Electricians' Scandal of Trashing New Lights

- Coming up on this week's news, up to 100,000 office lights are installed every week by electrical contractors only to be put in a skip a few months later, we explore the scandal of Cat A fit outs. How would you like to be an electrician without borders? We see what it takes to do installation work in war-torn parts of the world, and we nail the electrician's breakfast, and no, we don't mean a messily cabled consumer unit. Welcome to "Electrical News Weekly" in association with Solar Trade Sales, your easy one-stop shop for all things solar. Whether you're listening in the van onsite or down at the wholesale counter, I'm Joe Robinson and I've been through the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble. And this week's challenge word competition is supported by the good people at Compleo, the complete solution for EV charge point installers. If you think you've spotted the two words that I've been challenged to slip into this week's show, comment with them below for the chance to win a prize. It's been revealed that electrical contractors are installing up to 100,000 office lights every week in the UK, only for other contractors to put them in a skip, sometimes just a few months later. Welcome to the world of the Cat A fit out. When a developer builds an office, they hire a contractor to put in basic lighting, ceilings and raised access flooring so that prospective tenants can view the space. This is called a Category A installation. But, when the tenant moves in, they get another contractor to change the interior to suit their taste, this is a Cat B fit out. The lights, along with the ceiling and carpets, mostly end up in skips. In a recent office development in the city of London, a real estate firm put Cat A lighting on all 70 floors. As tenants move in, the unused luminaires are getting ripped out. Now a pressure group has been launched to tackle the problem. The End Cat A campaign says that the Cat A fit out is the dirty secret of the commercial property world, but with increasing pressure on the real estate sector to be seen to be green, it says that the time is now to begin to tackle this decades old problem. It wants contractors who are asked to remove lights to consider using the industry's online Reuse Hub. This matches donors of used lights with others who can put the products to good use. I've popped the link to the End Cat A Campaign and the Reuse Hub in the show notes. Another way to attempt change in the world is Electricians Without Borders, a charity which is seeking qualified men and women to help with development projects around the world. Much of the work involves the installation of solar panels and battery systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. The organisation is currently running around a hundred assignments across 40 countries, including Madagascar, Cameroon, and the Congo. Its electricians also set up temporary electricity networks in disaster zones. They've worked in Ukraine after the Russian invasion and Morocco after the earthquake. If this is something that appeals to you at this stage of your career, take a look at the website, I've put the link to that in the show notes. And speaking of extraordinary electricians, time is running out for you to submit nominations for the 30 Under 30 Awards in association with the Luceco Group. This prestigious annual event is designed to highlight and recognise those up-and-coming sparks who are doing remarkable things in our industry. If you know someone under the age of 30 who's running their own business to a high standard, overcoming serious adversity or giving back to their community, then click the link in the show notes to nominate them, it couldn't be simpler. But get it done quick because entries close on the 29th of February. In product news, Chauvin Arnoux has launched a current metre with a flexible measuring loop rather than a rigid clamp. It means you can measure the flow in cables in really awkward locations by simply threading the loop around it. The DigiFlex MA400D can also log the maximum current. It measures AC flow from 20 milliamps to 400 amps, and there's another model which will measure up to 4,000 amps. Another clamp metre hitting the market is aimed at electricians working in potentially dangerous arc flash zones. You put the 376FC from Fluke inside the cabinet on the relevant circuits, but you read it wirelessly outside the cabinet using Fluke's app. If you are within 20 metres of the equipment, you can open the app and read the figures from outside the arc flash boundary. This approach minimises the amount of time spent inside the boundary and the amount of PPE you need to wear. The company also offers a range of thermal cameras for the same purpose. Another week and another EV charger hits the market, but this one from Newcastle underline firm, GivEnergy, is a bit different. It can power cars directly from solar panels or a battery system, not just the mains. The company says it's designed to future-proof charging for electric vehicle owners. They can power their cars up using their chosen source at their chosen times. The company says it's also working on an API interface with energy providers so that the charger can work with smart tariffs. The inbuilt algorithm will allow homeowners to automatically take advantage of