Knowledge base
Plain-language explanations about your installation, written by me. Search for a topic or choose a category below.
Most read
What other residents and businesses look up most often.
RCD keeps tripping: how to find the cause yourself
Usually it is one appliance and not your installation. In four steps you find out yourself which one, and you read exactly where it stops and you need to call.
What does an electrician cost in 2026? Hourly rate and call-out charge explained
Hourly rate, call-out charge, material margin and VAT, without beating about the bush. Including what I charge myself and why a fixed call-out charge is fairer.
Which consumer unit brand should you choose? Hager, Schneider, ABB and the rest
All brands are equally safe. The difference is whether you can still add a circuit in eight years' time, and that is exactly what nobody tells you.
A dynamic contract and a home battery: is it worth it
With a dynamic contract the battery can charge when electricity is cheap. That works, provided you let it be controlled automatically.
The net metering scheme is ending: what changes for my panels
Your panels keep generating just as much. What changes is the value of the electricity you feed back.
EV charger at home: single-phase or three-phase, and which protection
The choice depends as much on your car as on your connection. With the costs, the RCD debate and why load balancing is not an optional extra.
Categories
Choose a topic. Every article starts with a short answer.
Consumer unit and meter cupboard
How many circuits you need, when your consumer unit really has to be replaced and what is actually printed on all those…
12 itemsEV chargers
Charging at home: single-phase or three-phase, which protection goes with it, load balancing and what makes an EV charger in an owners' association (VvE) diffe…
9 itemsSolar panels and home batteries
What panels and a battery do to your meter cupboard, why your inverter cuts out when the grid voltage is too high, and what…
11 itemsFixing faults
RCD tripped, a room without power, flickering lights. Explained step by step, including what you are allowed to do yourse…
10 itemsSafety and standards
NEN 1010 and NEN 3140 in plain language, which RCD you need, smoke alarms and what an insurer actually…
9 itemsIntercom and access
Choosing a video intercom for a house or flat, and whether it can run over your existing doorbell wiring.
8 itemsElectrics when renovating
When the electrician needs to come, how many sockets per room, what is allowed in the bathroom and who does what…
10 itemsLighting and switching
Dimming, LED, outdoor lighting and smart switching, with the pitfalls I come across in practice.
8 itemsNetwork and wifi at home
Cabling, wifi that does not reach everywhere, and what you can put in for next to nothing during a renovation.
8 itemsAll articles
By category, newest first.
Consumer unit and meter cupboard
- How many circuits do you need in your consumer unit?
- Setting a time switch: analogue, digital and dusk-to-dawn switch
- A separate kWh meter in the consumer unit: what for and how it should be done
- Adapting your consumer unit for an EV charger, heat pump or induction hob
- Connecting an RCD: how it should be done and why it is not a DIY job
- Separate circuits: what goes where and why
- Upgrading your connection: how it works, what it costs and how long it takes
- Wiring in the consumer unit: which wire, which colour, which cross-section
- Which consumer unit brand should you choose? Hager, Schneider, ABB and the rest
- Meter cupboard dimensions: what fits and what are the requirements?
- Single-phase or three-phase: what is the difference and which do you have?
- Consumer unit replacement: when it is needed, what it costs and how it goes
EV chargers
- Moving house with an EV charger: take it with you or leave it behind
- The EV charger is not charging: how to find the cause
- EV chargers for an owners' association (VvE), a business or an underground car park
- Where to put the EV charger: wall, garage or on a post
- Which cable to the EV charger, and what the distance does
- Which RCD protection belongs with an EV charger
- Load balancing: why your main fuse can cope after all
- EV charger at home: what is involved in the connection
- EV charger at home: single-phase or three-phase, and which protection
Solar panels and home batteries
- A dynamic contract and a home battery: is it worth it
- Feed-in charges: why you pay for your own electricity
- The net metering scheme is ending: what changes for my panels
- My panels are producing less than expected: what is causing it
- Extending solar panels: what you will run into
- Charging your car with solar power: can it be automatic
- Solar panels and fire safety: where it goes wrong
- Home battery: what is involved in connecting it
- The inverter cuts out or shows a grid fault
- What do you connect a solar inverter to
- Solar panels and your consumer unit: what really needs to be done
Fixing faults
- Freezer or fridge gone off without you noticing
- Drilled through a cable: what now
- Burning smell or a warm socket: what now
- The washing machine or dishwasher trips the circuit
- Lights flickering or dimming: what it tells you
- Power cut: is it my house or the street
- The circuit breaker trips: overload or short circuit
- A socket is not working: how to work it out
- Power out in one room: the step-by-step plan
- RCD keeps tripping: how to find the cause yourself
Safety and standards
- Electrical inspection when selling or buying a home
- Surge protection: necessary or nonsense
- Earthing: why it is there and how you know whether it is sound
- How old is my installation really: these are the signs
- Smoke alarms: where they must go and how to interlink them
- Type A, type B or type F RCD: which do you need
- Is my meter cupboard still safe? 10 things you can see yourself
- Arc fault detection device (AFDD): what it is and when you want one
- Testing your RCD: do this twice a year
Intercom and access
- Replacing a doorbell or chime: what to look out for
- The intercom is not working: troubleshooting in four steps
- Access with a code, badge or phone
- Replacing an old intercom: what can run over the existing wires
- Intercom in a block of flats: how it is put together
- Electric door release: how it works and what is involved
- Connecting a video doorbell: what your existing doorbell system can handle
- Doorbell transformer: what it is for and why your doorbell is not working
Electrics when renovating
- Moving the meter cupboard: can it be done and what is involved
- Installing three-phase power: when do you need it
- What electrical work can you do yourself during a renovation
- Renovating and the meter cupboard: when should it be included
- Electrics in an extension
- Concealed or surface-mounted cabling: what works where
- Electrics in the bathroom: what is allowed where
- Electrics in a new kitchen: which circuits and where
- When should the electrician come during a renovation
- What does an electrician cost in 2026? Hourly rate and call-out charge explained
Lighting and switching
- The light is not working: check it yourself in four steps
- Making a lighting plan: what goes where
- Smart lighting without the hassle: what works and what to avoid
- Motion sensor: why it switches on too early or too late
- Recessed spotlights in the ceiling: what to look out for
- Two-way and intermediate switching: light from two places
- Installing outdoor lighting: what goes on underground
- Dimming LEDs: why they flicker, buzz or do not switch off
Network and wifi at home
- Fibre at home: what happens and what you need to arrange yourself
- A home workspace that works: power, network and light
- The internet keeps dropping out: is it me or the provider
- The meter cupboard as a tech cupboard: what does and does not belong there
- A camera by the door or on the front of the house: what is allowed and what works
- Access point or mesh: which to choose
- Running network cable: which cable and where to
- Wifi does not reach everywhere: why that is