Will Dave pass his van inspection??? (+ exploring random Germanic Electrics) | Thomas Nagy 

If you have loads over 3,6kw you use almost exclusively three phase power here in Germany. Single phase outlets with more than 16a. Are very untypical, residential buildings and even modern apartments have a three phase supplies ,so seeing these sockets is normal in Germany, lots of households even have these in the garage or the basement.By keeping the distribution three phase as long as possible the grid is easier kept balanced.

Train nerd alert.... You are right, those power supplies would have been for track works. Tunnels have a horrible habit of building up dust, debris and other flammable detritus. As a result they have to be cleaned out regularly (London Underground does it overnight when the system is closed with teams known as 'fluffers') but why they left the units in place, i dont know. What I do know though is that railway track engineering and railway electrical engineering are 2 separate teams, they probably just got the track engineers in to rip the track up and said lets save some money and just disconnect the supply rather than rip it out The shelters inside the tunnel are a safe place for shelter (track worker needing to take shelter from an oncoming train for example) They would have had signalling phones in as well so that if a train broke down or engineering teams needed to speak to a signaller then they could do so from a safe place. Likely to be fire protected cable so that if your need to contact the signaller is that your train has broken down and caught fire or debris in the tunnel has caught fire then the signalling system will still function.

The Tunnel was Part of the "Donauuferbahn" it was decomissioned in 2017 and deconstructed in 2018. In 2019 they have to close up all the tunnels, that's whhy the infrastructure is still there and looks fairly new. That Emergency Phone was probably updated shortly before the decomissioning due to regulation changes of Tunnel safety. The three phase plugs are for work or rescue operations in the tunnel. Regards from Austria

That nice new van is f##ked already ! Shame its a beautiful kitted van . Dave start looking after it ! I feel for you Tom

That bike would last less than a minute in that glass box in the UK.

In Finland we also typically just have the straight bits of the pipe and no bends (unless it's going through something, or near the ground where the freezing/unfreezing of the ground/snow/ice could break it) The cable needs to be certified for outdoor use anyway, so it's not thought of as necessary.... as long as the boxes the cable goes in/out of are adequately certified and properly secured so the IP rating is adhered to.

Hi As someone that lives in both the UK and Austria (Salzkamagut to be exact, in case you wondered), I would like to let you know that in Austria 3-Phase power in rural and even houses in villages and the outskirts of towns is really common. I don't know if the electric companies introduced it or it was demanded by the customers but quite often the 3 phase power is used for log splitters, table saws, woodworking machinery etc and for households to cut up their supply of winter logs. Ive also seen 3-phase pressure washes and other appliances out there - all terminated with 16amp 3p+N+E plugs, though in many cases the neutral isn't used as the appliances are taking advantage of the 3-phase power for motors. Outlets like the one you see in this video are quite common; in public buildings, outside public buildings, in private garages, in gondola and chairlift stations in the alps, and in manhole covers for use when there are summer festivals etc. I think the conclusion is that Germany/Austria (I cannot speak for Switzerland) relies on 3-phase power more than the UK and like to have utility power at their fingertips.

the piping is only to support the braided shield cable not for protection. Rare nowadays but public lighting for tunnels, corridors, garage boxes is powered by 48Vac.

its a work power connection,(maintenance..) it can be powered from somwhere else, Notruff is emergency call.

I like this channel, reminds me of my old life as a fire alarm engineer out on the road. I'm retired now and we didn't have all your cool gadgets and electronics back then in the 80's, but I remember when pagers first came along, such a pain getting 'beeped' and having to find a phonebox.

in netherlands we dont do bends either. As long as the conductors inside are cables. we also use loose wires inside of pipes, if that is being used you have to do the bends as well. Sometimes for more critical stuff like Data, CCTV, alarm systems its being done for security purposes. On Fire alarms however it is required. you are never allowed to lay the cables loose. Always within pipe, tray or trunking and seperated from any mains lines. In netherlands It is not needed (at least for mains power cables) because the cable (for example in NL: YMvK, XMvK, VMvK type cables etc) already provide a double insulating layer by itself. if you use loose conductors (installation wire) you must make sure that there are no exposed wires because they only provide a single layer of insulation. Bends are mainly being left out because it is faster to install, you don't have to bend all those pipes.

