The main hazard with UK plugs is not an electrical one - if you drop one on the bedroom floor, it is guaranteed to land with the pins facing upwards. If you then step on it on your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, it really, really hurts.
It so does. I mean, it really hurts. More than lego and more than getting 555 chip stuck in your heal when you trod on it. It is a pain like no other. You're better off being electrocuted.
He calls them death-dapters because you can plug in one pin and leave the others floating and because you can plug the earth pin in the line socket. You can't do that with this socket.
The idiotic muffin-size plugs the British use would be an absolute nuisance if you had many things to plug in. That may be the idea. I do like Big Clive though.
You can get 3-gang bricks...they're chonky boys and best avoided (would make a good weapon if you hurled them at someone though). Mostly we use multi-gang extension strip, if we need more sockets.
One of the big "unseen" problems with those "universal" sockets is that the contact pressure of the contacts can be much lower than in the conventional sockets, which can mean arcing or heating when the contacts get older, because the contact pressure is part of the "self cleaning" part of the contact design. I suppose in this application this is less of an issue because of the low maximum current, but it still might cause problems in future with poor contacts and it definitely cause problems with the plugs not being secure when plugged in.
Yep, i have a Pyle brand PDU that used these sockets (well the ones seen above the ones he replaced) and all the 120v plugs sat loose, Eventually replaced it with a more higher quality one.
Depending on the plug they can also only contact the corners or narrow edges of the pins. Australian plug pins are at ~45 degrees so have particularly poor contact.
I have one of these (cheap) 1KVA step up/down transformer and weakest link on these are the two universal receptacles used on the product. The stamped metal pieces used within the receptacles are like 0.5mm thick and do not have any retention on the mating pins and can easily develop hot spots. Replace with better quality ones before use ! I have a couple of samples coming from Wonpro for testing.
The UK plug also is designed that if the cable is yanked out of the plug housing itself, the live will be the first wire to disconnect. You can see that when you showed the fuse, brown is live and is the shortest wire in there.
well ,thats whats 'supposed' to happen, but if someone fits wires with live as long as the others, which i've seen, and admittedly i've done for quickness.........
Agree. The Earth connection needs to be able to sink the current capability of the main supply connections. You don’t want the Earth connection blowing open circuit like a fuse, before the main supply protection kicks in.
@@intercity125 Yeah because conductors are usually grossly overspecified + MCBs usually pop fast enough, and anything even vaguely modern your RCB will trip very quickly. Unless you have a string of other faults you don't need to really fully sink the total capability of a circuit anyway, and if you have a string of other faults you have bigger problems. Some countries (and some UK installations frankly depending on age) I'm not so sure I'd be as confident.
Noel I am worried the EARTH wires are very thin inside that transformer case. Please consider upgrading them. In France the Earth pin sticks out of the recessed socket and there is a hole in the plug not at the edges. Best wishes.
The CEE 7/7 plug is designed to be compatible with both the German Schuko outlet, and the French outlet you describe. Actually a very good design of plug, though it does mean you have to have a deep wallbox for the socket
+1 to the thin wires concern. Also a check to confirm the earth pins are actually earthed with low resistance after the modification is highly recommended.
@jaycee1980 in the house I grew up in none of the sockets had switches, and none of the plugs had poncy sleeves. I'm sure kids were being electrocuted left right and centre but some of us made it. I still unplug my beeb without switching off at the socket... what a rebel.
@@dr_jaymz So did I.. unsleeved pins were common when I was a kid in the 80s... but well - I know how to wire a plug and have done since I was 7. Unlike most people today.
The insulation on the pins was brought about because people used to stick their fingers around and underneath the plug, inadvertently touching the pins a getting an electric shock. If I'm correct, the amendment was finally pushed through because an MP's wife stupidly did this and got a very nasty surprise.
Actually if you look at your "European" plugs ground, it also has a hole in it. On some sockets (I think at least in Denmark, but not in Norway where I'm from) the wall socket actually has a grounded "peg" sticking out, matching that hole. BTW: If you had rotated your inset 90degrees the angled plug would go in both ways, and cable management would get a nicer look and feel :)
Actually Danish sockets don't have an earth prong, but Danish plugs have one. That's called a type K plug. The European plug is called type F. The additional hole in the plug makes it compatible with the Belgian/French type E system. That's the one with an earth prong in the socket.
@@KolliRail I thought there was two different plug types in Denmark, both the K-type and the E-type (with the prong in the scoket)... oh well maybe the E-type is not that common in Denmark after all...
No, those are used in France, Belgium, Poland, Czechia and Slovakia. Denmark has ground as a prong in the plug. That has the problem that Danish routinely use Schuko plugs but they do not ground.
@@okaro6595 You are both correct. The French style Type E socket was allowed in the Danish regulations a few (10? maybe?) years ago. And then some years later the Type F/Schuko socket was allowed to be installed too. So you can change everything with Schuko in Denmark legally now if you want to.
As someone said, eath wire should be same gauge as main leads. I would check it (maybe it's just less of insulation, but that is also bad from mechanical standpoint). Also, dremel tip - if you can avoid standing in blade plane, avoid it. When your blade is horizontal, you cannot avoid it, unless it's over your head, which would be uncomfortable. Tipping transformer on the side would allow you to dremel top part without being on blade plane. I once had broken blade on dremel, that shit flys high speed, left ident on wooden closet doors, about 1*1,5 cm, 1 mm deep. It went almost parallel to doors, it would probably penetrate deeper if it was at 90°.
I'll third that point. Yesterday a colleague at work mentioned he got nervous about how I was using a cut off wheel that he has had them shatter at fly at him. I have too, always wear safety glasses when working with them. When those wheels break they fly out at high speed mostly in the line out from where they were spinning. If you are looking strait on at the edge of the wheel it will fly strait at your eyes..
You’ll also notice that the top prong on the British plug is slightly longer. The two live holes won’t open until the top pin has triggered a release. Also why you can put a euro plug straight into a British socket with the help of a matchstick (probably not advisable though).
some UK sockets some years back, MK brand didnt use the earth pin to release the shutters but had them arranged so would only open, by twisting around a bit, when both shorter pins were inserted at the same time, they wouldnt release if you tried to poke just one, such as with a screwdriver, even poking both didnt usually work due to the shape of the shutter plate covering the holes, it needed the correct pin shape to do it
We _need_ fused plugs in the UK because to save copper thanks to the war, we built our mains wiring in houses as a series of loops. These loop will carry much more current than the plugs are rated for because they power every outlet in that loop, so the circuit breaker for them is higher than the rated current of the plug. We have this additional fuse on the plug therefore to protect the wiring between the outlet and the appliance, although I like the idea of keeping them if we ever phased out rings completely.
Northern Europe actually has 2 different socket designs that are partly compatible. One with 3 prongs and the one you have which is a german standard called schuko. Schuko has the recessed plugs and the small taps at the sides making it impossible to plug in non schuko plugs that are fully round. Look at extention cords at ikea sweden for examples.
I'd be more inclined to install IEC C13 outlets in the transformer and then replace the native plugs on various power boards/bars/strips with C14 plugs.
Interesting video. Two comments though. 1. Grinding and metal shards around electrical stuff, iffy (should vacuum very very well when done.) 2. UK plug has another safety feature, and that is the ground has to be plugged in for the Live / Negative trapdoors to open so those pins can be inserted.
Yes and they melt into plastic and go rusty, also damage glass like car windows, and heat damage the paint next to the cut, so it can rust back from the cut.
Schuko sockets usually come with a shutter mechanism these days. You have to simultaneously push in the prongs for the shutter to move aside. You can't easily shove just one object in only one of the holes. This helps a lot with the kids sticking in a nail scenario.
Most new construction in North America now requires tamper-resistant outlets, and I have seen some devices with a bit of insulation on the prongs. Meanwhile, your sockets do not appear to be polarized, so devices don’t have a consistent neutral. You really have to be careful with that in North America since older 2-prong devices could energize the casing if you somehow defeated the polarization and reversed the polarity. One example is the antique “Radiant” toaster Technology Connections fixed.
Yep, true. However, the electrical safety bodies writing standards for EU plugs have considered this. Relying on whoever wired the outlet to always get the polarity right is an extremely poor safety measure and only requires a single human error to cause shock hazards. So instead requiring appliances with a metal chassis to be grounded and requiring two-pole breakers makes this a pretty much non-issue. For application where you want to preserve the polarity there are the CEE 17 plugs which can be used instead.
The radio I listen to at work is like that. It's perfectly safe as you can't touch the chassis with it plugged in, but the line cord on it is not polarized and can be connected either way around. One wire goes to the vacuum tubes(yeah it's an oldie from 1957 even has Civil Defense markings on the dial!) while the other just hooks right to chassis. Fun fact it also uses the line cord for FM antenna purposes and sometimes if it's getting fussy about reception I can help clean its ears out by unplugging, swapping pins, plugging it back in.
It's not as if most of europe (well apart from those crazy people, but you always have those) uses a 100 year old (well 98 years actually) design that literately translates as "safety contact". And as an electrician, I shudder at the comment about having a consistant neutral connected to the casing? Neutral should never be connected to the case in the first place, that's whats earth is for. If no earth is present, a device should be what we call double isolated. A construction that absolutely prevents the user to be shocked. So in essence it boils down to plastic cases. Steel case? Earth! No exception there. Devices with non-earthed plugs and steel cases do exist (as single isolated), however those device are really really old and basically have no use in any regular setting and as far as I'm concerned should be banned. Yes I know neutral and earth is connected at the breakerbox in the US (we use a TN system here, each living unit has their own earthrod and not connected to neutral) Anyway in all systems you can never reliably trust the neutral being earth going forward. In theory yes, in practice there is the polarity issue. Better to prevent shock by using proper designed devices in the first place. Any additional layer of protection is a positive thing.
@@patrickd9551 I can still see your ghosted comment through my notifications. “Neutral should never be connected to the case in the first place, that's whats earth is for.” There was no earth connection on the old 2-prong outlets… still common in Japan. “If no earth is present, a device should be what we call double isolated… it boils down to plastic cases.” Yep. Meanwhile, these antiques were metal, wood, and Bakelite. Even the electrical insulation was some kind of fabric. Almost no plastic back then. “Steel case? Earth! No exception there. Devices with non-earthed plugs and steel cases do exist (as single isolated), however those device are really really old” These antiques are precisely what I’m talking about. That’s why Technology Connections had to “fix” his Sunbeam Radiant Control toaster. If polarity were reversed you could get electrocuted by touching the heating element even when off. Meanwhile, mine is decades newer and doesn’t have this issue.
@@emmettturner9452 lol i can see your ghosted comment about my ghosted comment. RUclips filters strikte again. Probably the c word. Lol. Anyway, we agree. But my main point was that any device thats not safe like that should be thrown out for use in daily life. Museum? Sure. But especially here with 230v thats just begging for death
12:18 if you had inserted the sockets with 5.5mm holes on top of each other, a 90 degree plug would fit easier. (Here in EU it is not at all uncommon to see Shuko sockets inserted in 45 degree angle, to ease the plethora of plug shapes including so called wall warts/ Rat tail power supplies.)
