RM900 - RM1000. Sorry for the typo.


Cal labs model SC0039 is rated to 10Amps or 2kW and costs RRP 49.00 approx.

There is another model SL-AR Auto reset rated to 5Amps. This model is about RM80+ and is highly recommended. If it detects a small surge, it will auto shutdown for a few minutes, then come on again. If a direct hit from lightning, it also blows. For alarm system use the 3A unit.

Best of all, it is whole life guaranteed and repair costs for blown units is about RM15.

Cal Labs isolators have saved me a lot of money and I am just sharing. There are imitation products in the market, so get it from reputable dealers.

Sam of GMYS in Klang is an authorised dealer.

Just my 2 sen and sharing only.

make your own auto close RCD/ELCB - Note this is not a ' FUSE ' this unit detects residual or leaking current to earth so preventing accidental electrocution.

A small car wiper or power window motor is used to reset a normal RCD/ELCB. This is coupled with a timer so that the reset is done after a delay of 20 mins. or so to prevent immediate reset due to electrocution. I use a electronic counter to count the number of resets as high counts could mean that the electrical system is being tripped by something other than lightning.

A replaceable surge protector is available for direct placement into you standard fuse box, about RM70 or you can make your own using components that cost half as much. Note that any surge protector that does not burn or self destroy after a few surges is not necessarily doing it's job. A Varistor is the major component of a surge protector, these are the DISK like components found in the surge protectors, very cheap to replace or made into a DIY surge protector.

Have fun and learn a little about electronics and electrics, save yourself some money in the long run. Most of all, save yourself the trouble of trying to get someone to help you fix the problem.




Attached thumbnail(s)

How do u get it down to 12V (I presume the motor is 12V DC)?

I have 12v power all around. 12 UPS for CCTV, Alarm, etc. easy to rig up 12v from Battery in any UPS or use small DC power supply. Same power for digital counter and timers.

Ini baru sifu!

Wow... this is my 1st time to see such control room setup la!! Thanks for your sharing!

WOW. very cool setup, thanks for sharing

is there any link/website can you guys provide so that i can read through all the rule & regulation for swiftlet keeping?
well, since fews year ago, gov start to invent more and more rules against swiftlet keeping, these really makes most of swiftlet keeper headache, my father own a farms too and he love it so much, now i feel like starting interested to own a farm .. so i think mayb is time for me to start research on it .. hope you guys can help me on this kind of knowledge ... appreciate it and thank you so much..

btw ... sorry for my broken english...>.<

On humidity and temperature readings from attached, are they from top to bottom accordingly. Seem like the second temperature reading is lower than the ground floor? Is that the norm? Wish you can share your performance of each floor from your BH with this setup if you don't mind. It an't my only question, it is for now til I find time..

This post has been edited by swift4ever: Dec 16 2011, 06:25 PM

Wah so very observant. Normally the gr floor is the coolest but on that day it was fairly windy and the air from the outside migrated into the gr flr. when I opened up the control room. usually about 0.5 deg c difference between each floor except on extremely hot days where the top flr goes to 31 deg. but the lower flrs remain in the 28-29 range. All floors are on hygrostat priority so tempterature is not controlled.

Am in Hongkong now and retail prices are still the same as 3 years ago. Some but not much red nest on display.

100% agreeable with you and TF really put us to shame or at least me..........I don't even have a real control room at all.

Very neat control room for a BH, I would say unless someone can beat this. I have seem control room with 10 amplifiers, multiple timers and more than 3k tweeters for just a 3x30X80 BH but none surprise me with a so neatly arrange control room and he even put my room to shame.

Good work, TF

Red nest on display were not for sell as I was told about 2 months back and I surely hope it stays the way or removed from market shelves totally because people today have an alarming ability to forget the recent and distant past and if we want to see the glamours of birds' nest once again such as,

1. Good history of medicinal values.

2. Scarcity.

3. Good advertising and promotion by the emperor/empress in the past and many other great people in recent history.

4. Long lasting and storable

5. ?

Feel free to add...

