| General > General Technical Chat |
| [YouTube]: American is impressed by sensible British mains plug design |
| << < (19/29) > >> |
| vk6zgo:
--- Quote from: b_force on October 22, 2022, 09:33:24 pm --- --- Quote from: themadhippy on October 22, 2022, 09:09:58 pm ---Even a table lamp with an es lamp base? --- End quote --- What is the question here? Any lamp fixture has to be grounded (and therefore connected to a ground), any lamp base is either grounded or double insulated? A regular light bulb doesn't care, a modern LED bulb also doesn't care? --- End quote --- The threaded part of an ES lamp socket is part of the wiring of the lamp circuit, & cannot be grounded. Depending on how the connections are made to the socket, it could be Neutral or Active. If the light switch is inadvertently wired in the Neutral line, & the socket transposed, the threaded part is still "hot" when off. In the Bayonet cap lamps used for house lighting in Oz, both the Active & Neutral contacts are insulated from the metal part of the light bulb. Ideally, the metal part of the socket would be grounded, but that is AFAIK not done---in any case, many modern sockets make that part out of plastic, as it doesn't need to be metal. |
| Black Phoenix:
--- Quote from: Monkeh on October 22, 2022, 10:48:59 pm --- --- Quote from: b_force on October 22, 2022, 10:47:31 pm ---What's so funny? That is actually the case in a lot of places/countries? --- End quote --- Not being allowed to change a lightbulb by yourself? That is, in fact, hilarious, depressing, and stupid in equal measure. --- End quote --- Seeing how some people are clueless of some stuff that is not twitter rants and celebrity's gossip I would not even task them into connecting a plug to an outlet... |
| IanB:
--- Quote from: TimFox on October 23, 2022, 02:52:44 am --- --- Quote from: james_s on October 23, 2022, 01:23:27 am --- --- Quote from: IanB on October 22, 2022, 10:31:33 pm --- --- Quote from: TimFox on October 22, 2022, 09:45:49 pm ---It is a molded 3-prong plug for US 120 V service, at the end of the attached cord for a relatively modern toaster (that has no internet connection). --- End quote --- I am surprised it is a three prong plug. Every small kitchen appliance I have encountered so far has only had a two prong plug on it. --- End quote --- My toaster oven, microwave and refrigerator all have 3 prong plugs. Smaller stuff like toasters, hand mixers, popcorn poppers and stuff like that are normally 2 prong. --- End quote --- All of my kitchen appliances with metal exteriors, including large appliances, such as refrigerators, and the small appliances such as mixer, toaster, and coffee grinder, have three-prong plugs. The small appliances with two-prong (polarized) plugs are double-insulated, with plastic exteriors. --- End quote --- That's interesting. I have a toaster and two kettles with metal exteriors and two prong plugs. That's why I made the comment, and said "small" kitchen appliances. Refrigerator and microwave do indeed have three prong plugs. |
| Halcyon:
--- Quote from: Monkeh on October 20, 2022, 02:15:48 pm --- This is precisely why strain reliefs fail, and is a practice which encourages unnecessary wear and tear and increases the chance of a fault in the plug or socket. --- End quote --- Yeh, maybe. But in my time, I've never actually seen a plug fail in this manner. They are extremely robust. That's not to say it doesn't occur, but it's rare. A clean, low (physical) resistance break is far less likely to result in damage to a plug or socket. Even if it's unintentional (like you moving a vacuum cleaner just that bit too far), I'd rather just have it shut off because the plug was pulled as opposed to damaging pins or the wall socket itself. |
| coppice:
--- Quote from: Monkeh on October 23, 2022, 02:41:37 am --- --- Quote from: coppice on October 23, 2022, 01:34:34 am --- --- Quote from: james_s on October 23, 2022, 01:27:37 am --- --- Quote from: themadhippy on October 22, 2022, 09:09:58 pm ---best come to the uk and have a look at our enhanced safety lamp holder,with the lamp out theres no power to the pins. --- End quote --- I've been to the UK and I have some light sockets I got from there, I confess I've never tried sticking my finger in one that was energized to see if it would shock me. How does the mechanism work? Is it a standard feature? --- End quote --- It doesn't. I assume he's messing about. When you remove a bayonet lamp the exposed pins are live. --- End quote --- No, they're actually a thing, they integrate a rotary switch into the body. https://docs.rs-online.com/8b74/0900766b813fbb9b.pdf --- End quote --- There have long been some niche products like that. You made it sounds like bayonet lamps are safe. The vast majority are not. |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |