varying arrangment of screws/holes out mains socket

[The Night Tripper]

Hi all I want to replace a double non-switched mains socket with a switched one. The existing cables are cut pretty tight and so I want to buy a plate with the same arrangement 'pattern' of Line, Neutral and Earth screws/holes. In the past I've been caught out when trying to replace one with (say) earth to the left, with one with earth to the right - or whatever.

Are there any diagrams of different makes of outlets with their respective connection arrangements? Or do I have to wade through all the different makes available to find the most compatible one?

Thanks Jon N

[Bill Wright]

You could solder extensions on the cores and cover with two layers of heatshrink.

Bill

[The Night Tripper]

I can't tell what make the current socket is without removing it (v. awkward ... partly why I now want a switched one), and anyway there is no guarantee that the same arrangement will apply to a switched one of the same make. So here's a moderately crude graphic I made of my observations:

is as seen from the rear of the socket - the shaded part is supposed to illustrate the brown 'bakelite' body of the socket.

Thanks J^n

[The Night Tripper]

erm, ugh.

(I might crimp if I was desperate)

J^n

[Bill Wright]

Solder is far better than crimps. Those who say 'ugh' are hiding the fact that they lack the necessary skill to solder. Crimps are for the DIY brigade, or for those who don't care about doing a good job. They sell crimps in B & Q. That proves it.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

Yes. That's why those who say 'ugh' say 'ugh'. It's because they've tried to solder and failed.

Bill

[Bill Wright]

A soldered joint is smaller and neater. It makes a more reliable connection. Those who can't solder sometimes say 'ugh' at this, to disguise their incompetence.

Bill

[The Medway Handyman]

Some people have no experience of soldering & find crimping a perfectly good alternative. Besides which you could have the job crimped before the soldering iron had heated up.

[The Medway Handyman]

Does it bollox.

Perfectly acceptable under the regs AFAIK.

I can do loads of thing you can't, does that mean you don't care about doing a good job?

[The Night Tripper]

Hi Bill

I am perfectly capable of soldering, from surface-mount static-sensitive compnents to fuel tanks for model aircraft, and have soldered mains cables perfectly succesfully on more than one occasion in the past.

Your mode of reasoning is well suspect.

J^n

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Correctly made crimps are approved by the regs. They're also easier to use than learning how to solder.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Crikey. I had an electric soldering iron capable of soldering mains wiring some years before that.

[dennis]

A properly done crimp is more reliable than solder. They don't solder industrial stuff these days.

[charles]

but if the installation you are doing is to provide electricity, where do you get the power to run your electric soldering iron?

[The Natural Philosopher]

It entirely depends on the application. I haven't seen a wire wrapped industrial printed circuit board for many years, or a crimped one.

[The Natural Philosopher]

From the wind turbine in the garden of course!

[dennis]

More to do with costs than reliability.

[BartC]

The tricky bit is finding somewhere to plug in the soldering iron, when the power is turned off.

Actually soldering two wires together doesn't sound very easy: you need a way to physically hold them together (solder is not a glue), and then the joint needs to be insulated. So do you twist them together first? And there might be 3 wires to join (four on one socket I did this on where there was a spur).

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Your version is hardly self contained. ;-)

[Bill Wright]

The check for sharp whiskers etc that might pierce the heat shrink.

Sleeve with heat

Bill