In the late 60s I worked for Labgear, a factory making TV signal boosters and other TV related stuff. Every test bench had one of thesequicktests often called a mouse or rat trap! not sure why, it just was. One of the childish things we would do (well I was only 16/17 at the time) was to place a thin piece of solder between live and neutral and close the trap. When the workers arrived in the morning they would turn on the master power switch to each bench followed by a bang and a puff of smoke. Followed, of course by howls of laughter from the test department. Still makes me laugh when I think about it today!! Sad really.
I love those stories. Where I worked in the 80s and 90s in the service dept of a high end HiFi shop in the West End there used to be a man who stood outside to sell newspapers with his dog, we would wire a super tweeter up to a signal generator, stick it up to a vent and make the poor mans dog go apeshit. Which it did.
Thanks, Clive. I bought one after viewing one of your clips, and I am very happy. It is quite expensive, but there you go... They might consider replacing the neon glow light by a small LED, but that might come in time... I might do that myself one of these days... In fact, there is a design shorcoming relative to opening the lid. If the device is not bolted onto a table, it is difficult to open the lid with one hand, and when you struggle to use your other hand, there is a slight possibility for a finger to touch a live lead... The solution is to add a small base that protrudes in front (wooden base for instance) that makes it easier to open the lid...
Yes, that's the problem I've been thinking too with this otherwise quite great little box. It doesn't look like it is easy to open with one hand in case of some emergency.
I do really like how the live is next to earth, so in case of it being bridged, it trips the RCD/GFCI, and it even has a slightly larger gap for added isolation compared to the neutral and ground.
After seeing you use this in previous videos, I bought one for myself a few months back. Very handy for repair work, or any temporary mains connection.
I've had mine for over 30 years and it's been incredibly useful. Still looks like new too! I remember my friend's girlfriend enquiring as to the point of it: "why don't you just fit a plug?" she said. At which point she was promoted to plugfitter-in-chief and after a short deliberation promptly resigned her post. 🙃
Hi Clive I've been using a similar device for 32 years quick testing etc. Still use it daily in workshop. It's a "SAFEBLOCK" with a trade mark "Rendar" I was given it by the boss at a small pump manufacturing company in Walsall where I worked making looms. Will send photos. Many thanks for the great videos. Cheers.
+Raymond Earle The Keynector was from Electronic Brokers and it may have been the first. The switch and fuse were in a flip-open section at the top which locked the keys when closed. There's an advert for it in Wireless World or September 1969 here, page A85: www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Wireless-World/60s/Wireless-World-1969-09.pdf
£1-10s-6p. Sorry I took so long. I was drooling. Wireless World. I couldn't afford it on my wages. So i used to badger my boss until he gave me his to look at. Practical Electronics. Practical Wireless. Elektor. Etc. Once a month me and my mate would have a readathon in my bosses front room. Eric my boss was a Genius. Thank you for bringing him back to mind my friend.
MK plug top too! You can tell by the distinctive shape and ergonomic design. Also has push in strain relief and wrap around screw cap connections for L, N, and E. As far as I am concerned, the best UK 240V mains plug ever made. Pretty much every time I would put a plug on any appliance, particularly high current stuff like washing machines, tumble dryers, 13 Amp extention leads, electric heaters and the like I would use one of those. And also as mentioned elsewhere in the comments, as a long time serving electrical tester, I would always have an RS 'Safebloc' connectors like the one shown here for 115 V AC 60hz, 115 V AC 400hz, 240 V AC 50hz, 24 V DC 10 A, and one hooked on the end of a large 3 phase sack barrow mounted variac. The fact that all the terminals on the 3 phase variac were only covered by a piece of crumbling paxolin board, taped on with masking tape was by the by! Great stuff! 😀 Thanks for the reminder Clive.
Mine is on it's way! Ordered one last week after my friends found there was a safer alternative to my death/suicide lead. Expensive but I won't need to replace it.. ever. Thank you for answering about what it is.
I’ve got mine back in the early 80s but it called branded as safe block and the conductors are bear metal but covered when the top is closed. Very useful tool to have.
Just received mine yesterday. already used it a couple of times. i appreciate big clives safety conscious approach. not getting hurt will keep motivated to keep interested. not so with me drone. ask me why. anyway, thanks clive for showing us this great device. cheers
When I worked for Dixons in the eighties we used these to test appliances, which in those days did not have fitted plugs. They were eventually banned for safety reasons but they were very handy indeed.
