Advice Required on Career choice

[Luke Hanson]

Hi All,

I need some advice on an electrical career.

I have worked in the lighting sales Industry for over 10 years now and consider myself very clued up with regards to wiring, control systems and all types of lighting types. However I am now looking to improve my knowledge in lighting and feel being an electrician would put me ahead of other people within the sales industry.

Can anyone give me advice on what types of qualifications I would need to be a domestic electrician and how I am best to go about getting these qualifications while also working full time. I live in London.

I personally don't feel I need to be a fully qualified electrician and a domestic qualification should be enough for me to be as technical as I need to be however welcome any advice possible on this? 

I have been looking at websites suchas trades4u and am not sure if these are very worth while so would welcome advice on who as learnt from these. The other idea I had was having a trade would give me the chance to do weekend work for extra money and so am very keen to get as much info from anyone within the industry.

I look forward to hearing from you all!

All the best,

Luke 

 

[Evans Electric]

Trouble is , Luke,  you can't be a bit of an electrician .why don't you stick to what you know ,  lighting & controls , and find something in sales .    Now would be a good time to become an expert in LED systems.

 

[Rob_the_rich]

Hi Luke, you want to learn to be a spark so that you will have a competitive edge over other sales people?

Can you be more specific about what you hope to gain for all the pain?

 

[Essex1]

In the modern world it is becoming more and more common to be a domestic only electrician. As long as you stick to what you know there is no issue. It becomes an issue when a domestic only electrician ventures into other areas. 

 

[Luke Hanson]

Hi Guys,

Thanks so much for the quick reply's. really appreciate that.

A lot of sales people in the industry don't understand electrics, I imagine both of you know this from talking to wholesalers to lighting manufacturers. I am very confident with my knowledge of wiring all different types of LED lighting and understand the wiring concepts for control systems very well however where i struggle is the concepts of working out the cable sizes required for installations, Issues like Voltage drop and working out what cable size you need to power a certain load. All of this info would help me be a better sales technician.

I can advise people all day everyday on what they need to do to wire an LED and how this is done and also what power supplies are needed however its the backbone of lighting that I wish to learn more on. If i don't need to do the full electrical course to learn this info then great.

The idea of doing electrics on the weekends (for extra money) was the other reason why i was requesting advice. You say this is a lot of pain lol. When you say pain do you mean time? or literally a bad career choice?

Thanks,

Luke

 

[Evans Electric]

You can learn the basics of cable sizes, volt drop etc from a book ,  Which I agree all helps to give you greater knowledge of lighting design etc.

Look at it like this , I'm told that these days , to finally  become a qualified electrician , an NVQ based upon completing 4 yrs of practical experience is required on top of the various college courses , IEE regs updates etc.  

A youngster does practical experience with us , from the local college, he tells me that of all his fellow course members, he is the only one to have ever worked.

 

[Luke Hanson]

I see what you mean Evans, Could you recommend a book to me?

From your opinion is there any area in lighting that you feel an expert is required i.e like LED systems you mean control systems?

 

[Rob_the_rich]

There is only one book, BS7671

Also Google

And you are always welcome here of course.

 

[Evans Electric]

LED is new lighting technology , electricians , designers , architects, engineers etc  are getting used to it , but its  updating itself all the time . 

For instance I have started to replace twin fluorescents for a regular industrial customer but discovered for myself a couple of things that shopuld have been pointed out .

Makers recommend that LED batten fittings are not on the same circuit as switch start fluorescents .  The starting spikes can affect the LED drivers.

Also the driver has a thermal protection device that cuts out over 30 deg. C     As the summer approaches the temperature in this print room will excede 30 deg.C

Thankfully I have only replaced one of 30 fittings to date .

A gened up sales person would have pointed this out .

 

[Luke Hanson]

Thanks Rob/ Evans!

I've found that book but god knows if im going to be able to understand thaton my own lol. I will be back!

 

[Andy™]

2382 is a course based on the wiring regs book