Ring main spurs

[JohnD]

Soon Hungary and Slovenia will be updating to the new standard, and so will we. So will France, Germany, probably Turkey too. And Poland. sweden. Norway. Italy. Need I go on?

got a source for that? and which standard exactly are you talking about?

No. But when i worked at "a well known PES" my colleague at the next desk was assigned the project, and we had a few interesting conversations about it. At that time the group included a Contracting arm as well as Networks, Supply and Distribution, and a chain of Appliance shops. We were a leading menber of the Electricity Supply Association and various other trade bodies.

Funily enough the same guy was also assigned the UK Euro Readiness project, and nothing's come of that either, so far. All my Projects finished successfully (ish).

 

[plugwash]

how many years ago was he working on this. Its possible it was IEC 60906-1 which at least according to wikipedia europe abandonded thier effort to introduce in the mid ninties.

unified cable colors were easy to introduce in a way that didn't affect the general public too much (for us brits the only difficult bit was three phase which doesn't affect most domestic work at all and only affects most commercial in terms of the main boards). So were unified breakers.

As for voltage they didn't unify it they just made a paper standard that specified a wide enough tolerance band to include both. I strongly suspect that sensible manufacturers were already working to specs that allowed their equipment to work on both systems ( hell i've got a power adaptor here that claims an input range of 100-240V so it can be used worldwide).

 

[Steve]

when square pin sockets were introduced, did the old round pin plug fit these? if not, then why bother with a transition socket when they phase in schuko sockets or whatever wierd and wonderful creation they come up with.

Would wiring styles be harmonised too? So each room has a 16A radial with lights and sockets on? dreadful stuff!

 

[JohnD]

how many years ago was he working on this. Its possible it was IEC 60906-1 which at least according to wikipedia europe abandonded thier effort to introduce in the mid ninties.

H'mm that could be it. I was then at Eastern Electric, moved to Seeboard for 1998 dereg, and later to SSE.

What a disappointment.

Here's an Electricity Industry Joke:

In the Electricity Supply Association Amateur football league, the Wherstead Park All-stars were drawn to play against Sizewell B Rovers.

They refused, saying "We only play "A" teams "

 

[securespark]

You can also spur off the CU.

Ban, don't want to start another WW111 re socket ratings, but my investigations with mfrs lead to a max of 16A, but better safe than sorry and stick to the rated current...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And why are triple sockets protected by a single 13A fuse, yet double sockets can draw 26A?

Because BS1363 requires unfused multiple (>2) sockets to be rated at 28A, which is more than a 2.5mm spur?

A fused one is limited to 13A because that's the biggest BS1362 there is. The socket has to be rated at 20A though. As, in a way, do single sockets - the BS1363 tests require that the supply cable be loaded up to 20A.