A bit over a week ago I returned from India, having been there for about three weeks. The one thing that stuck out in my mind about the country, is that life must be very cheap over there. Some of the electrical related things I saw were truly amazingly dangerous.
1. A lighting "install" to showcase an ancient stone carved wall consisted of many PAR 64 (I think, they looked a bit strange) fixtures lying on a concrete ledge. All wires were simply twisted together and covered with electrical tape. Feeder wiring was nowhere near the gauge it should have been.
2. Street power lines (un-insulated) are strung between standard power poles above the street. (This varies in different places around the country) In some places, small gauge insulated cables are simply twisted onto the street lines which then feed houses, businesses etc.
In other places, the street power lines feed fuses which then feed the houses etc. These fuses are often at my head height or lower and are right in the middle of the footpath. On the input and output side of the fuses are very large exposed conductors (maybe an inch in length and half as wide)
3. Sitting in a restaurant I see a waiter "plugging" in a wall mounted fan. He takes the two inner conductors from the lead (stripped, and who really needs an earth anyway) and proceeds to poke them into an un-switched power outlet with the end of a pen. It sparks a bit... But hey, the fan works.
I'm sure more will come to me with time, and I hope to find some of the photos I took and post them for your entertainment.
1. A lighting "install" to showcase an ancient stone carved wall consisted of many PAR 64 (I think, they looked a bit strange) fixtures lying on a concrete ledge. All wires were simply twisted together and covered with electrical tape. Feeder wiring was nowhere near the gauge it should have been.
2. Street power lines (un-insulated) are strung between standard power poles above the street. (This varies in different places around the country) In some places, small gauge insulated cables are simply twisted onto the street lines which then feed houses, businesses etc.
In other places, the street power lines feed fuses which then feed the houses etc. These fuses are often at my head height or lower and are right in the middle of the footpath. On the input and output side of the fuses are very large exposed conductors (maybe an inch in length and half as wide)
3. Sitting in a restaurant I see a waiter "plugging" in a wall mounted fan. He takes the two inner conductors from the lead (stripped, and who really needs an earth anyway) and proceeds to poke them into an un-switched power outlet with the end of a pen. It sparks a bit... But hey, the fan works.
I'm sure more will come to me with time, and I hope to find some of the photos I took and post them for your entertainment.
