Where's the thermocouple?
Double sockets
- Thread starter JohnW2
- Start date
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I just felt the socket with the back of my fingers so far. It's still early days for my test rig. 
RF, is that a 35 mm deep box? Otherwise looks good to me.
Don't forget the 2nd part of the test - you have to be able to certify that "I gave it a good old sniff and there was no smell of burning or whatever, guv".I just felt the socket with the back of my fingers so far. It's still early days for my test rig.
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If you really are going to undertake the experiment, and would be prepared to produce another test rig, I'd be intrigued to know how temperature rises with 2x13A on a double socket compare with those with 1x13A on a single socket. As I recently wrote, on theoretical grounds I would have guessed that there wouldn't be a lot of difference.I just felt the socket with the back of my fingers so far. It's still early days for my test rig.
Kind Regards, John
John, twice the power dissipation with only about 1.5 times the surface area to dissipate heat, and only one cable to act as a heat sink? I'd expect the dual socket-outlet to get a lot hotter a single.
Good luck with the test RF, don't burn your fingers.
If you're talking about the plate, then I think it's nearer to 1.7 than 1.5. However, counteracting the reduced plate area is the fact that that the mass/thermal capacity of the 'works' look as if it is usually appreciably more than 2.0 times that of a single socket (I would guess probably around 3 times), and the surface area of the works (which radiates heat to the inside of the box, hence surroundings) is probably proportionately comparable (i.e. around 2.0 times) that of a single socket. That's why my guess is that the temp rises might well be similar - but I'm obviously not sure (in particular, not sure how much difference the number of heat-sinking cables will have), hence my interest in empirical results.
Kind Regards, John
John, I'm thinking about the total surface area of the front plate and the back box. Haven't worked it out though.
I don't thing the .mass will have much effect on the eventual temperature, only on the rate of rise, since the thermal mass is quite small anyway.
Like you, I eagerly await RF's test results.
I don't thing the .mass will have much effect on the eventual temperature, only on the rate of rise, since the thermal mass is quite small anyway.
Like you, I eagerly await RF's test results.
Yes, until the experiment is done, we can but guess. In fact, if the box is in good thermal conduct with the surroundings, the temperature achieved inside the box (which, at equilibrium, will be much the same as that of the 'socket' itself) would probably prove most crucially dependent upon the thermal properties of those surroundings (and ditto the thermal properties of the environment the cable(s) are in, if it transpires that their heat-sinking activities are an appreciable factor). If that's the case, then RF Lighting's test rig (and, indeed, seemingly probably also the test requirements of BS1363) may be a bit unrealistic, since having a box encased on 5 faces by wood is a pretty uncommon situation in the real world.
Kind Regards, John.
According to the standard, that is "a test fixture intended to simulate normal conditions of use".
I don't think the results will be hugely different from a socket-outlet sunk into a masonary wall, and in any case your original question, back in the mists of time, was about the rating of these sockets, and the rating is determined for a specified set of conditions that don't have to include reality.
What's the longest thread ever on this forum? What's the phone number for the Guinness Book of Records?
Maybe, but my intuition (rather than knowledge) suggests to me that wood is generally much poorer at conducting heat (and probably has a lower thermal capacity) than masonary, but that might be totally wrong
That is indeed true - and if my intuition (above) happens to be correct, then the test will err on the side of safety in terms of the more common real-life situation.
I must say that I haven't noticed one as long as this. Mind you, if one weeded out all the off-topic garbage, and some of the other 'tangential' stuff (of which I'm as guilty as everyone else!), the length probably wouldn't look too dramatic
Kind Regards, John
Does the testing need to be carried out at 230V, or could I use say 50VAC to save my electric bill?
Your neon screwdriver should be able to operate just fine at that voltage. What else would you need?
Yes, any voltage will do provide the current is correct. For the doubters the heat energy generated in the sockets is amps times the voltage drop in the socket between cable and plug pins.
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