I was in Thailand a few years ago, the hotel I stayed at had those death-dapters for *every wall socket*, it was certainly a thing. I mean it was convenient that I could just plug in my US plug switching power adapters into those 240V sockets but damn haha
7:29 That transformer looks like an autotransformer, as there is only one neutral wire. So that means the transformer has no isolation from the line input voltage. It is definitely appropriate here for the safety earth connections to go back to the line input connection. edit: The safety ground wiring is MASSIVELY under rated. It should definitely be the same thickness as the live conductors are. Also it doesn't look as if the metal chassis is grounded either. Typical corner cutting in Chinese made stuff.
The danger of north American plugs is overstated, in not entirely theoretical. I haven't heard of anyone being shocked when plugging something in unless something was in disrepair. Furthermore, tamper resistant sockets (required by code) have reduced the amount of exposed prong when energized to a 1/4" or less. Far too small for a finger. If that still makes you nervous because you like to drop uninsulated wires down the wall when you plug in your devices, you can rotate your outlets 90 degress so the neutral blade is on top.
US outlets are not square so unless you're doing new work, rotation would not be trivial. I've sometimes touched the metal when plugging and unplugging but have never been shocked yet so the problem may be overstated. On the other hand, my fingers are not small.
If the transformer inside really provides galvanic isolation, i.e. two separate coils, then you would have to touch both wires to get a shock. However, if it is a autotransformer with only one coil, there is no galvanic isolation and protective earth becomes a valuable asset again.
@@tobiashegemann1811 True, but since the designer did not care to use the usual colors for L, N and PE, it's not immediately obvious, what goes where... 🤔
If the plug can be put in upside down, didn't that mean live and neutral are reversed? Not good if the (expected) live is the one switched. And the red wriring. Looks like USA manufactured laboratory equipment I used to work on: L&N both red up to a switch, both black afterwards. That confused Australian electricians who insisted on rewiring to prevent the obvious danger. (Live is known as Active in Australia, so substitute A for L where appropriate.)
Those wiring colors sound weird. A single color for a transformer winding is sensible, but staying a single color after a switch makes no sense. Some manufacturer screwed up.
They didn't have too many screws for this design - those screws are holding the entire weight of the transformer. A better design would have the handle directly connected to the heavy part with the cover not being structural - or maybe some tabs to hold weight. But right now those screws are structural.
Yes! I had one before and I forgot about that. I have ordered a new one since I made the video. That would have been much easier (but without pretty sparks 😃).
I would have changed out the all red wires with the proper colors, like white for neutral, black for hot and green for ground...otherwise... great job.
That would have been a good idea. Unfortunately I didn't have any wire of the proper gauge on hand and I definitely didn't want to use thinner one. Next time I need to get in there for any reason I'll probably do that.
@@NoelsRetroLab Source for that kind of wire is any old IEC cable you have, strip off the outer sheath, and you get all 2 colours. If you have a EU spec cable you also just need to keep the EU plug plus 30cm of cable, and get a UK style metal clad socket, and a 20mm cable gland, and use the cable to make the adaptor. Just have to remember that now the UK plug no longer is meeting the correct spec, as the EU socket is not polarised, unless you have used the French version with the earth pin, which does force polarity on the connections.
@@NoelsRetroLab while you’re doing that mod, please ensure you increase the gauge of those earth wires. Being as thin as they are at the moment means there’s a non-zero chance that under a fault, they would melt or have high enough resistance to fail to Earth the device adequately.
I'd probably have used a "nibbling tool" to increase the size of those socket holes, but whatever works is good. The one thing I don't like about the new sockets is that ability to insert the plug either way around. This means that the "live" could be on either wire, which is only safe if the appliance has double-pole switching. Australian plugs and sockets are polarised and although there were "double adapters" which switched the live and neutral wires on one side, this was made illegal some time ago due to the safety issue. Australian plugs and sockets are not recessed, but the convention of adding insulation to the first half of the current-carrying prongs is becoming more popular. An Earth wire is mandatory unless the appliance can claim to be "double insulated" which means that there are at least two distinctive layers of insulation between the power wiring and any exposed metal. (Some appliances have no exposed metal and so can be unearthed)
Nibblers are unfortunately pretty rare. I've seen them in person at maybe two stores (suffice to say, I went back and bought one). Dremels and similar are much easier to find, so sadly will usually be the "better" option.
Your points about the universal power connector are quite good. Yes, it is not safe as you demonstrated. But I would like to point out something you missed as to how electrical safety ground systems work - at least in North America. The ground wire or terminal is not simply connected to the Earth with a ground rod. It is also bonded to the neutral wire in the electrical system, universally at the building service entrance. This is what provides the shock or electrocution protection. Should the hot side of the line or mains touch the appliance metal case or chassis, that will be a short circuit to the neutral by virtue of the neutral to ground connection at the service panel and blow the fuse or trip the circuit breaker. Should the neutral wire of the mains or line touch the the case or chassis, no harm as it is at or a few safe volts above ground by virtue of the ground/neutral bond. This even works in the American split phase 120/240 residential system. The utility transformer split secondary is of such low impedance that either side of the split phase to ground will provide plenty of fault current to open a breaker or fuse*. Earth as a ground is only relevant in two cases, lightning and protection from it, and low frequency radio communication, AM, SW, and associated frequency bands. Other than that, the Earth ground is not required for any man-made electrical system to work. Think about it. Your cell phone has a lot of complex analog and digital electronics systems. Where is the Earth ground? A plane, car, space craft or probe? Where is the Earth ground? Earth ground in our electrical systems is for lightning protection and some forms of radio communication only. It serves no other purpose for safety. Grounding an electrical system without the neutral wire bond is in fact a safety and shock hazard. The American NEC recently (2008 IIRC), made a distinction between bonding and grounding as the two terms were being previously dangerously mis-applied. GFCI or the European equivalent RCID(?) provided added protection where a ground fault may not produce enough current flow or not quickly enough to trip a breaker or blow a fuse. That's another complex discussion as to how they work. * Note that in the USA we do have a problem with occasional open feeder neutral faults on split phase systems, so no, it's not perfect either.
@@lasskinn474 So here's my take on it..... The 32A MCB in the consumer unit is there to protect the mains wiring, the fuse in a plug is just a convenience/safety feature. Convenient because (for the most part) if a fuse blows it only disconnects the faulty device and everything else stays powered up. Safety because not every fault is a direct short so possibly wouldn't draw 32A+ and trip the breaker. So as an example an appliance with a 3A fuse will generally have flex from the plug to appliance rated at 6A, if a fault now placed a 10A load on that, the 3A fuse blows. Replace the fuse with a 13A or a bit of tinfoil if you're 'old skool', the house house wiring/MCB don't care as they can take 10A easily but wait... remember that 6A flex? That's what the fuse was actually protecting, that (now) nice and toasty fire hazard lol.
@@beanyrat well the mcb has a higher one because if you take those lead fused amps from the loop like device on every socket thats ok, if you take 30 amps from one single socket its bye bye wire in the wall. The old uk system can't handle a short between the socket and the device at all because at all, the sub 32a wiring in the wall becomes the fuse. Thats why the fuse has to be on the plug and not on the device.
Small correction: Short-to-earth situations are handled by a GFCI or RCD, which is a device that immediately breaks the circuit when it detects a difference between the outgoing and return current. Overcurrent protection alone isn't enough to prevent electrocution, as even a few tenths of an amp can be deadly at mains voltage.
That's true, circuit breaker protects electrical installation and RCD protects life. But, also, if earthing was up to standard, it should be able to sink 16 A without having more than 50 V voltage drop. Of course, depending on it isn't wise because earthing could be up to standard at the time of inspection, few decades later, soil could be dryer...
Earthing is a fairly in depth thing. In the USA, Australia, NZ and other countries that implement some form of TNCS supply the earth wire in the outlet is tied to the supply neutral so current will flow along that path and, neutral faults aside, guarantee the over current protection will trip rapidly. In many parts of Europe a TT system is used instead where there is no low impedance link between neutral and earth so a 'hot' to chassis style fault may not cause enough current to flow to trip the protection and can leave the earth system pulled up to quite dangerous voltages. This is why the only safe TT installation is one that has RCDs on each circuit. There's plenty of other earthing arrangements out there so it pays to properly understand what is implemented in one's own location.
Depends on the earth resistance. If the earth resistance is very low (for example in a TN system, where the earth is connected to the neutral at the main distribution panel, as it's the case in the US) an earth fault is basically a short to neutral and will trip a normal breaker. So you don't need an RCD for indirect contact protection. In a TT system, where neutral and earth are not connected and the earth is provided trough an electrode the resistance to earth may be a couple of ohms, not sufficient to trip let's say a 16A breaker, at least not in a short period of time. In this situation you need the RCD (coordinated with the earth resistance) otherwise an earth fault will not be interrupted. This for indirect contact, for direct contact (i.e. you directly touch a live part) a 30mA RCD doesn't protect you 100% but it surely helps.
Not all installations have GFCIs. The earthing is for safety and the breaker plays parts on it. The breaker alone does not provide safety if you touch a live wire but the breaker an earthing do cut power if the live wire touches the case.
@@okaro6595 with adequate earthing, voltage drop is low enough to protect you until current hits breaking limit. But, earthing fault it's that common (soil changes, corrosion) and if happens, can be undetected for long time.
If I remember correctly, the genius of the UK plugs don't end there. Unless I'm mistaken, the hot, neutral and ground wire are, when correctly installed, supposed to disconnect from the plug in that order in case the cable gets tugged, stepped on or yanked on to the point where it comes out of the plug. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
This is correct for re-wireable plugs at least, and is visible at 5:58. So is the screwed-down cord grip (the black part) which works well if installed correctly - the differing lengths is for safety if all else fails.
If you're in the US is there a reason why you're not getting 240v from the panel. If you put in the double pole breakers those give you 240 out. 240 volt US plugs are shaped differently so you can't plug in the wrong appliance. So you could just get proper US 240 volt to whatever plug standard you want.
Was thinking the same thing. He already has 240V available in his house. Just needs to get a circuit set up with a Nema 6-20 outlet. And then maybe use a European power strip and change the plug to a 6-20.
Actually some ground plugs in Denmark had the third ground leg, but otherwise it is standard european plug. Also it looks like a smiley face, since the ground leg is like a half circle
The Danish plug has one major flaw: The line and neutral is located in the exact same position as with the French and German plug. Add to that most modern appliances comes with the European plug. So when you buy a Class I appliances, like refrigerator or dish washer, it comes with a plug that will connect the Line and Neutral but not the Protective Earth (ground/CPC or whatever it's called now a days). But on the bright side: RCDs are mandatory in Denmark. I
You could make up a short lead with UK socket and EU plug btw the longer Earth pin on the later UK plugs also unlocks the safety shutter covering the neutral and live to open allowing the plug to befully inserted. Its a safety feature to prevent young children inserting things and getting an electric shock(BS 1363).
As that BBS Micro is old enough to come from an era where devices were sold without a plug, exchanging that user-installed UK-plug for a CEE 7/4, 7/6 or 7/7 (that's Schuko, French, and the combo-plug shown in the video) would be perfectly fine.
