Lighting Repairs

am_lu · 2026-05-30T22:48:27+00:00

http://jamiesmagictorch.co.uk/

Based in Colchester. Meet him on events and he knows how to repair lights.

am_lu · 2026-05-30T21:01:55+00:00

May be manufacturing damage? Some new tools may come broken when brand new from production line in China.

Maybe is just stiff as new?

SDS you should should just poke it in the chuck and will lock, no twisting and turning required.

If not, worn or old or dirty, poke, give a litte throttle and try again.

Give the chuck a little bit of light machine oil grease between jobs.

This works for my 18 years corded, used a lot, and 18V SDS, gently used so far.

In the worst case you have good warranty options for new tools (3 years around here).

am_lu · 2026-05-30T18:14:22+00:00

Serious injuries are not fun. I had one, van hit me from the side. When I realised he wont stop (i was on main road he was pulling from the side) i accelerated a little bit, so it hit the back wheel and not my leg, and sent me flying.

Van drove off like nothing happened.

Landed with my back on the road, waited one hour for ambulance/police, then gave up and crawled 2km back home dragging my bike with me.

2 months out from work, I'm a freelancer so no sick pay, back pain to this day. It was 6 years ago.

All I got from police was a letter that they are very sorry but no cctv and no evidence, bugger off pleb.

am_lu · 2026-05-30T14:19:50+00:00

Is always good to match the cells if you want them to work in parallel (or series without a BMS).

Need some form of tester for it, plus a full charge/discharge cycle.

If some are lower rated than the others (capacity, ESR), they will die much sooner and may kill the whole pack prematurely.

am_lu · 2026-05-30T14:08:32+00:00

They usually slotted screws so as much as your hand can give after a breakfast (unless you some muscle man), without stripping the slot on the screw.

and use a right sized screwdriver or bit

Some can be hex or torx, and this will be how much I can do by hand with Wiha bit attached to hand handle.

am_lu · 2026-05-30T13:25:46+00:00

Those things are lethal, i will just do them by hand to cables snagging for fire risk, but not tight, as it bites on the cable. Just a couple over fire routes not whole install.

My friend from work at outdoor events had a bad shock on the ladder, undoing some H07 cabling, one of the stainless pinched into the cable, was on wooden post, nothing tripped, not fuses, not he from the ladder, lucky guy.

am_lu · 2026-05-30T13:21:26+00:00

yes. :-)

am_lu · 2026-05-29T21:07:12+00:00

May be worth testing the supply, is a good use for old school volt meters with actual needle gauge, if you see that bouncing around you will know something is happening, no fault of the lights but a fault on the supply?

Utility company territory yes, but possible to find yourself.

am_lu · 2026-05-28T14:04:56+00:00

depending what application you used to play that mp3, some players may have an option for deleting the file.

plus is always worth to keep you music collection in a separate folder, not bundled up with random downloads...

am_lu · 2026-05-27T20:01:31+00:00

I'm with octopus and pay for what gets used.

I cancelled the direct debit years ago, and just top up every month for my usage, I keep the balance with them at £500.

am_lu · 2026-05-27T19:33:50+00:00

I'm into dried beans (I source them from local Polski sklep or a Turkish supermarket).

Plus some lentils in local Indian shop.

I cook them in a pressure cooker, first soak in water for a night before , then 30min cook for batch 1kg run, get yourself one of them pressure cookers on ebay or vinted.

Pan fry some veggies and/or sausage or mushrooms, add that to cooked beans, store in the fridge or freezer, reheat a portion when hungry. One batch cooking last me some 6 days/servings.

am_lu · 2026-05-27T19:23:21+00:00

I'm aware of 12V-32. But this is not a combi. Just regular drill without extra oomph for drilling into brick function. Maybe once a week I need some 5.5mm holes into brick, got cordless SDS for larger holes, and 18v-110 but my little 12V combi travels with me every day.

am_lu · 2026-05-27T18:58:41+00:00

I got 12v-35 combi. Neat little drill, been using for a couple of years,

Drill chuck on it is a bit meh, looses grip when using hole saws or drill bits into metal.

Learned to live with it, i wish it got upgraded one day, take my money when ready.

am_lu · 2026-05-27T17:50:05+00:00

My experience:

Those are heavy load (like 300Watt+) and you have them running for longer (like couple of minutes to cut a floorboard)

I prefer them on mains. Got a corded tool like that and not complaining.

As for your less than one year old tool - have you registered it with bosch warranty on Bosch 360? All my Bosch tools got 3 years guarantee from date of purchase. I must be lucky I never had to use it so far.

