Discuss My experience of the AM2 taken at Birmingham in the Electrician Courses : Electrical Quals area at ElectriciansForums.net

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Adam Rudd

Hi guys I’m new to this site however just thought I’d give my best explanation of what the AM2 was like. If this is in the wrong forum I’m very sorry as I’m not sure what to put it in. tia
Birmingham AM2

The week before the am2 I had a refresher day. This was basically just half a day of going through step by step of what I would be doing across the 3 days. This really helped me as I got a chance to see where the assessment would be held and who the assessor would be, I also met the other lad who would also be taking the am2 at the same time. It also settled my nerves abit as I had an idea of what to expect and asked about a million questions.

On the Monday which was my first day I met up with the lad that I previously met at the refresher day, we chatted about what we need to remember and previous stories that we had heard before coming. Our assessor came to greet us, he led us to our room where we would have our food and breaks/rest periods. The assessor was a relaxed nice guy which straight away settled any nerves. After sitting down and filling out a few forms and signing our lives away he gave us a piece of paper and told us to write down our safe isolation procedure on a 3 phase supply as we will need to remember this throughout the entire assessment. He then goes over it and keeps it for evidence. We were then taken into our assessment room, this particular room had 3 bays in and an office. We got to choose our own bay of which we would spend the next 3 days. Our names were written down on the white board along with which bay we had and the tests that were to be undertaken. We were given 2 folders, one folder had all the assessments which pretty much listed what we had to do for each one and gave a paragraph which we had to read before starting any test. The second folder gave you the wiring diagram for the install. The first part of the am2 was the risk assessment and safe isolation. The risk assessment was easy just a standard one that you would have done before. Once you finish that the assessor would call you up individually to undertake the safe isolation. Again the safe isolation is pretty straight forward. Identify point of isolation-ask for permission to isolate-board cover off-lock off- key in pocket-prove tester-10 point test on outgoing-prove tester-job done.

Once completed the assessor will then get you to read up on the install, you have 8 1/2 hours to do this so it’s spread across 2 days. The bay opposite the 2 is a pre installed bay that we do the fault finding on and we could use this as an example if we are unsure on the install. You get a 3phase board which feeds:

1L1- spare

1L2-carbon/smoke detector B type 6A

1L3-lighting circuit B type 6A

2L1\

2L2-3 phase 16A Socket C type 16A

2L3/

3L1 sockets C type 32A RCBO

3L2 Heating B Type 16A

3L3 Spare

4L1\

4L2- Motor Cicuit C type 16A

4L3/


1L2 pretty straight forward, we got given a pre cut length of FP200, you have to wire it from the board to a fused spur then from the spur to the detector, Put a 3a fuse in the spur.


1L3 lighting. 2x2ways and an intermediate with one 2d bulkhead on the ceiling. On the refresher we got told the way of which they expect to wire the lighting but it may not be the same for all the centres. We got told that they want a neutral at every switch so we had to wire the feed into the common and take the neutral across as grey with the strappers and take the lighting feed out of common the other end.


2L1-3 the 3 phase commando socket. We had a precut length of 4 core armoured which we had to take out of the board and into an isolator, out of the isolator to the socket we had to pull in singles.


3L1 sockets. There was 2 sockets and switched spur (13a fuse) on the ring and then an ip rated socket wired off the spur. All wired in singles straight from the board.


3L2 heating/S plan. We had to wire singles to a metal clad spur (3a fuse) which fed the heating system. The heating system is very easy as they give you a colour coded writing diagram which is very hard to get wrong. I left this to last expecting it to take ages when in fact it was easy which was surprising as I’d never touched heating systems before.


4L1-3 motor. From the board to the DOL we had to wire in singles then a pre cut length of SY was supplied from the DOL to the motor point. Pretty straight forward.

And that’s the install done.

We then got split up so one of us tested our own rig and one of us did the fault find on the pre built rig. For testing I used CRIPPER:

Continuity of cpc

Ring final circuit conductor continuity

Insulation resistance

Polarity

Prospective fault current

Earth loop impedance

RCD testing.

