WYLEX TRADITIONAL REWIREABLE FUSEBOX.

[kai]

TRADITIONAL_WYLEXSTANDARD_FUSEBOX (5)

• kai
• 31 Dec 2015

With retro-fit plug in breaker to replace the wired fuses.

TRADITIONAL_WYLEXSTANDARD_FUSEBOX (4)

• kai
• 31 Dec 2015

View showing rewireable fuses, White for Five, Blue for Fifteen & Red for Thirty Amps, these...

TRADITIONAL_WYLEXSTANDARD_FUSEBOX (3)

• kai
• 31 Dec 2015

View showing rewireable fuses, White for Five, Blue for Fifteen & Red for Thirty Amps, these...

TRADITIONAL_WYLEXSTANDARD_FUSEBOX (2)

• kai
• 31 Dec 2015

Internal mechanism showing the build quality - far better then the modern plastic consumer units.

TRADITIONAL_WYLEXSTANDARD_FUSEBOX (1)

• kai
• 31 Dec 2015

Internal mechanism showing the build quality - far better then the modern plastic consumer units.

These are pictures of an old fashioned Wylex fuse board - They don't make them like that anymore - twin terminal screws on the incoming tails - thick solid busbars, four screws holding the heavy duty plastic main cover on, generally solid British Made engineering. This "new" unused specimen was bought off ebay for under a Tenner.

 

[Echo the husky]

These are still available to buy.

 

[AndyPRK]

Yes yes we know.


Tiny earth terminal holes though.

 

[PBC_1966]

And that's a slightly later example (mid 1980's onward?), after they changed the style of the front cover somewhat and reversed the on/off positions of the main switch. But for ruggedness and good engineering it still beats the cheaply made stuff being turned out today.

 

[Echo the husky]

I see it has 4 neutral terminals but only 3 ways, is there a connexion point somewhere on the live busbar to connect a Wylex Extenso 2 way board?

 

[kai]

Not that I am aware of. However I heard that Wylex brought out an RCD Retrofit kit for these boards around 2000, but it was not a success and was withdrawn...

 

[PBC_1966]

I'm trying to cast my mind back to the older 3-way Wylex boards I've seen in the past, but can't remember the neutral connection configuration offhand.

It's probably cheaper to make a 4-way block and just use it in the 3-way units as well than to manufacture two different size blocks for 3-way and 4-way.

 

[Jackrae]

Maybe it's so's you can "borrow a neutral"

 

[DaveHerns]

I'm sure the back of my Wylex is made of some sort of wood. Maybe when I move I can say it's a "period feature"

 

[Adam_151]

Not that I am aware of. However I heard that Wylex brought out an RCD Retrofit kit for these boards around 2000, but it was not a success and was withdrawn...

I can remember seeing a '16th edition' split load version of one of these boards a few years back... I haven't seen more than one, so they must have been like hen's teeth!

 

[kai]

Modern Wylex boards have an installer cuttable busbar to enable the installer to mix and match the number of ways on each RCD on the board, I wonder when did Wylex introduce that new feature?

 

[sparkwright]

Not that I am aware of. However I heard that Wylex brought out an RCD Retrofit kit for these boards around 2000, but it was not a success and was withdrawn...

Never knew that.

Always thought they should have, bearing in mind so many homes have these kind of boards.

I suppose in 2000 the greatest need for an RCD was for showers, and since some of these older boards supposedly had fuseways rated at 30A, I suppose people mostly wanted 40A RCBOs.

Got any details of these RCD retrofit kits?

And if there are any lurking about, presumably they are ok to use?

 

[kai]

Not any more - my old 2001 Wylex catalogue just said "RCD Retrofit Kits Available - Contact Wylex Technical Support for details". No Images etc.

 

[kai]

If you have one of these, and find that whenever a lamp fails, the five amp fuse blows, there is a way round the problem of hard to find expensive five amp replacements.

1) Buy a B6 plug in MCB for the lighting circuit to replace the cartridge fuse instead. (provided the PFC is within range of the MCB).

2) If you have two lighting circuits, you could move them both onto a small two way modern consumer unit with 2 new B6 breakers in, and feed it off the OLD CU with a new 15amp cartridge fuse, replacing the old 5amp one, using a short run of 2.5.mm cable. This arrangement means that the 15amp cartridge fuse is on the incoming feed to the modern 2 way unit, to cover cases of high PFC).

 

[Iggifer]

1) Buy a B6 plug in MCB for the lighting circuit to replace the cartridge fuse instead. (provided the PFC is within range of the MCB)

I find that a lot of everyday users have already clocked onto that, either that they got sick of having to go and find fusewire, or wherever they went only had the plug in MCBs

I'm too young to have had to do it, but glad I never had to rewire a fuse in the dark!