DanZ
Senior Member
So, you take pictures of you taking pictures to prove that you took the pictures for that job? Wow, CYA to a whole new level!:grin: :roll:cschmid said:
Cameras
- Thread starter JohnJ0906
- Start date
- Status
charlietuna
Senior Member
i started keeping a company bought digital camera in my service truck and many times it has been a very useful tool and saved many arguements! also very useful to discribe equipment parts and warentee problems-- like they say "a picture is worth a thousand words" ! one of my most useful issues with it was a million+ dollar fire job that we were called in on at a college. there was a contractor installing a job that we were underbid on. the switchgear was 1600 amp-480 volt square d, and they were trying to identify an unused feeder and had the switchboard cover and splash shield off. the contractor himself was there and decided to use his cell phone to communicate with the guy on the other end of the cables in another building. so he calls the guy up and tells him to stand clear because he is going to energize this breaker to make it easier to identify. now the feeder breaker is 1200 amp and takes two hands to close-so he set his cell phone down------"on another breaker" in the open switchboard. with two hands he closes the 1200 amp breaker and, of course, without the splash shield, all the breakers jump and he see's his cell phone bouncing back and falls into the exposed busing ! giant explosion instantly ! fire ball smacks him in the face and luckily he falls back out of the room. the explosions continued for 20 minutes !!!???? he was burned and sent to the hospital.
the college called us and we were close by. armed with my camera we waited for the fire department to evacuate the smoke and allow us into the electric room. as i took pictures, i was trying to figure out why there was so much damage. the vault was behind the switchgear and the service feeders-like 4-4inch with 500mcm cu burnt off in the rigid nipple as it came through the wall???? the buses in the switchboard were totally melted??? why didn't a fuse blow?????
i talked to the firemen and one of them told me the power company's primary jacks were on fire as they pulled up to the building ??? then the power company was threr and they opened up the vault and i went in armed with my camera---- and as i looked it dawned on me the vault was wired wrong ! the neutrals were made up to the vault's ground bus and not connected to the primary transformer's neutral. the vault's ground bus (with all the customer neutrals connected) had only one #4/0 cu conductor running to the vault's ground loop. this wire was blown in half about a foot from the ground bus connection. this is why there was so much damage -- without a path back to the source neutral, the overloads were never cleared ! the vault saw the short circuit as a phase to phase load.
the following morning, the contractor showed up and told me the story about how stupid he felt about setting his cell phone inside an energized panel--and as he told me the story he looked down and on the floor in front of the panel was a small molted item that used to be his cell phone--the battery made it through the explosion! i had already had square d manufacturing the necessary switchgear on a priority one order, but with the school's permision, offered to let hit repair his own mess! i made the necessary calls for him to take over the job and we left !
months later i get called from an attorney representing square d -- this contractor is sueing square d for faulty equipment-blaming the 1200 amp breaker ! he seemed to have forgotten the cell phone issue ! this kind of rubbed me the wrong way !!! i got on my computer and brought up the pictures i had taken the day of the fire. and you know how you can blowup a photo on a computer--sure enough you could actually see that that little rectangular piece of molten metal was a battery out of a cell phone--right were it had fallen after creating the problem. they came to my office for copies of the photos.
ps: the real kicker was after i had shown the power company guys their wiring problem---the following morning i went into the vault and during the night they had re-wired the ground bus with six 500 mcm cu back to the primary transformer. and when i questioned them--they said "you must be mistaken - thats the way the vault was originally wired" -- now the burn mark was still on the wall where the 4/0 cu had blown apart !! and i had the photos from the day before with that same burn mark proving my story !
sorry thing is "NOBODY LEARNED FROM THEIR MISTAKES IN THIS INCIDENT"! NOT THE POWER COMPANY --NOT THE CONTRACTOR --AND NOT THE COLLEGE FOR HIRING AN INCOMPITENT CONTRACTOR!
the college called us and we were close by. armed with my camera we waited for the fire department to evacuate the smoke and allow us into the electric room. as i took pictures, i was trying to figure out why there was so much damage. the vault was behind the switchgear and the service feeders-like 4-4inch with 500mcm cu burnt off in the rigid nipple as it came through the wall???? the buses in the switchboard were totally melted??? why didn't a fuse blow?????
i talked to the firemen and one of them told me the power company's primary jacks were on fire as they pulled up to the building ??? then the power company was threr and they opened up the vault and i went in armed with my camera---- and as i looked it dawned on me the vault was wired wrong ! the neutrals were made up to the vault's ground bus and not connected to the primary transformer's neutral. the vault's ground bus (with all the customer neutrals connected) had only one #4/0 cu conductor running to the vault's ground loop. this wire was blown in half about a foot from the ground bus connection. this is why there was so much damage -- without a path back to the source neutral, the overloads were never cleared ! the vault saw the short circuit as a phase to phase load.
the following morning, the contractor showed up and told me the story about how stupid he felt about setting his cell phone inside an energized panel--and as he told me the story he looked down and on the floor in front of the panel was a small molted item that used to be his cell phone--the battery made it through the explosion! i had already had square d manufacturing the necessary switchgear on a priority one order, but with the school's permision, offered to let hit repair his own mess! i made the necessary calls for him to take over the job and we left !