Imagine if it’s not dead and he’s just switching someone’s lights off and off

I don't know the law's for austria, but in switzerland we do the same thing. If it is a a Cable you can have it exposed in the corners, because the cables are isolated double (The cable itself and the wires inside). It it were just wires you have to either put up corners by law.

Hi tom regarding conduit it is probably because typically when we use conduit we use singles so no corners means no double protection and from what I’ve seen it is always double insulated cable. I think this is quite common on some ships.

Two words spring to mind after watching the Austria section of this vid, Stealing and Vandalism. In the UK most of this stuff would have experienced first one, then the other and generally in that order. The lack of bends on the conduit make it to steal the cable within, but they don’t suffer from the lack of casual theft that we do in the UK. Here the fuse box/outlet box at the tunnel entrance would have been stripped bare of anything moveable and the wires pulled out of the concrete trunking, even if the power was still on. Ditto with the phone. The pile of fish plates would have been stolen. I love the motorcycle in a box, that is actually a monument to British thievery put up by another country.

@12:05 I could be YMvKas cable, where "as" is the shielding and the pipes are only there to make it nice and straight to look at, but not really necessary. (NL)

In Norway we don't use the bends(most of the time) on open-installation in industrial enviroments eather. the pipes are just used to keep the cables in place and to make it look nice and neat. It also makes it easier to pull the cabels thru, when you don't have the bends.

The black box in the safety "dodge" hole may be a RF repeater for a radiating coax (leaky feeder) which is probably mounted in the roof of the tunnel. Could be part of a fire safety system or a distribution point for tunnel lighting? In addition to power the cables in the surface concrete troughing could also be for signalling control (probably now disused) as well as telecommunications cables, for the yellow Emergency Phone (including fibre optic trunk cables for the railway communications systems). Although no longer a working track disused rights of way are often utilised as diversity routes for communications and signalling in case an accident on a main route damages cabling.

All those red cables are either Firealarmsystem-components or some kind of Railway-Signal-Cables... Because red in germany always means Safetystuff... The installation outside is probably not older than 20y or so... And the Railway-Companies like DB (German Railway) or ÖBB (Austrian Railway) usually provide Power and Emergency-Points for Service-Workers and stuff like that... The pipework is actually always like this around here... Its not nessesary to cover the Corners and stuff cause the cables are correctly insulatet.

The cable route is called troughing which is used in a majority of countries across the globe. Instead of concrete it’s now made using GRP plastic. I’m guessing the ccu was for some form of lighting within the tunnel and the commando sockets more than likely for power tools (more importantly a kettle).

I'm no electrician but I think that we put the tubes on the wires to make sure it looks good and to provide more protection as some wires can become broken and expose wire, including animals that can just chew the wire.

Ah the MSC Napoli at Branscombe, I remember it well. It's only 15 miles up the road from me. I was there for almost a week as one of many Coastguards keeping an eye on what was going on. You couldn't hire a van anywhere south of Manchester over the first 24hrs. They arrived in their droves and the Police weren't expecting it to happen until the media filmed it and said it was a free for all! Tonnes of Car parts, gear boxes, curtainside airbags, dog food, nappies even personal effects belonging to people who had moved abroad and were expecting to arrive. The only thing that remains of it now is a massive anchor on show outside the cafe. All that aside, I do love watching your vids. Not a spark myself but find them "educational" all the same.

Used to work for a company with gps tracker fitted on the van, we would leave the engine running in the car park infront of the window when we went into Maccas so we could keep an eye on it. The gps would log as being on the nearest road while we were having a feed 👍

Those little LED spotlights on the side of your van are very bright. We fit them to forklifts as they project nice wide beams, run off a wide voltage range and the brackets have just the right amount of adjustment for illuminating the ground right below them. I would suggest sticking a piece of frosted tape/fablon over the lenses to diffuse the light as if you accidentally glance at them from head on you won't see anything else for 30 seconds. I would also take the cable end off and check the wires haven't been trapped in the rubber seal when they were assembled - we had a few early failures and found that they had wires pinched allowing contact with the aluminium frame. Poor QC at the factory, but then they are cheap so that is where the savings are.