Schuko sockets usually come with a shutter mechanism these days. You have to simultaneously push in the prongs for the shutter to move aside. You can't easily shove just one object in only one of the holes. This helps a lot with the kids sticking in a nail scenario.
The dremel brings back memories. 2 years ago I built my computer. I wanted dual 360 mm radiators. But only 1 fit. It was VERY close. So I cut a hole to make it fit (which would be covered by the outer cover anyway). I used 3 dremel bits. And yes there were sparks.
There are nibbling tools which are often used by case modders exactly to avoid those sparks just for future reference. Though you still have to get the hole started somehow.
The Uk plug has a fuse because it was designed for a ring final circuit which is connected to a huge fuse in the consumer unit so its absolutely necessary to have a fuse for each appliance. For a star final circuit the in plug fuse is less crucial since the fuse for the whole circuit is usually much smaller.
the wires in the wall in the uk system couldn't handle the max amps the fuse to the circuit would let pass due to the cost cutting reason for it in the first place
@@lasskinn474 Exactly. Which is why you have a still wildly over rated fuse for each appliance. Less than what is in a star circuit but still high considering a light today may be in the 10's of miliamps for example.
@@joseph9915 The fuse is there to prevent the cord catching fire in the case of a short-circuit and not to protect the appliance, and the fuses are available in different ratings to match different gauges of cord, such as 3A, 5A and 13A (the maximum).
Here in Japan it's even WORSE than in America because we use the American plug, but you'll usually NOT see the third, chunky pin. At most, some appliances that rely on earth have a CABLE, yes, one that you SCREW into a special screw found only in certain wall sockets designed for such appliances. It's absolutely dismal. Also, zero way of knowing if you're connecting the plug the wrong unless you have a way to measure noise. For the average joe, it doesn't matter, but ask people doing music production and they'll bore you tto hell and back here with how they had to spend HUGE amounts of money to install closed, specific isolated power cabling in their studios.
This is horrible in that if you have two devices next to each other and in one you forget to screw the cable you have created very dangerous situation where grounded and ungrounded devices are nearby. Touch both when the case of the ungroudned has been energized and it is bad news. Of course the voltage in Japan is rather low.
5:21 Typed a comment mentioning the lack of sleeving on the pins, but you covered that. That will teach me to pause and comment straight away! 6:05 Also notice the live wire is the shortest wire on the most direct path? That's not an accident, it's so if the cable is ripped from the plug (say somebody tripping over it), the live wire would be disconnected first. The UK plug really is an incredible piece of design with so many carefully though out safety features. Sleeved pins to prevent contact, the earth pin being longest so it connects first / disconnects last, the safety shutters, individual fuses etc. Any attempt to make a list always results in forgetting something! And yet people criticise them for being bulky or other nonsense. Edit: And as if I could predict the future I've indeed found a comment here about the plugs being bulky. Idiots.
Actually the UK plug is almost over-engineered, BS standard even define the force need to pull the plug off the socket! And the protection slider won't move if you don't put the earth "leg" into the socket first, and having all the "leg" deep into the socket, without holding the socket itself it's not easy to wiggle it out.
Yeah, that's a fair point. Also, one thing I love about the European plug is that you can insert it any way, whereas the UK one has one right way (but fortunately the shape of the plug from the back is not symmetrical, so you don't have the USB problem).
@@nonoyorbusness Call it over engineered but the UK plug is safety first. My problems with it are the 90 angle for the plug cord, basic trip hazard that it won't simply pull out of the wall like an EU or US plug. And Jazzus is it painful to tread on one in the dark.
@@albanana683 If I remember rightly it's designed with the 90 degree angle so it doesn't wiggle loose if the cord is moved around, which could be a much worse hazard than tripping over (e.g. a fire).
And also with anything but a British plug in them they're likely to have very minimal contact area on the plug prongs which may lead to excessive heating if you pull a decent amount of power through them (ISTR that's a 1500VA transformer, I wouldn't pull 6A from one of those universal sockets personally)
Believe it not, prior to the current design, the UK used 3-pin plugs with round pins. These were available in 2 plug sizes. Small for things like lamps and radios that drew less than 5 amps and large for items up to 10 amps. Neither had a built-in fuse unlike the current design. Also, the UK plug has a longer earth pin so that it makes a connection before the live or neutral pins.
With UK plugs it's also important to use the correct fuse value. A 13A fuse for a BBC Micro would be far to high. Probably 5A would be the best value to use 😉
I would also have changed the earth wire: its section is wrong, it should be the same section of the phase conductor. Its color is also inappropriate, should be green or green/yellow.
A point which seems to be missed or misunderstood by many, is about the fact that UK plugs contain a fuse. Generally speaking, in the uk, when the gauge of wiring goes from one size to a thinner size, the fuse needs to be changed accordingly. For example, 5 square mm of copper can comfortably carry 32 amps at 240v, so sockets in the uk are often fused or more recently protected by a 32A MCB. BUT, when you plug in an appliance, say a table lamp, which might have say, a 0.5mm flexible cable, that cable Will melt, explode or cause a fire long before 32 amps of current flows along it, so when stepping from the heavier cable feeding the sockets, to the unknown cable connected to a plug, we have a lower value fuse, not least because the cable to the appliance is very very unlikely to be able to carry 32 amps. Unfortunately, selecting a suitable fuse value seems to be beyond many manufacturers these days, so I think that the only *common* fuse values now are 3 amps and 13 amps, but that's better than no fuse. Fortunately for me, I still have a small stock of 1A, 2A, 3A, 5A 10A and 13A fuses. 😀
Those solder connections are kind of cringe. Proper crimped spades are very comon for a reason. And insulating the connections is just smart because it's easy to do and makes it safer over all, especially when you are bound to be in there as a tinkerer. A bit of heatshink is always nice.
Also not mentioned - if you plug a NEMA 5-15 connector into the BS 1363 "universal" socket, the polarity is reverse. look @5:39 and you'll see L is on the left. In the upside down BS 1363 "universal" socket, that means L is on the left pin of a NEMA 5-15 plug - which is backwards. NEMA 5-15 plugs have L on the right and N on the left. I discovered this when doing safety checks on one of those 110v/230v step up/step down transformers exactly the same as in this video.
PE connectors actually weren't added to Schuko, they were there from the beginning. It actually pre-dates our current electrical system, back then they (meaning individual cities) tended to use a centre-tap with 220V between the phases and 110V phase to PE, standardisation to uniform 220V (and phasing out of 110V at least lights) came only after WWII. The socket design is mostly like it is because of manufacturing concerns back in the 1920s.
All those red wires hurts my eyes, it's bad enough they use those deathdapter sockets as it is, but I'd be rewiring the thing with appropriate coloured wires myself, sure it's technically unnecessary if you're the only user, but if someone else down the line were to use & modifiy it, they'd be better off with the right coloured wiring than everything being red like that, not to mention, the Earth wires should be at least the same gauge as the other wires as a short fault could result in them blowing like fuses before a main fuse does (assuming no RCD, MCB or GFCI for protection), something you really don't want, the smoke is nasty (PVC wire burning releases chlorine gas, amongst other nasties)...
That's a good idea. I considered doing that, but I didn't have any wire of the appropriate gauge on hand. Next time I get in there for anything I'll probably end up doing that (and giving the cables a bit more slack).
Yes that sounds ugly. I have and old ungrounded power strip. Inside it the wires are blue and brown for neutral and phase - even though you could plug it either way. It makes sense to use proper colors. lets say you had to modify a hundred of these. With no color coding there is a significant risk that you will mess one of them. Even in building them there is the risk.
@@jasonkaiser1179 well the sockets and the electricity hazard are just one thing. You can't really trust on the ones that are keyed with the ground pin either which is which or that the ground is connected to ground. Though stuff where it matters usually has a separate grounding wire anyhow like watercoolers or have a dual disconnector like ac installs. However i have seen a dual disconnector breaker wired as a single pole switch with an u loop too so.... The electricity arrangements for the touring festivals etc are more of a lol though, alligator clips and stuff.
I use one for my laser cutter. I bought the wrong power supply when I built the laser. It was easier to use the transformer rather than wiring another 240v circuit to the machine.... I literally replaced the socket two days ago because the plug was so loose.
That's true. I hadn't thought of that. Probably because I expect those kinds of plugs to be horizontal, and I would constantly try to plug it in incorrectly 😃 But putting it upside down is fine since they're not polarized and I wasn't planning on plugging anything on the top row.
When you placed the power plug into the socket upside down. Does it matter that the Active and neutral are now reversed. Would that cause a issue with the internal fuses or not.
It's AC, there's no inherent difference between the 2 wires. The only difference is which one is connected to ground at the substation (which, BTW, for regular 240V in the US is: neither).
Hola paisano Noel, acabo de descubrir tu canal y me encanta. No se si conoces el enchufe francés, es como el europeo pero la conexión a tierra la hace con un pibote/barra que sale del mismo enchufe/socket de la pared. De hecho verás que en la clavija hay un hueco donde ese pibote entraría. Lo que me gusta de ese enchufe es que al no ser reversible el neutro y la fase llegarán siempre al aparato tal y como éste fue diseñado, teniendo siempre el fusible en la fase. In english: Another interesting plug is the french one, the earth connection is don with a third pin and is not reversible, so the fuse will always be in the phase line
Hola! Sí, lo conocía. Estaba generalizando un poco al decir enchufe "europeo" 😃 A mí lo de ser reversible me gusta (como el USB-C) pero es verdad que requiere un poco más de preparación en los circuitos.
Hey, Noel! I discovered your channel recently and I've been binging the hell out of it. Your content is top tier! I was waiting for a new video and here we are. ✌🏼😅
The European system seems actually quite old. I have a the German "Schuko" socket mounted on a wall in the attic made from Bakelite in 1939. Looks just as safe as todays sockets. Besides the brittle Bakelite of course.
There's another obvious problem with your BBC Micro plug - as you mentioned, they contain individual fuses, but unfortunately most plugs sold come as standard with a 13 Amp fuse which is usually overkill for the appliance in question (and I see one in your plug there). Replacement fuses are available in 3 Amp, 5 Amp and 13 Amp ratings (actually today only the 3 and 13 are still common). The BBC micro has an internal 2A fuse, so it's already pretty well protected, but ideally the plug should be fitted with a 3A fuse - you should always use the lowest-possible rating for maximum safety. Not the most heinous of issues, especially for the Beeb, but worth being aware of.
The plug fuses came into existence because the UK uses 13A-rated plugs and sockets wired into 32A-fused ring mains. They only exist to fix that mismatch, and no other plug type in the world has seen a need to add a plug fuse in addition to the device fuse. Matching the plug fuse to the device really is overkill unless you're using a power cord that can't take the short-circuit current until the 13A fuse blows.
Thanks for the video. When you put the plug into the new socket upside down, does that change live and neutral? Does the machine change from 60hz to 50hz ? Just asking because I have never had to use a UK or Euro socket in Canada.
Yes, it would swap live and neutral. A straight transformer can't change frequency so you're going to get 230V @ 60Hz out, not an issue for most things (in fact a lot of stuff that's built with transformer-based supplies will actually run slightly cooler at 60Hz than 50Hz) but you run into trouble with stuff that's supposed to be "synchronous" or otherwise dependent on the frequency of the incoming mains.
