Testing course

maxamillius

http://www.electricalskills.ie/index.php/courses/electrical-testing-verification/

Has anyone done or does anyone know if this course is worthwhile doing?
Didn't do much testing serving my time so would like to get up to speed on it!
Cheers lads

2011

maxamillius wrote: »

http://www.electricalskills.ie/index.php/courses/electrical-testing-verification/

Has anyone done or does anyone know if this course is worthwhile doing?
Didn't do much testing serving my time so would like to get up to speed on it!
Cheers lads

If you are a registered electrical contractor you won't have a choice soon.

According to Jerry O'Dwyre, Chairman of RECI: "It is a CER requirement that a valid qualfied certifier number be on each completion certificate. One of the requirements to be a qualified certifier is that the person must have attended an approved course, which must be repeated every three years. The approval for the existing RECI course ends in June 2013".

E. Fudd

maxamillius wrote: »

http://www.electricalskills.ie/index.php/courses/electrical-testing-verification/

Has anyone done or does anyone know if this course is worthwhile doing?
Didn't do much testing serving my time so would like to get up to speed on it!
Cheers lads

I did the course in November. I did the 5 day course because I had very little testing experience. I was dubious of it being just a money spinning racket but to be completely honest I found it very good. I now have a far better understanding of the readings I get when I'm testing, and I know what I need to be looking for when fault finding.

As much as it pains me to say it; it's worth every penny.

maxamillius

Cheers lads,

2011,I work in maintenance so don't really require the course I just want to Broaden my knowledge on the testing side of things as I didn't do much serving my time!

Think il give it a bash so il report back with my findings!!

Sir Arthur Daley

Advise from a CER approved course i recieved from a work colleague who has to renew his QCN, he was advised if he answered NO to any one question it was suggested to do the 5 day course, he is opting for the 2 day course as he don't intending in changing the regulatory body he is registered with.

2011

I think that making electricians that carry out electrical testing as part of their job do this course is a great idea.

From what I have seen plenty of experienced electricians are quite confused about testing.

Sir Arthur Daley

Ecssa will have an approved course up and running in the Autumn and are expecting to able to deliver the Courses at
substantially less cost than currently available, i have done the course twice with ECSSA and it was a 1 day course, it was very thorough and to the point, everything was covered, in my opinion the current providers of this course have the monopoly and are blowing this course up and the fees are very expensive.

maxamillius

I agree that there tends to be somewhat of a monopoly out there with courses,I must say I think 650 euro for a 5 day course is not to bad,provided the content is worthwhile!
I have very little knowledge of testing and I do think it should be as important as being qualified they should go hand in hand!
Maybe there should be more emphasis out on it during apprenticeships?!

Sir Arthur Daley

Like i said earlier Ecssa and Reci used do it in 1 day and at that it was not even a full day, if they slowed down the pace of the course to make it last 2 days it would even be hard to drag out, 5 day course option i feel is overboard altogether.

2011

WikiHow wrote: »

Like i said earlier Ecssa and Reci used do it in 1 day and at that it was not even a full day, if they slowed down the pace of the course to make it last 2 days it would even be hard to drag out, 5 day course option i feel is overboard altogether.

Apples and oranges.
The "City and Guilds Certificate in Electrical Testing and Verification of Electrical Installations 2407" is a recognised accredited course. The RECI testing course is informal in-house training.

A five day course means that everybody has a chance to have a go at every test several times and all questions get answers. Many doing this course have little or no testing experience. What you are taught you forget, what you do you remember.

desoc32

I completed the 5 day course last October with electrical skills. I have to say previously I had trouble understanding some of the testing method required and some of the other sparks I know struggled with some of the testing required too (ones that did the sit down ecssa or reci training day). You can bring your own meter in or use the on site meters. They used new Megger MFT1552? which I found way easier to use than my Fluke! You get to test an installation with mostly good circuits and one or two deliberate bad circuits and understand whether the readings you get are ok or unacceptable and further investigation is required. Also I think filling out the test record sheets and certs can be a little confusing at times and this is covered in depth too. Periodic Inspections is also covered and an exam is done on this. The 5 day course flew in and the €650 price tag put me off a little, though I'm glad I did it now.

.G.

The old in house training days where a waste of everyones time.I did one and it was very hard to pick everything up in such a short period. 30 odd electricians,one trainer and 3 hours or so to teach everything involved, most of what I've learned with testing has been learned through follow up studying and on site practice. My QCN doesn't expire till next year but I'm doing the 5 day course as soon as I can this year to gain a better understanding.

Sir Arthur Daley

The last in house training day i did had only 15 electricians, it was theory and practical, we did everything that was mentioned in post #11, i had my annual inspector in the fall last year and the course they are currently getting accredited they are expecting it to be a 2 day course and priced substantially less cost than the current providers, he said himself a 5 day course was ludicrous.