I'm getting one of these, Clive. Just to be silly, it will be the QT-3 3Φ version, since it will be useful for the 3Φ variac I've had for the past 30 years. Far safer that mucking about with screw terminals.
A great idea, but with quality issues. I bought the 3 phase model a year ago figuring that I could use the 2 extra circuits for my bench's 12Vdc power supply. I ended up having to use the 2 extra circuits for AC because the screws stripped on the blue and brown even though I did not overtorque them. I have 30 years experience in electronic repair and know how much torque to use.
Used a similar device for many years, before UK regulations demanded a fitted mains plug, when I worked for a "Major'" electrical retailer, and needed to demonstrate TV's/ Radios/ etc to customers - an invaluable piece of equipment . In those days we referred to it as a "Safe - Block"
I couldn't wrap my head around how these actually worked. I was thinking those knife connectors were live and that you could shock yourself if you touched them. But now I get how it works :) Thanks!
I finally purchased one from Newark for $47.67 total. I have it connected to a variac. I love it. Well worth the price. I ordered some 5 amp fuses since the tests I'll be going are on low current devices.
Nice video about it. I've got myself one a while ago. I found something with it worth mentioning though. I got mine with the European (shuko) plug fitted to it. The way the cable was terminated and connected inside though, didn't instil a lot of confidence. There were no proper wire ends crimped onto the stripped wires, and a lot of the actual strands were broken. The connections were loosely tightened... Now, I might be a nit-picker but I'm not sure if that's what you want in a device that is likely to be moved or handled a lot and is reasonably expensive for what it is. I redid the cable and crimped wire-ends to the stripped parts of the wires. I tightened the screws a little better as well... I expected a little better for the price-point, that's all. :)
Very convenient devices Clive.... they are very safe to use and make life easy in a test bench environment. I don't think you pointed out though the one thing to be careful about .... You pretty much can't get to any live contact with the lid open or closed BUT the back two slots can be accessed with DMM probes and will tell you the voltage your'e working with if for instance you have it connected to a Variac. Loose wires, wire cut offs that fall in this slot can be live so don't grab at them. (Probably never happen unless you're very messy at work but is still something to be aware of)... Just watched your video on the LED lights from Ebay, nice use of the LEDs as a bridge rectifier, innovative.
Nice to see you using an MK mains plug, sad that that MK no longer make them. They were beautifully designed and so easy to wire up and less prone to overheating with the large area of contact in the terminal posts than lesser plugs with their tiny little screws.
+Donald Sayers umm the plug in the video looks like a MK "safetyplug" which is still listed on MKs website and still seems to be available from a number of distributors. www.mkelectric.com/en-ar/Products/WD/PortablePower/PlugsandAdaptors/Safetyplugs/Pages/646.aspx uk.farnell.com/mk-electric/646whi/plug-safety-13a-white/dp/107754
I worked in a factory (a good while back now) where these were standard items in the test benches at the end of the production lines. One job involved assembling the automatic shutters on motorised through-window air vents, which then had to be checked for correct operation by powering up via a 'Safe-Bloc' unit -- black version of this with different key colours. This was as per this one, just attached to a power cord plugged into mains. It would have been quite possible to stick a screwdriver into the live socket at the back of the unit, so I wouldn't say that these are completely safe. The test benches had cabinets with a door interlock that prevented the tester from livening the product until it was inside the cabinet. I'm not sure how this sneaked past the health and safety people. The test lab I worked in did not use this type of device, though. You want any wiring to be checked and signed off by a second person, least you blow up a sample product (and/or test equipment).
I used to have a really old version of one of these with uninsulated metal clamps for the conductors. Don't really believe it mattered but it's nice to know they're insulated now. A bit safer than the choccy block hanging on the end of a bit of cable with a plug on the other end! (Although I've seen B.C. using something similar,)
Hi Clive I use to have a quick connect back in the 70's and it was the same arrangement apart from the keys, the one I had the keys was decent quality chrome crocodile clips with the lower half screwed down to the bottom of the enclosure ho yeah and the hinged top was also in black and a different shape than the red top. Ho do I miss it!!!