Maybe the tunnel used to have lights until you started poking the fuses :p

You like looking how the Sparks do it in other countries... That's why I follow you from the States.! Not weird at all 😂

The cut outs along the tunnel in the UK are called refuges. These are places a set distance apart and are used in emergency if someone, maybe a track worker or even a member of the public happen to be in the tunnel as a train approaches. They can use the refuge as a place of safety whilst the train passes them. The box inside the refuge looks like, and say looks like a radio transformer to me as we have similar in London. They are trackside boosters for the trains radio system and are placed along the whole line to boost the radio signal coverage for drivers and control staff as the train passes along the whole line.

In regards to your comment about pipe work Tom. I’m from Australia and we do the same, never ever have exposed corners or anything like that due to the ingress of water. Also it looks a lot neater aswell rather than just having straight sections and when coming to bends have it exposed. Ours here always comes down to the ingress of water and making sure it never happens. In a situation like that where it’s covered anyways I’d still put sets or bends because it looks neater like a said.

Hi Tom - I'm sort of echoing what another post below says. I've seen cable run in conduit like that in a number of places in Austria, nearly always on concrete walls and ceilings, and I assumed it was more to make fixing the cable easier - no cable clips every foot or so, but conduit saddles less frequently. Makes sense, in my eyes.

There Are no bends in the pipe work because in winter the moisture inside Will freeze and crack it.

In Germany almost everyone has 3Phase CEE-Sockets (at least 16A) at least in the cellar. So its pretty normal to have Machines that need 3Phases. In my garden shed i have an "Standard"-Box with 32A input and 1x 32A 3Phase / 1x 16A 3Phase / 3x 16A 1Phase (1Socket per Phase) as an Output. So its also not uncommon see it at abandoned Sites in Germany. (Sorry for my bad English writing ;) )

Here in Spain we use the bends on the conduit. However, while I was working at the EP in Luxembourg they were never used. Only strait conduit, be it electric, data, fire, PA, alarm, everything.

It will be for Tunnel Maintenance, so they can have work lights etc... You should come here to Brazil and see the Electrics. I could send you some pics

5:38 Such combo sockets (as we call them) are generally installed in industrial or commercial places. They are generally placed where heavy duty equipment needs to be used. (Welders in excess of 20kW...electric pully systems...etc...) It is common for a residence in the UK to have a 240V 100A single phase feed, where the most of Europe a 400V 63A 3 phase feed is more common. For example Germany has a standard for homes to have a 3 phase 400V 63 A feed, where most of eastern Europe has a 3 phase 400V 25A feed. (The higher the amperage of your main breaker, the more you pay monthly for you feed.) Ring circuits don't exist in Europe. It's common in the UK to have a ring circuit which is fed from a 32A breaker. In Europe a 16A spurr circuit is more common. Our plugs aren't fused...hence why....

Those Moeller MCBs and RCDs are 2004-2010-ish. German Moeller took over Austrian F&G in the early 2000s and then got taken over by Eaton in 2008, the name change taking effect in 2010. The orange cable in the tunnel is probably NHXH, either 30, 60, or 90-minute fire resistant cable. Re: conduit bends: they were done back in the 60s and early 70s but only if singles were to be pulled through that conduit. Cable was usually just clipped straight to the wall back then. That was an art form if done right! In the 70s this kind of conduit sleeving took over for exposed work and nowadays it's pretty much the only way that's used. The conduit is essentially only there to support the cable rather than protect it. Generally, perception of what is and isn't dangerous vary greatly from country to country. Let me just give two UK - Austria examples: In the UK sockets in bathrooms are considered horribly dangerous, while in Austria people couldn't care less as long as they're outside of zone 2 (actually most homeowners don't care as long as they're outside zones 0 and 1). On the other hand, in the UK no one worries about ring circuits with 2.5 mm2 and sockets rated 26 amps maximum on a B32 MCB while in Austria it's strictly forbidden to protect wires at more than their rated capacity unless they're run in parallel and physically bundled together all the way. Same is true for local isolation (e.g. cooker switches, fan isolators, etc.) and mounting meters to combustible surfaces, which is considered a HUGE fire risk in Austria. All meters are supposed to be mounted to flame-retardant plastic bases (but metal CUs aren't required). Or let me take different countries. In Sweden, it was perfectly normal to have un-earthed sockets in dry living spaces (e.g. sitting rooms, bedrooms etc.) because the idea was that without any exposed earth potential it's impossible to receive a fatal shock, until 1994! In Germany and Austria that method was banned in 1960 and in Czechoslovakia as early as 1934! Perception even differs across regions in the same country! Some areas of Austria had TN supplies very early on and used TN-C installations with only two wires and a jumper from neutral (PEN) to earth at every socket and light. Otheres were TT until the late 90s and older installations often still had sockets without earth. People from TN areas consider TN-C much safer than un-earthed sockets while folks from TT areas would absolutely prefer no earth at all but an RCD fitted over TN-C any day! Even though the laws of physics are exactly the same all over the world, risk assessment is very much subjective.

