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#142306 02/25/05 06:58 PM
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At the bottom of the picture, there is an erratum note, does that refer to the Spur box having two fuses, instead of the usual 1 fuse in the Phase?
Yes. By the time this edition of the Regs. was in force it was certainly not considered acceptable to fuse the neutral.

Quote
As in, you wouldn't be allowed to have a spur coming off every point on the ring would you?
Actually, yes! --- "Not more than half the sockets installed may be served by spurs."

You can see the similar limitation in point #5 of the modern 16th edition here .

What has changed is that the 13th edition allowed a spur to feed two individual socket outlets whereas nowadays a spur may feed only one (although it may be a double socket).


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 02-25-2005).]

#142307 02/26/05 08:40 PM
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Paul,
I'd forgotten about that TLC site.
I must go in there and have a good read of it some time.
It's really well set out. [Linked Image]

#142308 01/25/06 03:43 AM
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Hi Mike,

Just checked my old revised edition 1987 of the Handbook to the Electrical Wiring Regulations 1976.

under reg 100. the plug arrangements were shown. ( instead of reg 99 )
under reg 50. the ring mains circuit was explained with the same diagramme.
under reg 163. Test of ring circuit was quoted.

Even then this system was still OK to install although I have never seen it used in NZ.


The product of rotation, excitation and flux produces electricty.
#142309 01/25/06 04:32 AM
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Of relevance here is just exactly when sockets were first manufactured in NZ. My uneducated guess is mid 1960's. Or was it earlier than that ?

Prior to NZ manufactured sockets we must have imported them right ? So could that be why the BS sockets were used ?

Which leads me to the question:

How old would a sparky be today that would have installed these sockets back in the day ? ?

Trumpy you mentioned that steel conduit makes ring circuits impractical, but aren't steel conduit ring circuits in use in the UK ?

#142310 01/25/06 08:23 AM
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aren't steel conduit ring circuits in use in the UK ?

Most certainly.

#142311 01/26/06 09:58 AM
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Of relevance here is just exactly when sockets were first manufactured in NZ. My uneducated guess is mid 1960's. Or was it earlier than that ?
Well, I've seen Kiwi valve radios from the 50's fitted with a bakelite plug that I have never seen on Aussie stuff. It's a simple design with internal terminals and a screw on cover but nothing in the way of cable strain relief. I think I've got one lying around somewhere. I also had a PDL side entry plug that looked early 60's. One thing we never had here which appears to be common in NZ is a three conductor version of figure eight flex. Wouldn't most plugs and sockets have simply been imported from Australia?

#142312 01/26/06 10:07 AM
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One thing we never had here which appears to be common in NZ is a three conductor version of figure eight flex.

That was used here for a time as well. I have an early-1960s Marconiphone record player fitted with it. The center conductor of the three-in-line flat cord is the earth, and came supplied with a small green sleeve on the end.

#142313 01/27/06 05:11 AM
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Aussie, as far as I know we were manufacturing plugs first and then sockets later. What I would like to know is; were BS type sockets ever used in Australia/NZ ? And where did our 3-flat-radial-pin plugs come from ?

Can any old Antipodeans help here ?

I think the "Figure Eight Flex" you're refering to is our TRU-RIP ( brand name ).

The three-core Tru-rip here is double insulated with coloured core insulation and a white plastic sheath.

Tru-rip has been superceded by flex and is not really used much any more.

#142314 01/28/06 02:04 AM
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What I would like to know is; were BS type sockets ever used in Australia/NZ ? And where did our 3-flat-radial-pin plugs come from ?
Round BS sockets were used in the early days along with US two pin sockets but would have been well and truly gone by the 30's. I do see 2 pin BS porcelain sockets occasionally in 2nd hand building material centres in very old areas. The 2 pin US fittings turn up all the time and as I mentioned elsewhere I had an ancient powerboard fitted with them.
I have never actually seen a US or UK socket in a house as part of fixed wiring.
The 3 pin plug we use now is an old US standard. The whole story is in this thread https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000835.html
There was mention in "Radio & Hobbies" in the 40's or 50's in their "The serviceman who tells" column about setting up a radio workshop. It said that you need to provide a bayonet socket, a US socket and a round pin UK socket on your workbench because although those fittings were not approved there were still some people using them. So, yes they have been used here. I have seen one or two old radios (Australian made 1930's) fitted with 2 pin US plugs which did have the pins twisted to fit the present socket design.
Unfortunately I doubt you'd ever see a UK/US socket in an old house now. Over the last 20 years with the renovation boom in the inner city areas and demolishing of old houses for ugly new blocks of flats all that stuff has long gone, and rural areas didn't get reticulated power often until the 1950's. But I do remember a lot of original wiring was in use into the early 1980's...we even had incandescent street lamps still going in the older areas then. It used to be always fascinating going into town into the old shops and department stores and seeing all that stuff being used...all TPS, plastic fittings, and halogen downlights now [Linked Image]

[This message has been edited by aussie240 (edited 01-28-2006).]

#142315 01/29/06 06:42 AM
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The three-core Tru-rip here is double insulated with coloured core insulation and a white plastic sheath.

The U.K. version I referred to was also white, but not double-insulated and with no other color coding. (Actually, I can't remember whether perhaps one of the outer conductors had silver strands instead of plain copper to identify the neutral -- I'll have to check.)

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