months later i get called from an attorney representing square d -- this contractor is sueing square d for faulty equipment-blaming the 1200 amp breaker ! he seemed to have forgotten the cell phone issue ! this kind of rubbed me the wrong way !!! i got on my computer and brought up the pictures i had taken the day of the fire. and you know how you can blowup a photo on a computer--sure enough you could actually see that that little rectangular piece of molten metal was a battery out of a cell phone--right were it had fallen after creating the problem. they came to my office for copies of the photos.
ps: the real kicker was after i had shown the power company guys their wiring problem---the following morning i went into the vault and during the night they had re-wired the ground bus with six 500 mcm cu back to the primary transformer. and when i questioned them--they said "you must be mistaken - thats the way the vault was originally wired" -- now the burn mark was still on the wall where the 4/0 cu had blown apart !! and i had the photos from the day before with that same burn mark proving my story !
sorry thing is "NOBODY LEARNED FROM THEIR MISTAKES IN THIS INCIDENT"! NOT THE POWER COMPANY --NOT THE CONTRACTOR --AND NOT THE COLLEGE FOR HIRING AN INCOMPITENT CONTRACTOR!
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
Steve, your camera should have come with a USB cable . . . and instructions. Or try the above-mentioned card reader if it has a card.hillbilly said:
For the phone, you need either a 'data cable' made for your phone model, or a Bluetooth wireless device.
Last edited:
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
I think that if you take a picture of yourself taking a picture of yourself taking a picture, you'll travel back in time.DanZ said:
Wow, I almost went back in time just typing that sentence!
cschmid
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern cold country
Man I am LMAO and I could use a few years back in time..wait that would mean I have to do this all over again..............forget that...I like where I am at...
jimport
Senior Member
- Location
- Outside Baltimore Maryland
- Occupation
- Master Electrician
LarryFine said:
Sounds like the control tower scene in Airplane with the picture of McCroskey.
I use a Sony Cyber Shot. It's a great camera. I carry it right on my belt, next to my Leatherman. It helps balance the other side where my cell phone rides next to my keys. I can't wait for the next greatest thing to show up and take up a spot on my waist. I use the camera to take pictures when I go look at jobs so I can review them at my desk. I take alot of before & after photos too. Any interesting electrical installs or violations. And mullets. If I see a person with a mullet, I'm reaching for my camera.
JohnJ0906
Senior Member
- Location
- Baltimore, MD
JES2727 said:
Not a response I expected....
ohm
Senior Member
- Location
- Birmingham, AL
I not only carry a camera, for all the reasons listed above, but I rode the property line of a 10 acre tract of land with my GPS turned on. I then submitted to the POCO a plan based on it's co-ordinates to install five poles for a service I was installing. They loved it.
I'd still be waiting if I waited for them.
I'd still be waiting if I waited for them.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
I carry a small Canon Powershot for everyday use. If there's something that I feel warrants higher end photography I'll drag along my DSLR. One of these days I'll actually post one of my photos here.
Hmmmm....... I thought this question looked familiar......:wink:
quogueelectric
Senior Member
- Location
- new york
4 gig left hemisphere,4gig right hemisphere.cschmid said:
Brady Electric
Senior Member
- Location
- Asheville, N. C.
Cameras
Carry my cell which has a camera
Just take pictures sometimes of my outlets before the sheet rockers makes it a lot easier to find covered up ones.
Guess what it makes call's also
Semper Fi Buddy
P.S. We are really spoiled, remember when you would get to a job in the country in the middle of no where and your pager would go off and you would have to stop hunt down a phone and call your boss or customer.
At times I felt like Clark Kent.
Carry my cell which has a camera
Just take pictures sometimes of my outlets before the sheet rockers makes it a lot easier to find covered up ones.
Guess what it makes call's also
Semper Fi Buddy
P.S. We are really spoiled, remember when you would get to a job in the country in the middle of no where and your pager would go off and you would have to stop hunt down a phone and call your boss or customer.
At times I felt like Clark Kent.
e57
Senior Member
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
For several years - through two Razors (one through the washer machine), I have been snapping a pic here and there, odd stuff - "Oh that'll bite ya in the..." And when it does come to bit me in the... I have my little pic, and it does save me from the 'oh that'll bite ya's" - BUT.... Everyone ALWAYS says - "Man we gotta get you a better camera..." So far that has been 3 employers and well over two dozen clients SAVED by my cell phone.... Not one has coughed up and got me a real camera yet, 'cause my little 2Mp shakey jake cell phone does the job. It doesn't do all that great of a job, but it does it, and its there when I need it..... So my take is not that it needs to be a super quality image - just an image is worth at least 100 words at a blurry 2Mp - and that seems to be enough.
Brady Electric
Senior Member
- Location
- Asheville, N. C.
Camera
Camera
Ohm, when do you have time to do Electrical work?
Just kidding, pictures are worth a thousand words when needed.
Semper Fi Buddy
Camera
Ohm, when do you have time to do Electrical work?
Just kidding, pictures are worth a thousand words when needed.
Semper Fi Buddy
ohm
Senior Member
- Location
- Birmingham, AL
Brady Electric said:
Actual electrical work does get in the way of my fun.
PS: I worked for a Brady Electric back in 63 when I was a young man.
cschmid
Senior Member
- Location
- Northern cold country
quogueelectric said:
as long as they are both bright spots on the moons..:grin:
- Status