We dont use turns in pvs pipe in belgium eather and its because there is no rule fore exposed cable as long as it is double insulated cable we put it in pipe to make it look neet and straight no use for it do. Correct me if I’m wrong fellas😂

400V 3 phases are very common in many European countries. I would be surprised if there wasn't 3 phase connection. Most high power equipment is 3 phase in Slovakia where I come from. Even in domestic applications. Everyone I know has 3 phases in there house, especially if they live in a village. All the stuff we use around the yard is 3 phases, like air compressor, cement mixers, circular saw, welding machine. Even our oven. I was quite surprised that you have only one phase. You have to use thick cables like 6mm for high power appliances, we would just use 400v and draw less amps using 2.5mm max. Flats use just 230v one phase.

Damm when he flicked that switch my lights went out --STOP IT---lol

In the Power Station I work at in northern Ireland, when SWA or FP is being contained in conduit 90s are not installed, I think it is to do with the bending radius of the cables and allowing air flow to prevent overheating as ambient temperature in the boiler building can exceed 40 degrees at times

for those Curious about the story at 10:10 Jack. Tim. and Jamie found a strange scene when they arrived at the beach of Branscombe. Southern England. on the evening of January 18. 2007. The container ship MSC Napoli had recently shipwrecked in the English Channel and lost some of its cargo. some of which had washed up on Branscombe's shore. Like many other curious onlookers who heard about it in the news. the three friends had come to witness the events. In the old days there was a simple law: everything you found at the beach was yours. This antiquated rule seemed to be revived that night as people were taking possession of everything they found useful. Some were rolling wine barrels up the beach while others carried as many pairs of sneakers. perfume bottles and other luxury goods as they could find. all under the eyes of befuddled policemen who didn't stop the motley crowd. Jack. Tim. and Jamie joined the salvage. attracted by engine noises coming from a container. Within. they found guys trying to get BMW motorcycles running. They spent hours helping others to free bikes before finally making free with one of their own. They first had to fit on a front wheel and then pushed it up the beach and all the way home. On their way they were interviewed by a journalist from The Daily Telegraph. The consequent news article triggered a debate over whether the beachcombers were in teh right or if they were looting. When BMW reported the motorbikes stolen. Jack. tim. and Jamie refused to return their salvage. They claimed they had only helped clean up the beach and this was their reward. Two years and many attorney letters later. BMW withdrew its claim and the three men were declared the bike's official owners. To this day, the motorcycle has never been driven. The men kept it in storage as a memento of an unforget- table night shared by three friends. Then. one day. they were contacted by an artist working on a site-specific artwork for an emergency mooring on the banks of the Danube in Austria. They sold him the motorcycle on April 5. 2018

Pretty every house here got 3 Phase. Usally the Stove is 3 Phase and usally houses also have a 3 Phase Socket (16 or 32A)

That is a cee plug which is used in industry and is appeal to supply other breakerboards (not sure if this is what it is called, from Denmark btw). Those a 16A and can also be used for some machines and tools

Yes, same in france. The bends costs 4 euros for four very expensive. They should cover it. The french dont use wires with mechanical protection in plastic conduits its naked just one cover the wires bought with no mechanical protection.

You go to the lengths on the conduit for the same reason that we do here in the states. Electrical Unions. Taking the time to bend and form and put in elbows and such takes time. And time is paid time. Look at places where there are no unions like India and then look at the workmanship of infrastructure like wiring and plumbing and you will see the stark contrast. You can look at a prevailing wage job in the US like a school or a firehouse and look at the almost artistic runs of pipe and then look at a non-union non- prevailing wage job like a warehouse and see that the wiring in the warehouse is done with MC cable or some other flexible armored cable. The truth is that MC or BX style armored cable is quicker to run. It requires little training to do and it, at least until it needs added to, works exactly the same as bend pipe. Sure it doesn't look as good, but it serves it's purpose and it meets the minimum code requirements.

