Round pin era electrics are back

[meow2222]

They do actually. Might be a handy way tp use up stocks of 11w CFLs - but where nowadays does one not give a fig about the resulting appearance.

NT

[charles]

Ther wer a number of rivals for the design of fused plug. Two others that I came across had round pins, but I suspect it was the mechanical strength of the winner that was the reason for its selecton.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

Which was removed with those bloody sleeved pins.

[John Rumm]

That and the need for it to be incompatible (and obviously so) from the existing standard, so that one would not try using an unfused plug on a socket fed from a circuit where one is required.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

People used to plug lamps with thin cords into 15A outlets, so the old protection was not any good.

[SteveW]

Round pin plugs are often seen on refurbishment programmes. Pretty well always dedicated to mains lighting. It was seeing that that prompted me to install 4 when I built our conservatory - we can have one or two table lamps (or, at this time of year, Christmas lights) and at the end of the night just hit the one wall switch to knock them off before locking the door.

There's nothing wrong with round pin plugs and sockets, ours are fused, shrouded, etc. just the same as 13A sockets.

It keeps them differentiated from the 13A ones and stops someone trying to plug a 2kW electric heater into the lighting circuit.

SteveW

[SteveW]

Made to comply with BS standards, ASTA approved would be the norm.

SteveW

[Tim Streater]

... so that no bozo would try and force it into one of the old sockets.

[SteveW]

The most likely time to get your finger into a light fitting/connector is when reaching up and replacing the bulb in the dark. It is exactly the sort of thing that many people are quite likely to do.

SteveW

[Gefreiter Krueger]

If you're not confident in it, why not simply switch off the light first? I thought most people did?

[John Williamson]

It's not so easy to be sure if, as the light in my stairwell is, it's controlled by two switches. There's a 50/50 chance that no matter what you do, it'll be live. That's assuming that some bright sparky hasn't accidentally wired the switches in the neutral....

[Gefreiter Krueger]

Don't you know which way up your switches are? I used to have switches like that - if they were facing the same way the light was on. And you can always remove the fuse (mind you apparently you can be clumsy enough to put your fingers in those too). I've got automatic lights in my house so I actually can't switch them off.

[dennis]

Doesn't stop people trying to use euro plugs with shaver sockets.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , [e-mail] escribió:

That GU10 to MR16 adapter doesn't look like a brilliant idea, given that GU10 is 240V and MR16 is 12V.

[Graham.]

I must be as obsessive/compulsive as you then. When I wire two -way circuit I always orient them (or swap the strappers) so same=on different=off, but I doubt if there is a convention.

I wonder how Adam wires his?

[Graham.]

Perhaps no one will notice until the quarterly sales figures come out.

[Gefreiter Krueger]

Er.... I just wire them so the word "TOP" is at the top, and connect the wires inbetween from 1 to 1 and 2 to 2. Even if you didn't, surely after being in your house for a while you'd remember which way up they were. Or.... you'd know the light was on because bulbs don't blow when they're off!

[Gefreiter Krueger]

Not many lights in this house have one per switch. In fact only the bathroom does. So the other bulbs tell me it's on or off. One bulb is not enough to light a room.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Can you actually get a BS shaver socket anywhere nowadays? Both mine are designed to take a variety of plugs, including europlugs.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I do it so all switches in the off position means the light is off. (That rule works for triple and more switching too.)

There is no convention that I'm aware of.