ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades US plug in Aussie powerpoint

Makes you wonder why somebody would go to all that trouble when it would likely be much quicker to just fit a replacement plug!


My brother has a small 220V toaster oven with standard LPT type cord (no ground) and U.S. plug. It came back from the Philippines.

Ouch... classic (old-fashioned) single bedroom apartment: 2x20A main fuses out in the stairway, inside: meter on wooden board, below or above 2x 6A Diazed (hot and neutral).
Modern one (just a guess): 3x25A Neozed or maybe Diazed (if retrofit) main fuses, inside: RCD, lights room, lights kitchen, 13A each, sockets kitchen 16A, sockets room 16A, maybe refrigerator and microwave on dedicated circuit, but not likely, if yes, probably 13A each, cooker (if not gas): always 3x16A. Two rows, that's a legal (though stupid) minimum for main panels (single row are only sold as subpanels).

aussie240, your not seriously proposing this as acceptable?

there is a reason all new plug tops and appliances have sheathed pins and that stacking piggy back plugs etc is screamed at, exposed conductors pins just love having bits of metal dropped across 'em, have even heard of one case where a steel rule was used to reach behind a desk in a cube farm.

Grab a replacement appliance lead from Dick Smiths or similar.

I'm sure Aussie just took the picture for illustrative pictures only; and then later changed the plug on the radio's flex.

I'm just illustrating a common practice. I can't say I've ever heard of someone receiving a shock from it though.
I certainly don't approve of removing the earth pin of the US 120v 3 pin plug to get it to fit. Removing the earth connection to anything makes me rather uncomfortable.

One thing that does surprise me is the bureaucrats who like to ban everything haven't done so with the incandescent light socket. Just take the bulb out and there's 240V exposed for anyone to touch. After all, someone might remove a bulb and put their fingers in....I'm just waiting for a lawsuit to appear from someone lacking in common sense there. I know HPM make what they call a 'safety lampholder' which works on the principal of no connection made to the pins unless they're pushed in. But someone can still push the pins in by their fingers if they so wish. And what of the E14 and E27 light socket that is permeating Australia in Chinese and European light fittings? The screw base of the light bulb is often uncovered just below the glass...easy to touch, with say a coin, a key or a paperclip. There's no guarantee that it will always be connected to the neutral.

Spock,

Welcome aboard!



That's something I've pondered over here. We've had shuttered sockets ever since BS1363 was introduced. The latest revision to the plug standard specifies sleeved line and neutral pins, and some trading standards departments in the country are even now trying to enforce a ban on the sale of even second-hand goods which are not so equipped (whether the law actually allows them to do that is another matter).

Yet we still have the humble BC lampholder, which could be on a desklamp, easily accessible, where you just take out the bulb and there's 240V staring at you from the exposed pins.

Not very consistent, is it?

Shuttered sockets on wall mounted GPO's have been available here since the 1950's when flush mounted accessories became standard, but they've never been compulsory.
The sleeved plug pins are now compulsory since last year. The initial idea was to give us recessed GPO's as per European practice but that died very quickly because many existing things wouldn't fit (eg. plugpack transformers). So we got sleeved pins instead. Extension cord sockets are however of the recessed type as of the last few years. The side cutters come out when the older plugpack won't go in of course.

It isn't compulsory to have sleeved pins on the plug (yet) for 2nd hand equipment, but the plug cannot be one that's held together with screws. Anyone who works with vintage equipment would know that the screws holding together bakelite plugs can loosen over time, eventually leaving the plug in the power point with exposed terminals when the top finally comes off. Of course we would always keep them tight but the general non technical population can't be relied on to do that.


That's exactly what I was thinking of. It's also a likely scenario if the bulb filament has gone open circuit and it's assumed the lamp is switched off. How many of us have been caught changing a light bulb to find the replacement lights up as soon as it is inserted?

The live bulb-holder terminals in a light fitting with no bulb in have always been a big shocker. I think that is why RCDs are compulsory for lights & sockets in houses now.

Aussie, I always change bulbs with the switch on. That way I know straight away if its going to work or not. Man I'm lazy.

Incidentally, has anyone ever received an elecric shock and tripped the RCD ? What does it feel like ? Does it hurt ? I've never done it.

kiwi,
Mate,
I'd never do that, the thickness of the glass on imported lightbulbs is getting thinner as we speak.
I've had so many bulbs break while I've removed them, that I always wear a leather glove when putting them in and removing them now.
Also, I've had the glass envelope come away from the metal base the odd time or two as well, twisting the Phase and Neutral lead-in wires together.
Not the sort of thing you want to have happen with the lampholder live.

First time I had it happen, it seemed to take a while to trip...perhaps the current flowing through me was just below the requisite 30mA. The shock was the result of slightly leaky power transformer insulation in a valve radio. I was holding the aerial wire and touching an earthed switch. Strangely, that was 26 years ago and there has been no sign of leakage from that particular radio since.
It felt like the normal kind of shock until it tripped of course. In more recent times the tripping has been so quick that often I'm not even aware that I've caused it. But then I've been right across the live and earth or neutral in those cases. Maybe the modern RCD's are also quicker to respond.


OK, I own up to doing that too, more so with fluorescent tubes but in that case I know the switch is on and I'm expecting a handfull of light . It's when you think the switch off it can be a bit startling.
Good point from Trumpy that's got me thinking twice about changing light bulbs. About two years ago, the one and only light bulb factory in Australia closed down (the usual story of why make them here when we can pay someone a bowl of rice each day to make them somwhere else instead....)
I used to only buy the Aussie bulbs but now we have no choice but to use the imports. It is unbelievable that some of them don't even have the fuses in the stem! I know of at least one case where, because of no internal fuses, a surge on the mains resulted in a pile of broken glass on the dining table beneath.
Given the pressure required to insert a light bulb into a bayonet socket, the thin glass issue is worth keeping in mind.