My Restricted Electrical Work Licence is due for renewal in October, I no longer do repairs for the public, do I still need to renew it for my own hobby repairs ?

If you were in NSW you could forego the licence and carry on with your own repairs. Different laws apply in different states though so you would need to check with the licence issuer in your state.

In NSW you can build 240V kits, repair your own appliances or make your own flexible cords and extension leads without a licence. To do any of these things for fee or reward you then need a licence or some other qualification and possibly also a contractor's licence.

Thanks Brad that's good to know, I really didn't want to go through the stress of another test, I'l check what the situation is in Qld.

I rang the electrical safety office, last year, to ask if I should be licenced, in order to be playing around with old radios. The lady spoke to superiors for a long while, then returned to inform me, I can do any work in my own workshop, including repair for others. I am not allowed to work on their equipment outside of my workshop, ie at their home etc. I found this to be a bit strange. I could potentially be working as a repairman, unlicensed, from home.
I must state that I don’t repair for the public. I am a carpenter/ builder. I also live in qld.
They also recommended I do a tag and test course if I were to repair for others
Murray

So what they're saying is, if I repaired my neighbours TV, radio whatever in my workshop and don't charge them that's OK but if I charge a fee I'm in breach of the law, as you said not only strange but unbelievable.
Now I know why I've seen a lot power leads with restraining knots & soldered earth wires. I'll give them a call myself, as I mentioned I really don't want to go through the stress again at my age.
PS. You live in a beautiful part of Qld.

Rudolf,
Yes it’s nice here. Thanks. A bit rainy at times!
It will be interesting to see what they tell you. I didn’t feel they were thorough in their answer. There was something about section 35 subsection I can’t remember, probably of the electrical safety act. Anyway, I would want more info, or some training and a restricted licence before I did anything for others. I’m certainly a novice!
Murray

Tried to call them, was advised they were experiencing high call rate.

https://www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/injury-prevention-safety/electricity/homeowners-and-consumers/dontdiy

"What is electrical work?
Under section 18 of the Electrical Safety Act 2002 (the Act), electrical work includes "the manufacturing, constructing, installing, testing, maintaining, repairing, altering, removing, or replacing of electrical equipment".

This covers tasks such as installing a new power point, replacing a light switch, replacing a batten holder with a new light fitting, repairing an appliance such as a heater, altering the location of an existing power point, replacing a light fitting with a ceiling fan, "or constructing an extension lead and replacing a plug on the end of a lead."

It is not against the law to purchase electrical accessories or appliances that need to be hard wired, but they must be connected by a licensed electrical contractor.

Other work such as replacing a drive belt in a washing machine, cutting openings for air-conditioning units or fitting, but not connecting, an electric wall oven in a kitchen cabinet are not regarded as electrical work under the legislation. However, electrical risks such as damage to, or contact with, wiring contained within wall cavities need to be considered and appropriately controlled particularly when cutting holes or driving screws or nails into walls."

Read an interesting article dated 2001, have laws changed since then or are they still the same ?

http://archive.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_101731/article.html

As far as I know, it is still illegal for unlicensed people to work on their own house wiring. Given some of the traps I've fallen into when working on domestic installations, I must say this is one of the rare times I disagree with Leo Simpson and I remember that debate in the linked article well. It went on for some months.

I agree with you, leave the fixed wiring to qualified electricians.

As far as the hobbyist is concerned, perhaps the least I can suggest is to make sure that the correct method of restraining and terminating the earth wire.

I was audited once by the electrical safety board, two main things I got out of it :

Always use a Cat 3 multimeter .

Feed the cable through a rubber grommet, clamp it with a screw & nut, plastic/nylon clamp ensuring not to kink it too much if at all.
When terminating the earth wire, always ensure that it is longer than the active and neutral, NEVER solder it into a copper rim crimp wire terminal connector, clean the chassis where it is to be screwed with a threaded screw and nut using a star washer in between it and the chassis.

The idea of homeowners being allowed to run their own wiring is just ... mind blowing. As a builder I’ve come across some horrors, where people thought it’s just twitching wires together. My sparky crawled into a ceiling to find electric horse fence tape strung throughout the trusses like a spider web, then connected to the active and neutral of the toilet light. He theorised it was to stave off possum activity in the ceiling at night.
You cannot possibly let the public loose like that!

I sometimes wonder after seeing some magnificent efforts and downright carelessness, how some "Qualified" Electricians got, or keep a licence?

Having seen many issues with crimp terminals, over a period of decades I will often crimp the earth ones and then solder the tip. I really don't care about the legalities I go for it remaining effective & I have tested a few things lately (and I have one here now fixing) where the earth has been found ineffective and three were due to faulty eye terminals.

On Meters: Let us extend that to instruments likely to be used on valve equipment. In many cases, new instruments are not designed for valve / tube work and will not withstand the voltages, transients nor, in the case of digital, read accurately with dirty fluctuating input like motor brushes, or input containing RF. Some have been known to flash over internally, or miss read input with RF present.

Some of my meters are "Industrial" as a result, in order to get the ratings. E.g. AVO 7X . This has a spec. It is not supposed to flashover under 3KV. Specs are important. If there is no reference to RF: It may turn out that it will be destroyed, the instant it is used.

What I meant to say was never solder the earth wire to the chassis, I crimp and then solder the tip as well.

Electric fence tape is designed for very high voltage at very low current flow. If a possum bridged out that stuff at mains potential and the possum received a good belt then the tape would vapourise. In NSW, the maximum penalty for doing something like that is $110,000 for a firm and $22,000 for a natural person. Here's an example of someone who copped $42,000 in fines for 19 jobs.

https://prwire.com.au/print/42-000-penalty-welcomed-by-licensed-electricians

A common argument for allowing unlicensed work is because there are some dodgey electricians out there. Whilst this is true and I have bellowed at electricians who I have seen doing rough work (legal or illegal) this isn't an excuse to open up the game to everyone, but rather the dodgey electrician should simply have his licence cancelled.

There is a YouTube channel run by a British electrician who specialises in cleaning up messes made by electricians who don't know what they are doing or by builders who employ unlicensed people to do alterations which go horribly wrong.

See some of his videos here:-

https://www.youtube.com/user/reevio11

Bear in mind that the Brits do many things differently to us, despite running an almost identical three phase, four wire supply system with a choice of 240 or 415 volts. So don't be too shocked when you see him bonding gas pipes to earth, etc.

One is supposed to use an eye terminal on the earth & bolt it down (use a fastener anyway): While some may get "warm & fuzzy" over that, it does not, in my practical experience, guarantee 100% reliability & I have seen a few on machines like drill presses vibrate loose & become ineffective.

Sometimes when you do a TAG & Test run: There are some scary cables & machines out there.