Welcome to Australia's only Vintage Radio and Television discussion forums. You are not logged in. Please log in below, apply for an account or retrieve your password.
Australian Vintage Radio Forums
  Home  ·  About Us  ·  Discussion Forums  ·  Glossary  ·  Outside Links  ·  Policies  ·  Services Directory  ·  Safety Warnings  ·  Tutorials

General Discussion

Forum home - Go back to General discussion

 DIY fixed non-power wiring in your own home - has it been banned?
« Back · 1 · Next »
 Return to top of page · Post #: 1 · Written at 11:42:04 PM on 13 April 2016.
Relayautomatic's avatar
 Location: Canberra, ACT
 Member since 24 April 2012
 Member #: 1136
 Postcount: 168

A question to the combined membership.

I am aware that there was a prohibition on DIY additions/alterations to phone wiring from the days of the PMG/Telecom (although many with the appropriate knowledge carried on regardless). This restriction has been carried over to the privatised Telstra but there are licenced cablers who can do telephone and data cable work. (As it happens my then government employer sent me with some others to do a structured cabling course so we could legitimately test for faults in the cabling that was being installed for a computer network in a new building. The work had supposedly been tested/checked and been certified but we found hundreds of faults.)

I recently discovered on another forum that there is now an ACMA prohibition on DIY data cabling if the cable is located inside a wall cavity or in the ceiling. Apparently you can still run data cables throughout your home so long as you can see them and they are not fixed in any way. The posts on the forum implied that other types of cabling such as TV antenna/distribution, burglar alarm, door bell and audio system cabling were also included under the category of 'data' cabling. Does anybody know if this is the case?

This is of interest to me now as I am doing some home renovations which will include changes to wiring that I personally installed when the house was built 25 years ago. During construction I prewired for everything (including the phone which was acceptable to Telecom at the time). The landline has been disconnected now so the wiring for that will be left as is but I am now very unimpressed if I am not allowed to change/repair wiring that I installed.

Andrew


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 2 · Written at 9:18:27 AM on 14 April 2016.
Brad's avatar
 Administrator
 Location: Naremburn, NSW
 Member since 15 November 2005
 Member #: 1
 Postcount: 7290

I think this has been the case for a long time. Even security and fire alarm installers need to be ACMA licenced now. I do my own data cabling at home including the terminations but yes, if one is caught doing it without a licence then the fine is something like $17,500.00 per offence.

As an electrician I can understand why these laws exist, as there is a push for the home handyman to be able to do his own electrical wiring too. I've seen too much work that doesn't comply and is too outrageous for even a dodgey licenced electrician to have performed.

On the other hand it is easy to think that licencing is a form of revenue stream for the government. People who worked as linesmen for PMG/Telecom/Telstra, for example, should be exempt from the licencing regime as they will already have the necessary skills to do Cat 3 and Cat 6 wiring.


‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 3 · Written at 4:59:45 AM on 16 April 2016.
Wa2ise's avatar
 Location: Oradell, US
 Member since 2 April 2010
 Member #: 643
 Postcount: 830

In theory, in the USA, you can do electric wiring in your own home, but you should get a permit for $75, so the inspector can tell you you violated some obscure rule. Sure. As long as you obey the basic rules, it should not cause any trouble. You need to be licensed if you wire for pay.

As for non-power wires (ethernet, CATV and speaker cables, they don't care. Maybe the fire marshal would get unhappy in a commercial or house of worship site, but in a home there's so much other stuff that could burn it wouldn't matter. Assuming working smoke detectors, the few people in a home could easily get out.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 4 · Written at 6:11:19 AM on 16 April 2016.
Brad's avatar
 Administrator
 Location: Naremburn, NSW
 Member since 15 November 2005
 Member #: 1
 Postcount: 7290

Getting out of homes here isn't always a simple task. Just about all homes built since the 1970s have some form of deadlock on the perimeter doors and if the deadlock feature is on then you need a key to get out. If the deadlock isn't on then the deadlock on the security screendoor probably is. In suburbs or towns with high crime rates it is common for bars to be installed on the windows. Bars were also popular on the old terraces that were built during Queen Victoria's reign and they generally only have windows front and back anyway.

That said it's not likely that telecommunications wiring faults would lead to a fire though what Telstra has always worried about is isolation in equipment between the power and telecommunications networks. The one thing they wouldn't need is 240 volts being fed back to the exchange and some people are rough enough to let that happen.

I think home electrical wiring by the householder is permitted in NZ too though I am not sure about telecommunications wiring.


‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

 
« Back · 1 · Next »
 You need to be a member to post comments on this forum.

Sign In

Username:
Password:
 Keep me logged in.
Do not tick box on a computer with public access.