I worked in Amazon Swansea connecting the main incomers. Their building was wired by German contractors I believe. They also carried out their installation of conduit like this. There were no bends, T pieces or connections into back boxes. They would leave 40mm gaps between pvc conduit and back boxes. I just thought they were rough as fuck but didn't realise that's how it's done over there.

5:54 Bloody hell, your thumb can really bend 😮

The notches in the tunnels were safety places you could duck into if you were in the tunnel and a train came along. If you could get to one in time you wouldn't turn into bean spread on the side of the train and the tunnel wall. Quite possibly that black box in the notch was once an emergency button or some sort of telephone to the regional dispatcher. The cables in the concrete trough were the railroad signalling cables. The electric power for the trains would have run overhead most likely.

My best guess would be that it either was just forgotten or some super random law dictates that it has to be there for emergencies or work that has to be done in the tunnel. The three phase plug should be 16A 400V and could be used to set up a distribution box in the tunnel to power lights and/or tools. Why it all was powered off tho, I got no clue.

I believe that the power cables are buried in the ground as it's cooler there. This would be the main voltage power cables for the trains, if they were electric. Other cables will be for signalling systems and phone lines etc.

I have no interest in electrics but love watching your videos!

we "cut the corners" because it is not necessary to have a third layer of insulation. any wire has to be double insulated. the cabel already has 2 layers, the wire is insulated and the coat around it is the second layer.

As you probably know - three-phase is very common everywhere in northern Europe.. (well Austrians still follow northern standards) When it comes to anything commercial or industrial, you'll quickly find them red three-phase sockets everywhere...

I've been on jobs back in the day doing conduit and sometimes ours is used a as an earth conductor screwing it together well and there's a 4mm screw hole in our conduit boxes for earth lead.

@thomas nargy not sure if that conduit was metal or PVC, if it was metal conduit you would not have earthing continuity all the way from start to finish on the conduit run and would need bonding jumpers. Wouldn’t be an issue if it’s PVC but not 100% mechanical protection.

I am FUCKING glad you're not bleeping it out 😂😂 Seems pointless to keep electric components unused but why waste money on removing stuff you can't reuse.

In the tunnel are "MAN HOLES" they are for workers to safely get off the line when train is passing. Its wider than in uk but man holes are there for the same reason, safety.

Super video mate and made a change from the norm but keep them coming always look forward to your vids. And dave needs a good bollocking regarding the van make him walk

Just had to make a RU-vid account to comment subscribe and tapped the bell, I’m a young electrician but currently off work due to an incident involving a skillsaw I’ve literally watched everyone of your videos keep up the good work tom & Tom ( I mean Dave, I mean dave).

Ooh, opportunity for railway nerding detected. Dunno on the panel outside the tunnel, but service power for trackside work makes a lot of sense. The little cubbies in the tunnel are refuges, which a worker can dive into if they're working in the tunnel and a train sneaks up on them. In the UK, we have markerlights in them so they're easy to find when 500 tonnes of steel is snapping at your heels, so that could be a decommissioned light panel? The concrete ducting in the floor is probably control circuitry - in the UK we run signal and points control lines through them, as well as telephone cable for lineside phones like the one you found. Traction current is normally carried in the rails or overhead lines: it's pretty rare to need to run a cable alongside a perfectly good pair of high cross-section conductors. Of course I can't speak for Austrian practice, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't similar.

kinda funny, cause in Norway we rarely use bends on pipes outside or when we go into lamps. yes it can be prettier but we don't see the point of it, it just takes more time. and its not necessary

The answer is easy Tom ‘Doing the right thing is always the right thing’ if other countries want to be lazy and compromise on the standard of workmanship so be it. The right thing to do is fit the bends, it’s minimal extra work but gives full protection and is clearly more aesthetically pleasing and professional. Good on us for showing the world how to do it properly.

Same in Belgium, nobody bothers with the corners etc for the pipes

I get your point when you say 'nobody's ever died from it' but I think the opposite is most often true - the vast majority of safety rules and regulations come about by necessity, often after a death or serious incident.

