American electrics

[Doctor Drivel]

That's good enough for us then. Did they wire up the WW2 battleships with square 3-pin plugs?

[Doctor Drivel]

That is obvious, but don't tell him.

Don't tell him.

[Andy Hall]

Plastic plumbing manufacturers seem to manage this issue quite effectively with simple sheets of instructions with pictures showing what to do. These are so good that they can give 20 or even 50 year guarantees on their products.

Then D I M Murphy comes along.....

On an actuarial basis, they are still onto a safe bet though....

[PC Paul]

Dunno but I found this interesting...

(from )

"Shipboard electrical systems are unusual in that supplies are normally delta wired, so there is no neutral. The ship's hull is used as earth, but leakage currents to earth are not allowed as it causes corrosion of the hull. It can also be an electrically noisy environment, which can cause problems if the correct precautions are not taken. Supply voltages for stage equipment vary with 220V, 400V and 440V all being used on different ships."

[Doctor Drivel]

Should all electrical installations have sheets of instructions on the wall near them? Boy you do come out with them? This one has no idea at all.

[Christian McArdle]

Not mandated, as even today you are required to have neither.

Christian.

[:::Jerry::::]

,

*user*

You must be very inexperienced, blind or very young if you have never come across a BS1362 plug that has either the wrong fuse or worst still a solid link (of what ever sort) fitted....

[PC Paul]

I wish they would introduce a small, low power (2A?) plug/socket so my PC setup (currently using 9 13A sockets) could be done with a lot less space...

[Chip]

On Thu, 28 Jul 2005 17:15:31 GMT,it is alleged that "PC Paul" spake thusly in uk.d-i-y:

IEC plugs and sockets maybe? Power strips (distribution boards) in this format are readily available and they're rated at a healthy 10 or

6 amps (depending on manufacturer). The length per socket is about 3/4 inch.

[PC Paul]

And in any case many of the sockets are filled with PSUs for various gadgets (scanner, printer, LCD etc.) which can't be replaced with a male-female IEC lead.

USB powered devices help, but I wish a standard would emerge where a single large low voltage (+12V,+5V?) supply could feed a number of devices.

[bigcat]

I designed one thats compatible with existing 13A sockets, and sockets that will take either 2x 3 pin plugs or 6x 2 pinners. Wouldnt have the first idea what to do with it though.

This is the one thing I liked about the old French round pin system, very compact. Plus you could use the adaptors christmas tree style, with 10-20 plugs in one mains socket.

IECs arent a good solution imho, since theyre incompatible, making your appliances not pluginnable wherever you want. Imho its the very opposite of a move forward. The most fundamental point of plugs and sockets is that you can plug the things in. With IECs you routinely cant. Unless of coruse you install them everywhere.

NT

[bigcat]

Do you mean on computers only, or round the house? Compauters do have a standard, but its not used. But thats easy to change. The 4 pin connector used on HDD, CDROM etc. Just remove a plate on the back and poke one or 2 out to the world, and you can use it to run your scanner, speakers, sometimes printer, etc. It gives 5 and 12v, and if you need

9v just use 12 via 3 dropping diodes. 5v is not 6v but seems to run 6v goods ok in practice.

It seems silly to sell a computer system containnig 2 or 3 wall warts when the maker could just use 2 or 3 more of these already standard and already in use connectors.

NT

[Dave Plowman (News)]

There are distribution blocks using a variation of the IEC connector that take up much less space than 13 amp sockets. But, of course, it means changing all the moulded on 13 amp plugs.

[PC Paul]

Molex connectors.. I know I could do that (indeed I do already to get a high current +5V and +12V bench supply from an old ATX PSU by shorting the right pins..).

It's more having a standard I was wishing for.. and all sorts of gadgets using it. rather than having to make up different connectors, different voltages etc all the time.

[Owain]

So? Most appliances will cope with a 13A plug fuse - they have to, to cope with 16A or 20A radial circuits.

You still seem obsessed with plug fuses. Unlike most radial socket systems, which evolved from a hodge-podge of accessory designs, the British ring circuit with fused plugs was *designed* from the outset to be a coherent and well-engineered system.

Owain

[<me9]

What! with at least three different designs of 13A plugs and sockets? There was a round pin one with a fuse as live pin (very dangerous when it became detached and stuck out of the socket) and a slot in the earth pin, and one with two flat pins either side of a hollow circular earth pin. There may have been others. Hardly coherent!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

When last did you see these in a new installation? But inadequately fused final circuits - to protect appliances etc - are still common round the world. After all, the maximum fuse on a ring main is 13 amps, while radials are usually 20 amps.

[:::Jerry::::]

that,

So, what you are saying is, plug fuses are irrelevant...

outset to

As would any new system would, the 'hodge-podge' (as you call it) was caused buy different manufactures producing what they though was the 'perfect' design of socket / plug or what ever and a miss-matched collection of regulations / distribution voltages etc.

You are repeatedly failing to understand that I'm NOT suggestion a return to pre 1950's but a modern standard that removes the ability for the user to make stupid mistakes.

[:::Jerry::::]

while

Err, no, maximum fuse on a ring circuit in the UK is 30A, if some idiot bridges the BS1363 type plug fuse.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You seem obsessed with people bypassing plug fuses, but not messing with the circuit protection? Just why and when would you bridge a 13 amp fuse? If an appliance is blowing 13 amp fuses, then bridging that fuse is likely to cause a fire.

Strikes me you're referring to some of the dodgy body shops you've worked in where they've used 13 amp sockets for compressors and welders etc too powerful for them. And ring main circuits were never intended for fixed heavy loads such as these, but for general domestic use.