@@felixcosty no issue for anything that doesn't rely on the line frequency being a particular value (clocks for example frequently use the mains for a reference timesource)
To be honest, this kind of device is so niche that as a designer, I would expect the person using it to know what they are doing. At the same time, you can't really tell what output plug people will be using, and including multiple ones is just...messy. And expensive. I think as it is, the device is a good middle ground between cost/complexity and usability. Not everything needs to be hyper ultra safe for everyone and the cat. It's good for people to have respect for electricity ;)
Thanks for the heads up. I've fixed the store settings and it should be available now: store.noelsretrolab.com/listing/retro-rainbow-july-2021?product=46 Cheers!
It is beyond my comprehension why on Earth this unit didn't come with sockets EXACTLY as you modified them, or one UK one on one side and the continental one on the other side. You are right about the US plugs being terrible. I don't know why in the US/CAN we haven't at least gone to a recessed one. Not using the Metric System also drives me crazy. All the Best! 73 DE W8LV BILL
There is a variation of the 'schuko' socket with a prong sticking out. You might have noticed that the earth connection bracing in the plug has a hole in it. But I have only seen it on pictures a few times and while I'm working with electronics for 25 years and had a apprenticeship in the field.
French Type E sockets have the pin sticking out. I live in France. You can't put a French Type E plug in his Type F socket as there are two ridges on the side of the socket.
there is a big difference between US and Europe when it comes to damage that can be caused by the standard plugs Type A/B (USA/Canada) 100-127 volts 15 Amps 1,500 - 1,905 watts Polarized - Yes (old A is not polarized but you can't plug a polarized device into it with out modification) Fused - Yes (there are plugs that have fuses, based on the device) Type E/F/G/K/L (Europe) 220-240 volts (Type G) 13 Amps 2,860 - 3,120 watts Polarized - Yes (by design) Fused - Yes (Type E/F/K/L) 16 Amps 3,520 - 3,840 watts Polarized - yes (Type E/K/L) (by design) Polarized - no (Type F) Fused - ?? can you see the difference between US and European plugs
meanwhile us in the USA: hey... that looks almost as safe as our plugs 2:40 "but wait!" .....why did i expect you to say "through the magic of buying 2 of them"??
Such DRAMA over the BBC computer UK plug and it wont work in the EU socket. Do what me do in the UK with an EU plug. .... "CUT IT OFF AND REPLACE!" Simple
I find it strange that people don't know that our system here in North America is 240 volts. You can wire up 240 sockets. We do this already with Ovens and Dryers.
Why a transformer? As I know electricity in the US arrive in the house with tree wires, -120V, 0V and 120V because some appliance may need 240V, usually in kitchens. And you archive 240V “connecting” -120v to +120V (with load in between). I’m not from the US so please tell me if I’m wrong
In an unrelated note, the US also uses 240VAC systems, but it's "split" into two virtual 120VAC lines, both deliberately put out of phase by 90 degrees. If we used the full 240VAC out of the gate... ...to put it plainly, all hell would break loose. Electrically speaking.
The transformer _looks_ like it's a well-built and sturdy unit, but after you disassembled it, it turned out that the case is made of a very thin and wonky sheet metal. Not much structural rigidity there! :)
With all the poo-poo'ing of the US system, @5:15 you break out a clearly illegal UK plug. (the hot/neutral pins are not allowed to be continuous solid conductors like a US plug for the very reasons you've been going on and on about -- you should not be able to ever touch an energized pin.)
Sleeved pins didnt become mandatory on UK plugs till 1984, though they where common place before that date. It is the only update in the design of the plug that has been needed since it was introduced in 1947. Note the size of the plug makes it next to impossible to touch the pins of a partiality insert plug with your fingers even without sleeving. The sleeving is to protect against metals objects falling behing a partiality inserted plug, which is spectacular when it happens. Personally in your situation I would have just cut the UK plug on the BBC off (its not sleeved so needs to go anyway) and fitted a Schuko plug. Way less hassle than adapting to 120V IMHO.
Why does everybody panic about outlets so much over there? We have 240V 50A plugs that are quite the same as the normal US plug and we are fine over here. Do you guys die if you look at a plug wrong over there or something?
To be honest, if it was me, id probably just run a new 240 volt circuit from the mains panel. European appliances will work fine on American 240 as long as they can tolerate the different frequency. Of course this is assuming your shop used split phase 120/240 and not three phase 120/208. While most American 240 volt appliances are built to tolerate 208, (since 208 is common in apartment blocks), I don't think European appliances are built to tolerate 208 so well. But of course I'm also an electrician whose been in the trade for five and a half years so I know how to do stuff like that.
🙄 I have an extension cord I bought in China that I modified to work with our European wall sockets... So that I could run whatever from anywhere, as long as it can handle 240V. I knew that it wasn't safe already when I bought the extension cord. It is grounded tho. Anyway, I only use it for short periods of time, and only when I'm around to bark at people getting too close. Those sockets are incredibly useful but also incredibly dangerous if the user doesn't know about the flaws. I have some 1-to-1, very safe, adaptors between euro and US and euro to aussie as well, for equipment i like to keep plugged for longer time.. they hold very tight onto the foreign plug and complies with CE and the Schuko standard. Certainly the safer choice... The extension cords are just for short time of use by... Me, basically. Edit: the Danish "europlug" does have a ground pin, thus the smiley face. But the ones in my home also does the Schuko grounding. Just because it's possible.
Plug and Pray! .. especially when you try to use a CEE-7 (Europlug) with the 4.0mm prongs after you've inserted a Schuko-type (4.8mm). Proper European sockets are designed to handle this. Those death-daptor things (& the ones you show) are particularly useless with Australian plugs. We used death-daptors on our production lines with the same sort of hole & contact arrangement, since we made stuff for various international markets. Well, the other testers did, but I insisted on getting the proper sockets for each plug type for my test bay. It probably saved my life on a couple of occasions. Putting your hands in to attach probes right next to poorly-shielded mains connections ...
Unfortunately there is one major oversight with this arrangement. IF the transformer is of the isolating type and not of the auto transformer type, adding an earth made no difference. With the isolating style of transformer, there is no electrical connection from primary to secondary, the primary being earth referenced via your neutral/earth bond at the switchboard. IF this unit has a single tapped winding (auto transformer) then the neutral/earth relationship remains intact and earth connection is important. With an isolated source, a malfunction in the appliance that makes the case live will not trip breakers or potentially even harm you because the 240V is floating. The upside to isolation is there is no shock risk with respect to earth, only via the two live conductors. Replacing those cheap plugs with the ones you used is a very good idea
I never saw the North American plugs as particularly problematic as my generation was threatened with death-by-parent if caught playing with plugs and sockets.. but with today's grossly misguided and irresponsible "hands-off" approach to parenting I can see how problems might occur. The British are pretty stupid (look no further than ring circuits and Brexit and the PM Merry go round) so I can sympathize with why their plugs are so ridiculous and overengineered to prevent unwanted tingles while playing with 220v sockets
Where I live the earth is a prong sticking out from a socket (Poland) and it's common to touch it! What would happen if I touch it? Nothing. Ground is safe. What if due to a mistake the ground was connected to 230V/50Hz (excepted at live). It was connected for some time in my apartment.
12:56 here in Finland that rather irritating feature is called with translation of "Child Safety Feature!", but a clever 2 year old quickly finds out that with two 5mm phillips head or even Torx (screw-)drivers you chan get access to the lethal 220v (in my youth) or even 240VAC source of "free" electricity (Parents pay the bill, thus free for a child)-
F-3000P transformer is autotransformer: Input neutral is directly connected to output neutral. Replace it with isolation transformer which hasn't high voltage referenced to earth at all. No high voltage risk - no "universal socket grounding" problem :)
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The main hazard with UK plugs is not an electrical one - if you drop one on the bedroom floor, it is guaranteed to land with the pins facing upwards. If you then step on it on your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night, it really, really hurts.
It so does. I mean, it really hurts. More than lego and more than getting 555 chip stuck in your heal when you trod on it. It is a pain like no other. You're better off being electrocuted.
What’s why appliances and their plugs are kept by the walls not in the middle of it!
It hertz?
@@lezlienewlands1337 it hertz so much i aged 50 years
we just keep it plug in and turn off the socket if not using
There's a reason Big Clive calls adapters with those kind of sockets "death-dapters".
He calls them death-dapters because you can plug in one pin and leave the others floating and because you can plug the earth pin in the line socket.
You can't do that with this socket.
They also have large holes and no shutters so they are dangerous to kids.
No earth connections in our sockets in my country. We die like real men
The idiotic muffin-size plugs the British use would be an absolute nuisance if you had many things to plug in. That may be the idea. I do like Big Clive though.
You can get 3-gang bricks...they're chonky boys and best avoided (would make a good weapon if you hurled them at someone though).
Mostly we use multi-gang extension strip, if we need more sockets.
One of the big "unseen" problems with those "universal" sockets is that the contact pressure of the contacts can be much lower than in the conventional sockets, which can mean arcing or heating when the contacts get older, because the contact pressure is part of the "self cleaning" part of the contact design. I suppose in this application this is less of an issue because of the low maximum current, but it still might cause problems in future with poor contacts and it definitely cause problems with the plugs not being secure when plugged in.
Yep, i have a Pyle brand PDU that used these sockets (well the ones seen above the ones he replaced) and all the 120v plugs sat loose, Eventually replaced it with a more higher quality one.
Depending on the plug they can also only contact the corners or narrow edges of the pins. Australian plug pins are at ~45 degrees so have particularly poor contact.
I have one of these (cheap) 1KVA step up/down transformer and weakest link on these are the two universal receptacles used on the product. The stamped metal pieces used within the receptacles are like 0.5mm thick and do not have any retention on the mating pins and can easily develop hot spots. Replace with better quality ones before use ! I have a couple of samples coming from Wonpro for testing.
It would be interesting to use an infrared camera to check one of those sockets for a hot spot. I wonder if those things are compliant with US NEC?
Thats actually the biggest problem in thailand
The UK plug also is designed that if the cable is yanked out of the plug housing itself, the live will be the first wire to disconnect. You can see that when you showed the fuse, brown is live and is the shortest wire in there.
In the EU or the cee Plugs the PE IS the Last one to fail
well ,thats whats 'supposed' to happen, but if someone fits wires with live as long as the others, which i've seen, and admittedly i've done for quickness.........
Hi Noel. The earth wire should be at least as thick as the phase wires. Assuming it is not an isolated transformer.
Agree. The Earth connection needs to be able to sink the current capability of the main supply connections. You don’t want the Earth connection blowing open circuit like a fuse, before the main supply protection kicks in.
You'll lose your mind at British fixed installation cabling where the CPC is usually 0.67x the CSA of the line/neutral conductors then :D
@@intercity125 Yeah because conductors are usually grossly overspecified + MCBs usually pop fast enough, and anything even vaguely modern your RCB will trip very quickly. Unless you have a string of other faults you don't need to really fully sink the total capability of a circuit anyway, and if you have a string of other faults you have bigger problems. Some countries (and some UK installations frankly depending on age) I'm not so sure I'd be as confident.
