On page 1, Powercon was mentioned.
Although it will surprise you and had surprised me in the past, Powercon is not intended to be operated under load!
IEC C13 slides out too easy, for my personal feel. C19 just slightly better.
I live in a Schuko country and have experienced hot molded plugs myself.
In case the outlet is good, then It's actually the quality of the plug and the way of how the wires are connected inside.
I replaced numerous plugs of 2000W heaters with proper self-wirable plugs, and those get barely warm.
Ferrules are a must when doing that, and I also scrape the copper strands clean with a knife in such cases, before I crimp on the ferrules. Cheapo PVC cables release substances that turn the copper strands matte or even black, and that increases resistance to the ferrule or terminal.
As I was told, the original Schuko design was intended for "10 Amp continuous, 16 Amp short-time". This is why we have continuous loads like space heaters up to 10 Amp, and then dishwashers and washing machines with 10 and 13 Amp nameplates, and small instant water heaters that go under the sink and will only be used for very short times, with 16 Amp.
We do have an unlucky constellation with fusing though. The standard German outlet is fused at 16 amp.
Depending on the manufacturing tolerances of the breaker, it will allow up to 20 Amp continuous load and never-trip. Now if a non-engineer runs two power appliances, like 2 space heaters, or a washing machine and a dryer, on one multi outlet power strip, it will draw 17 to 19 Amp total and most likely never trip the breaker, but surely overheat the outlet and the power strip. This does happen and is a known fire source.
Most power devices like that nowadays have "do not use an Extension cord or power strip" in the manual, but who reads that...
Last edited by andey; 02/26/20 10:22 AM.