You can still get Moeller stuff, it's branded Eaton now.

It's very common in Germany to leave pipework open as you've seen...

A large ship run aground up here in Lancashire some years ago, Near Fleetwood If i remember it was Riverdance. It lost its cargo and was eventually cut up and scrapped.

So you are visiting Austria but why don't you go to Germany once ? Maybe a meet up in cologne ore Düsseldorf in Germany 😊 btw I would love it to meet you in person and have a chat. Because i am starting my internship this year in September and would like to know what's that different from German and British electrics

Tunnel maintenance needed even though the track has gone.

I thought we put bends on conduit as it becomes an extraneous conductive part under fault conditions.. I know, not likely that mechanical damage will occur on the cable inside it. We would have to put fly leads everywhere to earth the separate conduits. Also, what reference method would it come under: clipped direct or enclosed in conduit?

It will be for works on the tunnel when needed it can be switched on at another location

Tom. You need to go and check out the German defences in Jersey you can still see the WW2 style cables and fittings around the gun emplacements very spooky

They wire in pvc pvc / swa . If it was just pvc the sets and 90 would have to be there. When i worked in germany it was the same. All sleeper conduits

The cables in the Concrete Troughing will be a mix of Power, Signalling and Telecomms.

Tom did you lease vans or buy. Would be interested to know. Reasons behind leasing or buying? I’ve always bought mine

The phone at the tunnel is what we call a SPT in the UK (Signal Post telephone), used by railway people to contact signallers. Drivers and guards have keys, as do contractors who would be working on the line.

Great taste in soda. Almdudler is amazing.

On the subject of why do they do things differently, why does the UK not allow mains sockets in bathrooms whereas the rest of Europe does.

Why havent you taken the blue plastic off the nice shiny chrome on the front grill?

Yea i dont know why but it's much more lax with exposed/free hanging cables over in Europe compared to the UK. Im from Sweden and during my time working as an electrician ive heard 20-30 centimeters exposed/hanging free is up to reulations.

Oh... Other Tom is back! Woohoo! Love the two of you as a duo!

What are the PMRs you're using.. have i missed a vid?

My first Idea was, that these "switch-Boards"(don't know actually the English word for "Schaltschrank/Verteilerkasten") could be used from technicians in case of e.g. an fire or a crash inside the tunnel so the firefighters can easily switch of the electricity. I also think, they uninstalled only the cable from the main ring cable.

Looks like one of those cabinets we set up during the building prosses, as you said for work to be done there

Nice one Tom; keep them coming. 👍

My theory as to why the breakers and sockets are still there is that the crew who covered up the tracks decided to save time and just leave the dead panel there instead of paying some guys wage to unscrew it and cut the wires. I doubt they would find a place to reuse it!

there's no mechanical protection for that exposed cable on the bends. we do use bends here in australia too and we glue it together.

Make the bad bugger take the scratches out at the weekend and change the broken light! Bet the cabin is littered with Maccy Dee breakfast wrappers too ;) Interested in seeing more German stuff, it baffles me completely when I go over. Even the switches are weird - I think it might be some sort of modular system that didn't really take?

Love all your videos!

first: it's not german, it's Austria :-) sec: The wires below under the stones are not only to service the tunnel but also communications cables between the next (ex-) train stations the traintracks are not laying below the stones, they are removed (I think, the metal plates in the train station are the rest from the strack)

About time you released a new video :D

From 1 July 2011, Moeller and Eaton, two of the longest-established and most respected names in the electrical sector, come together as one Eaton, a global organisation delivering solutions which support our customers in running their systems more productively and more cost-effectively.

Was it a long walk Thomas? hence the piss bottle...

All countries have old electricity that is unsafe looking. But if you like safe new electrickery you should check out the nordic countries.

We run everything in commercial and industrial in conduit no wires exposed in the US

What kind of radios do you use?

I wonder if those panels could easily be re-energised from somewhere if there was ever need to do repairs on that tunnel?

11:55 Because people in Austria are civilised Tom and people in the UK will cut them with snips for a laugh.

Nice van Tom. Can you say what's its average mpg? I have got new trafic but 125ps and I do get no more then 31mpg in the city and maybe 34mpg out of the town...

When did Dave return?? And how? ..

The arch is a refuge for railway workers to stay for safety for passing trains.