Not only then.....
@@intercity125 yep, the earth wire in our 'electric cabinet' seems tiny to me compared to the main 'tails' ...😲
Noel I am worried the EARTH wires are very thin inside that transformer case. Please consider upgrading them. In France the Earth pin sticks out of the recessed socket and there is a hole in the plug not at the edges. Best wishes.
The CEE 7/7 plug is designed to be compatible with both the German Schuko outlet, and the French outlet you describe. Actually a very good design of plug, though it does mean you have to have a deep wallbox for the socket
+1 to the thin wires concern. Also a check to confirm the earth pins are actually earthed with low resistance after the modification is highly recommended.
"In 1984 BS1363 was amended with a requirement that the line and neutral pins should have an insulation sleeve."
Aha! That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for digging that out.
@@NoelsRetroLab The plugs on the Beeb are pretty nasty too.... feel free to chop it off and fit a Schuko plug :)
@jaycee1980 in the house I grew up in none of the sockets had switches, and none of the plugs had poncy sleeves. I'm sure kids were being electrocuted left right and centre but some of us made it. I still unplug my beeb without switching off at the socket... what a rebel.
@@dr_jaymz So did I.. unsleeved pins were common when I was a kid in the 80s... but well - I know how to wire a plug and have done since I was 7. Unlike most people today.
The insulation on the pins was brought about because people used to stick their fingers around and underneath the plug, inadvertently touching the pins a getting an electric shock. If I'm correct, the amendment was finally pushed through because an MP's wife stupidly did this and got a very nasty surprise.
Actually if you look at your "European" plugs ground, it also has a hole in it. On some sockets (I think at least in Denmark, but not in Norway where I'm from) the wall socket actually has a grounded "peg" sticking out, matching that hole.
BTW: If you had rotated your inset 90degrees the angled plug would go in both ways, and cable management would get a nicer look and feel :)
Actually Danish sockets don't have an earth prong, but Danish plugs have one. That's called a type K plug. The European plug is called type F. The additional hole in the plug makes it compatible with the Belgian/French type E system. That's the one with an earth prong in the socket.
@@KolliRail I thought there was two different plug types in Denmark, both the K-type and the E-type (with the prong in the scoket)... oh well maybe the E-type is not that common in Denmark after all...
No, those are used in France, Belgium, Poland, Czechia and Slovakia. Denmark has ground as a prong in the plug. That has the problem that Danish routinely use Schuko plugs but they do not ground.
@@okaro6595 You are both correct. The French style Type E socket was allowed in the Danish regulations a few (10? maybe?) years ago. And then some years later the Type F/Schuko socket was allowed to be installed too. So you can change everything with Schuko in Denmark legally now if you want to.
As someone said, eath wire should be same gauge as main leads. I would check it (maybe it's just less of insulation, but that is also bad from mechanical standpoint).
Also, dremel tip - if you can avoid standing in blade plane, avoid it. When your blade is horizontal, you cannot avoid it, unless it's over your head, which would be uncomfortable. Tipping transformer on the side would allow you to dremel top part without being on blade plane.
I once had broken blade on dremel, that shit flys high speed, left ident on wooden closet doors, about 1*1,5 cm, 1 mm deep. It went almost parallel to doors, it would probably penetrate deeper if it was at 90°.
Yes it does, mine broke my glasses and I dread to think what might have happened.
I'll third that point. Yesterday a colleague at work mentioned he got nervous about how I was using a cut off wheel that he has had them shatter at fly at him. I have too, always wear safety glasses when working with them. When those wheels break they fly out at high speed mostly in the line out from where they were spinning. If you are looking strait on at the edge of the wheel it will fly strait at your eyes..
Yeah, I use a nibbler tool for sheetmetal work, rather than a Dremel. It’s not necessarily quicker, but it’s more controllable and safer.
You’ll also notice that the top prong on the British plug is slightly longer. The two live holes won’t open until the top pin has triggered a release. Also why you can put a euro plug straight into a British socket with the help of a matchstick (probably not advisable though).
You can, but you will damage the socket doing so... the socket is not made to mate with round pins
You can open the shutters by partially putting a plug in upside-down. But you still can't lick the live terminal I tried.
@@dr_jaymz 😂
@@dr_jaymz If it is a wall socket, that shouldn’t be possible. You can do it with extension leads though.
some UK sockets some years back, MK brand didnt use the earth pin to release the shutters but had them arranged so would only open, by twisting around a bit, when both shorter pins were inserted at the same time, they wouldnt release if you tried to poke just one, such as with a screwdriver, even poking both didnt usually work due to the shape of the shutter plate covering the holes, it needed the correct pin shape to do it
We _need_ fused plugs in the UK because to save copper thanks to the war, we built our mains wiring in houses as a series of loops. These loop will carry much more current than the plugs are rated for because they power every outlet in that loop, so the circuit breaker for them is higher than the rated current of the plug. We have this additional fuse on the plug therefore to protect the wiring between the outlet and the appliance, although I like the idea of keeping them if we ever phased out rings completely.
Northern Europe actually has 2 different socket designs that are partly compatible. One with 3 prongs and the one you have which is a german standard called schuko. Schuko has the recessed plugs and the small taps at the sides making it impossible to plug in non schuko plugs that are fully round. Look at extention cords at ikea sweden for examples.
I'd be more inclined to install IEC C13 outlets in the transformer and then replace the native plugs on various power boards/bars/strips with C14 plugs.
...or just hook up a power strip of the correct type on your bench.
Interesting video. Two comments though. 1. Grinding and metal shards around electrical stuff, iffy (should vacuum very very well when done.) 2. UK plug has another safety feature, and that is the ground has to be plugged in for the Live / Negative trapdoors to open so those pins can be inserted.
Yes and they melt into plastic and go rusty, also damage glass like car windows, and heat damage the paint next to the cut, so it can rust back from the cut.
Schuko sockets usually come with a shutter mechanism these days. You have to simultaneously push in the prongs for the shutter to move aside. You can't easily shove just one object in only one of the holes. This helps a lot with the kids sticking in a nail scenario.
@@wombatillo They're available on US sockets now too. Mandatory for new work in some locations. Still not quite as good as the UK ones though.
That seemed like a very competent repair/upgrade. Well done.
Get a " nibbler " to make holes in sheet metal much safer.
Most new construction in North America now requires tamper-resistant outlets, and I have seen some devices with a bit of insulation on the prongs. Meanwhile, your sockets do not appear to be polarized, so devices don’t have a consistent neutral. You really have to be careful with that in North America since older 2-prong devices could energize the casing if you somehow defeated the polarization and reversed the polarity. One example is the antique “Radiant” toaster Technology Connections fixed.
Yep, true. However, the electrical safety bodies writing standards for EU plugs have considered this. Relying on whoever wired the outlet to always get the polarity right is an extremely poor safety measure and only requires a single human error to cause shock hazards. So instead requiring appliances with a metal chassis to be grounded and requiring two-pole breakers makes this a pretty much non-issue. For application where you want to preserve the polarity there are the CEE 17 plugs which can be used instead.
The radio I listen to at work is like that. It's perfectly safe as you can't touch the chassis with it plugged in, but the line cord on it is not polarized and can be connected either way around. One wire goes to the vacuum tubes(yeah it's an oldie from 1957 even has Civil Defense markings on the dial!) while the other just hooks right to chassis. Fun fact it also uses the line cord for FM antenna purposes and sometimes if it's getting fussy about reception I can help clean its ears out by unplugging, swapping pins, plugging it back in.
It's not as if most of europe (well apart from those crazy people, but you always have those) uses a 100 year old (well 98 years actually) design that literately translates as "safety contact". And as an electrician, I shudder at the comment about having a consistant neutral connected to the casing? Neutral should never be connected to the case in the first place, that's whats earth is for.
If no earth is present, a device should be what we call double isolated. A construction that absolutely prevents the user to be shocked. So in essence it boils down to plastic cases. Steel case? Earth! No exception there. Devices with non-earthed plugs and steel cases do exist (as single isolated), however those device are really really old and basically have no use in any regular setting and as far as I'm concerned should be banned.
Yes I know neutral and earth is connected at the breakerbox in the US (we use a TN system here, each living unit has their own earthrod and not connected to neutral) Anyway in all systems you can never reliably trust the neutral being earth going forward. In theory yes, in practice there is the polarity issue. Better to prevent shock by using proper designed devices in the first place. Any additional layer of protection is a positive thing.
@@patrickd9551 I can still see your ghosted comment through my notifications.
“Neutral should never be connected to the case in the first place, that's whats earth is for.”
There was no earth connection on the old 2-prong outlets… still common in Japan.
“If no earth is present, a device should be what we call double isolated… it boils down to plastic cases.”
Yep. Meanwhile, these antiques were metal, wood, and Bakelite. Even the electrical insulation was some kind of fabric. Almost no plastic back then.
“Steel case? Earth! No exception there.
Devices with non-earthed plugs and steel cases do exist (as single isolated), however those device are really really old”
These antiques are precisely what I’m talking about. That’s why Technology Connections had to “fix” his Sunbeam Radiant Control toaster. If polarity were reversed you could get electrocuted by touching the heating element even when off. Meanwhile, mine is decades newer and doesn’t have this issue.
@@emmettturner9452 lol i can see your ghosted comment about my ghosted comment. RUclips filters strikte again. Probably the c word. Lol.
Anyway, we agree. But my main point was that any device thats not safe like that should be thrown out for use in daily life.
Museum? Sure. But especially here with 230v thats just begging for death
Great video! I love using my dremel on metal and the sparks make a great visual on camera!
Well fancy seeing you here
12:18 if you had inserted the sockets with 5.5mm holes on top of each other, a 90 degree plug would fit easier. (Here in EU it is not at all uncommon to see Shuko sockets inserted in 45 degree angle, to ease the plethora of plug shapes including so called wall warts/ Rat tail power supplies.)
Nice informative video as always. The British plug is a chunky boy but also the best designed of all I've seen.
I was in Thailand a few years ago, the hotel I stayed at had those death-dapters for *every wall socket*, it was certainly a thing. I mean it was convenient that I could just plug in my US plug switching power adapters into those 240V sockets but damn haha
That is probably all Asian hotels.
7:29 That transformer looks like an autotransformer, as there is only one neutral wire. So that means the transformer has no isolation from the line input voltage. It is definitely appropriate here for the safety earth connections to go back to the line input connection.
edit: The safety ground wiring is MASSIVELY under rated. It should definitely be the same thickness as the live conductors are. Also it doesn't look as if the metal chassis is grounded either. Typical corner cutting in Chinese made stuff.
Hello Noel, you might want to add a nibbler to your toolbox...no sparks especially for sheetmetal enclosures.
Yeah! My nibbling tool isn’t something I use often, but it’s a huge help when it’s needed!
The danger of north American plugs is overstated, in not entirely theoretical. I haven't heard of anyone being shocked when plugging something in unless something was in disrepair. Furthermore, tamper resistant sockets (required by code) have reduced the amount of exposed prong when energized to a 1/4" or less. Far too small for a finger.