I been to Hong Kong back in 2005 and was nearly con by a genuine tourist trap Medicine Shop in near observatory road in Kowloon I think. I believe a good many such shops were set up to catch unwary tourists. My wife was attracted by front shop display of big size scallop? selling for reasonable prices which was meant to draw in unwary preys... There were just two men in the shop, one was the friendly one wearing a spectacle and offer us a drink of medicine beverage; then he gave my wife a brief look over and declared she needed some medicine and recommended a type which was in prominent display in rows of glass containers behind him. We asked about the price which was purposely written rather cheaply but I think the gram was very small. As we were talking with him, his accomplice at a corner of a shop quickly prepared the medicine by grinding it into powder which were put into capsules (I believe the work was for show as they must have prepared batches of them). My wife was then confronted with the incredible bill for I think about RM equivalent of 7,000 or 10,000 (I cannot recall). I argue with him about not telling how much the medicine cost but now the mild manner and "friendly" attendant withdrew and the tough came up to confront us.... I decided we were caught in a trap that we sometimes read in the newspaper... but this nightmare was for real... I decided to leave the shop leaving my wife and young daughter in search of assistance. We saw a mobile police van early and I went in search of the cavalry! But to my surprised, the mobile police van (which we often see in Hong Kong TV serial) had left! I ran the street in the opposite side in search of any police constable and I saw one across the street but was surprised when he told me he was not a police but actually a security guard; then I saw a police arriving across the street and went to him for help... and he assigned two policemen on big motorbikes to help me and I quickly led them to the shop... The police then took our particulars as well as the shop keeper who was obviously angry that the goose he thought was cooked had escape from his wicked claws! My wife and my daughter and myself were so shaken by up this frightening experiences but was very grateful for the Hong Kong police who really lived up to their reputation as guardians of the public... they were indeed like knights in shinning armor to us that memorable night. I also had unhappy experiences in a diamond factory from an aggressive sales girl who was trying to make a sale to my wife as well as from a shark of a shopkeeper in a electronic shop in Hong Kong... we did have a peaceful time bargain shopping at Stanley but the several experiences marred our Hong Kong trip for me at least. Do be wary of tourist traps and con-men not just in Hong Kong but everywhere....

This post has been edited by philoswiflet: Dec 20 2011, 06:00 AM

Thanks for sharing. Must always be on the alert.

To all the sifus and BH owner..What is the current market price for raw bird nest? I heard recently BH owner from Gopeng, Perak sold Gred A for RM1,500 to 1,800 per KG?

Anyone had the same issues?

I believe, in Macau, like Hong Kong, there is still sign of red nest on display in the street but not in big amount. Either these medicine shops have been around for too long with red nest that they can't remove them totally from their clients or the authority has shown compassion or leniency on them? It's anybody's guess. But in my view, being a source of bird nests, we should not take cue from some isolated Hong Kong or Macau medicine shops, being part of a problem instead of being part of a solution to adulteration. For our future generations' sake, let's work together toward creating a genuine/non-fake, 1st class quality bird nest producing nation.

I was in Macau just last week and saw red nests still on display in most medicine shops.

Prices displayed, in HK and Macau
Red coloured nests average HKD9000 per tahil..
Golden about HKD 7000 to HKD 8500 per tahil.
White from HKD7000 to HKD 1500 per tahil.
Broken nests HKD 500+ per tahil.
Chalk white nests seem to sell for higher price than clean clear translucent nests.
Some shops are selling nests that have been partially cleaned, with some feathers.

These pictures was take on 12.12.2011 in Macau. Price quoted in 1 tahil ( 両) or 37.8 gram.
You can see the second picture having offer price tags over the old price tags. The cheapest is 580MOP per 37.8gram which work out to be RM6,137 per kg. Others cost more than RM10K per kg.
Pictures taken using a 23x optical zoom lens from an opposite shop







This post has been edited by aeiou228: Dec 20 2011, 11:57 PM

TF, make correction on the price for White nest please.
If 1 tahil = 37.8g is true, then the price is still strong, isn't it? I am interested to know how many genuine shoppers there are at these two separate instances.

P/S It's not easy to take picture like that. Thanks for sharing.

This post has been edited by swift4ever: Dec 21 2011, 12:16 AM