We used to use these when I worked for the Co-op technical services, we dealt with rental TV and Videos. We also had prooving blocks for our meters which I don't see much of these days
The black Bakelite Safebloc, marketed by Radiospares, turns up on Ebay every so often, some later ones seem to be ABS plastic, no neon indicator. The factory and lab benches had these at each position, isolation transformers fitted. I have two on the electronics bench at home, very useful indeed. The bench is a drop front desk, with new interior, lab power supplies, Variac underneath, soldering station, audio amps and speakers, radio, and the vital coffee cup holder.........
I have a few of those. They are amazing. I wire mine to a C form plug because I live in Russia and we have EU plugs and to ensure that it is always the right way I used this kind of plug
I just use a "suicide cord" (a line-cord with fuse in the line)... BC thanks for showing us how this device works and whats inside...safety is important for anyone working on open, live equipment, but even more important for him with the European voltages... BC, please remember to get the piano key colors right when reassembling...we wouldn't want you to get them wrong, and possibly spill your "white wine-like peasant beverage" at the next live test!
Got one through Amazon a few months I do a lot of testing & it comes in handy saves putting a plug on things then having to cut it of again if they fail
Thanks for the link. I tried buying one from a UK ebay seller and he basically called me an idiot for wanting to use a 220v appliance on 120v, and refunded my money. I still think its hilarious that so many people think that the US only has 120v, when we have 220v as well.
+Zach Demand Oh I forgot to add. Don't be fooled by the substitute on the right side of newarks website. It says $54.04, but that is just for the euro cable, the quicktest unit is not included. That's got to be the biggest rip off ive ever seen.
For foreign countries another easy way instead of bare without a cable is with the socket for a standard 3 pin IEC (eg PC) lead. Can find one of them easy wherever you go so great if you need to test equipment and travel around the world [far safer than one of these and an adapter for each county]. One of the first things the UK guy new guy at work did was import one of these. For whatever reason they are not sold in many parts of the world
In Germany (and other European countries) you can flip the plug, so the normaly neutral contact would get live and vice versa. That would also mean you'd have an unfused live connection. (The fuse is only on the normal live side). So there really should be a version with two fuses.
We had ONE of these in the Physics Laboratory of my Alma Mater, Maynooth University in the 1970's. It was just used whenever a device was missing a plug top. The Black, Green and Red is MUCH nicer than the yuck European colour scheme I think. My own unit arrived safely about 3 weeks ago in Brown, Green and Blue.
A refrigeration engineer , i was friendly with in Coventry ( so friendly the sod still owes me £80 ) , set up a house party , ( about 20 years back ) , as he ' d run out of plugs for light ' s & amps etc ..... go round to wiring things into mains sockets using nails ....... & insulation tape . All was going " fine " , ' till , turn on one of these death traps were turned on , there was an all might bang .......... & the base cone of a borrowed base speaker attempted to escape across the room ....... we went down the pub & scrounged half a dozen plugs ............. it was a good party ........... & the music was not too loud !
I remember seeing these in Shops like Dixon's as a child. I don't recall when the requirements changed for all consumer products to have plugs fitted; bit I vividly remember very few consumer products being fitted with a plug back then. If ever you wanted to try a product out, the shop would pull one of these devices out. :)
Mine is a "Safebloc" from the early '70s . Similar to this, but no neon, the terminals are three metal alligator clips, and the lid does not have the spring bias.
These can now be ordered through the Newark website listed above in either the US/Canada or UK/European version for about $35.00 plus $8.00 shipping in the US. That is really no bad at all and a much better option either using a cord with clips on it or using wire nuts to secure wires together. Eventually I'm going to get one of these to replace my alligator clip test cord I control with a light switch for my electrical testing.
+Wil Hobbs Yep I do that too - no need expensive stuff, if you are careful you are not gonna get shocked. Besides, not a single outlet in my house is grounded.
RS part number: 458-926, a google search will show the block is available from suppliers all over the world. The RS model is made by Cliff Electronics, don't know about the others.
I use a 1:1 transformer for that. It's also a lot safer. If you accidentally touch a phase, nothing happens. I use it for repairs and measurements, too. You can also use 2 identical transformers and connect the low voltage sides for separation. edit: I mean real heavy transformers with a lot of copper inside.
