Professional Electrician FAIL!

[NightTrain]

Just got back from a quick job at a major microwave & cellular hub. I know Gunny will get a kick out of this :



This cable was feeding equipment servicing a large portion of this area... 911 traffic, internet, cell phones, etc. I ran another cable parallel to this prior to even touching this one, and I'm glad I did! As soon as I unbolted this lug, the cable literally pulled right out of the lug - the only thing holding it on was the heatshrink. The whole site would have died, and microwaves sometimes don't come right back up after getting dumped.

Somehow, the idiot that ran this cable in the picture decided that using a #1 lug on #4 cable would be okay. Noticing that it didn't even compress the copper whatsoever, he used heatshrink to hold it together. The smallest bump or even an earthquake could have easily taken the site down, creating a comm blackout which is No Bueno due to hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for the 'Unplanned Outage'.

Not only was the lug not even close to being the right size, the cable wasn't stripped to insert fully into the lug, and then it was crimped twice instead of the indicated 3 times (as per the number of stripes on the lug).

This guy failed on every level and I'm looking forward to finding out whodunnit.

[tailfins]

Just got back from a quick job at a major microwave & cellular hub. I know Gunny will get a kick out of this :

This cable was feeding equipment servicing a large portion of this area... 911 traffic, internet, cell phones, etc. I ran another cable parallel to this prior to even touching this one, and I'm glad I did! As soon as I unbolted this lug, the cable literally pulled right out of the lug - the only thing holding it on was the heatshrink. The whole site would have died, and microwaves sometimes don't come right back up after getting dumped.

Somehow, the idiot that ran this cable in the picture decided that using a #1 lug on #4 cable would be okay. Noticing that it didn't even compress the copper whatsoever, he used heatshrink to hold it together. The smallest bump or even an earthquake could have easily taken the site down, creating a comm blackout which is No Bueno due to hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for the 'Unplanned Outage'.

Not only was the lug not even close to being the right size, the cable wasn't stripped to insert fully into the lug, and then it was crimped twice instead of the indicated 3 times (as per the number of stripes on the lug).

This guy failed on every level and I'm looking forward to finding out whodunnit.

It's the death of craftsmanship. You have given a fine example how costly that is. I face these kinds of issues with computer code.

[Gunny]

It's the death of craftsmanship. You have given a fine example how costly that is. I face these kinds of issues with computer code.

Of course it's costly. I shut down Rivercenter Mall in San Antonio because of someone else's shoddy workmanship. Most shops guarantee their work for a year and most work will last at least that long. They're betting on it.

But they're no different than anyone else. I happened to work for a couple of companies where you did it right or you got fired. I also worked for one briefly (that is out of business) we called shortcut electric. My supervisor would get pissed because I took more time than he wanted because I did the job right. Fire me for doing the job right, just put it on my resume please.

[Gunny]

Just got back from a quick job at a major microwave & cellular hub. I know Gunny will get a kick out of this :



This cable was feeding equipment servicing a large portion of this area... 911 traffic, internet, cell phones, etc. I ran another cable parallel to this prior to even touching this one, and I'm glad I did! As soon as I unbolted this lug, the cable literally pulled right out of the lug - the only thing holding it on was the heatshrink. The whole site would have died, and microwaves sometimes don't come right back up after getting dumped.

Somehow, the idiot that ran this cable in the picture decided that using a #1 lug on #4 cable would be okay. Noticing that it didn't even compress the copper whatsoever, he used heatshrink to hold it together. The smallest bump or even an earthquake could have easily taken the site down, creating a comm blackout which is No Bueno due to hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for the 'Unplanned Outage'.

Not only was the lug not even close to being the right size, the cable wasn't stripped to insert fully into the lug, and then it was crimped twice instead of the indicated 3 times (as per the number of stripes on the lug).

This guy failed on every level and I'm looking forward to finding out whodunnit.

Yeah, I'd have to agree. Unprofessional at EVERY level. You don't use the wrong size lugs PERIOD. And I've seen it more than once. There's a reason the crap has sizes on it. Probably got some dumbass shortcutter at cut rate. You get what you pay for. A moron that can't even strip wire to fit an oversized lug. There's brilliance at the highest level. I'd bet the wire itself is undersized for its load. People trying to save a dime. Never fails.

Get a Code Book and learn to calculate loads. Hell, I never passed algebra in school and I can calculate an electrical load. It's simple multiplication, division and percentages.

That and being able to read. I ought wire goes in a damned 1 ought lug.

[NightTrain]

Yeah, I'd have to agree. Unprofessional at EVERY level. You don't use the wrong size lugs PERIOD. And I've seen it more than once. There's a reason the crap has sizes on it. Probably got some dumbass shortcutter at cut rate. You get what you pay for. A moron that can't even strip wire to fit an oversized lug. There's brilliance at the highest level. I'd bet the wire itself is undersized for its load. People trying to save a dime. Never fails.

Get a Code Book and learn to calculate loads. Hell, I never passed algebra in school and I can calculate an electrical load. It's simple multiplication, division and percentages.

That and being able to read. I ought wire goes in a damned 1 ought lug.

Yeah, 4 AWG is way overkill for the max load the equipment can draw in that rack... overbuilding is a standard because of unforeseen technology and new equipment down the road and no one wants to re-cable every site, so go big the first time! Almost all of the equipment is running on 2 Amp fuses from the fuse panel and they normally are drawing less than 1 Amp after the initial startup surge.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I can get two 4 AWG cables into the one 1 AWG lug! I think I'll try it tomorrow just to see.

The bright side is that having lazy idiots doing stuff like that makes more work for me. Easy money, I'll take it.

[NightTrain]

Oh, and another thing : Notice the complete lack of No-Ox on it?

Seriously, there wasn't one thing done right and this is the simplest of stuff!

[Gunny]

Oh, and another thing : Notice the complete lack of No-Ox on it?

Seriously, there wasn't one thing done right and this is the simplest of stuff!

Don't need it unless something aluminum. I'm just looking at the size of the terminal, the size of the wire, and that thumbnail long strip job. Somebody didn't know what the F*CK they were doing.

[NightTrain]

Don't need it unless something aluminum. I'm just looking at the size of the terminal, the size of the wire, and that thumbnail long strip job. Somebody didn't know what the F*CK they were doing.

Code here is No-Ox on everything. I probably have a gallon of that stuff laying around in various toolbags in those little white plastic containers.

Here's what I still have to fix after getting the green light for taking the site down - this is the battery rack side :



And here is the equipment rack side :



Appallingly shoddy work. I'm truly surprised the site hasn't taken a dive on it's own.