Recent content by plugwash

A LED/Neon indicator tells you whether or not there is power. A mechanical indicator tells you whether or not the switch contacts are open. In certain situation this distinction can be rather important. In RCDs with a toggle, the toggle acts as a mechanical indicator, but in push button units...

I wonder if the left indicator is not a LED, but a mechanical indicator. Certainly I've seen such mechanical indicators on RCD sockets in the UK.

AIUI with AU/NZ plugs and sockets a smaller plug will fit a larger socket, so you can plug a regular 10A plug into a 32A socket, though my understanding is that such sockets are quite rare and watching some videos I get the impression that typical socket circuits there are 20A. Ultimately, each...

Digging out enough space for a timber plug and cutting one to size sounds like even more effort than drilling/plugging/screwing to the bricks was.

Yeah. Pretty sure the screws were either 3mm or 3.5mm and the wall plugs were the "yellow" size.

The nails in cable clips are suppposed to be masonary nails. However, my experiance was that the masonary in my property was not compatible with said nails. The bricks were too hard (the nails bounced off) and the mortar was too soft/powdery to hold anything. I resorted to pulling the nails out...

For an appliance connected to an outlet box by a non-fixed cable, this seems pretty obvious to me, the outlet box is the point, the appliance itself is irrelevant. But what about appliances that are fixed to the wall with the fixed wiring terminated directly? I would agree that interpreting the...

I cynically suspect manufacturers who say this are trying to work around the plugs and sockets safety regulations. If they say it is suitable for use on a plug they have to supply it with one fitted, but if they say it is not designed for use on a plug and socket they don't.

What tarrif are you on? Prices will vary slightly with where you are in the country, but with a postcode of SY21 7EF, "Octopus flux" offers 15.25p import/ 5.8p export between 02:00 and 05:00. 35.59p import/ 26.13p export between 16:00 and 19:00. 25.42p import/ 15.81p export the rest of the...

You will need to provide overcurrent protection for the "submains" to the different buildings. I see basically two options. 1. A single 3 phase DB in the outbuilding, this is potentially the neatest soloution, but the issue is that most "normal" 3 phase boards are designed for outgoing devices...

I picked up a Tenma (Farnell own brand) 72-9400 (appears to be a rebadged uni-t UT501) one at work (A university) some years back so I could check IR on some equipment I was building (any checks that were important would be done by someone else, but I wanted the ability to pre=test stuff...

Megger are the company who made the first portable insulation test meters, and the term Megger became synonomous with an insulation test meter, in a similar way to the term Hoover became synonymous with vacuum cleaner. However, just as Hoover don't *just* make Vaccum cleaners, megger don't...

Others may disagree but I'd stick with 2.5 for socket wiring. I doubt the current changes will be the last ones the installation sees.

Looks like everything is RCD protected.

For no RCD protection at all on an installation in a house I'd expect at least. C2 - no RCD protection tor sockets reasonablly expected to supply equipment outdoors. C3- no RCD protection for sockets not reasonably expected to supply equipment outdoors. C3 - no RCD protection for concealed...