Please Clive. What is that tool with the blue handle that you use to push out the plastic pin? I want one! Oh, and does the American and Canadian version have an "H" rather than an "L", since they call the live wire hot?
+Choppington Otter If it's black with all-metal connectors it's a Safebloc from the late 70s or early 80s. Mine's branded RS Components and I'm trying to remember who the maker was. Edit: It was Rendar and there's a used one on eBay UK ATM.
They also used to be used lots in places like Dixons and the electrical departments of department stores/supermarkets. That was back when TVs, hifi and the like came with bare power leads and no mains plug fitted.
+Andrès Peña because back before the 1990s in the UK that was how electrical appliances were typically sold. I don't know if that was different to the rest of the world.
Now you just need to remember to put a link to this video in every video, where you use it. But don't worry, the questions about it won't end at all. Don't think about "just" putting a link in the description. Too many people are too lazy to read it.
You're looking in the wrong place. I initially looked on eBay for one out of curiosity and found them to be quite expensive but if you look on the website listed as suggested, you can get one for under $45.00 USD.
The fact that you had that message at the end... Has anyone ever had the idea of cutting the plugs off their tools and using this? Why on earth would anyone do such a thing?
I use a "suicide cord" - a 2-conductor extension cord with the socket end cut off and replaced with insulated crocodile clips (red for "hot" and black for "neutral"), and an inline rocker switch to turn the power on and off to the device under test. It works, but it's not as nice as the Cliff Quicktest block, and I need to be very careful to examine the state of the rocker switch before plugging it into the wall outlet.
The least expensive US supplier I could find (Newark) still has the quicktest with US wire colors for $60 if you buy one and $40 if you buy 20. However, I did find a shop (cloudfree) reselling them for $48, so I bought one from there. They specialize in non-cloud-based "smart" devices but the owner must be a Clive fan since the quicktest is otherwise quite out of place in their shop.
So is this basically a piece of equipment of which you connect the 3 insulated wires in an appliance's wire, to use instead of buying a plug and wiring it, for testing?
You know, I think it's actually cheaper to have the UK version shipped stateside than to order from a supplier here. I'll have to look into it more, but I'm not at mains voltage yet in my electronics journey.
My brother swore by them, he used one for years, he is a radio ham so allways fiddling with stuff :-) I in the other hand just make do with a 3 way chunky chocolate block terminal jobbie on a 3 foot cable, it works :-). I like the mk plug you have there, looks like the one with brass fluted capped nuts and the two bits of nylon for the strain relief :-)
+zx8401ztv hehe i save my old mk plugs like scrooge! the black ones are like gold dust. i always used to tin the wires for fitting to this type of plug, ahh the old days! now pretty much everything has a plug these days i sold my quicktest a fair while back.
+jusb1066 You sold your quicktest!! i will send you to the dungeons for your disrespect of such a usefull device ha ha :-D :-D Some of the older plugs are better made, that one on the end of clives quicktest are really nice, i bet they dont make them any more.
+bigclivedotcom They are nice plugs, i allways liked the terminals. Like i said to jusb1066, i dont suppose they are made any longer. Some of the new plugs are just shit, i would not trust them with 12 volts let alone 240!!.
back in the 80's circa 1987 I had a bench tester set up for hairdryers like the princess, Avanti etc that woman spend a lot of their life's under or did, we used similar QT's to power up the Dryers memories
@@Hazzza539 No, it certainly cost more than that to manufacture. Cliff appears to be a relatively small manufacturer, and these are made in low quantities - mine is S/N 50176; fifty thousand and some, over however many decades they've been manufacturing them, is not a large number. There's also the question of material cost. I'm not going to open mine up again right now to look for material markings, but it feels like PC or PC-ABS, and it's glass-reinforced. These are not inexpensive materials to source or to work with, and the glass reinforcing is hard on a mold, which also adds cost as you have to put more effort into maintaining the molds and also repair them more often. Finally, there's the costs of assembly, certification, fulfillment, and other ancillaries that often are overlooked by people not familiar with what goes into running a manufacturing business - especially for electrical equipment. I've done contract work for several small companies in that line of work, and those "ancillaries" tend to eat up a surprising fraction of their revenue - you might be able to outsource subassemblies to Shenzhen board houses and Guangzhou heavy industry conglomerates, but someone still has to put the machine together, test it, and get it certified by the necessary regulatory authorities so that your industrial customers can use it. None of this comes cheap. Neither, therefore, does the finished device.