cheap rates as and when prices drop. Now, if you struggle with stripping low smoke zero halogen cables, you are not alone, it's an issue across the trade. The good news is that the unicorn of hand tools, a dedicated LSOH stripper is hitting the wholesalers this week. Made by CK Tools, it features blades coated with titanium nitride and four brackets for three flats and one round cable. The stripper has a self-locking switch, automatic blade protection, and keyless blade adjustment. The range is available as a set with the stripper included, and LSOH brackets can also be purchased as a set of three. And finally, electricians have revealed their perfect full English breakfast and the results could raise a few eyebrows. Almost a third have coffee with breakfast, 27% would rather juice and they mere 26% enjoy a cup of tea. The majority of electricians prefer brown sauce, but surprisingly 13% would rather have mustard. If all that isn't bad enough, some 7% of you said that you wanted gravy, gravy with your breakfast? I'm not making this up. If you took part in the survey and listed gravy, please explain yourself in the comments below, please. The academic research also revealed that only 11% of you like ketchup and 39% would choose no sauce at all. I've got to say, I stand with the 11% on this, and quite honestly, if you say otherwise, you're clearly just a troublemaker and you need to sort your life out. Better pop a flak jacket on after that one. I'm not sure I can read on. Almost nine in 10 are happy to go without a poached egg and a whopping 85% don't believe black pudding is an important part of a traditional full English, which is correct. The study was conducted by online metal suppliers, metals4U, who clearly have plenty of time on their hands. Now, just a reminder that our content is moulded in part by you, dear viewers and listeners. And we'd like to see more of you on the news, and we'd like to answer the questions that keep you awake at night. This month, we're focusing on wiring accessories and residential solar and battery equipment. Have you carried out any interesting or unusual electrical installations? Send us pictures of your instals or let us know if you've come across any new kit that's making your job easier and you could feature in a future episode of the news. Or have you got any burning questions you'd like our tame renewables and wiring accessories expert, Joe Hammond, to answer, drop us an email for any of the above to admin@efix.co uk and we'll see what we can do for you. And just before we get to your favourite bit of the show where I reveal last week's challenge words and winners, we want to thank our premium partners, we couldn't make the news without you. First up, they're the people who created the Swiss Army knife of solar inverters along with all weather batteries, very much the Boy Scouts of the solar industry, it's Sunsynk, and testing, testing, one, two, testing, if you've got something you need to measure or a piece of test equipment to calibrate, from multimeters to power quality analyzers, then it can only be Test Instrument Solutions. Are you a bit of a control freak? Motor control that is. If so, with huge stocks and excellent service, check out Crompton Controls as they said to me in a recent conversation,"If we don't have it, then we can build it." Now, who doesn't love a freebie? With their incredibly simple and totally free EV charger management platform, they're helping installers win jobs and save their customers thousands a year, it's Tap Electric. With their high quality and reliable EV charging equipment and industry-leading customer care, you could say they're leading the EV-lution, it's Hydra EVC. The best thing to come out of Yorkshire since stainless steel, the home of EV Ultra and other groundbreaking and quality products, it's Doncaster Cables with an incredible range of equipment from EV charge points through industrial sockets and switches to kit for explosive areas, plus they supplied gear for a Campari factory, so they'll always have a place in my heart, it's Scame. Big thanks to you all, we really appreciate your ongoing support for the news. If you think you know the words that I've smuggled into this week's show, pop your guess into the comments, we'll take all the correct guesses and select one at random to be a winner of an eFix goodie bag prize. Answers submitted after about lunchtime on the Thursday after release will not be entered into the draw. Now let's reveal the winners of last week's challenge word competition, supported by Compleo, the complete solution for EV charge point installers. Last week's words were a description of Gordon, excruciating overlord. And clearly, it was a lot easier than the week before because quite a few of you got it right. We put all of your names into an electronic hat, and the first one to be plucked out as a winner was appropriately enough, FirstDan2000, so well done to you, make sure you click the Get Involved link in the show notes to claim your prize. Thanks for listening to this episode of "Electrical News Weekly" in association with Solar Trade Sales, your easy one-stop shop for all things solar. Make sure you subscribe to receive the next update, thanks for listening, and until next time, have a great week, stay safe out there. And remember, there's no such thing as a torque calibrated arm.