless bar and nuts to finish the job. If you get the settings right it should be invisible from the front.

[v8druid]

What a change in two days ..... beautiful yesterday, as were the previous few days .... lashing it down here this morning


Got me benches back Wednesday morning ....








picked 'em off with the 'Drema, as me left shoulder still isn't up to wrestling 'em off on me own ... had to have it hanging 'em though


whipped the mat out the 'Drema and scraped/cleaned the cab floor out, for a good coat of HBZP primer as it was bone dry for the first time in ages ... floor needed it ..... was going to black it today, but said precipitation put paid to that





did give the cab a good hoover out though, while I was at it ... gotta keep on top of the old 'iron-worm'
also discovered some 'ambitious rabbit's' efforts in the bank too .... he must've had a good set of claws on him





pretty bloody hard going there

I've got a duct running from the drive's retaining wall under the patch roadway and black shed, up into it .... then back out and heading off up the patch.
been meaning to get some power into said shed for a while ..... so acquired one of these fibre-glass cable snakes to feed a hauling rope through said duct, so's I can drag a 10 mm armoured up it, from the house supply.


when the rain stopped this afters, I got me pallet of cable out and sorted through it all in search of some suitable coils, having sussed what sort of lengths I need, for the various runs.... got a few alternative ideas on quite how to do the routing .... one piece is gonna be a hell of a wrestling job, so considering a junction box on the wall above the duct, to split the cable --- and give me a pick up point, as a source for other things too.


made up a couple of IP65 enclosures to do the job with and terminate the cables safely and securely, for the shed feed and any others I feel the need for, from it





get the glands drilled into 'em and mounted up ready for the armoured, then fixed to the wall and in the shed ready for a cable, maybe tomorrow ... Saturday looks grim ATM ... got a couple more to make up yet, if it is


Pam's been down in Plymouth since Sunday ... hadn't been back an hour yesterday and she'd got her 'Swallows' out and playing with arrangements again





the final selection this afternoon ....





now all I have to do is make 'em stay there ..... once everything dries out again ..... Considering bonding them on with some epoxy/plastic metal type fixing ... any one any experience/comments ?? Spot welding 'em's gonna dis-colour the birds ..... but'd be a lot quicker Have used Devcon/Belzona/JBWeld/Araldite plastic steel, to great effect in the past, doing some 'impossible' repairs