These are very nice units, especially for workshops and for us youtubers but I can't agree $60 is a good price, for suck a device I think a good price would be $30. I personally am not getting one because of it's price.
You could probably wire one up pretty easily tbh, couple of crew connectors and a light switch and boom you have essentially the same thing for £5 or less
that is a very useful testing unit. But its probably a good think that its not so common. I can see it getting misused for a "Semi permanent" use. You can almost see the lawsuits here in the states.. I can see someone overriding the fuse and pushing way too many AMP's though the connector. Its bad enough i seen houses where People just push bear romex wire into a outlet. To wire say a ceiling fixture. Scary But for a bench top testing.. Its Brilliant..
Why is the neon connected between the live and the neutral? Wouldn't it make more sense to connect it between live and earth, so you have visual confirmation that the earth wire is connected?
I see a lot of fawning over this but I don't see how this differs that much from insulated clips on a suicide cord and a switched power strip with a neon indicator. At least as it applies to 10A or under loads. Esp. when the clips are like a Digikey 314-1139, BU-65-5-ND, or CT3147-5-ND. If you were really going to make it similar you'd glue down the clips to a wooden block.
I came across an old Practical Wireless - Nov 69 advertising the type I use, called a "Keynector" or "Safe Bloc" very similar to your quick connect, however, in 1969 it cost 39/6 + 3/- p&p, just under £2 in todays' money :) I have a pdf of it, but don't think there is any way to attach it to my comment?
Looking for the weak spot in this device for someone accidently or foolishly giving himself a mains shock I can only think of him sticking a suitable strip of metal into the mains side knife socket. Our mains 13A plug sockets prevent this happening by incorporating shutters that only open when the longer earth plug pin is inserted. I suppose incorporating similar shutters into this device for extra safety would just be silly considering it is intended for professional use only ?
+meandmymouth not really a lot of point in guarding the knife sockets when the whole point of the device is to connect arbitrary bits of wire to the mains. This device should only be used in suitably controlled environments where everyone is aware of the hazards of electricity.
I tried to find one on aliexpress as I can't find anything similar locally in Romania. Do you know where I could get one for a reasonable price? I am considering making one myself.
I remember these from college 1997-2002, I know they're called "safebloc" (black) or "quicktest" (red), but i'm convinced they're just some generic device you could buy cheaply from China...... Problem is it's hard to search for something like this because everyong calls it something different. Cliff just refer to it as Quicktest QT1, but don't give it a generic name.
Ancient Clive!? Really!? How about one of the original all black ones with uninsulated terminals marked with red green and black painted dots (isolated with lid open just the same and fully protected with the lid down). Also, sadly with no neon! Mine is now 45 years old, has fallen and broken three times in the past but now repaired again with plenty of epoxy resin (Araldite of course), sprayed matt black instead of the original bakelite chocolate brown/black but otherwise STILL working perfectly! GREAT devices - and yes, MUCH less than 60 bucks!
I have one of these at my bench as well, but with north american color code. got tired of using my old test lead whic\h was a cord end with marettes...
The older version to that was the 'Keynector', the keys stay exposed (but safe), only a section at the back would open, and only isolated the live wire, when it was closed, it would stop the keys being pressed i.imgur.com/IHYz6vo.jpg
Been an owner of one of these for a fair while definitely worth it, I fix a lot of appliances and usually folk cut the cables off, usually it's not the material it's the self worth and they have the monopoly as very few companies make them
£29.95 is the cheapest one on Ebay. I bet before you showed it on your channel it was 68P. A set of 4 quick speaker connections (saw one off and paint the others) and a 99P micro switch along with a toilet roll and some of Vals' knicker elastic. Shades of 'Blue Peter' there I think. I don't think my friend Ruth and Banggood does them. Either that or they are under 'Wang Ho do it yourself electrocution unit 4000W 600V. Eco friendly good for windmills and solar panels'. No need to change hands. £30 pounds BigClive - that's taking the pee. Nice neon though - change it for a warm white. I think you have been looking at the 'Intimate Apparel' section on Banggood. My wife went downstairs to get her glasses when I showed her that. I still can't believe you did that Clive.
