Round pin era electrics are back

[spuorgelgoog]

I'm using 5A for lighting, and 2A for 100V line speakers.

I appreciate that not everyone has a 100V line speaker installation in their house.

Owain

[Graham.]

Much safer, no trip hazard

I've got an adapter like that, my son was using it only two years ago in his student digs. I should still have it somewhere.

I used to use it 50 years ago to use the enlarger and safelight in the cupboard under the stairs (which we called "the pantry")

[charles]

did you really keep the bread there?

[John Rumm]

Th "round pin" bit was a bit of a misdirection and I believe only intended to indicate the availability of "old" style adaptors such as flex to BC socket etc.

BS 546 : 1950 was also last tweaked in 1988 so they are still covered by a BS IIUC.

[John Rumm]

I often fit the small 2A ones for dedicated lighting points - handy when building a kitchen since you can test and "finish" the fixed wiring before all the cabinets are in place, and the under cabinet lighting is mounted.

[Chris J Dixon]

I'm sure I remember one of those which used to appear when my dad got the Christmas lights out. It might even have included a switch for the two outlets.

Chris

[jgh]

And they *are* BS approved - BS546.

jgh

[charles]

Is anything "BS approved"? more likely built/made to comply with BS546

[Andrew Gabriel]

Yes, I saw that and went on to look for a B22d to GY6.35 (what they called MR16) adapter, having made some myself in the past, but they didn't have any.

In my case, I was converting a multi-lamp pendent to take 12V halogen capsules.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I have used those, and clock points for this purpose in the past.

Nowadays, I use the Klik plugs and sockets, usually mounted on a horizontally orientated architave back box, which are easily hidden when positioned immediately above or below the cupboards.

[Martin Bonner]

They're not common, but you can still buy them. For example:

My previous house was fitted with new ones in about 1995. They are no use for power sockets (not enough current), but they are fine for lights. We had a bunch of free-standing lights plugged in, and they were all controlled by a lightswitch by the door. (Yes, you /can/ do this with

13-amp sockets, but it's much easier to distinguish the light sockets and the power sockets this way.)

[RobertL]

Also, 12 or 24 Volt circuits in boats are often done with round pin.

Robert

[Gefreiter Krueger]

Not for 1.39 it won't.

You can get different voltage MR16s, but I don't think there are many about that aren't 12V. I have however seen DC and AC MR16s...

[RobertL]

My father (born 1916) told be that at one time there was a different meter for lighting (bayonette and 5 amp sockets) and heating (15 Amp) sockets. They were charged at different prices per kWhr.

Lighting was more expensive per kWhr.

Robert

[Gefreiter Krueger]

The problem was the lack of fuse. But the shape of the pins? There was no need to change to square.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

Is that something to do with a postie's route?

[John Rumm]

I think last time I needed some I had a look for the klik ones and architrave boxes etc, but could not find anything locally so went with the round pin. Positioned just above a wall unit you can't see them anyway I found, so the full size face plate did not matter too much.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

How often do you swing from your ceiling?

[Gefreiter Krueger]

Presumably anyone with any sense rewired or got adaptors.

[meow2222]

No it did not, it said round pin era electrics.

NT