The Old Spring Chicken
Well, The Old Spring Chicken ended up on two weeks (not one) of Texecom Ltd. courses. This week attending my Level 3, Wintex, Ricochet study seminars.
Have to say if you have not signed up, and am still on Furlough, get a wiggle on. The courses helped me refresh my experience with alarm equipment (I also roped James (my eldest) into helping me build a Test Bench system) to ensure I had understood Level 2 & how to use Wintex before moving to Level 3.
Matt & Bob are very thorough and provide different scenarios for the various challenges the field engineer will meet, along with a few questions to ensure we're listening. IE Which resistors do you use for Tamper and Alarm conditions (Yep, it was a head scratcher to get a clear understanding, but I got there in the end)
To finish off, I asked a mate of mine, Phil Moye, owner of @LPFS, if I could tag along to one of his installs to put my experience to the test. Expecting to just be asked to install a couple of PIR's, we went to a warehouse fit out, the size of an Amazon Fulfillment Center where he advised I'd be installing 7no. Grade 3 'Elephant Catchers'. I had no idea what I'd let myself in for. To those not in the know (like I was at 6am this morning), they're Honeywell DT906AM-UK. At that moment I realised our friendship had stopped at 5.59am and I was the apprentice needing to prove I had learnt my trade. Suffice to say, 8 hours later, no tea break or biscuits provided :-( said units were installed and ready for action, barr a couple of adjustments due to static equipment being in the line of sight of a couple of detectors.
With a quiet,'HHmmm not bad, for an old dog that's been pen pushing these last few years', I'm guessing we are still mates. (Phil M is a very understated gentleman)
To add to my self punishment, an old apprentice of mine (when I was on the tools as a Refrigeration & Controls Engineer) who lives local, had been pestering me to have air conditioning fitted in my study. So in my wisdom, I agreed to be his apprentice for the afternoon as he fitted a split system. At that moment I realised two things, a) How unfit I was, and b) I'd forgotten how heavy a condenser is. I now realised that when I was a lot younger (and fitter) how much effort you need to put in, carrying all the kit. Anyhow, 4 hours later, no tea break or biscuits (again) said split system was installed. I received another glowing comment (not) of,'See Phil, all those years ago when you had me lugging compressors for you, now you remember why us youngsters didn't need to go to the Gym.
To say the last two weeks have been 'eventful' is an understatement. But what I'm really trying to say is, in these uncertain times, don't forget, a bit of refresh on your historical skills can help keep your mind occupied, and hopefully help you when life eventually goes back to normal.
Hope everyone reading this is safe, well & looking after yourselves :-)