I'll wait for the Wang Ho to appear. Do you get email from Ruth ? I am serious - just this once. I was wondering if every email from Banggood comes from Ruth. She's very polite and her English is better than mine. Nice company to deal with, if you don't mind waiting for the bullock in paddy field No 9 to finish having a dump. Poor thing was stuck for 2 months last time but it managed to sort itself out in the end. I sent it some rhubarb you know. That moved it.
I think it may be too specialist for the Chinese to bother with. In a way I hope it doesn't get ripped off. I get lots of email with random names from Banggood and other suppliers, but generally delete them. I prefer to buy products myself so I can be blunt about any issues they may have.
The email I refer to are those about orders I have placed. I do get advertising email from them occasionally. All the ones about my orders come from Ruth and that has been several in a day. I just wondered if it was just a name Banggood use or is there really a Ruth. This has been going on for months, just wondered. Every morning I look at your channel wondering what we are going to get. Your light hearted approach to some 'subjects' is perfect. Our local Poundland doesn't have such 'interesting' items as yours. Pity.
In the late 60s I worked for Labgear, a factory making TV signal boosters and other TV related stuff. Every test bench had one of thesequicktests often called a mouse or rat trap! not sure why, it just was. One of the childish things we would do (well I was only 16/17 at the time) was to place a thin piece of solder between live and neutral and close the trap. When the workers arrived in the morning they would turn on the master power switch to each bench followed by a bang and a puff of smoke. Followed, of course by howls of laughter from the test department. Still makes me laugh when I think about it today!! Sad really.
I love those stories. Where I worked in the 80s and 90s in the service dept of a high end HiFi shop in the West End there used to be a man who stood outside to sell newspapers with his dog, we would wire a super tweeter up to a signal generator, stick it up to a vent and make the poor mans dog go apeshit. Which it did.
Oh and we used these too, except they didn't have that silly neon.
Also followed by breathing in lead vapor...
And now the Re-assemble, I bet it takes longer to put back together. Thanks Clive for yet another good video.
Thanks, Clive. I bought one after viewing one of your clips, and I am very happy. It is quite expensive, but there you go... They might consider replacing the neon glow light by a small LED, but that might come in time... I might do that myself one of these days... In fact, there is a design shorcoming relative to opening the lid. If the device is not bolted onto a table, it is difficult to open the lid with one hand, and when you struggle to use your other hand, there is a slight possibility for a finger to touch a live lead... The solution is to add a small base that protrudes in front (wooden base for instance) that makes it easier to open the lid...
Yes, that's the problem I've been thinking too with this otherwise quite great little box. It doesn't look like it is easy to open with one hand in case of some emergency.
I dig the fact you supply a link to this stuff regardless of whether or not you get a cut from a sale. I think we would get along as neighbors.
Simplicity is always the best made I've discovered in life. Keeping it simple can save so many lives. Thanks B.C.
I do really like how the live is next to earth, so in case of it being bridged, it trips the RCD/GFCI, and it even has a slightly larger gap for added isolation compared to the neutral and ground.
After seeing you use this in previous videos, I bought one for myself a few months back. Very handy for repair work, or any temporary mains connection.
Wife surprised me with one for Christmas! I guess she wants me to stick around.
I've had mine for over 30 years and it's been incredibly useful. Still looks like new too! I remember my friend's girlfriend enquiring as to the point of it: "why don't you just fit a plug?" she said. At which point she was promoted to plugfitter-in-chief and after a short deliberation promptly resigned her post. 🙃
Hi Clive I've been using a similar device for 32 years quick testing etc. Still use it daily in workshop. It's a "SAFEBLOCK" with a trade mark "Rendar" I was given it by the boss at a small pump manufacturing company in Walsall where I worked making looms. Will send photos. Many thanks for the great videos. Cheers.
Ah yes. We called them Keynecters back in 1968. That was a nice trip down memory lane. Awesome. Many thanks my friend.
+Raymond Earle Biggest surprise was finding that they still make and sell them. I think I have one of the keynector units somewhere too.
They are awesome.
+Raymond Earle The Keynector was from Electronic Brokers and it may have been the first. The switch and fuse were in a flip-open section at the top which locked the keys when closed.
