For those who complains about the substandard wiring in Taiwan

[sandman]

Yup. They are very well aware of this product and what it does. I recently asked our workmen (binlang-to-the-max) and they looked at me like I was stupid. "You mean people these days AREN'T using these things? We get them in pretty much every wholesaler in this country. Don't know much about wiring a house, do you?" These cowboys are getting fewer and fewer. At least in greater Taipei. I'm happy with my guys.

[Dog's_Breakfast]

Yup. They are very well aware of this product and what it does. I recently asked our workmen (binlang-to-the-max) and they looked at me like I was stupid. "You mean people these days AREN'T using these things? We get them in pretty much every wholesaler in this country. Don't know much about wiring a house, do you?" These cowboys are getting fewer and fewer. At least in greater Taipei. I'm happy with my guys.

Glad to hear that things are improving in Taipei, but down here in the Deep South you're lucky if they even bother to use conduit.

cheers,
DB

[Taiwan Luthiers]

I was just thinking, if we can perhaps do a group buy on those ground tester thingie... I would get one if there's a group buy going on.

Maybe if enough people wanted them the factories will eventually want to sell them here too, unless they're too stupid to smell the extra $$$.

I don't understand how hard it can be to wire up a working ground and even have the white and black wires in the right place. I know nothing about being an electrician but a few minutes of google reveals that the short blade is the hot, and that the ground and neutral is on a separate wire until the breaker box, where they are joined. Taipower (at least in my case) will provide 3 wires, 2 hot and a neutral, hot 1 is black, hot 2 is red, and neutral is white. There is a green wire that comes out of the ground and into the meter which I will assume is connected to the neutral inside the meter. If you live in a big building like 99% of all Taiwanese then most likely this is done with the building, so all you need to do is have 3 wires and join the ground and neutral at the box.

The thing is, no one sells a 3 conductor wire in Taiwan except for big massive 8 gauge (3.5mm core diameter) wires designed to carry like 30+amps and are meant for AC units. It isn't necessary to use something that big for regular outlets unless you're wiring for ovens and electric stove or water heaters, so I ended up having to get the regular 2 conductor wire and buy extra green wires as grounding wire.

[sandman]

Yup. They are very well aware of this product and what it does. I recently asked our workmen (binlang-to-the-max) and they looked at me like I was stupid. "You mean people these days AREN'T using these things? We get them in pretty much every wholesaler in this country. Don't know much about wiring a house, do you?" These cowboys are getting fewer and fewer. At least in greater Taipei. I'm happy with my guys.

Glad to hear that things are improving in Taipei, but down here in the Deep South you're lucky if they even bother to use conduit.

cheers,
DB

These people work islandwide. Maybe down south they let their standards down, but watching the way they work, I kind of doubt it. You got bodgers everywhere. My GOD! If you saw the work the "workmen" did for my mum and dad recently in Scotland... AND it cost them over 20,000 quid until the court case.

[headhonchoII]

I hope nobody reads this and decides that it is easy to wire up your house, that would be a bad idea.

[Okami]

I hope nobody reads this and decides that it is easy to wire up your house, that would be a bad idea.

Electrical fires and shocks are learning experiences and nature taking its course.

Sandman, there's Taipei and then there is Taiwan. Please try not to confuse the two.

[Belgian Pie]

the ground and neutral is on a separate wire until the breaker box, where they are joined

Why would you join the neutral and the ground wire? They are different things ... ground (green/green-white) needs to go into the ground ... earth. Neutral goes back to the origin.

Oh, and I have a lot of stuff with two similar blades, so I'm putting them in an outlet any way I want. Hot are neutral doesn't matter in this case.

[Taiwan Luthiers]

But they're joined at the box, and there's an earth at the meter (usually a green wire coming from the floor). Outlets are supposed to be polarized, one blade is longer than the other so that plugs that are polarized are supposed to only go in one way. The trouble is most electricians (even in the US) don't care which way they're wired. The presence of a ground forces grounded plug a certain way so they may or may not be "polarized".

[Dog's_Breakfast]

But they're joined at the box, and there's an earth at the meter (usually a green wire coming from the floor). Outlets are supposed to be polarized, one blade is longer than the other so that plugs that are polarized are supposed to only go in one way. The trouble is most electricians (even in the US) don't care which way they're wired. The presence of a ground forces grounded plug a certain way so they may or may not be "polarized".

The polarity does indeed matter to certain grounded devices. To protect my computers from voltage surges, for example, I have a UPS with built-in surge protection. This requires a grounded outlet and correct polarity. A reverse-wired outlet would render the surge protection useless.

What about when a ground wire is not present? In theory, AC doesn't have polarity since polarity reverses 60 times per second (in Taiwan, 50 times in many other countries). Plug an electric fan into a socket with reversed polarity and it will still work. But the danger lies in touching two things and completing a circuit through your body. For example, you can get shocked by simply changing a light bulb if the light socket has reversed polarity:

http://www.phillylicensedelectrician.co ... ac-wiring/

Another problem comes when you've got two devices near to one another. For example, I know that in marine applications, if you've got two boats moored at a dock, both hooked up to the onshore electric grid but with the polarity reversed on one, touching the two boats simultaneously could result in a possibly fatal electric shock. You can also risk damage to a computer if you attach it to a printer which has reverse polarity. Ditto for audio and video equipment.

A couple more references to make the point:

Reverse polarity in marine systems
http://bluesea.com/viewresource/84

Reverse polarity in audio systems
http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/acpolarity.html

[sandman]

Sandman, there's Taipei and then there is Taiwan. Please try not to confuse the two.

That's why I said they work islandwide. So people who want the good stuff can have it if they want it.