Electrical services

We are licensed, registered and insured. We provide the following services:

• Powerpoints and lighting
• Computer Network Design and Installation
• Telephone wiring
• TV point installation
• New homes
• Home Rewiring
• LED Smart lighting
• Exhaust fans
• Ovens

In-car GPS navigation system to make life easier

One activity that is constant in the life of every electrical contractor is travel. For an electrician, time is money. We cannot afford to get lost even if we've never heard of the place a prospective customer calls from. On the job we might need to drive out again to get some supplies from the nearest Middy's or other wholesale electrical supplier. Along the way, we might need to grab a quick burger to keep us going. And doing all this travelling and route planning would be next to impossible without our in-car GPS navigation system.

We bought a NAVMAN S150 in February, right after we bought our van. At $390, it comes with the following features:

• Bluetooth so the phone can be connected to this and used handsfree
• 3D lane guidance. At intersections, the lanes and nearby landmarks are shown in 3D, with prominent arrows making choosing the right lane and taking the turn easier
• Local Live Search: You can search for places of interest such as restaurants, railway stations, parks, gas stations in the surrounding area. With job sites often in areas we are not familiar with, this feature comes in quite handy
• Safety and alerts for speed limits, speed cameras, school zones, black spots and railway crossing
• Audio navigation guidance with distance, street and direction to turn into. This is pretty much a given for all in-car navigation systems these days. However some free maps that can be used on high-end phones or other hand-held gadgets may not have this spoken street names feature. A blue dot showing where you are and a red showing the target may be ok for a day trip, but quite frustrating for an ever-travelling tradesperson. So invest in a system that gives detailed instructions. It will even let you choose what woman and with what accent you'd want to be told where to go! :)
  
  The more premium S-series models (S200 and S300T) come with FM transmitters, media players and live traffic updates. The new MY500XT even has live weather updates and travel books. We have found that the S150 suits our needs fully and we'd hardly use the additional features the higher end models offer. There are also a host of other companies that offer in-car GPS navigation systems - Garmin and TomTom being the top two that come to mind. Head over to forums like CNET Australia to see what other users say about each of them and choose what suits you best.
  
  Do not throw out the Melway or other maps you used before you bought the GPS. At the rate our cities are growing, GPS maps do not always keep up with new suburbs and it is worth having a backup for finding all the new homes we wire up. New maps are updated by Navman once a year. Checking up on Google Maps is also useful for new estates.
  
  And finally, once you buy one of these - keep it safe. Never leave it in your car on the windshield or dashboard. We had our van broken into and the GPS stolen when we did that. We had to replace the Navman and also shell out a few hundred more to replace the broken side window! Lesson learnt: Never leave valuables (GPS included) in the car, especially overnight on a regular basis.  However, we did come up with a way to not have to take out the GPS everytime we left the van at a work site.  More about this in this post.

Contact us

For a FREE quote call Geoff on 0431 232 796

Email     geoff@eppingelectrical.com

Address Factory 12 59-61 Miller Street
               Epping, VIC 3076

Hours    Mon-Sat 7AM to 7PM
        

Suburbs serviced  All northern, western and eastern suburbs. For more details, check suburbs we service

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS

Thanks Geoff for your excellent work on my recent rewire and switchboard replacement. Very happy with the work you have done.
Geoff provided excellent communication, was able to give me a quote on the spot and then when the guys did the work they spent a solid day working on what was a big job, got it done in time, and more importantly right on budget.
Thanks again! I highly recommend Geoff and Epping Electrical!
On Truelocal.com , Customer from Reservoir, 12th October 2009

Geoff responded to my email query within hours and arranged to come over at a mutually convenient time. He turned up on time, quickly and efficiently completed the requested tasks and was very accommodating when it unexpectedly turned from a small job into a much bigger one. He completed the electrical safety certificate on the spot and carried on his way leaving one very satisfied customer behind. What's more, he cleaned up after himself! As someone who has had several bad experiences with electricians I would wholeheartedly recommend Epping Electrical to anyone who's looking for a truly professional electrician
On Truelocal.com, Customer from Lalor, 23rd May 2009

Geoff Connor, Completed my electrical work in a professional manner. Quotation was very reasonable and I would highly recommend his company
Mrs K Thompson For an outdoor electrical socket in Moonee Ponds On ServiceSeeking.com.au

Excavation safety "Dial Before You Dig"

A Dial Before You Dig picture showing typical congestion of underground pipes and cables

Damage claims running into millions of dollars, criminal prosecution charges, serious injury, even death!! The risks in doing excavation work are plenty. Learn how we manage these risks and make this a profitable business.


A number of years ago on an early Tuesday morning in Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, I was talking to a client half a world away from me. Halfway through my conversation, the line abruptly went silent.