There's an advert for it in Wireless World or September 1969 here, page A85:
www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Wireless-World/60s/Wireless-World-1969-09.pdf
£1-10s-6p. Sorry I took so long. I was drooling. Wireless World. I couldn't afford it on my wages. So i used to badger my boss until he gave me his to look at. Practical Electronics. Practical Wireless. Elektor. Etc. Once a month me and my mate would have a readathon in my bosses front room. Eric my boss was a Genius. Thank you for bringing him back to mind my friend.
MK plug top too! You can tell by the distinctive shape and ergonomic design. Also has push in strain relief and wrap around screw cap connections for L, N, and E. As far as I am concerned, the best UK 240V mains plug ever made. Pretty much every time I would put a plug on any appliance, particularly high current stuff like washing machines, tumble dryers, 13 Amp extention leads, electric heaters and the like I would use one of those. And also as mentioned elsewhere in the comments, as a long time serving electrical tester, I would always have an RS 'Safebloc' connectors like the one shown here for 115 V AC 60hz, 115 V AC 400hz, 240 V AC 50hz, 24 V DC 10 A, and one hooked on the end of a large 3 phase sack barrow mounted variac. The fact that all the terminals on the 3 phase variac were only covered by a piece of crumbling paxolin board, taped on with masking tape was by the by! Great stuff! 😀 Thanks for the reminder Clive.
Mine is on it's way! Ordered one last week after my friends found there was a safer alternative to my death/suicide lead. Expensive but I won't need to replace it.. ever.
Thank you for answering about what it is.
I’ve got mine back in the early 80s but it called branded as safe block and the conductors are bear metal but covered when the top is closed. Very useful tool to have.
Just received mine yesterday. already used it a couple of times. i appreciate big clives safety conscious approach. not getting hurt will keep motivated to keep interested. not so with me drone. ask me why. anyway, thanks clive for showing us this great device. cheers
When I worked for Dixons in the eighties we used these to test appliances, which in those days did not have fitted plugs. They were eventually banned for safety reasons but they were very handy indeed.
Big Clive.. I just ordered one of these because of you. Lots of fun to be had for many years with this little beauty. Thanks mate! :)
I'm getting one of these, Clive. Just to be silly, it will be the QT-3 3Φ version, since it will be useful for the 3Φ variac I've had for the past 30 years. Far safer that mucking about with screw terminals.
A great idea, but with quality issues. I bought the 3 phase model a year ago figuring that I could use the 2 extra circuits for my bench's 12Vdc power supply. I ended up having to use the 2 extra circuits for AC because the screws stripped on the blue and brown even though I did not overtorque them. I have 30 years experience in electronic repair and know how much torque to use.
Used a similar device for many years, before UK regulations demanded a fitted mains plug, when I worked for a "Major'" electrical retailer, and needed to demonstrate TV's/ Radios/ etc to customers - an invaluable piece of equipment . In those days we referred to it as a "Safe - Block"
I couldn't wrap my head around how these actually worked. I was thinking those knife connectors were live and that you could shock yourself if you touched them. But now I get how it works :) Thanks!
I finally purchased one from Newark for $47.67 total. I have it connected to a variac. I love it. Well worth the price. I ordered some 5 amp fuses since the tests I'll be going are on low current devices.
Nice video about it. I've got myself one a while ago.
I found something with it worth mentioning though.
I got mine with the European (shuko) plug fitted to it. The way the cable was terminated and connected inside though, didn't instil a lot of confidence. There were no proper wire ends crimped onto the stripped wires, and a lot of the actual strands were broken. The connections were loosely tightened...
Now, I might be a nit-picker but I'm not sure if that's what you want in a device that is likely to be moved or handled a lot and is reasonably expensive for what it is.
I redid the cable and crimped wire-ends to the stripped parts of the wires. I tightened the screws a little better as well...
I expected a little better for the price-point, that's all. :)
Very convenient devices Clive.... they are very safe to use and make life easy in a test bench environment. I don't think you pointed out though the one thing to be careful about ....
You pretty much can't get to any live contact with the lid open or closed BUT the back two slots can be accessed with DMM probes and will tell you the voltage your'e working with if for instance you have it connected to a Variac.
Loose wires, wire cut offs that fall in this slot can be live so don't grab at them. (Probably never happen unless you're very messy at work but is still something to be aware of)...
