Sterling Battery Charger case LIVE!

[carlt]

You see Andy? You're being treated like you've been a member for years! No favouritism here. We'll bicker with anyone!

[chris w]

I see the irony went straight over your head. Like most things.

 

Gibbo

 

 

[chris w]

Hi Scotty & Andys.

 

Incompetence is not the preserve of the amateur electrician. The manufacturer of a piece of 230 volt equipment with a metallic enclosure that does not have adequate earth studs or other earthing arrangements deserves to be locked up...................

 

 

I bet your VCR, DVD player, Home Cinema Amplifier, TV etc do not have earths - I bet there are only 2 wires in the plug (er, that's live and neutral John!). These will all be 240v devices John.

 

Chris

[tomsk]

I did check the case with a Fluke 337 clamp meter which to all those who do not not know is one of the highest quality clamp meters you can buy and which i use for work and that is how i found out the unit was faulty! The chargers case should be earthed from the inside of the unit ( this is why it was faulty, because it was not ) and that is why it does not specify any earth lead to be added to the case.

 

If we wish to go down the legal route A 'Competent Person' is a firm that has been approved by one of the government-approved Part P schemes as sufficiently competent to self-certify that its work complies with the Building Regulations i have this qualification and in the eyes of the law i can self certificate any electrical installations how many people that have replied to this thread can say that?

 

The charger can be hard wired or by using a 13 amp plug it makes no difference, if the earth wire inside the unit was working correctly. Drilling and tapping a earth wire to the case would immediatley invalidate the warranty!

 

I was mearly pointing out a fault that i had found and was informing other members of the boating community i will refrain from doing so in the future even though i am Part P qualified to do so.

 

Signing of from this thread!

 

A Sandbach

 

Dont throw the baby out with the bathwater Andy, occasionally some on here just have to be right all of the time and tell everyone how clever they think they are ad nauseam no matter what, (even if they are inter ailia, stone cold wrong), we all have learned to live with the ego and pomposity prevalent in such individuals, you may well have to learn to too.

 

I'm sure we all know lots of well qualified hyper-intelligent de facto misanthropes with delusions of grandure , this forum has it's share too as you now know.

 

I'm with Mr Polley on this one, and additionally I respect your qualification and experience.

 

Welcome, when I need my house rewired I know who I would rather trust, the man who knows how to re-wire a house above the man who has read a huge quantity of books on the subject, but will stand there uttering 'Well that shouldnt happen according to the book' when my wife/child/me is being carted off to the mortuary....

Addendum

 

There are other units available other than St***ing, which a lot of fitters wouldn't give a flying fig for... Perhaps you should consider giving them a go?

 

Chill

Edited August 22, 2007 by tomsk

[blackrose]

I don't think he got a rough ride for pointing out that the charger was faulty.

 

The rough ride came because, despite apparently being an electrician;

 

1) he made a rather silly assertion that the voltage on the case meant the thing was dangerous.

2) he appeared to be totally unaware of the need for equipotential bonding.

3) he didn't want to listen to anybody who wasn't 100% in agreement with his own initial viewpoint.

 

Well, in that case I might join in and slag him off myself if he comes back!

 

(That's a joke by the way, before I get myself into trouble with anyone who takes life too seriously.)

 

Anyway, time for England v Germany...

Edited August 22, 2007 by blackrose

[chris w]

Dont throw the baby out with the bathwater Andy, occasionally some on here just have to be right all of the time and tell everyone how clever they think they are ad nauseam no matter what, (even if they are inter ailia, stone cold wrong), we all have learned to live with the ego and pomposity prevalent in such individuals, you may well have to learn to too.

 

I'm sure we all know lots of well qualified hyper-intelligent de facto misanthropes with delusions of grandure , this forum has it's share too as you now know.

Chill

 

That's almost articulate for you Tomsk. No veiled threats at all. The Janet & John advanced course was obviously worth the £2.99

 

[tomsk]

That's almost articulate for you Tomsk. No veiled threats at all. The Janet & John advanced course was obviously worth the £2.99

 

 

 

Sorry I can't hear you, like most of us I have you on 'ignore'

[chris w]

I knew you'd gulp the bait down

[mayalld]

I'm with Mr Polley on this one, and additionally I respect your qualification and experience.