"Hello, you there? Hello..." I repeated for a while. Tried calling back, no success. "Strange" I thought and decided to try again a while later. A visibly angry colleague rushed back to his desk right then. "These support guys are so unreliable" he was fuming. "Such an important video conference with the Tokyo team gets blacked out, and they can do nothing to fix it! No signal, they say".

As more and more colleagues joined us to complain of telephones and even internet services cut abruptly, we realised something was amiss. And so it was...

Nearly 5,000 telephone lines of the Bangalore Telecom went dead on Tuesday morning. Reason: Workers employed by Reliance Industries Ltd cut across their concrete duct and cables while laying its Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) ...

Not just that. Over 80 per cent of Spice Telecom Network's services were hit and the entire ITPL was plunged into non-communication. Both their telephone lines and data circuits were affected.     Read whole story here...

• Commercial damage claims by businesses (including hospitals, emergency services, schools and community centres) unable to function
• Damage claims by the underground asset owner
• Criminal prosecution if negligence can be proved as cause in certain cases
• Serious injury or even death from accidents such as ruptured sewage or gas pipes or contact with electricity cables

Quite scary, isn't it? It is definitely a risky business, but there are also various ways to stay safe. The first thing required is to get to know the location of underground assets in the work site. A wonderfully easy way to start is to Dial Before You Dig (DBYD) on 1100. This is a free referral service for underground pipes and cables anywhere in Australia. They partner with all underground asset owners around Australia and act as a single point of contact for excavators.

Unfortunately though, not all asset owners in Australia will be members of DBYD, so do not assume that the plans received through them are the only assets. So dont go running the trenching machine blindly, dig around by hand first to establish exactly where the assets are. Once exposed, protecting the assets is the excavator's responsibility too - so get this done before starting the job. Put up barriers in case it is an area that other people may use. Proceed to the excavation only when all of this has been done, and stay safe!

DDIY (Dont Do It Yourself) Electrical Work

Aug 20 2009: A fire causes $1-million damage to the Il Gambero restaurant in Lygon Street. Investigators believe it was started by an electrical fault in the kitchen

Recently I was called to a job in Preston. When I arrived the house had been disconnected from electrical supply by the local distribution company. A fault in the main switch board caused a fire that destroyed the entire switchboard, electrical meter and wooden meter enclosure. Luckily for the tenants, the smell of burning plastic and wood was noticed early and the relevant authorities were called immediately. If the tenants had not been home, the fire could have easily spread to the rest of the house and also the adjoining residence.


Examination of the burnt switchboard components revealed the cause of the fire to be illegal and substandard electrical wiring connecting an air conditioner. The costs to restore power not only included replacement of the switchboard, but also the mains cable, service fuse and earthing system components. More than $2,000 was spent by the owner to restore electrical supply to the residence. This was yet another reminder for consumers to never undertake electrical work themselves.

Nearly every day I come across illegal and/or unsafe electrical wiring. In most cases the current property owners are unaware of the condition and potential risk the illegal wiring presents. It is unfortunate that even when the wiring does not comply with standards or is highly dangerous, the equipment connected works. With the equipment in working order, it often comes as a shock to owners that the installation is illegal and/or dangerous. It would be easier if illegal wiring did not work at all, but unfortunately this is not the case.

Sometimes the owners have had an unqualified friend or family member undertake electrical work in an effort to save on the cost of a qualified and insured electrical tradesman. What is not often considered is the financial impact should the illegal wiring cause a fire.

When I discover illegal electrical wiring, I make sure the owner is informed. In all cases, this will impact the planned schedule of electrical work and will increase the cost of the job to rectify the illegal condition. In severe cases, I will provide the owner two options,

a. Rectify the condition
b. Isolate/remove the illegal wiring

Ignoring illegal wiring is not an option. Last week I come across one of the worst cases of illegal wiring, the owner had paid more than $1,000 to have low voltage down lights installed some years back. He believed the wiring was installed in a compliant manner by a registered electrician. The cost to rectify the illegal wiring was $1,500

The pitfalls of a DIY Culture

Go to any large hardware store on a weekend and you will see thousands of consumers deciding to DIY. In a country where the cost of labor is high, it is inevitable that many people will choose to do many jobs in and around the home themselves. I don’t have a problem with this at all; I myself will often shop at the local Bunnings store to pick up tools and or materials for a weekend project around the home. What I do have a problem with is consumers going to hardware stores to purchase electrical wiring and equipment with the intent to install this equipment themselves. Whilst it is not illegal for hardware stores to sell electrical wiring and equipment, they (in my opinion) should never provide guidance or instruction to consumers on how to go about installing the electrical wiring and or equipment. In my opinion all hardware stores selling electrical equipment to consumers owe a duty of care to consumers to make clear the fact that all electrical wiring and equipment must be installed by a Registered Electrical Contractor no matter how large or small the job is. This should be communicated to consumers in written form and also importantly communicated verbally to consumers who purchase (or about to purchase) electrical wiring and / or equipment.


More: You may not be insured if DIY electrical causes property damage including fire