If that still makes you nervous because you like to drop uninsulated wires down the wall when you plug in your devices, you can rotate your outlets 90 degress so the neutral blade is on top.
US outlets are not square so unless you're doing new work, rotation would not be trivial.
I've sometimes touched the metal when plugging and unplugging but have never been shocked yet so the problem may be overstated. On the other hand, my fingers are not small.
@@chaos.corner The UK is not in North America.
@@drooplug Sorry, I meant US outlets (some UK outhlets *are* square). I'll edit it. Thanks.
If the transformer inside really provides galvanic isolation, i.e. two separate coils, then you would have to touch both wires to get a shock. However, if it is a autotransformer with only one coil, there is no galvanic isolation and protective earth becomes a valuable asset again.
At 7:30 you can See that the one of the live wires IS directly connected to the Output.
@@tobiashegemann1811 True, but since the designer did not care to use the usual colors for L, N and PE, it's not immediately obvious, what goes where... 🤔
If the plug can be put in upside down, didn't that mean live and neutral are reversed? Not good if the (expected) live is the one switched.
And the red wriring. Looks like USA manufactured laboratory equipment I used to work on: L&N both red up to a switch, both black afterwards. That confused Australian electricians who insisted on rewiring to prevent the obvious danger.
(Live is known as Active in Australia, so substitute A for L where appropriate.)
Those wiring colors sound weird. A single color for a transformer winding is sensible, but staying a single color after a switch makes no sense. Some manufacturer screwed up.
They didn't have too many screws for this design - those screws are holding the entire weight of the transformer. A better design would have the handle directly connected to the heavy part with the cover not being structural - or maybe some tabs to hold weight. But right now those screws are structural.
There is a cheap hand tool called a nibbler for cutting sheet metal square holes on sheet metal
Yes! I had one before and I forgot about that. I have ordered a new one since I made the video. That would have been much easier (but without pretty sparks 😃).
I would have changed out the all red wires with the proper colors, like white for neutral, black for hot and green for ground...otherwise... great job.
That would have been a good idea. Unfortunately I didn't have any wire of the proper gauge on hand and I definitely didn't want to use thinner one. Next time I need to get in there for any reason I'll probably do that.
@@NoelsRetroLab Source for that kind of wire is any old IEC cable you have, strip off the outer sheath, and you get all 2 colours. If you have a EU spec cable you also just need to keep the EU plug plus 30cm of cable, and get a UK style metal clad socket, and a 20mm cable gland, and use the cable to make the adaptor. Just have to remember that now the UK plug no longer is meeting the correct spec, as the EU socket is not polarised, unless you have used the French version with the earth pin, which does force polarity on the connections.
"proper colours"... you mean US colours... in the EU, the "proper colours" would be brown for live/phase, blue for neutral and green/yellow for earth
@@NoelsRetroLab while you’re doing that mod, please ensure you increase the gauge of those earth wires. Being as thin as they are at the moment means there’s a non-zero chance that under a fault, they would melt or have high enough resistance to fail to Earth the device adequately.
I'd probably have used a "nibbling tool" to increase the size of those socket holes, but whatever works is good.
The one thing I don't like about the new sockets is that ability to insert the plug either way around. This means that the "live" could be on either wire, which is only safe if the appliance has double-pole switching.
Australian plugs and sockets are polarised and although there were "double adapters" which switched the live and neutral wires on one side, this was made illegal some time ago due to the safety issue. Australian plugs and sockets are not recessed, but the convention of adding insulation to the first half of the current-carrying prongs is becoming more popular.
An Earth wire is mandatory unless the appliance can claim to be "double insulated" which means that there are at least two distinctive layers of insulation between the power wiring and any exposed metal. (Some appliances have no exposed metal and so can be unearthed)
Nibblers are unfortunately pretty rare. I've seen them in person at maybe two stores (suffice to say, I went back and bought one). Dremels and similar are much easier to find, so sadly will usually be the "better" option.
@@absalomdraconis I've reached the point where, if I can't find something locally... eBay.
the polish version of the eu socket has a third prong. But on the outlet and it goes into the standart hole on the eu plug in the middle.
Your points about the universal power connector are quite good. Yes, it is not safe as you demonstrated. But I would like to point out something you missed as to how electrical safety ground systems work - at least in North America. The ground wire or terminal is not simply connected to the Earth with a ground rod. It is also bonded to the neutral wire in the electrical system, universally at the building service entrance. This is what provides the shock or electrocution protection. Should the hot side of the line or mains touch the appliance metal case or chassis, that will be a short circuit to the neutral by virtue of the neutral to ground connection at the service panel and blow the fuse or trip the circuit breaker. Should the neutral wire of the mains or line touch the the case or chassis, no harm as it is at or a few safe volts above ground by virtue of the ground/neutral bond. This even works in the American split phase 120/240 residential system. The utility transformer split secondary is of such low impedance that either side of the split phase to ground will provide plenty of fault current to open a breaker or fuse*. Earth as a ground is only relevant in two cases, lightning and protection from it, and low frequency radio communication, AM, SW, and associated frequency bands. Other than that, the Earth ground is not required for any man-made electrical system to work. Think about it. Your cell phone has a lot of complex analog and digital electronics systems. Where is the Earth ground? A plane, car, space craft or probe? Where is the Earth ground? Earth ground in our electrical systems is for lightning protection and some forms of radio communication only. It serves no other purpose for safety. Grounding an electrical system without the neutral wire bond is in fact a safety and shock hazard. The American NEC recently (2008 IIRC), made a distinction between bonding and grounding as the two terms were being previously dangerously mis-applied. GFCI or the European equivalent RCID(?) provided added protection where a ground fault may not produce enough current flow or not quickly enough to trip a breaker or blow a fuse. That's another complex discussion as to how they work.
* Note that in the USA we do have a problem with occasional open feeder neutral faults on split phase systems, so no, it's not perfect either.
For the BBC Micro, surely you could just replace the plug if available, or the whole lead if you can't just buy a European plug?
That wouldn't make much of a follow up video though😂
well you could.
the fuse in the lead isn't really to protect the device itself either, it's to protect the wiring in the uk walls.
@@lasskinn474 So here's my take on it..... The 32A MCB in the consumer unit is there to protect the mains wiring, the fuse in a plug is just a convenience/safety feature. Convenient because (for the most part) if a fuse blows it only disconnects the faulty device and everything else stays powered up. Safety because not every fault is a direct short so possibly wouldn't draw 32A+ and trip the breaker. So as an example an appliance with a 3A fuse will generally have flex from the plug to appliance rated at 6A, if a fault now placed a 10A load on that, the 3A fuse blows. Replace the fuse with a 13A or a bit of tinfoil if you're 'old skool', the house house wiring/MCB don't care as they can take 10A easily but wait... remember that 6A flex? That's what the fuse was actually protecting, that (now) nice and toasty fire hazard lol.
Noel ought to replace the plug anyway, because it's the deprecated sort without insulated sleeves on the line and neutral pins.
@@beanyrat well the mcb has a higher one because if you take those lead fused amps from the loop like device on every socket thats ok, if you take 30 amps from one single socket its bye bye wire in the wall. The old uk system can't handle a short between the socket and the device at all because at all, the sub 32a wiring in the wall becomes the fuse. Thats why the fuse has to be on the plug and not on the device.
Small correction: Short-to-earth situations are handled by a GFCI or RCD, which is a device that immediately breaks the circuit when it detects a difference between the outgoing and return current.
Overcurrent protection alone isn't enough to prevent electrocution, as even a few tenths of an amp can be deadly at mains voltage.
That's true, circuit breaker protects electrical installation and RCD protects life.
But, also, if earthing was up to standard, it should be able to sink 16 A without having more than 50 V voltage drop. Of course, depending on it isn't wise because earthing could be up to standard at the time of inspection, few decades later, soil could be dryer...
Earthing is a fairly in depth thing. In the USA, Australia, NZ and other countries that implement some form of TNCS supply the earth wire in the outlet is tied to the supply neutral so current will flow along that path and, neutral faults aside, guarantee the over current protection will trip rapidly. In many parts of Europe a TT system is used instead where there is no low impedance link between neutral and earth so a 'hot' to chassis style fault may not cause enough current to flow to trip the protection and can leave the earth system pulled up to quite dangerous voltages. This is why the only safe TT installation is one that has RCDs on each circuit. There's plenty of other earthing arrangements out there so it pays to properly understand what is implemented in one's own location.
Depends on the earth resistance. If the earth resistance is very low (for example in a TN system, where the earth is connected to the neutral at the main distribution panel, as it's the case in the US) an earth fault is basically a short to neutral and will trip a normal breaker. So you don't need an RCD for indirect contact protection.
In a TT system, where neutral and earth are not connected and the earth is provided trough an electrode the resistance to earth may be a couple of ohms, not sufficient to trip let's say a 16A breaker, at least not in a short period of time. In this situation you need the RCD (coordinated with the earth resistance) otherwise an earth fault will not be interrupted.
This for indirect contact, for direct contact (i.e. you directly touch a live part) a 30mA RCD doesn't protect you 100% but it surely helps.
Not all installations have GFCIs. The earthing is for safety and the breaker plays parts on it. The breaker alone does not provide safety if you touch a live wire but the breaker an earthing do cut power if the live wire touches the case.
@@okaro6595 with adequate earthing, voltage drop is low enough to protect you until current hits breaking limit. But, earthing fault it's that common (soil changes, corrosion) and if happens, can be undetected for long time.
If I remember correctly, the genius of the UK plugs don't end there. Unless I'm mistaken, the hot, neutral and ground wire are, when correctly installed, supposed to disconnect from the plug in that order in case the cable gets tugged, stepped on or yanked on to the point where it comes out of the plug. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
This is correct for re-wireable plugs at least, and is visible at 5:58. So is the screwed-down cord grip (the black part) which works well if installed correctly - the differing lengths is for safety if all else fails.
If you're in the US is there a reason why you're not getting 240v from the panel. If you put in the double pole breakers those give you 240 out. 240 volt US plugs are shaped differently so you can't plug in the wrong appliance. So you could just get proper US 240 volt to whatever plug standard you want.
Was thinking the same thing. He already has 240V available in his house. Just needs to get a circuit set up with a Nema 6-20 outlet. And then maybe use a European power strip and change the plug to a 6-20.
Actually some ground plugs in Denmark had the third ground leg, but otherwise it is standard european plug. Also it looks like a smiley face, since the ground leg is like a half circle
The Danish plug has one major flaw: The line and neutral is located in the exact same position as with the French and German plug. Add to that most modern appliances comes with the European plug. So when you buy a Class I appliances, like refrigerator or dish washer, it comes with a plug that will connect the Line and Neutral but not the Protective Earth (ground/CPC or whatever it's called now a days).
But on the bright side: RCDs are mandatory in Denmark.
I
You could make up a short lead with UK socket and EU plug btw the longer Earth pin on the later UK plugs also unlocks the safety shutter covering the neutral and live to open allowing the plug to befully inserted. Its a safety feature to prevent young children inserting things and getting an electric shock(BS 1363).
The safety shutter lock is probably available for most plugs with a distinct ground- I know I've seen some US sockets with it.
