clever bloke

[stuart noble]

The power tool industry will love this little invention

[sm_jamieson]

Or durability. Look clever though. Did you see the adapter that lets you plug in 4 of them in the inline folded mode into something the size of a standard block 3-way adapter ? Simon.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I suppose it wouldn't be used on a fan heater - no point.

One whack and it'll break. ;-)

I suppose if it were universally adopted, but I'd guess it will be patented so will cost rather more.

[T i m]

I think I questioned that when it first came up. I wonder if the power feed from the plug tip to the insides is via some form of wiping contact or flexible wires?

Yup, would it stand a size 10 boot or being under some toolboxes in yer van? Maybe it wouldn't be in that position if it packed away *in* the toolbox?

It is, very neat indeed. And (should be) very practical, as he says, for all those skinny laptops and netbooks that do come with an in-line PSU where you could replace the plug (even as entire lead if they came with all the options (Fig of 8, Clover leaf, IEC, Weird Dell things ..). No good for the 'wall wart' type though, ironically as supplied with my tiny eeePC.

I did, that was clever / compact. I used to use those mini IEC style multi block things for audio gear as they took up less room that a conventional 13A plug type but it was always a pain removing the (often molded) plug top and re-wiring the mini one (and then back when you sold / passed the unit on).

Cheers, T i m

[Bruce]

will buy one. I'm fed up of having to carry a huge moulded plug in my netbook case. This will be just perfect. Well done, that man!

[mike]

That was mentioned on here ages ago. Good of the Daily Mail to finally catch up. What next? Germany Invades Poland.

[Mike]

look incredibly fragile and the product is still in development according to an interview on BBC breakfast the other day. In the interim and for something a bit more substantial I've been using a 'slimplug' on my netbook for the past 6 months or so, foldable pins and bit more bulky but it solves the dent problem you get from normal plugs.

used to be on ebay regularly until a couple of months ago

[Andy Burns]

... which won't provide the earth that equipment with a cloverleaf connector will (usually) be expecting.

[Bob Eager]

The Daily Mail did publish it when first announced. This is just the award.

[dennis]

[Jules Richardson]

US ones typically have pins that fold into the body of the PSU (I've never seen one that doesn't, but I'm sure they exist) - it's the only thing I like about US plugs and sockets, I think :-) Someone pointed out that it's more difficult with UK ones because they need the earth pin, even if unused internally, to operate the LN shield in the socket - and folding pins in a triangular formation is a bit more tricky...

[Frank Erskine]

And of course you need somewhere for the fuse...

[geoff]

In message , stuart noble writes

where does the fuse fit ?

is it one that you can wire up yourself easily ?

It looks good - until you look into a few of the practicalities

It will prolly have a limited acceptance

[geoff]

Its on because it won an award today IIRC

It was on breakfast TV as well

wowed the presenters, but then that's not exactly hard to do

[Mike]

Yes it doesn't sound right does it? I'm using it in exactly that configuration on something that doesn't have a double insulated logo but has around a dozen other 'approvals' :) I'd hazard a guess the only real need for the earth is for the input filter for EMC purposes and most of the time it's connected to RCD fed outlets.

I took a (genuine) Dell ac adaptor apart a few years ago when the DC cable failed inside the moulded outlet grommet, it had a three pin oddball connector, and a three core mains cable, but the earth wasn't connected to anything internally.

[Lobster]

I've got one of those, which just fits my netbook case. My big disappointment with it is that it's impossible (in my hands at least) to wire up yourself; you're stuck with the quite long flex it's supplied with.

My netbook PSU is 'in line' so originally the PSU had a very short 240V flex, and a longer one on the 12V side, which positions the PSU close to the plug while charging. With the slimplug, I now have an extra and unneccessary couple of metres of mains flex attached; the result being that in my tiny netbook case, this very nearly overrides the space-saving advantage of using the slimplug!

David

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I will buy one. I'm fed up of having to carry a huge moulded plug in

It doesn't look like it can be fitted afterwards. Moulded on, by the look of it.

[Lobster]

Presumably it will be supplied wired to a figure 8 or clover-leaf socket, like the Slimplug is?

David

[T i m]

'Rubiks plug' ;-)

T i m

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Mike saying something like:

anything.