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Posted By: electure Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/16/07 01:25 AM
This photo was gleaned from a "Careers - Becoming an Electrician" website.

Can anybody guess where it was taken? (I don't know, myself)

The metering seems........different, as well as the wiring methods laugh

Gee, I hope that this isn't as good as it gets in someone's lifelong career shocked


[Linked Image]


Posted By: Theelectrikid Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/16/07 01:48 AM
I don't care where it is as long as I never go there and see/pass by it.

Ian A.
Posted By: renosteinke Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/16/07 01:58 AM
Wild guess? Argentina. Where else will you find an "English" meter and an "American" panel?

Likewise, the brickwork suggests mots of rain, but little freezing weather.
Posted By: Lostazhell Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/16/07 04:56 AM
I'm still attempting to understand how that metering is working??? confused (UK emon dmon's?) I'm guessing it's metering a specific circuit from the sad looking QO panel...

aside from the meters, this could be in some alley in East Bakersfield... rolleyes
Posted By: Av-guy Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/16/07 05:43 AM
May I guess here? I think the photo was taken in Thailand.
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/16/07 01:14 PM
Originally Posted by electure
This photo was gleaned from a "Careers - Becoming an Electrician" website.

Hmm, that looks like false advertising. frown
Posted By: adamh Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/16/07 09:45 PM
I suspect the metering isn't working! Not as the kwh meters they look like anyway. Not enough wires....
Posted By: kale Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/16/07 11:21 PM
I think it was taken at the display in the local Big Box store.
Posted By: HotLine1 Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/17/07 12:20 AM
South of the border...down Mexico way....or somewhere in Central America.

Looks like some scarry pic Joe T had posted at a flea market set-up
Posted By: Texas_Ranger Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/19/07 03:24 PM
The wires in the picture could easily be line side with the load side disappearing right through the wall.
Posted By: mamills Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/20/07 02:41 PM
It looks like someone took several handfuls of electrical equipment and threw it against the wall and it stuck like that...

Mike (mamills)
Posted By: Junior9235 Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/25/07 07:50 AM
In Argentina there are not american products. Toogle switches are not used anymore since 1970. Most electric products are from spain or european countries (manufactured or designed). It is incredible that we are still using toggle switches, wood structured houses in tornado zones and cables nailed to studs without conduits.
Posted By: renosteinke Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/25/07 05:31 PM
Welcome, Junior, to ECN ... and thanks for the info.

As for tornadoes ... until the day a tornado hit the ultra-modern concrete Catholic Church in Plainfield, Illinois (1990?), I was not aware of any structure, of any design, surviving a direct hit by a tornado.

I am curious .... what's wrong with toggle switches? I've traveled a fair amount ... and while the appearance varied, the 'rocker' motion, or 'toggle' switch seemed almost universal. Even the 'Decora" styles have the same operating method. What type of switch are you suggesting be used?
Posted By: RODALCO Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/25/07 06:39 PM
The meter on the right hand side can't be working, no neutral attached.
A 1 Ø meter requires at least 3 wires to work. Phase in , Phase out and neutral.

Pretty messy and dangerous wiring though, could be south America ?
Posted By: pauluk Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/25/07 08:11 PM
Originally Posted by renosteinke
I am curious .... what's wrong with toggle switches? I've traveled a fair amount ... and while the appearance varied, the 'rocker' motion, or 'toggle' switch seemed almost universal.


I think what he's referring to is the fact that the traditional toggle like this is still widely used in North America:

[Linked Image]

Here in Britain, rocker switches have completely replaced traditional toggles in all but "retro" applications:

[Linked Image]

Most other European countries seem to be the same, with rockers being the norm now and traditional toggles being very rare for new installs.
Posted By: renosteinke Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/25/07 11:58 PM
Thank you, Paul. I just considered both switches you pictured as the same type, with only styling differences.

Now, plungers and push buttons ... those are truly different switch types!
Posted By: Texas_Ranger Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/26/07 09:37 AM
Quote
The meter on the right hand side can't be working, no neutral attached.
A 1 Ø meter requires at least 3 wires to work. Phase in , Phase out and neutral.

My guess: you only see the line side wires, the load side is drilled straight through the wall behind the terminal cover.

The US "silent" toggle never really made its way to Europe. The old toggles had a solid chunk of porcelaine or bakelite moving inside whereas the modern switches only have a small brass plates requiring far less operation force. That's why people feel such a big difference between the old toggle switches and the modern "flat" rockers and are so surprised the old look is still so common in the US.
Posted By: sparkyinak Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/26/07 05:16 PM
I Just got back from a euro trip. It was interesting to see that altough electricty is pretty generic, it was intersting to see how diifferent it is addressed once you cross a border.
Posted By: leland Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/26/07 05:27 PM
Man, just cross the States. Local regions can vary so much. But definately when you leave your part fo the world.
Posted By: pauluk Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/26/07 07:36 PM
Originally Posted by Texas_Ranger
The US "silent" toggle never really made its way to Europe.


We had near-equivalents in Britain. The old tumbler switches typical of the 1940s had the handle operate the sprung tumbler mechanism, so they had a quick make/break action making them suitable for AC or DC and they operated with a clunk.

Versions with a similar outward appearance but having a shorter travel on the handle which just operated the contacts directly appeared as AC-only models, and many would operate very quietly.

The standard single-gang (same size plate as the British rocker switch above) toggle switches which would become standard in the 1950s/60s varied a little. Some would operate almost silently by just pressing the handle up or down. Others would go with a noticeable click, but they were still non-sprung AC-only switches, and could be made to operate silently if you grasped the dolly and moved it slowly.

These traditional toggles pretty much fell out of favor by the late 1970s, the rocker style above becoming standard.

Posted By: wa2ise Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/26/07 09:58 PM
Was it true that in the UK and Australia, you'd have the switch toggle handle go down to turn the lights on? Upsidedown compared to the American way that you push the toggle handle up for "ON".

IIRC we had mercury inside some silent switches.
Posted By: pauluk Re: Where Was This Photo Taken? - 11/27/07 12:34 AM
Originally Posted by wa2ise
Was it true that in the UK and Australia, you'd have the switch toggle handle go down to turn the lights on?


Yes, and that's still the standard today, so the British rocker switch pictured above is in the "on" position.

I believe that at first it was the norm for switches to be up for on (perhaps influenced by early knife switches?), but somewhere in those early days of electric light the convention changed to down for on, and that's how it's been since at least the 1920s, if not before.

In fact more than once I've been asked by British tourists why American light switches are upside down! grin

If you look at the operating handles on main switchgear, as opposed to wall switches, it's been much more variable over the years.

The old pre-war metal-clad fuseboxes which had an operating handle on the side were always up for on (the handle generally having to be down in the off position to open the cover for access to the fuses). The post-war "consumer units" which had a main which more closely resembled a regular toggle were designed so that down was on.

In more recent years (say since the late 1980s/early 1990s) the main switches have reverted to up for on again. I've never seen any industry explanation as to why this is so, but I reckon it's because circuit-breakers have gradually become much more common than fuses in new installations since the 1980s, and since the breakers are always up for on, it makes sense to have the main operate the same way.


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