After the test was done I then had to do the safe isolation on the pre built rig. The assessor gave me 3 points to isolate 1)luminaire 2) DOL starter 3)fuse board. After this it was time for my fault finding. The assessor hands you a sheet and it specifies what the fault is and on what circuit. I was worried about fault finding the most however the faults you get are only wiring faults so when you break them down it is very easy. After the fault find it’s the last test which is the online exam, revise on practice exams for this and you will fly it. Throughout the testing and online exam you get the wiring regs, GN3, building regs and onsite guide so you can refer to these at any time.
 
No, don’t have to do any of the containment, however i think that is soon to change! I was a lucky one! No micc either. thank you very much!
 
Thanks for the informative post, sure lots of people will find it useful.
Welcome and well done !
 
I want to ask about the Zs on the circuits on mine i had to do a zs on every circuit but one of the apprentices who has his in a couple of days is adamant that you only have to do the Zs at the sockets and can calculate the lighting and that. Was you allowed to calculate it as i wasn' and have told the appentice he wont be able to so just want clarification if this has changed.
 
I want to ask about the Zs on the circuits on mine i had to do a zs on every circuit but one of the apprentices who has his in a couple of days is adamant that you only have to do the Zs at the sockets and can calculate the lighting and that. Was you allowed to calculate it as i wasn' and have told the appentice he wont be able to so just want clarification if this has changed.
It has changed as I only had to measure my Zs on the sockets and did the RCD test at the same time. I calculated the rest for all the other circuits and the assessor was fine with that. Just tell your apprentice to make sure the assessor is clear that he is going to calculate the rest of the Zs results.
 
I done my AM2 in the late 90s I had to go to Long Eaton to do as a part of my apprenticeship, we had to install and wire metal tube and a lighting CCT, and install MICC.

and then we had to fault find and safe isolation.
 
Very informative. I have my AM2 in January, so I’m just going through it all now. Regards to testing, how did you test insulation resistance? As this is one procedure I’m a little less confident on.

As for the lighting circuit, I’m glad you have said that as I’m pretty sure this the wiring diagram..

My experience of the AM2 taken at Birmingham 1FDCAA13-458B-44DD-8E51-9D81F330ABAE - EletriciansForums.net
 
Yeah that’s the diagram you have to follow so just wire it like that and your be absolutely fine. Personally I did an IR test on each circuit individually, just made sure I left my earths connected. The assessor does help you abit and understands that your be nervous so literally just ask him and he should point you in the right direction.
 
Yeah that’s the diagram you have to follow so just wire it like that and your be absolutely fine. Personally I did an IR test on each circuit individually, just made sure I left my earths connected. The assessor does help you abit and understands that your be nervous so literally just ask him and he should point you in the right direction.
 
Yeah I'm not sure if I should test the whole board (global IR) or test each circuit individually. The 3 phase motor circuit you have to do the 10 point test seperately and test from the DB to DOL and then to motor, I understand that.
L1-E L2-E L3-E N-E
L1-N L2-N L3-N
L1-L2 L1-L3 L2-L3

For other circuits individually, just test L-E, L-N and N-E with the circuit breaker and main switch in the off position?

Another thing, just want to be 100% sure on this. Can you remember what you disconnected exactly when testing IR? What did you disconnect regarding the 3 phase motor circuit? I understand the lamp and fuses have to be disconnected under test but just want to be clear.

Thank you.
 
I’d practice doing both methods (global and individual) and do the one you feel most comfortable with as on the day you need to show that you’re confident. So I disconnected the carbon, luminaire, rcbo (neutral and earth fly leads) and ensured that the spur was off for the heating system. The carbon and luminaire they give you push in connectors so easy to just pull out for testing purposes. For the motor, I tested up to the DOL (top of contactor) and then from the bottom of the contactor to the motor. They don’t give you a motor just a blank box with points to test on so no worries there.
 

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