Worst Switchboard Ever? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 09:48:40 am
content: No words...https://x.com/BrianRoemmele/status/1897890856654479499

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 10:42:13 am
content: That's a work of art!

author: Ranayna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 11:39:08 am
content: Holy smoke

author: Haenk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 11:52:59 am
content: I admire the levers being held in position by plant wire and screws. Only a dummy would have used cable straps or glue.

author: mikerj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 12:18:53 pm
content: Can you really stop US breakers from tripping by forcing the lever closed?

author: Fire Doger
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 12:44:18 pm
content: Quote from: mikerj on March 07, 2025, 12:18:53 pmOne would think that in buildings constructed with flammable materials, overcurrent protection would be a top priority.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 02:09:23 pm
content: Notice how they put a screws through the RCD's or fuses.Looks beyond cowboy to meI wondered from the picture whether that was smoke or cob webs but I see it is a video of it smoking.QuoteWith all the information, guides, and pictures available out there in this day and age on how to wire up fuse boxes properly and even from videos on Youtube and I wonder how someone can still come up with something so stupid.Quote*Maybe that won't be necessary, if water pipes above burst and trips the whole street or neighbourhood out.Is that cardboard? So the fire hazard is not just in the fusebox itself, it's on outside too but don't worry the water pipes will put it out.That looked to me almost like an April fool's joke.I mean if you're on the toilet (doing a number 2) and even with lid closed and you bang your head against the casing trying to get up.Do a number 1 standing up, nudge the panel and ground yourself to earth through the toilet.If you are tall enough maybe your shoulders could lift the whole thing up as you get up from the toilet.

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 02:18:41 pm
content: Quote from: mikerj on March 07, 2025, 12:18:53 pmI'm quite sure you can't

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 03:20:11 pm
content: I thought the toilet near the fusebox was funny if it wasn't real but it gets better.I find this even more funnier:What is he doing?Creating a partitioned wall out of cardboard with a window frame attached to the switchboard?It sounds insane to me, like madness, in a bathroom and I wonder if it has got a bath or shower in there where that'd sog up and fall down.Notice the daylight, through that, cardboard window frame and that wood that looks to me like the outside of a fancy shed or a wooden out building.I wonder if that cardboard window frame is suppose to be acting as the outside wall.If that's right then this must be garden hose pipe:It's not often I have a good laugh.It could be that it wasn't a big deal for Thomas when his house burn't down, if it was made out of cardboard.Maybe Saturday Night Live could do a sketch out of something like this.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 03:31:10 pm
content: Quoteconvinent when things go bang. In the uk its fine to put a fuseboard in a toilet,its locations containing a bath or shower that you need to worry about.Many years ago we had a load of houses to rewire,the incomer,meter and fuseboard were all mounted in the bathroom,big conflab between the landlord(council) and elecky board about the cost of moving the supplies and what the rules said, in the end they just built a cupboard around it all.Wouldn't be surprised if its still like it today

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 03:55:47 pm
content: I have seen them in toilets before but nowhere near that close to the toilet or sink and well away high up on the wall where you have to reach it with your arms or get a step ladder. I don't remember seeing a fusebox before in a bathroom with bath and showers where it can get hot and steamy apart from ceiling mounted isolators and those that have strings dangling from them.Quote from: langwadt on March 07, 2025, 02:18:41 pmWhat if the screws (especially that one squared in yellow going directly through one of the rcds) are in the right places (with all that bare wire joining them up) to have effectively bypassed them in circuit where it wouldn't matter if they were switched on or off they'd still have power finding their way through them and back.I see what looks like glue on one of the leavers and burn marks on others:Just noticed a bodged red wire wrapped around a screw that had been screwed into the top piece of an RCD.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 06:45:40 pm
content: Why even bother with a fusebox at this stage. Just wire everything directly to the incoming mains feed, can't be any less safe.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 09:15:59 pm
content: Quote from: tom66 on March 07, 2025, 06:45:40 pmI once worked on a place, a restaurant in the US, that had one circuit that ran directly from the utility drop to an outlet, no breaker or fuse.Might not be all that uncommon ...

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2025, 10:03:42 pm
content: I think I found the source. It was from a building firm Promes Construction.Part 2https://www.instagram.com/promes_construction/reel/DG3ycSNBLT8/https://scontent-lhr8-1.cdninstagram.com/o1/v/t16/f2/m86/AQOm6XNjiceKgZU7setbzXGdSrRvzAet33mHGr_9dCoExNNAVFUD5wnDUX_PG9YoiGX8Yd9cAncEXpTEnl4ytk-Py8v4yUgNcEJziko.mp4?stp=dst-mp4&efg=eyJxZV9ncm91cHMiOiJbXCJpZ193ZWJfZGVsaXZlcnlfdnRzX290ZlwiXSIsInZlbmNvZGVfdGFnIjoidnRzX3ZvZF91cmxnZW4uY2xpcHMuYzIuNzIwLmJhc2VsaW5lIn0&vs=1420383398944397_2208926655&_nc_vs=HBksFQIYUmlnX3hwdl9yZWVsc19wZXJtYW5lbnRfc3JfcHJvZC83MTQyMTAyRDFFMjNEMUY5N0NFRkNFMEM4QjMxNEJBRl92aWRlb19kYXNoaW5pdC5tcDQVAALIAQAVAhg6cGFzc3Rocm91Z2hfZXZlcnN0b3JlL0dJVlZ5QndZV0s4LW1GRURBRDZTRzBuYnRPa1ZicV9FQUFBRhUCAsgBACgAGAAbABUAACb2yPXoz57HPxUCKAJDMywXQFJVT987ZFoYEmRhc2hfYmFzZWxpbmVfMV92MREAdf4HAA%3D%3D&_nc_rid=66746edcb6&ccb=9-4&oh=00_AYEn5Zo4eD2-4O4Qs36O-Uv2xL1iXP568eVR6bEfaOBXDQ&oe=67CD2E0C&_nc_sid=d885a2QuoteI feel sorry for them and their safety.I bet they are looking forward tofinishing off the job and running away.The levers on the RCD's apart from one don't seem to look as melted like they do on the other pictures compared to this recording. One of the units looks pretty melted and cooked where the plastic is cracking and like it might have caught fire before and the heat from that one deformed the others a little.Broken switch at the bottom of the switchboard:So that was not glued down.It melted or more like roastedwhilst being tied down andforced in position.218 Fahrenheit or 100c degrees Celsius.I don't think I have seen something so appalling as this before.I wonder what their insurance would have to say about this.It gets much worse:Now I found a better quality video of the first recording and I couldn't see what he mean't by:QuoteAs well as the screwsthat above alone speaks for itself.Maybe he should call the fire department without hesitation.I see a cable connected to an outlet from the bottom right of the fusebox running up to that four way extension ontop where a tiny wire seems to be connected to one of the RCD's and the other to a stand on the larger cable and one unsleeved cable from the earth besides it.I wonder what they were trying to do?

