Australian wiring question, or, "How Bruce burned his house down".I have a regular feed and a "controlled load" feed in my house.Currently my water heater runs off the controlled load, however my solar/battery system does not feed into it, so I want to change it over to the regular feed.It's got a MOD6 circuit breaker switch in the meterbox, with a single thick red wire running into the bottom, and a thin red wire coming out the top.Am I right to assume the thick wire running into the bottom is the controlled load feed? And to switch it over, you'd disconnect that wire, cap the wire, and then run a regular feed wire into it?Is it that ""simple""?
Basically, but you've worded this like you have no idea what you're talking about and I'd advise you go through an electrician. You've got 'off peak and mains'. Both fed from the same street supply, separately metered. You've got a hot water circuit, just put it on a new rcd and connect to mains Cb.Go through an electrician though retard, you'll kill your self or burn the house down.
yep mcbs feed from the bottom.make sure to move your heater's neutral connection over to the regular feed's neutral bus bar.having a live wire flapping around with just a wire nut on the end is pretty house burney. ideally isolate thick live wire at the source, or put another breaker in the panel to use as a fixed termination point.
>>2786540>or put another breaker in the panel to use as a fixed termination pointI'll do this. I'll leave the current breaker in there with the controlled feed still attached, and just move the out wire to a new breaker I'll put it.>move your heater's neutral connection overOh right, didn't think of that.Am I right to just daisychain the in feed wire from another breaker?
>>2786539I don't know why I worded it like that, I just wanted to be clear I guess.I have a rough idea of what's going on, am mainly familiar with 12v wiring.
>>2786544>daisychain the in feed wireit's okay if the daisychain is thick enough to carry the extra load you're addingyou have to be a bit careful when putting one of those copper comb bus bars and a solid wire in at the same time, you really need to make sure the comb went into the clamp, it's pretty easy to fuck up since you can't pull on it to test. british fuse boxes were burning up from this so often that the regs changed from plastic to metal boxes!with flex instead of solid wire the clamp sometimes doesn't get a good grip on both wires. ideally you'd use crimp ferrules to squash the flex into a solid lump first. i've been told that tinning with solder is no good for this.
>>2786540It's the same neutral link, we don't use off peak neutral links in Australia.
Wouldn't it be cheaper to power your regular feed electrical demands off your battery system while keeping your water heater on the controlled load?I know that water heaters are one of the few near perfect uses for solar but if you get a price reduction for the controlled load wouldn't you want to keep it there and use up all your solar augmenting the more expensive stuff?
>>2787414>Wouldn't it be cheaper to power your regular feed electrical demands off your battery system while keeping your water heater on the controlled load?No. I've crunched 4 years of usage data to get to this point. I have ample solar/battery energy left over in most cases for the hot water system. Maybe like 1/10 times I'll be worse off (buying energy at full price), but the other 9/10 times I'm saving money, and the savings significantly outweigh the added cost of buying it at full price.
>>2786532Electrical work in Australia is illegal, for anyone who is not a registered electrician, think fines and prison time.Regardless of that, if what you do causes an issue, you will void your house insurance.t. Registered electrician.
>>2789545once a prison colony, always a prison colony
>>2789545You wanna come do a cashie?
>>2789653That might cost you a bit, I'm in New Zealand.NZ and Aussie share the same wiring rules.DIY-ers over here are allowed to do certain small electrical jobs, it's the Electrical workers unions in Aussie that are there reason why there is such a strangle-hold on what a home-owner can do.
>>2790084I think you're getting confused with the regulations and acts that enforce who can and can't perform electrical work. A union fights for the rights and conditions of workers and ensures a fair days pay for a fair days work. Scabs can get fucked.t. Proud ETU member
>>2790109>a fair days payt. $120 an hour
>>2790111Not sure who's being paid $120 an hour but sign me up. A homeowner might get charged that per hour but they're paying for a tradesmans skill and warranty on the work.
>DIY electrical legal in NZ>Lower rate of house fires compared to AusFace it, kiwis are just smarter then you Bruce.