As that BBS Micro is old enough to come from an era where devices were sold without a plug, exchanging that user-installed UK-plug for a CEE 7/4, 7/6 or 7/7 (that's Schuko, French, and the combo-plug shown in the video) would be perfectly fine.
Schuko sockets usually come with a shutter mechanism these days. You have to simultaneously push in the prongs for the shutter to move aside. You can't easily shove just one object in only one of the holes. This helps a lot with the kids sticking in a nail scenario.
@@absalomdraconis The US ones aren't operated by the earth pin but do require both pins to operate. Many US devices still only have the two pins.
The dremel brings back memories. 2 years ago I built my computer. I wanted dual 360 mm radiators. But only 1 fit. It was VERY close. So I cut a hole to make it fit (which would be covered by the outer cover anyway). I used 3 dremel bits. And yes there were sparks.
There are nibbling tools which are often used by case modders exactly to avoid those sparks just for future reference. Though you still have to get the hole started somehow.
@@chaos.corner well... It worked. Took 3 bits in the Dremel. Lol
@@awilliams1701 Don't get me wrong. I've broken many cutting disks in the Dremel myself.
That looks like the plug from a BBC Micro...
Then you said it.
Adapters which convert EU sockets to UK ones are very tidy because the earth pin on the UK plug connects directly to the EU earth.
The Uk plug has a fuse because it was designed for a ring final circuit which is connected to a huge fuse in the consumer unit so its absolutely necessary to have a fuse for each appliance. For a star final circuit the in plug fuse is less crucial since the fuse for the whole circuit is usually much smaller.
the wires in the wall in the uk system couldn't handle the max amps the fuse to the circuit would let pass due to the cost cutting reason for it in the first place
But it will still be 16a or whatever and not suited to the appliance.
@@lasskinn474 Exactly. Which is why you have a still wildly over rated fuse for each appliance. Less than what is in a star circuit but still high considering a light today may be in the 10's of miliamps for example.
@@joseph9915 The fuse is there to prevent the cord catching fire in the case of a short-circuit and not to protect the appliance, and the fuses are available in different ratings to match different gauges of cord, such as 3A, 5A and 13A (the maximum).
@@Zeem4 You can get down to at least 1A I always heard that you go by the wattage of the item when closing a plug fuse?
FYI a hand "nibbler" is a much quicker and cleaner way to make minor cuts on sheet metal like these.
Here in Japan it's even WORSE than in America because we use the American plug, but you'll usually NOT see the third, chunky pin. At most, some appliances that rely on earth have a CABLE, yes, one that you SCREW into a special screw found only in certain wall sockets designed for such appliances. It's absolutely dismal. Also, zero way of knowing if you're connecting the plug the wrong unless you have a way to measure noise.
For the average joe, it doesn't matter, but ask people doing music production and they'll bore you tto hell and back here with how they had to spend HUGE amounts of money to install closed, specific isolated power cabling in their studios.
This is horrible in that if you have two devices next to each other and in one you forget to screw the cable you have created very dangerous situation where grounded and ungrounded devices are nearby. Touch both when the case of the ungroudned has been energized and it is bad news. Of course the voltage in Japan is rather low.
Metal nippers, Noel! Though your dremel-freehand is certainly passable. 😀
5:21 Typed a comment mentioning the lack of sleeving on the pins, but you covered that. That will teach me to pause and comment straight away!
6:05 Also notice the live wire is the shortest wire on the most direct path? That's not an accident, it's so if the cable is ripped from the plug (say somebody tripping over it), the live wire would be disconnected first.
The UK plug really is an incredible piece of design with so many carefully though out safety features. Sleeved pins to prevent contact, the earth pin being longest so it connects first / disconnects last, the safety shutters, individual fuses etc. Any attempt to make a list always results in forgetting something! And yet people criticise them for being bulky or other nonsense.
Edit: And as if I could predict the future I've indeed found a comment here about the plugs being bulky. Idiots.
Actually the UK plug is almost over-engineered, BS standard even define the force need to pull the plug off the socket! And the protection slider won't move if you don't put the earth "leg" into the socket first, and having all the "leg" deep into the socket, without holding the socket itself it's not easy to wiggle it out.
Yeah, that's a fair point. Also, one thing I love about the European plug is that you can insert it any way, whereas the UK one has one right way (but fortunately the shape of the plug from the back is not symmetrical, so you don't have the USB problem).
The UK plug has been in use for at least 65 years.
@@nonoyorbusness Call it over engineered but the UK plug is safety first. My problems with it are the 90 angle for the plug cord, basic trip hazard that it won't simply pull out of the wall like an EU or US plug. And Jazzus is it painful to tread on one in the dark.
@@albanana683 If I remember rightly it's designed with the 90 degree angle so it doesn't wiggle loose if the cord is moved around, which could be a much worse hazard than tripping over (e.g. a fire).
Yes, and those universal sockets don't offer much contact tension, so most plugs just want to fall out.
And also with anything but a British plug in them they're likely to have very minimal contact area on the plug prongs which may lead to excessive heating if you pull a decent amount of power through them (ISTR that's a 1500VA transformer, I wouldn't pull 6A from one of those universal sockets personally)
Believe it not, prior to the current design, the UK used 3-pin plugs with round pins. These were available in 2 plug sizes. Small for things like lamps and radios that drew less than 5 amps and large for items up to 10 amps. Neither had a built-in fuse unlike the current design.
Also, the UK plug has a longer earth pin so that it makes a connection before the live or neutral pins.
With UK plugs it's also important to use the correct fuse value. A 13A fuse for a BBC Micro would be far to high. Probably 5A would be the best value to use 😉
Even 1A would be about 250w. 5 is way overkill
The fuse is there to protect the flex, not the device. Standard UK plug fuses are thus widely available in 3A, 5A and 13A values.
Why not just replace the uk plug of the BBC micro with a eu one?
I would also have changed the earth wire: its section is wrong, it should be the same section of the phase conductor. Its color is also inappropriate, should be green or green/yellow.
A point which seems to be missed or misunderstood by many, is about the fact that UK plugs contain a fuse.
Generally speaking, in the uk, when the gauge of wiring goes from one size to a thinner size, the fuse needs to be changed accordingly. For example, 5 square mm of copper can comfortably carry 32 amps at 240v, so sockets in the uk are often fused or more recently protected by a 32A MCB.
BUT, when you plug in an appliance, say a table lamp, which might have say, a 0.5mm flexible cable, that cable Will melt, explode or cause a fire long before 32 amps of current flows along it, so when stepping from the heavier cable feeding the sockets, to the unknown cable connected to a plug, we have a lower value fuse, not least because the cable to the appliance is very very unlikely to be able to carry 32 amps.
Unfortunately, selecting a suitable fuse value seems to be beyond many manufacturers these days, so I think that the only *common* fuse values now are 3 amps and 13 amps, but that's better than no fuse. Fortunately for me, I still have a small stock of 1A, 2A, 3A, 5A 10A and 13A fuses. 😀
Uk plugs are not perfect, when unplugged they like to lie prongs up. You realise that the first time you tread on one with bare feet in the dark.
I realise you were targeting a Euro plug, but I think the Australian plug covers all of your safety concerns.
Best way to solve this is to plug a UK to Euro adapter in the socket.
Just replace the uk plug with a european one. I have done it with all my devices from uk.
If the 90 degree angle of the plug is a problem, why not install the sockets rotated by 90 degrees?
Those solder connections are kind of cringe. Proper crimped spades are very comon for a reason. And insulating the connections is just smart because it's easy to do and makes it safer over all, especially when you are bound to be in there as a tinkerer. A bit of heatshink is always nice.
And If needed, you Can always use one of Those travel adapters, to convert directly from European to uk standard socket. With Ground and everything
Also not mentioned - if you plug a NEMA 5-15 connector into the BS 1363 "universal" socket, the polarity is reverse. look @5:39 and you'll see L is on the left. In the upside down BS 1363 "universal" socket, that means L is on the left pin of a NEMA 5-15 plug - which is backwards. NEMA 5-15 plugs have L on the right and N on the left. I discovered this when doing safety checks on one of those 110v/230v step up/step down transformers exactly the same as in this video.
Would be pretty easy to put a schuko on the end of the cable for the bbc micro.
PE connectors actually weren't added to Schuko, they were there from the beginning. It actually pre-dates our current electrical system, back then they (meaning individual cities) tended to use a centre-tap with 220V between the phases and 110V phase to PE, standardisation to uniform 220V (and phasing out of 110V at least lights) came only after WWII.
The socket design is mostly like it is because of manufacturing concerns back in the 1920s.
All those red wires hurts my eyes, it's bad enough they use those deathdapter sockets as it is, but I'd be rewiring the thing with appropriate coloured wires myself, sure it's technically unnecessary if you're the only user, but if someone else down the line were to use & modifiy it, they'd be better off with the right coloured wiring than everything being red like that, not to mention, the Earth wires should be at least the same gauge as the other wires as a short fault could result in them blowing like fuses before a main fuse does (assuming no RCD, MCB or GFCI for protection), something you really don't want, the smoke is nasty (PVC wire burning releases chlorine gas, amongst other nasties)...
You sound like someone with way too much time on their hands.
@@PJBonoVox And yet, you took the time to make this unnecessary and time-wasting comment, pot, kettle, black...
@@twocvbloke Took 5 seconds.
That's a good idea. I considered doing that, but I didn't have any wire of the appropriate gauge on hand. Next time I get in there for anything I'll probably end up doing that (and giving the cables a bit more slack).
Yes that sounds ugly. I have and old ungrounded power strip. Inside it the wires are blue and brown for neutral and phase - even though you could plug it either way. It makes sense to use proper colors. lets say you had to modify a hundred of these. With no color coding there is a significant risk that you will mess one of them. Even in building them there is the risk.
I live in thailand. should I stop using all sockets in the country
🤔
Just about all sockets in Thailand are universal. It's much safer to use one of those sockets than to drink the tap water! :P
@@jasonkaiser1179 well the sockets and the electricity hazard are just one thing. You can't really trust on the ones that are keyed with the ground pin either which is which or that the ground is connected to ground. Though stuff where it matters usually has a separate grounding wire anyhow like watercoolers or have a dual disconnector like ac installs. However i have seen a dual disconnector breaker wired as a single pole switch with an u loop too so....
The electricity arrangements for the touring festivals etc are more of a lol though, alligator clips and stuff.
I use one for my laser cutter. I bought the wrong power supply when I built the laser. It was easier to use the transformer rather than wiring another 240v circuit to the machine.... I literally replaced the socket two days ago because the plug was so loose.
Honestly, the plug on the left could have easily been rotated 90 degrees, so the cord is on the side instead of up.
That's true. I hadn't thought of that. Probably because I expect those kinds of plugs to be horizontal, and I would constantly try to plug it in incorrectly 😃 But putting it upside down is fine since they're not polarized and I wasn't planning on plugging anything on the top row.
When you placed the power plug into the socket upside down. Does it matter that the Active and neutral are now reversed. Would that cause a issue with the internal fuses or not.
It's AC, there's no inherent difference between the 2 wires. The only difference is which one is connected to ground at the substation (which, BTW, for regular 240V in the US is: neither).
