Vetassess

Old May 10th 2010, 12:48 am
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Default Vetassess

After seeing a few questions about the vetassess day i decided to put my day into words, hopefully it my help some people.

When i did my vetassess in blackburn. It considered of the following sections.

Theory exam which consided of a number of question, they would not state the pass mark required. The exam itself was a multiple choice questions.

revise ohms law, series/parallel resistance and capacitence, 3 phase power calculations etc. I bought a book off amazon for about £7, and its brilliant gives examples/answers. I worked through the book and the theory exam was an absoloute doddle. The book is "Electrical Installation Calulations vol1" by A.J. Watkins, its that good i also bought vol 2 (advanced) and keep them with me always.
REMEMBER its multi choice if you dont have a clue then guess one of the answers, you have a 25% chance of getting it right vs NO chance, that can make the difference.


The 2nd part was working on a board mounted on a wall (like a testing bay). This had a fuseboard only mounted on it. I was given a drawing to add a light, a socket and a two way light. The wiring is in singles running in 20mm PVC Conduit.
BE CAREFUL the drawing has dimensions on it, and the will measure (with your tape measure) the distance from the board to the conduit, socket & lights. My advice draw the runs in pencil then just cover the lines, simple as that. They will normally be one set in the PVC Conduit. For the wiring just wire in the standard loop-in method (mentioned singles wiring i.e council spec, and he didnt have a clue). Now once you have done it and your happy recheck it, check that all switches are wired the right way round, esp the 2-way light switch (both switchs in the off postion = light off). Use a continuity tester to check it out, or if you have brought your own test gear use that. So once your happy present it to the examiner (you can alter whatever you want, but once presented THAT is what your marked on, no changes allowed).

At this point he will give you a plug lead so you can power the board up and check your work, lights working, right dimensions etc (this is why you checked it all out with a continuity tester 1st, you know it works). Presuming everythings working and right, you will be asked to unscrew switchs, sockets etc but dont disconnect, UNPLUG 1st and disconnect the lead. Then unscrew switches/sockets. The reason for this is the examiner will take off the switches/sockets to make sure the connections are doubled over.

The 3rd section was a resistance box, where you did series/parrallel etc, and wrote the results down on a sheet (examiner keeps this as part of your pack). This is a doddle section so i wont dwell on this.

The 4th section was the testing while i can only tell you the scenario that i had.

REMEMBER SAFE ISOLATION PROCEDURES
Study the safe isolation untill it becomes 2nd nature, There is no room for errors here, this is critical.

scenario
Old lady had a heater repaired, not happy called you into test it.

Wooden board with a fuse board mounted, 2 circuits 1 light 1 spur the heater. The circuits are unidentified. Identify circuits as turning the board off is not an option nor%

Last edited by SparkyUK; May 10th 2010 at 12:51 am.
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Old May 10th 2010, 8:22 am
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Default Re: Vetassess

The 4th section was the testing while i can only tell you the scenario that i had.

REMEMBER SAFE ISOLATION PROCEDURES
Study the safe isolation untill it becomes 2nd nature, There is no room for errors here, this is critical.

scenario
Old lady had a heater repaired, not happy called you into test it.

Wooden board with a fuse board mounted, 2 circuits 1 light 1 spur the heater. The circuits are unidentified. Identify circuits as turning the board off is not an option nor is opening it up. Isolate the spur (Please remember safe isolation procedures) disconnect the tube heater and test.
Hints L+N to E (insulation), Test to the casing for earth (if needs be scratch it). Continuity of L-N (resistance of the element)
And is it a pass or fail, There is no data supplied on the heater, but they tell you its normally around 400ohms. Well for me everything fails until it's proven safe, DO NOT ASSUME. On the heater should be the manufactures label giving the output, so this is the info you need, using ohms law I=P/V gives the max current, R=V/I gives the resistance of the element. This should be damn close to what you measured between L-N. Give your pass/fail on that, not an assumption. If no label is found (mine was on the underside, look for it painted over, if needed screw the heater off the board) then fails as its not a BEAB/UK approved product. Thats what i did which involved a heated discussion with the examiner over asumption vs actually proving its safe, better the old lady is cold than either burnt or electricuted (no argument he agreed with me after 15mins).

