Sven said …
Hutch, what's that wire that looks like gold colored flex for? Did you splice that onto the thin wires of the light string? Wouldn't it have been better to just connect the green wires directly into the plug?
Quite right – technically – on both counts Sven. South African households, like UK ones, do not have sufficient sockets (receptacles) available and so, as usual, an extension cord was going to be required. The Xmas wire was also rather short to start with! Now there is nothing subtle about a South African extension cord. All ready made ones are three core x 1.5 mm2 and with their final insulation, have a diameter of about 8 mm. Add on to this the 16A socket (70x40x100 mm) and plug (or socket and adaptor pictured above – even larger) and one has a piece of wiring that is likely to pull the tree over as well as looking – imposing or b**t ugly depending on your choice.
Hence the splice which is under the wrapping board in the picture. The zip cord, though thin, was still a considerably thicker gauge than the Xmas lighting wire. Kept out of harm’s way over a few weeks at Christmas, I felt comfortable with this arrangement.
[having just gone into the workshop and dismantled/measured an RSA extension cord, I have down-scaled the wire cross-sectional dimensions a bit - still largish though]
[This message has been edited by Hutch (edited 12-15-2003).]