 

Welcome, when I need my house rewired I know who I would rather trust, the man who knows how to re-wire a house above the man who has read a huge quantity of books on the subject, but will stand there uttering 'Well that shouldnt happen according to the book' when my wife/child/me is being carted off to the mortuary....

 

Well quite!

 

However I'm afraid that I cannot give much credence to a qualification where the holder of that qualification seems to be seriously lacking in knowledge about electrical safety.

 

I'm not part P certified, simply because I'm not doing anything that would require it at present, and it would be a waste of money to be certified.

 

I am C&G 2381 qualified, which is a pretty much pre-requisite for part P certification, and anybody who has done 2381 really ought to know about equipotential bonding.

[tomsk]

Well quite!However I'm afraid that I cannot give much credence to a qualification where the holder of that qualification seems to be seriously lacking in knowledge about electrical safety.I'm not part P certified, simply because I'm not doing anything that would require it at present, and it would be a waste of money to be certified.I am C&G 2381 qualified, which is a pretty much pre-requisite for part P certification, and anybody who has done 2381 really ought to know about equipotential bonding.

In that case you will be fully conversant with the upcoming changes regarding bonding contained in the upcoming 17th edition... care to spell them out for us?

In that case you will be fully conversant with the upcoming changes regarding bonding contained in the upcoming 17th edition, and also be able to identify what most sparkies see as the major flaw contained therein... care to spell them out for us?

[Gary Peacock]

Just give you all a ego boost you don't need any qualifications at all to build boats commercially which keeps it all much more simple! (Or so they say!)

[saltysplash]

Im quite happy to admit my knowledge of electrics is sadly lacking. Plug an play is always my maxim.

 

Reading the responses to this thread reminds me of when my old tub was first bought from its previous owner who had converted her during the 70's. He was a shipwright and engineer running a successful boatyard in cowes. He had built the current wheelhouse from scratch. When my carpenter friend came over to look at replacing the window frames he tutted and mumbled to himself about what a bad job had been done. So thats 1 chippie questioning another chippies work. (work i might add that had survived the last 30 years) so it must be the same with electricians.

 

Personally i think andy was right to bring this to folks attention. Gives us ignorant fools a chance to choose who does the most logical pooh pooh of their learned colleagues ideas

[wonderdust]

Hi all

 

as this is my first post i hope i do not receive the kind of flack andys has done.

 

On reading the andys post all the man was trying to inform us of was a fault that he had found with his charger, now not going down the scientific route the fact is the case had a voltage running through it and could give a shock.

 

Now if this could prove fatal is open for debate. I do not care how many amps the experts ( no one likes a smart a**e loose the egos ) say my body can take before i die i personally nor my family or friends would not want any type of shock running through my body, the shock alone might not kill but something like this happening when you do not expect it can be a shock in itself leading to a person falling resulting in a serious injury. I have witnessed two people die in my life time from falling, one fell from 15ft the other died from falling from the bottom tread of a pair of steps a matter of 8" resulting in him banging his head, i do not wish to see another!.

 

I think this thread has lost its way and the plot!

Edited August 23, 2007 by wonderdust

[saltysplash]

Hi all

 

as this is my first post i hope i do not receive the kind of flack andys has done.

 

On reading the andys post all the man was trying to inform us of was a fault that he had found with his charger, now not going down the scientific route the fact is the case had a voltage running through it and could give a shock.

 

Now if this could prove fatal is open for debate. I do not care how many amps the experts ( loose the egos ) say my body can take before i die i personally nor my family or friends would not want any type of shock running through my body, the shock alone might not kill but something like this happening when you do not expect it can be a shock in itself leading to a person falling resulting in a serious injury. I have witnessed two people die in my life time from falling, one fell from 15ft the other died from falling from the bottom tread of a pair of steps a matter of 8" resulting in him banging his head, i do not wish to see another!.

 

I think this thread has lost its way and the plot!