The final section was the DOL starter
This without a doubt is the one that scares people shitless (me included). You are given a diagram, just literally follow it wire A-B etc. Make sure they are in the right connections, take it slow and just keep to the diagram exactly (i wasted 25 min got 1 wrong). If your having problems disconnect them and start again. Once working the examiner places a fault on it that you have to rectify. Problems such as taking a connection out trimming the cable then reconnecting it, so its held on the insulation and no connection. The easiest solution is just simply take them all out and start again.

The examiners were really friendly and approacable, they even offered hints (for me keep taking out and restarting on the DOL) to everyone. They are Australian lecturers flown in, the are here to assess if your to Australian standards not uk standards. I cannot stress enough the safe isolation procedures .

PS
Hope this helps people and any feedback is appreciated.
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Old May 11th 2010, 4:53 pm
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Default Re: Vetassess

Nice one for posting this mate. I've got my practical in Blackburn next week and this is a big help. I'll dust off my old college notes and get studying.
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Old May 11th 2010, 8:07 pm
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Default Re: Vetassess

"Electrical Installation Calulations vol1 & 2" by A.J. Watkins, was an awesome books for me as after all these years i was well rusty.

If you dont do much testing the i can strongly reccommend

"Practical guide to Inspection, Testing and Certification of Electrical installations" by Christopher Kitcher. This book shows the testting etc, but by pictures in an actual board rather that the ones in the onsite guide.It shows what settings on the meters connections etc, but gives a great explanation of what your looking at, what readings mean etc. Fantastic if your not doing much testing.

I got all 3 of Amazon for about £25 (used but are in mint condition). I wish you all the best for the day, just post on hear and let us know how you went on.
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Old May 11th 2010, 9:59 pm
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link to usefull study books


http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=807409
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Old May 29th 2010, 12:32 pm
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Got a letter through from vetassess today, outcome successful. Woo-hoo!

It doesn't matter how many exams you sit in your life, you always get nervous, so glad to get that out of the way. As other people have mentioned, the examiners are very approachable and will offer hints if they see you struggling with something.

A big thank you to the fine people on this forum who provided advice and information about the practical in this and the other practical exam thread, it all helps
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Old May 30th 2010, 4:49 pm
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Default Re: Vetassess

Gratz pal , and your more than welcome as is anybody here, After all we are all going in the same direction, its just that some are further than others and we all help.
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Old Aug 2nd 2010, 7:59 pm
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Default Re: Vetassess

Originally Posted by Lou_Diamond_Phillips
Got a letter through from vetassess today, outcome successful. Woo-hoo!

It doesn't matter how many exams you sit in your life, you always get nervous, so glad to get that out of the way. As other people have mentioned, the examiners are very approachable and will offer hints if they see you struggling with something.

A big thank you to the fine people on this forum who provided advice and information about the practical in this and the other practical exam thread, it all helps
Congratulations ! Am sitting mine on Friday !
Put this on a thread the other day but not sure if in ruight place ? Cheers.
Hi all,,, am new also, worried also, as a domestic electrician, not used to DOL starters but the threads have been real helpfull.
Seems everyone says revise Ohm's law calcs. so done that too. Have got my test NEXT WEEK and am having trouble taking in Impedance, Inductive reactance calculations.
Do they ask many question on these ? Also Power Factors and RMS values, I have used YouTube to take in all the previous stuff as I find it so much easier to be "shown" or "told" than to "read" explanations.

Any replies / suggestions much appreciated
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Old Aug 4th 2010, 2:58 pm
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Yeah there's questions on all of those you mentioned, along with 3 phase power and transformer turns ratios. The majority of questions were on resistors, though.

