Here's something borrowed from our Non-US area. It goes to show that Bad ol' ingenuity knows no boundaries ...



From this thread

Oh my God.....

un-real

it's you all listed!

'Burn marks where the earth and active shorted, possibly when first installed.'

The built this sucker LIVE? Holy mackerel!

I'd be interested to know why it was working!

pwood:
ROTFL!

The Choice of a New Generation, eh?.
The scary thing about this whole saga, is that had that piece of Aluminium not shorted inside the Outlet and blown the fuse, this socket would probably be in use today!.
Another scary aspect of this socket is what would the associated isolator switch (which all our Outlets are required to have Down Under here) look like?, had one been added.

You're required to have switched receptacles in both Australia and New Zealand?

They're the accepted norm in Britain in residential installations, but not required.

Thumb tacks and paperclips make quite effective switches, by the way!


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 09-10-2003).]

Trumpy:

Do you mean that each outlet has a corresponding wall-switch, in addition to the circuit breaker?

Back in 1986 I took a trip to Australia. Noticed that most all outlets had an intergral switch built in. However, you could still insert or remove a plug with that switch in the
"on" position. Which made it seem rather pointless as a safety thing.

The integral switch is a common British/Commonwealth trait. Here's a U.K. version (remember our switches are up=off!):

Paul, ThinkGood,
Yes, we are required to have an isolator for all socket-outlets, either as a part of the fitting itself or fitted adjacent to the equipment that it supplies.
wa2ise,
The switch is for turning the appliance off beforeyou unplug the thing, if you want to just pull the plug, that's fine, but, the plug contacts won't like it too much!.

Ya learn somethin' new every day!

Thanks.

Pauluk/Trumpy:
Is this interrupting device simply a switch, with an actual OCPD located elsewhere, i.e. at the main service panel?

Also, aren't there some types of male connectors made that incorporate a small fuse?

Mike (mamills)

On the British receptacles, it's purely a switch (used to be single-pole only, but some makes now have double-pole switching). The OCPD is at the main panel, and may be up to 32A depending upon the circuit arrangement.

The BS1363 plugs which fit the outlet pictured above will all carry a fuse. It's part of the original specification for this type of connector:


I'm not sure if there are any Aussie/NZ plugs with fuses, but then they don't use 30A ring circuits!


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 09-11-2003).]

Paul,
No, we don't have fuses in our plugs, although we probably should, would save us Faultsmen a few late night callouts.
We do have ring-circuits here, but they are limited to use in caravan parks.
BTW,Paul, I can't really remember the last time that I actually used a double pole switch, as this sort of thing is really only used on 2 phase 230/400V stuff and even this is getting pretty rare these days.
Mike,
The switch that is used in our socket-outlets is just a single-pole device and has no OCPD function, although you can get socket-outlets with an integral RCD (GFCI) unit in them.

[Edited to correct a few spelling mistakes,
words seem to be coming out backwards, this morning!. ]

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 09-12-2003).]

The same applies in Britain, although these devices tend to be very expensive and not widely used:


This one is listed at around $37 each.


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 09-14-2003).]