When you rely on clicking off the electricity, you are staking your life on the electrician's skill. A switch will work fine in either the live wire or the ground - but if the switch is in the ground wire, and your body supplies a new ground, you're toast. Of course, switch the light off; better, go to the breaker panel, which is much more likely to be wired correctly, and switch it off there. And then make sure your feet and your free hand are not touching anything that conducts electricity.I have had an experienced contractor, who had to do a piece of wiring outside our new house while he was on a social call with his wife, ask me to come with him. We didn't explain to his wife why - one of his precautions was never to stick his hand in a meter box (which cannot be switched off) unless someone was nearby to pull him away in case a shock was causing him to reflexively clutch the wire that was killing him. This is not as silly a precaution as it sounds.I agree Steve, in Aus there are lots of rules that have to adhered too in regards electrical installations, but over here in Vietnam, there is none (if there are nobody follows them)
Colour codes for wires = whatever you have on hand, active and neutral doesn't matter use the same colour it saves confusion. Join wire in junction or switch boxes just twist them tightly and wrap a bit of tape over the join it should stop the joint becoming loose.
Stairwell lighting pick an active on one floor, neutral from the other floor. if you want a 2-way circuit that can be turned on or off from either floor, feed active to one switch pole and neutral to the other , the centre pole goes to the light. Same on other floor, so if you isolate one floor you get feed back thru the light to the other floor.
Only safe way to work on any fixed wiring in any house here is to isolate the power at the main breaker built into the meter housing. At least they cant mess with that but from there on user beware.
Oh and we dont have earth wires here either and I suspect the active and neutral (of the 240V supply ) are both 120V above earth but with out a true earth connection one cannot test that theory plus the water distribution internal and external is all in plastic pipes so cant use them as an earth either
Also yes the buddy system works well but I hope he told you how to grab him should he get hooked up, definitely not by skin to skin contact . Also working with electricity systems over 55 years and still being alive means I must have done something right.
In my experience the one that is stuck in my mind is where an experienced electrician working on a LIVE 24/7 commercial business buss bar and switching unit dropped the tool he was working with. All his protective gear and safety precautions did nothing for him.
The tool landed across two high voltage copper buss bars and the arc once initiated vapourised the whole system into a molten copper plasma. The poor guy didn't suffer, his leather safety gear and skin was ripped from his body like it was paper towel.Both he and and the brick wall behind him were coated a thin film of copper which to this day the wall still has his image etched in copper on it. His safety buddy was blow out the open doorway basically uninjured except from some bruises and burns on exposed skin. But he was mentally scarred and would never work on any live equipment again.
Electricity is like fire a comfort and great friend , but never turn your back on either , they are real killers.

• Flag
• Edit
• Delete
• Quote
• Reply

accidents should not occur,if people just use a little common sense.I used to think that too MOW, but these days everything has to be done by the book, commonsense is not factored into book as it open to interpretation, and differs from one person to a next. I have been in Industry, teaching, the military and the fire services.
Working with the current swag of peoples in those professions these days it horrifying to see how little people use their commonsense within their work environment ... sad but true these days.
and we are nudist and talking about electricity and some of the pitfalls that can befall our fellow nudist working with electricity whilst nude, so where has it gone off topic

• Flag
• Edit
• Delete
• Quote
• Reply