Impedance works the same as Pythagoras, you know, two smaller sides of a right angle triangle squared will give you the longer side squared.

A(squared) = B(squared) + C (squared)


So, in Impedence (Z):

Z (squared) = R (squared) + Xl (squared)


R = Resistance. Xl = Inductive Reactance

It's the same for Capacitive Reactance (Xc), just swap Xc for Xl in the formula.


Inductive reactance, the formula is:

Xl = 2 x (pie) x F x L

Xl = Inductive Reactance, F = Frequency (usually 50 herz in 240V)
L = Inductance


I wrote down all the formulas I'd need and just kept writing them out until I knew them off by heart. I got example questions out of my old college notes and kept practicing until I felt confident.

For the DOL starter and motor, this was all mounted on a board. Just follow the wiring diagram they give you to connect the leads. One lead can be connected into another one if you need to connect in series.

Good luck mate
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Old Oct 11th 2010, 8:15 pm
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Default Re: Vetassess

Hey guys heading over to blackburn on 3rd Dec from Northern Ireland, bit off a track but should be worth it, what tools did you guys bring just the ones they state to have??
I am flying over, not sure if I can get my tools over!

If anyone is heading over from Northern Ireland on that date give me a PM!

Got the book UKSparky mentioned thanks been a spark for 17 years but could be rusty on the old book stuff!

Anyway good luck to anyone doing exams in December!
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Old Oct 15th 2010, 4:09 pm
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Hey mate,

I just took all my tools, but if you're concerned about not being able to bring all of them on a flight, then just take what they list. You don't need to take the following, by the way, despite them being on the list:

cordless drill, mcb lock off devices, safety glasses, safety tags, test gear.

Good luck mate
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Old Oct 21st 2010, 7:57 pm
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Hi i have got my practical in blackburn on 29th november! Brickin it!!! It had been postponed from august so nerves getting worse!

I was wondering i have never done any electronics before as no need to in domestic as you all know but are we expected to solder the resistors or is it just the push in type on a small pin board? Is it literally using 2/3 resistors a couple of leds and a 9v battery? Or am i misled and its a bit more then that! I just need to be prepared for this section im pretty confident for rest.

Thanks guys..
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Old Oct 22nd 2010, 10:06 pm
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Default Re: Vetassess

Its just a bread board, so push in. It's nothing complex only bog basic stuff.
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Old Nov 17th 2010, 8:50 pm
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Talking Re: Vetassess practical question

Hi 1st of all thank you everyone for all your help and advise on previous forums. Well practical is in a couple of weeks and I now have decided what will be will be. I have post-it notes stick all over my house to read for revision and seem to be working well, but i think i need to ask a couple more questions to ease my nerves.

The disconnection/reconnection procedure ... do you have access to the lengthy thing in the exam as a check list? I know how to carry out a safe basic disconnection procedure but this one seems very indepth i doubt i can have this in assessment so if this is the case does anyone know if they mark you and allow you to make the odd mistake eg...I know i sound daft but were all prone to mistakes and just wondering how Tuff they are on you?

The bread board. I have bought one from Maplins and 2 LEDs and a couple of resistors. Is that as basic as it is or do we have to use more then that to create series/parallel circuits.

Also the conduit?? pvc or metal??

Im only 25 just turned have 6years in trade including apprenticeship but been kept in domestic house bashing so im a bit panicky although i learn quickly i just want to be really prepared.

Thank you for your time and look forward to your replies.

Last edited by mickhez; Nov 17th 2010 at 9:03 pm.
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Old Nov 18th 2010, 8:26 am
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Default Re: Vetassess

What is the main questions on the exam paper ?? I have exam on 3rd DEC getting nervous, I think the rig should be fine resistors maybe not dont know, safe isolation do we have to follow the work sheet as mentioned ??

Has anyone ever failed this its alot off money to fail is it not really a assessment to show that you have electrical skills!??
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