There are available EU panel sockets with smaller cutout - only 40mm by 40mm. Pins are oriented diagonally, not straight.. 😉
Hola paisano Noel, acabo de descubrir tu canal y me encanta. No se si conoces el enchufe francés, es como el europeo pero la conexión a tierra la hace con un pibote/barra que sale del mismo enchufe/socket de la pared. De hecho verás que en la clavija hay un hueco donde ese pibote entraría. Lo que me gusta de ese enchufe es que al no ser reversible el neutro y la fase llegarán siempre al aparato tal y como éste fue diseñado, teniendo siempre el fusible en la fase.
In english: Another interesting plug is the french one, the earth connection is don with a third pin and is not reversible, so the fuse will always be in the phase line
Hola! Sí, lo conocía. Estaba generalizando un poco al decir enchufe "europeo" 😃 A mí lo de ser reversible me gusta (como el USB-C) pero es verdad que requiere un poco más de preparación en los circuitos.
Hey, Noel! I discovered your channel recently and I've been binging the hell out of it. Your content is top tier! I was waiting for a new video and here we are. ✌🏼😅
The European system seems actually quite old. I have a the German "Schuko" socket mounted on a wall in the attic made from Bakelite in 1939. Looks just as safe as todays sockets. Besides the brittle Bakelite of course.
The patent dates back to 1929.
There's another obvious problem with your BBC Micro plug - as you mentioned, they contain individual fuses, but unfortunately most plugs sold come as standard with a 13 Amp fuse which is usually overkill for the appliance in question (and I see one in your plug there). Replacement fuses are available in 3 Amp, 5 Amp and 13 Amp ratings (actually today only the 3 and 13 are still common). The BBC micro has an internal 2A fuse, so it's already pretty well protected, but ideally the plug should be fitted with a 3A fuse - you should always use the lowest-possible rating for maximum safety. Not the most heinous of issues, especially for the Beeb, but worth being aware of.
The plug fuses came into existence because the UK uses 13A-rated plugs and sockets wired into 32A-fused ring mains. They only exist to fix that mismatch, and no other plug type in the world has seen a need to add a plug fuse in addition to the device fuse. Matching the plug fuse to the device really is overkill unless you're using a power cord that can't take the short-circuit current until the 13A fuse blows.
Thanks for the video.
When you put the plug into the new socket upside down, does that change live and neutral?
Does the machine change from 60hz to 50hz ?
Just asking because I have never had to use a UK or Euro socket in Canada.
Yes, it would swap live and neutral.
A straight transformer can't change frequency so you're going to get 230V @ 60Hz out, not an issue for most things (in fact a lot of stuff that's built with transformer-based supplies will actually run slightly cooler at 60Hz than 50Hz) but you run into trouble with stuff that's supposed to be "synchronous" or otherwise dependent on the frequency of the incoming mains.
@@SomeMorganSomewhere Thanks for the info.
I thought as much, but did not know for sure.
Will the 60hz cause any problems ?
@@felixcosty no issue for anything that doesn't rely on the line frequency being a particular value (clocks for example frequently use the mains for a reference timesource)
To be honest, this kind of device is so niche that as a designer, I would expect the person using it to know what they are doing. At the same time, you can't really tell what output plug people will be using, and including multiple ones is just...messy. And expensive. I think as it is, the device is a good middle ground between cost/complexity and usability. Not everything needs to be hyper ultra safe for everyone and the cat. It's good for people to have respect for electricity ;)
A lot of our sockets here are like that. Also, mount your EU sockets at an angle instead of plugging upside down.
BTW, for the poorly colored wire... you could have easily marked with electrical tape before you tore the device apart.
Bummer! The Spectrum logo shirt is 404!
Thanks for the heads up. I've fixed the store settings and it should be available now: store.noelsretrolab.com/listing/retro-rainbow-july-2021?product=46 Cheers!
Well done! It's not just the fun aspects of retro everyone here likes: Safety First. I"m so glad you caught this and corrected it.
It is beyond my comprehension why on Earth this unit didn't come with sockets EXACTLY as you modified them, or one UK one on one side and the continental one on the other side. You are right about the US plugs being terrible. I don't know why in the US/CAN we haven't at least gone to a recessed one. Not using the Metric System also drives me crazy. All the Best! 73 DE W8LV BILL
Probably so you can plug in two things
There is a variation of the 'schuko' socket with a prong sticking out. You might have noticed that the earth connection bracing in the plug has a hole in it. But I have only seen it on pictures a few times and while I'm working with electronics for 25 years and had a apprenticeship in the field.
French Type E sockets have the pin sticking out. I live in France. You can't put a French Type E plug in his Type F socket as there are two ridges on the side of the socket.
@@nutsnproud6932 So glad I wrote the comment.
there is a big difference between US and Europe when it comes to damage that can be caused by the standard plugs
Type A/B (USA/Canada)
100-127 volts
15 Amps
1,500 - 1,905 watts
Polarized - Yes (old A is not polarized but you can't plug a polarized device into it with out modification)
Fused - Yes (there are plugs that have fuses, based on the device)
Type E/F/G/K/L (Europe)
220-240 volts
(Type G)
13 Amps
2,860 - 3,120 watts
Polarized - Yes (by design)
Fused - Yes
(Type E/F/K/L)
16 Amps
3,520 - 3,840 watts
Polarized - yes (Type E/K/L) (by design)
Polarized - no (Type F)
Fused - ??
can you see the difference between US and European plugs
meanwhile us in the USA: hey... that looks almost as safe as our plugs
2:40 "but wait!" .....why did i expect you to say "through the magic of buying 2 of them"??
Such DRAMA over the BBC computer UK plug and it wont work in the EU socket.
Do what me do in the UK with an EU plug. ....
"CUT IT OFF AND REPLACE!"
Simple
I find it strange that people don't know that our system here in North America is 240 volts. You can wire up 240 sockets. We do this already with Ovens and Dryers.
Why a transformer? As I know electricity in the US arrive in the house with tree wires, -120V, 0V and 120V because some appliance may need 240V, usually in kitchens. And you archive 240V “connecting” -120v to +120V (with load in between).
I’m not from the US so please tell me if I’m wrong
In an unrelated note, the US also uses 240VAC systems, but it's "split" into two virtual 120VAC lines, both deliberately put out of phase by 90 degrees. If we used the full 240VAC out of the gate...
...to put it plainly, all hell would break loose. Electrically speaking.
The transformer _looks_ like it's a well-built and sturdy unit, but after you disassembled it, it turned out that the case is made of a very thin and wonky sheet metal. Not much structural rigidity there! :)
That's why there were so many screws holding the case together :)
With all the poo-poo'ing of the US system, @5:15 you break out a clearly illegal UK plug. (the hot/neutral pins are not allowed to be continuous solid conductors like a US plug for the very reasons you've been going on and on about -- you should not be able to ever touch an energized pin.)
Sleeved pins didnt become mandatory on UK plugs till 1984, though they where common place before that date. It is the only update in the design of the plug that has been needed since it was introduced in 1947. Note the size of the plug makes it next to impossible to touch the pins of a partiality insert plug with your fingers even without sleeving. The sleeving is to protect against metals objects falling behing a partiality inserted plug, which is spectacular when it happens.
Personally in your situation I would have just cut the UK plug on the BBC off (its not sleeved so needs to go anyway) and fitted a Schuko plug. Way less hassle than adapting to 120V IMHO.
Why does everybody panic about outlets so much over there? We have 240V 50A plugs that are quite the same as the normal US plug and we are fine over here. Do you guys die if you look at a plug wrong over there or something?
To be honest, if it was me, id probably just run a new 240 volt circuit from the mains panel. European appliances will work fine on American 240 as long as they can tolerate the different frequency.
Of course this is assuming your shop used split phase 120/240 and not three phase 120/208. While most American 240 volt appliances are built to tolerate 208, (since 208 is common in apartment blocks), I don't think European appliances are built to tolerate 208 so well. But of course I'm also an electrician whose been in the trade for five and a half years so I know how to do stuff like that.
🙄 I have an extension cord I bought in China that I modified to work with our European wall sockets... So that I could run whatever from anywhere, as long as it can handle 240V.
I knew that it wasn't safe already when I bought the extension cord. It is grounded tho.
Anyway, I only use it for short periods of time, and only when I'm around to bark at people getting too close.
Those sockets are incredibly useful but also incredibly dangerous if the user doesn't know about the flaws.
I have some 1-to-1, very safe, adaptors between euro and US and euro to aussie as well, for equipment i like to keep plugged for longer time.. they hold very tight onto the foreign plug and complies with CE and the Schuko standard. Certainly the safer choice... The extension cords are just for short time of use by... Me, basically.
Edit: the Danish "europlug" does have a ground pin, thus the smiley face. But the ones in my home also does the Schuko grounding. Just because it's possible.
Plug and Pray! .. especially when you try to use a CEE-7 (Europlug) with the 4.0mm prongs after you've inserted a Schuko-type (4.8mm). Proper European sockets are designed to handle this. Those death-daptor things (& the ones you show) are particularly useless with Australian plugs.
We used death-daptors on our production lines with the same sort of hole & contact arrangement, since we made stuff for various international markets. Well, the other testers did, but I insisted on getting the proper sockets for each plug type for my test bay. It probably saved my life on a couple of occasions. Putting your hands in to attach probes right next to poorly-shielded mains connections ...
Unfortunately there is one major oversight with this arrangement. IF the transformer is of the isolating type and not of the auto transformer type, adding an earth made no difference. With the isolating style of transformer, there is no electrical connection from primary to secondary, the primary being earth referenced via your neutral/earth bond at the switchboard. IF this unit has a single tapped winding (auto transformer) then the neutral/earth relationship remains intact and earth connection is important. With an isolated source, a malfunction in the appliance that makes the case live will not trip breakers or potentially even harm you because the 240V is floating.
The upside to isolation is there is no shock risk with respect to earth, only via the two live conductors. Replacing those cheap plugs with the ones you used is a very good idea
I never saw the North American plugs as particularly problematic as my generation was threatened with death-by-parent if caught playing with plugs and sockets.. but with today's grossly misguided and irresponsible "hands-off" approach to parenting I can see how problems might occur. The British are pretty stupid (look no further than ring circuits and Brexit and the PM Merry go round) so I can sympathize with why their plugs are so ridiculous and overengineered to prevent unwanted tingles while playing with 220v sockets
Where I live the earth is a prong sticking out from a socket (Poland) and it's common to touch it! What would happen if I touch it? Nothing. Ground is safe. What if due to a mistake the ground was connected to 230V/50Hz (excepted at live). It was connected for some time in my apartment.
12:56 here in Finland that rather irritating feature is called with translation of "Child Safety Feature!", but a clever 2 year old quickly finds out that with two 5mm phillips head or even Torx (screw-)drivers you chan get access to the lethal 220v (in my youth) or even 240VAC source of "free" electricity (Parents pay the bill, thus free for a child)-
Take a look at sheet metal nibblers. They are perfect for what you used the dremel for.
F-3000P transformer is autotransformer: Input neutral is directly connected to output neutral. Replace it with isolation transformer which hasn't high voltage referenced to earth at all. No high voltage risk - no "universal socket grounding" problem :)