.G.

The course descriptions say teach exactly the same things on both courses,its just you get more time to learn them and put them into practice on the 5 day.For those who test infrequently this extra time could be invaluable.Reading testimonials from the 2 day courses and quite a few said it was a lot to fit into 2 days and 5 day would be easier. Depends on the pace you want to learn at.

Each to their own really.

salmocab

A spark I work with done the 3 day course before christmas and had little or no testing experience he said he should have done the 5 day as the 3 day was geared toward people who had done a good bit of testing before and he really struggled with an information overload. Im trying to get my boss to send me on the week course but he thinks its too expensive with having to pay my wages for that week too so I'm going to offer to take 3 days pay for the week.

Sir Arthur Daley

salmocab wrote: »

A spark I work with done the 3 day course before christmas and had little or no testing experience he said he should have done the 5 day as the 3 day was geared toward people who had done a good bit of testing before and he really struggled with an information overload. Im trying to get my boss to send me on the week course but he thinks its too expensive with having to pay my wages for that week too so I'm going to offer to take 3 days pay for the week.

Where is that 3 day course?

salmocab

WikiHow wrote: »

Where is that 3 day course?

just text him to find out but might be tomorrow before I hear from him, I think a place in bluebell in dublin does them, iskills I think.

.G.

iskills is the link thats in the OP.

Testimonials from some who did their course http://www.electricalskills.ie/index.php/reviews/

Sir Arthur Daley

” I broke the toilet.” Gareth Yeates

What kind of testing was he up to?

brightspark

Like maxamillius, I have spent most of my time in maintenance.

I've currently doing the course in FAS and finding it interesting, but could be more intensive, I wouldn't like to try it in two days though, esp since the tests are scheduled to last 5 1/2 hours.

My maintenance background I think helped for the fault finding and meter reading practical sections, but I'd never really looked at a completion cert before, never mind fill one in.


Slightly off topic, does anyone have a favourite or hated installation tester?

I've been using the Megger 1730 on the course, but it seems to have a few issues, possibly due to lots of students mishandling etc., (leads seem to be a little erratic, requiring frequent nulling, battery life very poor).

Sir Arthur Daley

brightspark wrote: »

I've been using the Megger 1730 on the course, but it seems to have a few issues, possibly due to lots of students mishandling etc., (leads seem to be a little erratic, requiring frequent nulling, battery life very poor).

I would expect the Meters provided to be fully functional without any issues if i was going doing a 5 day course with it.

brightspark

WikiHow wrote: »

I would expect the Meters provided to be fully functional without any issues if i was going doing a 5 day course with it.

It wasn't that it constantly gave problems, more that as you said you would expect such meters not to give any trouble.

Part of the reason I asked, was that I had never used a megger 1730 before, and so wasn't sure if was typical of that style of meter.

They are naturally sensitive, so leads etc, if not treated carefully are bound to give trouble.
In some ways things like that going wrong is useful to see, I find you can learn more from problems than when things are going well.

Sir Arthur Daley

brightspark wrote: »

It wasn't that it constantly gave problems, more that as you said you would expect such meters not to give any trouble.

Part of the reason I asked, was that I had never used a megger 1730 before, and so wasn't sure if was typical of that style of meter.

They are naturally sensitive, so leads etc, if not treated carefully are bound to give trouble.
In some ways things like that going wrong is useful to see, I find you can learn more from problems than when things are going well.

But a meter with faulty leads can give you false readings which in real world could lead to alot of circumstances.

brightspark

WikiHow wrote: »

But a meter with faulty leads can give you false readings which in real world could lead to alot of circumstances.

I'm well aware of that! What meter do you use?

Sir Arthur Daley

brightspark wrote: »

I'm well aware of that! What meter do you use?

I have Kewtech meters, 3 separate ones, they are essentially Robin, the 3 in 1 is handier and im sorry i didn't buy a 3 in 1.

Cogsy88

The fluke 3in1 is the way to go. Used one a good while ago and it was much handier then 3 separate ones. Are there set dates for dat course or do they jus wait for a full group to apply?

This the one.
http://www.edlireland.ie/iopen24/fluke-1654b-electricail-installation-tester-p-186.html?cPath=0_1384_1450_1385

E. Fudd

I'm using a megger insulation resistance tester and an ethos 7800 earth loop impedance and rcd combined tester. Handy little setup.
I bagged the Ethos 7800 on ebay in brand new condition for £70stg. Guts of €600 brand new!

salmocab

salmocab wrote: »

just text him to find out but might be tomorrow before I hear from him, I think a place in bluebell in dublin does them, iskills I think.

Yeah it was iskills he done the 3 day with.