 

Hi wonderD

 

Quiet agree with you about andy,

 

As for the thread losing the plot, well, thats why this forum is just so captivating

 

Welcome and i hope you enjoy the experience

 

Good luck

[mayalld]

In that case you will be fully conversant with the upcoming changes regarding bonding contained in the upcoming 17th edition... care to spell them out for us?

I will, indeed be fully conversant with the changes in due course.

On reading the andys post all the man was trying to inform us of was a fault that he had found with his charger, now not going down the scientific route the fact is the case had a voltage running through it and could give a shock.

That is where Andy went wrong.the case did not have a voltage "running through it". It had a voltage "on" it.The fact that there was a voltage present doesn't indicate that there was sufficient charge to actually cause a current to flow.

[wonderdust]

Ah one of the experts as mentioned!

Oh 110v shock is ok then, will not kill you but what the hell wakes you up in the morning as Sterling said!

Edited August 23, 2007 by wonderdust

[anhar]

I too don't understand why Andys has been criticised. Who cares what the exact voltage or current or whatever was on the case or whether it was large enough to kill or merely just to thrill? That isn't the point at all.

 

If he could feel some sort of electric shock on the case of the charger then obviously it was faulty. Period. Moreover chargers are not equipment meant to be used or prior tested by qualified electricians any more than a toaster. You plug the thing in and it should work without problem and most certainly without any electric shock off the case. That is the point.

 

Why defend faulty manufacture? I don't understand this love some people have for Sterling. Maybe they have some of that company's products but be honest guys, that is not relevant. I have Victron and it's fine. But if it was a piece of shit and gave me shocks and moreover the manufacturer gave me the run around when I tried to get help I'd say so here. And I wouldn't expect to be hairsplitted about the level of volts or amps present.

 

I am pretty much convinced that Sterling are inferior to the leading brands, as indicated by the problems of several readers and opinions of boat builders.

 

regards

Steve

Edited August 23, 2007 by anhar

[ChrisPy]

It may be of interest that my 1500W pure sinewave combi charger/inverter that was bought off ebay from Kipoint in Taiwan has the same specification and instructions as the Sterling version, and cost a lot less. The appearance of the face-plate is slightly different.

 

Question is - does Sterling add any value to bought-in equipment by ensuring better quality control, inspection and testing? What does their quality plan say should be done before a CE mark is slapped onto the unit?

 

I should clarify that the only reason I did not buy a Sterling unit was that when I needed one there was none available in the UK from Sterling or from any of the chandlers, and they couldn't even give me a stock date. Which also worried me because they would not have been able to do a factory exchange had the unit been faulty.

[mayalld]

I too don't understand why Andys has been criticised. Who cares what the exact voltage or current or whatever was on the case or whether it was large enough to kill or merely just to thrill? That isn't the point at all.

 

Actually it is.

 

It is the point because there is a widely held misconception that the number of volts is in some way relevant to determining how dangerous something is. That just isn't true.

 

Current is what causes the problem, and the current that would have flowed from the case of this piece of equipment is as close to zero as you can imagine.

[wonderdust]

But you agree 110v would still give you a shock enough to make you jump, not kill you but give you a fright?

Edited August 23, 2007 by wonderdust

[mayalld]

But you agree 110v would still give you a shock enough to make you jump, not kill you but give you a fright?

 

No.

 

It will possibly make your fingers tingle.

 

It all depends on how much current flows.

 

Remember that a 9v battery can make you jump (don't try it, a couple of people die every year testing 9v batteries on their tongue)

[wonderdust]

And there lies the problem, none of us know how much current was flowing through the charger unless you can enlighten us all!

[GUMPY]

Of the 4 following which is the most likely to kill you?

 

12volts 0.25amp

120volts 0.25amp

240volts 0.25amp

2500volts 0.25amp

 

 

 

Julian

[cugsey]

wonderd

welcome to the forum

and you have quite rightly indentified one of its mosts enduring traits

[tomsk]

I will, indeed be fully conversant with the changes in due course.

 

That is where Andy went wrong.the case did not have a voltage "running through it". It had a voltage "on" it.The fact that there was a voltage present doesn't indicate that there was sufficient charge to actually cause a current to flow.

 

 

You have not studied them yet?