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It's OT for this thread... but FTTP needs permanent power for the ONT - the Optical Network Termination box in your house - this is the box that converts the fiber optic signal to an ethernet RJ45 port. Without power to the ONT on your wall, you have no broadband so that may need to be on a UPS...

Not quite as simple as that. If you have BT Residential FTTP then they insist you switch your POTS (analogue) phone to their Digital Voice service which in turn means that you HAVE to have a BT SmartHub (as that's the only device that supports this). For 97% of BT Residential installations this...

All key equipment in the various buildings on the property is supported by online UPS systems - these protect both against brownouts (which we get a lot of) and the interval between utility failure and the generator coming online/ATS switching over (typically about a minute or less). The UPS...

I'm currently in the process of installing a 100A 3ph ATS (Automatic Transfer Switch) and a 3ph generator with autostart. This is not a job for the faint hearted - I'll do the mechanical installation, but all the electrical work will be done by a fully qualified industrial electrician used to...

They may have only seen one phase at a time, but there may well be all three phases in use in the village... We have 3ph as our house was once an industrial farm building (an oast) complex, but 90+% of the properties here will be on a single phase. There should be 3ph in the road or poles...

Anything ever resolved about this?

This is an important lesson. Never ever trust an isolator. Always double & treble check everything for safety. Always assume everything is live or may become unexpectedly live as you are working on it. Maintain the highest possible self-preservation factor! Little details are important and may...

Was having lunch at Gravetye Manor yesterday. The dining room has the most amazing 200+ year old parquet floor lifted from an old French chateau that is part of the Relais & Châteaux group. Each piece had to be numbered and lifted with its place recorded so that it was relaid exactly the same...

Day in London paying respects...

Quite amusing: Mitutoyo is a Japanese company. Japan is a Pacific Rim country... Several Pacific Rim countries make fabulous tools and pretty much all bulk semiconductor manufacturing (which is as precise as technology gets) is Pacific Rim too...

Don't post stuff I make often... Just finished this this afternoon. I made neon letters a while ago - one for each of our kids. Making neon letters, especially small ones, is tricky particularly when, like me, your hot glass skills are mediocre at best. I had several false starts and maybe 5...

If you are required to work from home by your employer, you may be entitled to tax relief... https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home

We looked in detail at this a few years back when doing our "eco" self-build... I spent some time at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) during the design phase and they were adamant that, at that time, it was cheaper, greener and more practical to buy "green" electricity from someone...

You mention that the old laptop has Bluetooth on - I presume that this is to drive headphones/ear buds/speakers It may be, like many new monitors, that your new monitor supports Bluetooth connectivity (without knowing the model I can't check), so when the old laptop comes out of sleep/turns on...

You are right, that's how a normal electric oven works. If you can, use the oven for multiple items at the same time, or use a microwave for smaller items and for veg etc. Microwaves essentially have zero thermal intertia, i.e. all the energy you put in goes to the items being cooked rather...

Not going to enter into the general discussion, but will issue a warning... If using a long extension cable on a reel, unravel it all before use, especially if using a high frequency load... This is not about driving the load, it's more about fault conditions and the inductance of the...

You don't have to like honey to like bees - just sell the honey to finance the bees! (it's not a cheap hobby!) The corollary of that is there are way too many Beekeepers in London, especially in "trendy" areas. It's great having gardens with forage, but honey bees need a LOT of forage and will...

Good that you discovered the anaphylaxis before it got too serious - I presume you now carry an EpiPen? One of the big problems around here is.... too many beekeepers in a small area and not enough forage... I'm the membership secretary for the local BBKA branch so I know where all our almost...

Thought so. Been a beekeeper for 52 years (since I was 12) - I'm on Commercial brood (much the same area as a Langstroth) with everything else National - trained at Hadlow in the days when they had a national bee unit and that's what they used, so as an adult, that's what I've stuck with - when...

Nice. Langstroth?