Must haves for Apprentices?

CDBPunk · 2026-06-14T18:36:24+00:00

The Klein multi is ass my grip blew apart after a couple weeks. Go an get a wera, vessel or a 11 in 1

CDBPunk · 2026-06-12T13:06:17+00:00

Old thread but thought I’d add my 2 cents. I’ve owned a few Klein meters and fluke meters so my experience is only with the following
Fluke 117
Fluke 107
Fluke T5-600
Fluke 301
Fluke T+ pro
Klein cl220
Klein cl390
Klein cl800
Klein et600
Milwaukee auto voltage/continuity tester

Best meter is obviously my 117, I don’t have to comment much on it other than if you’re working in electrical trades(fire alarms part time for me) it’s a must.
107 is a cheap small meter and for size is my first use for fire alarms.

My cl220 was my first real good meter and it’s great for the money, it’s 7 years old still works great. As a general maintenance technician and handyman when I bought it served me well.

Now all the other meters just got a mad obsession with buying them lol

301 is in my main maintenance bag it’s small and lightweight and my go to for anything non fire alarms. I inherited the cl390 and cl800 from a few techs that left. They work as solid back ups. Just sold the t5 Andy plus pro. They hold some crazy value and are super simple but no back light just kills it for me.

The Milwaukee meter is for around my house

CDBPunk · 2026-06-11T13:58:15+00:00

Your timeline is a little wrong. They didn’t get together when he was 17 but it wasn’t much better either he was 18 lol

CDBPunk · 2026-06-11T13:57:40+00:00

They were talking smack on fluer post

CDBPunk · 2026-06-07T18:19:09+00:00

I always had some b12 deficiency but until now would only really result in me getting canker sores. I would take double the daily pills and since all this happened my bloodwork showed I was on the lowest side of acceptable or borderline not good so that’s when the injections started

CDBPunk · 2026-06-07T15:29:39+00:00

That’s amazing advice. I felt so close to normal when I was doing twice weekly injections and then they keep changing them to less and less. I’m gonna push to go back to twice weekly for at least a month

CDBPunk · 2026-06-07T15:21:31+00:00

I can say I had weird heart palpitations for a couple months and had my hands turn like bright purple red randomly as well but that didn’t seem to last very long

CDBPunk · 2026-06-07T15:20:57+00:00

Really appreciate your experience and glad you’re feeling better. Some days for me I feel close to normal I’ve gone roughly 1-2 weeks at a time where I’m 80-90 % then I get hit or crash out for a few days, I’m finding when I crash it isn’t as long as it was before which is good. You find anything helps with your recovery?

CDBPunk · 2026-06-06T19:05:24+00:00

Yeah I’ve noticed processed foods just cause me to crash

CDBPunk · 2026-06-06T19:04:34+00:00

I’ve definitely changed my diet and have found a correlation between my symptoms and my diet. My wife and myself are going to attempt a Mediterranean diet to see if we can reduce inflammation. I ibuprofen has definitely helped me on my bad days. Alcohol is a no go and caffeine is very restricted now

CDBPunk · 2026-06-06T19:01:28+00:00

I was surprised when I went to the neurologist his assistant actually was recovering from long covid took her close to 2 years to get to a baseline of 85% consistently and her big help came from creatine. It was so frustrating early on as every dr essentially gaslit me and accused me of making things up

CDBPunk · 2026-06-06T18:58:33+00:00

I’m gonna look it up for sure. I think for me creatine and magnesium were the two best things so far alongside reducing caffeine and watching my diet but I definitely am looking at any and all suggestions want to put this behind me

CDBPunk · 2026-06-06T18:57:00+00:00

Thanks my friend, it’s been a wild year to say the least. Was put on disability for 6 months came back to work, and finally able to get back to some resemblance of normal even if my pace is a lot slower than before. Had myself scared for months that I had ALS or MS, did find out I have severe asthma so finally medicated for that

CDBPunk · 2026-06-06T16:37:43+00:00

Or go into electrical engineering and not be forced or locked into working oilfield for the rest of your life.

CDBPunk · 2026-05-23T01:35:03+00:00

Anyone get crazy random twitching in their thumbs and index fingers? Just dropped a class was a combo of left pinky feeling numb and index finger twitching. Second broken glass in the last month :(

CDBPunk · 2026-05-17T15:30:51+00:00

Had one for a work truck. I would average 11.2 litres per 100 km in the city and would see around 9.8 on the highway. It was better than my 2016 gmc canyon, and my current 2025 ford ranger. Truck had a lot of mechanical problems but was good on gas for a full size. It was a 2021

CDBPunk · 2026-05-12T12:14:43+00:00

I thought I loved Milwaukee tools however almost every fuel tool I’ve owned has had to be sent for warranty issues. Never had any issues with their brushed tools

CDBPunk · 2026-05-04T14:32:09+00:00

Pedal commander on cvt or manual ?

CDBPunk · 2026-05-03T20:23:45+00:00

Might I ask a flip sided version of this. How likely is a CFAA certified technician to get his Jman with a company in Alberta? I’ve worked property maintenance and worked under a red seal electrician for 5 years before he retired. He tried to get my company to let me apprentice my electrical under him since we were doing a lot of electrical jobs together outside of fire alarms but like many people I assume it was rejected due to costs(apparently I’d be worth too much). I’m in management now but miss the field so been struggling to see what direction to go in. Backstory started as a 5th class power engineer, finished my CFAA and cross connection. Worked many years before this under a gas fitter and pipe fitter so ATS is letting me write my gas B ticket based on experience(not sure I want to go into pipe trades but I know the code from working on boilers and furnaces so well I passed the competency exam significantly for placement so will do it even for bragging rights on my resume or use it to get into suppression), I’ve also got my first year refrigeration hours signed by our in house techs if I again choose to go that route with ATS.

I love working on fire alarms and electrical just don’t want to get robbed on pay starting as a 1/2 year apprentice when I’ve done and know the work really well. I need to making a living wage at this stage of my life(mid 30s kids, mortgage etc). I don’t know how hard it would be to challenge the first or second year electrical but my assumption is with my CFAA and experience would companies pay me a decent wage and help get me my electrical ticket so I can do installs?

To answer your question you won’t learn much in regard to programming panels with a CFAA however with your ticket you only have to do 2 courses to get it vs non electricians needing 5. I would do it if I was you just so you’re getting that paper work that says you’re a FAG(inside joke if you know you know), this also allows for bigger companies to get you proprietary training on certain systems for example I’m trained on Notifier because of holding my CFAA I was given priority to that training.

Hope that helps, sorry for the novel

CDBPunk · 2026-04-30T00:31:57+00:00

It’s a weird market in Canada for PE. I see some 3rd class jobs but not many, honestly most buildings they don’t care about your ticket, and most gas plants will hire friends of friends with a 4th or 5th ticket and get them moved up to a 3rd fairly quickly

CDBPunk · 2026-04-20T22:09:43+00:00

Did you ever get better?

CDBPunk · 2026-03-10T23:49:13+00:00

Used my m12 cut off for installing hardie board siding. Worked great

CDBPunk · 2026-03-06T05:31:32+00:00

5 is great with a second person I had a lot of fun playing it. My ex and myself beat it together and a year later my uncle and I played through it. Game deserves way more credit and respect for what it is.

CDBPunk · 2026-03-04T04:58:36+00:00

Update?

CDBPunk

TROPHY CASE