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 12:04:38 am
content: Or there's an alternate explanation for this mess.Comment from that Instagram page:Quote

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 12:07:34 am
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on March 08, 2025, 12:04:38 amMight be fake, but there is even worse IRL, so its worthless statement if there is no proof. Photo I took myself in Ukrainian block of flats in 2016. That shit was in shared staircase. Mains circuit breakers, phone lines, internet, cable TV, all entangled into spaghetti monster.

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 12:33:09 am
content: Analogue Kid, looks like you might be absolutely right.I do hear a radio on in the background in the second video when it "supposedly" tripped.The switchboard frame is bent at the top compared to the bottom like the whole thing was pulled out of a skip.None of the mains cables coming out of that switchbox clipped to the walls or ceiling.The dead ends could have been tucked away in the beamsArmour braiding inside that don't seem to go anywhere.The solid core wires dangling behind the cardboard outside.Water pipes clipped to the ceiling but not that blue one that seems to come in from the cardboard.Maybe the cardboard was used to help cover up the staging.On closer look at the toilet is it even connected up?It is away from the wall and look at wonky condition of the plumbing under the cistern like that could have also been pulled out of a skip.Can't see any screws holding it at the bottom.With that heater there, the fancy wood and on the outside it is looking to me like a showroom area.QuoteGoogle reviewerQuoteIt better not be fake with someone with that reputation. You'd think he'd have better things to do and the amount of effort possibly wasted on staging something like that.If it was found to be fake which it is looking would that affect his reputation?I just took a look at their address on Google Earth and do not see and wooden sheds there yet out outbuildings matching that fancy wood or anything else further downb on the Instagram account.https://www.tiktok.com/@promes_constructionJust found this:https://www.tiktok.com/@promes_construction/video/7427881543068060971?is_from_webapp=1QuoteNot sure if that is something he normally puts into his videos when he finds cowboy work.Just found another video footage that is a minute long on his Tiktok account.Notice: The musicat the end of that one0:54on hisTiktok account:https://www.tiktok.com/@promes_construction/video/7478794209332301086and the other one01:01ofpart 2on hisInstagram account:https://www.instagram.com/promes_construction/reel/DG3ycSNBLT8/is different for the same exact footagejust when he touched the hot breaker and then measured it with a temperature gun.Oops just replaced wrong Tiktok URLand where I downloaded the videos and played them and Instagram seems to be missing the player controls and duration.It does look suspicious.Here's another footage (URL above I swapped) of him testing that four way socket:https://www.tiktok.com/@promes_construction/video/7478487560600227103With the amount of videos of his work not sure he if staged that or not.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 02:43:24 am
content: Where that toilet is placed would have to be one of the scariest shits anyone would take. Imagine not knowing when that wiring will literally blow up in your face while you're sitting there.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 02:53:49 am
content: reminds me of power lines in Thailand..

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 03:07:53 am
content: Are those power or telecom lines?The ones way on top are clearly high-voltage lines.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 03:28:56 am
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on March 08, 2025, 03:07:53 amGoogle power line in thailand. it's everything....

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 03:39:48 am
content: QuoteOr Laos or vietnam or....A few holiday snaps,first the power for the stage lighting,there was 12kw hanging off those red wiresThailand practices good separation of High voltage, low voltage and communications cablingThe fence finishes just out of shot,the cabinets live as it was powering a street marketAnd market power distribution,Laos style

author: xvr
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 12:21:39 pm
content: This reminded me of a picture from the former USSRCaption: A severe Soviet LED indicates a slight overload.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 12:39:38 pm
content: Frost protection?

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 09:09:18 pm
content: LEN? Light emitting nut?

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 09:12:07 pm
content: Nah, it's just a hex heat sink.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 11:48:22 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on March 07, 2025, 09:48:40 am

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2025, 05:59:39 am
content: Definitely looks staged to me. There are plenty of pictures of circuit breakers melted and burned elsewhere on the Internet, and what's common in those is that the actual switch levers are usually intact and the last to show any signs of damage. They probably blasted them with a heat gun.https://www.electrical-forensics.com/CircuitBreakers/CircuitBreakers.html

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2025, 02:30:56 pm
content: Quote from: amyk on March 09, 2025, 05:59:39 amThat's a shame Photonicinduction could have had a great time with it.He could have got it to light up and arc before it melted to sludge..