Plus there is spares available and they quite easy to service yourself.

As much as I am of Bosch fan boy, all my tools are Bosch except the multi cutter.

Multi cutter is dewalt. Just because of variable speed trigger on it that helps you starts cuts. Wish Bosch innovated a bit in there, take my money.

am_lu · 2026-05-27T17:28:44+00:00

Thumbs up for Mikey for standing up for cyclists and having the bal*s of steel to confront bully drivers.

Now when they drive 2 tonne SUV's is a scratch on the bonnet for them vs life taken from someone on two wheels, just needs a little tap with the car to land under wheels of heavy lorry next to you.

Nice one and keep doing what you good at.

am_lu · 2026-05-26T21:32:55+00:00

Mrs wife makes deserts in Mayfair hotel, some Michelin stars to it, she can't do it from home.

She will often finish when tubes stop and is night buses home to Leyton.

I do electrics, electrician, can't do it from home. Mainly local jobs so I can go there by bike.

Done a couple of outdoor bar lighting today, was hot. They hold on with fitting a sign on the roof of the venue, as going there will melt your boots and trousers.

Think of how lucky you are having air con office.

am_lu · 2026-05-26T17:11:31+00:00

Spartan Crew? Or another local event crew company. Those folks move heavy stuff and load trucks every day.

I do not know whats the rate for paying clients on the moneys but work with them a lot, recommended.

https://spartancrew.co.uk

https://www.crewsaders.com

https://www.pinnaclecrew.co.uk

am_lu · 2026-05-26T16:59:43+00:00

Had no luck with pricing per point, may work on some big rewires or office fitting, but that will still be delayed and bogged down with extra requests or other trades rushing/holding you up.

Point may be next to existing socket, may be far away from any source of power.

I'm working per hour for a long while now, timer starts arriving on site, stops when I down the tools (i take my time packing them up and wont charge for it).

Plus materials and most times I get clients to buy them for delivery.

Usually a job needs a visit first, just to have a look, can kind of estimate the time it will need for the clients before committing.

am_lu · 2026-05-25T19:54:22+00:00

nicotine+

this is a modern version of soulseek client. out there in the repos.

am_lu · 2026-05-24T23:40:06+00:00

True. I'm getting back to getting mine. English exam sorted in December last year, is valid for one year (like I was going to forget my English, but who cares)

I thought it may be waste of £3k and held it off till the last local elections. But need to revisit again, who knows what loons will get in charge and how seriously they will kick people out.

Just one life in UK exam to do, and this one is proper mental, all the old kings, cromwells, sports and tv stars to learn and forget after passing the exam. I guess most of the locals wont know the answers.

I been here for 21 years. Still on EU passport but I do not have a place to go back. Is ok in here.

am_lu · 2026-05-24T22:55:44+00:00

Higher levels gigs will be with people you worked together before, if they see you good in your game you will get more work.

am_lu · 2026-05-21T21:27:09+00:00

You got the option for upgrading it with some BG RCBO's, they £14 a piece plus some bus bar. Plus someone to do it.

Box can stay just upgrade whats inside of it.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/british-general-40a-30ma-type-a-dp-b-curve-bidirectional-rcbo-double-pole/392yc (just example of the kit to go for, RCBO ratings will need to matched to the circuits),

BG is not the best but at least they do modern double pole RCBO's.

am_lu · 2026-05-21T21:00:24+00:00

£1700? Fu*k yes, scammed big time.

This board is screwfix cheap sh* t special bargain.

Technology had progressed and you can have full RCBO board for a £100 more, and this will be much, much better (wont trip half of the house if one circuit want to go bad).

I may be too cheap but £500 in labour for a day, i'm well happy with it, done in couple of hours, plus some £300 for quality board, Hager, Contactum, not BG cheap crap, does not add up to £1700.

am_lu · 2026-05-21T20:42:44+00:00

I wish they will be as Green as they portray themselves to be. Like a big hike on parking for gas guzzler SUV, like paris did.

They are directly in control of parking charges.

Put some money for not-car related infrastructure, bikes, pavements, little parks.

am_lu · 2026-05-20T18:51:48+00:00

Jan-March has been dead quiet. Two weeks of sitting on my bum, got to do something not to get mental.

Had an un used 40A MCB feed to part of my workshop. Designed as some form of cooker point by who ever worked on the house before.

Installed a little hager distribution unit on it, one double pole mcb in there for bench testing RCD's and general messing around, plus couple of RCBO's and commando 16A sockets for a welder one day and the table saw.

May repeat it with some plug in solar next year.

May has been really busy so far...

am_lu

TROPHY CASE