Just watched your video on the LED lights from Ebay, nice use of the LEDs as a bridge rectifier, innovative.
Nice to see you using an MK mains plug, sad that that MK no longer make them. They were beautifully designed and so easy to wire up and less prone to overheating with the large area of contact in the terminal posts than lesser plugs with their tiny little screws.
+Donald Sayers umm the plug in the video looks like a MK "safetyplug" which is still listed on MKs website and still seems to be available from a number of distributors. www.mkelectric.com/en-ar/Products/WD/PortablePower/PlugsandAdaptors/Safetyplugs/Pages/646.aspx uk.farnell.com/mk-electric/646whi/plug-safety-13a-white/dp/107754
I stand corrected.
I worked in a factory (a good while back now) where these were standard items in the test benches at the end of the production lines. One job involved assembling the automatic shutters on motorised through-window air vents, which then had to be checked for correct operation by powering up via a 'Safe-Bloc' unit -- black version of this with different key colours. This was as per this one, just attached to a power cord plugged into mains.
It would have been quite possible to stick a screwdriver into the live socket at the back of the unit, so I wouldn't say that these are completely safe. The test benches had cabinets with a door interlock that prevented the tester from livening the product until it was inside the cabinet. I'm not sure how this sneaked past the health and safety people.
The test lab I worked in did not use this type of device, though. You want any wiring to be checked and signed off by a second person, least you blow up a sample product (and/or test equipment).
When I did my TV & VCR repair apprenticeship, back in 1991-1993 ish, we used the _"Safebloc"_ version of this. :)
I remember my Dad having one of these, and that was at least 30 years ago. His didn't have plastic latches but the basic design was exactly the same.
I used to have a really old version of one of these with uninsulated metal clamps for the conductors. Don't really believe it mattered but it's nice to know they're insulated now. A bit safer than the choccy block hanging on the end of a bit of cable with a plug on the other end! (Although I've seen B.C. using something similar,)
Really surprised that it didn't get outfitted with a warm white LED yet.
Hi Clive I use to have a quick connect back in the 70's and it was the same arrangement apart from the keys, the one I had the keys was decent quality chrome crocodile clips with the lower half screwed down to the bottom of the enclosure ho yeah and the hinged top was also in black and a different shape than the red top. Ho do I miss it!!!
I bought mine a week ago, and wired it, this is very handy. Thank you.
We used to use these when I worked for the Co-op technical services, we dealt with rental TV and Videos. We also had prooving blocks for our meters which I don't see much of these days
The black Bakelite Safebloc, marketed by Radiospares, turns up on Ebay every so often, some later ones seem to be ABS plastic, no neon indicator. The factory and lab benches had these at each position, isolation transformers fitted. I have two on the electronics bench at home, very useful indeed. The bench is a drop front desk, with new interior, lab power supplies, Variac underneath, soldering station, audio amps and speakers, radio, and the vital coffee cup holder.........
I have a few of those. They are amazing. I wire mine to a C form plug because I live in Russia and we have EU plugs and to ensure that it is always the right way I used this kind of plug
I just use a "suicide cord" (a line-cord with fuse in the line)... BC thanks for showing us how this device works and whats inside...safety is important for anyone working on open, live equipment, but even more important for him with the European voltages... BC, please remember to get the piano key colors right when reassembling...we wouldn't want you to get them wrong, and possibly spill your "white wine-like peasant beverage" at the next live test!
Got one through Amazon a few months I do a lot of testing & it comes in handy saves putting a plug on things then having to cut it of again if they fail
Thanks for the link. I tried buying one from a UK ebay seller and he basically called me an idiot for wanting to use a 220v appliance on 120v, and refunded my money. I still think its hilarious that so many people think that the US only has 120v, when we have 220v as well.
+Zach Demand Oh I forgot to add. Don't be fooled by the substitute on the right side of newarks website. It says $54.04, but that is just for the euro cable, the quicktest unit is not included. That's got to be the biggest rip off ive ever seen.
For foreign countries another easy way instead of bare without a cable is with the socket for a standard 3 pin IEC (eg PC) lead. Can find one of them easy wherever you go so great if you need to test equipment and travel around the world [far safer than one of these and an adapter for each county].
One of the first things the UK guy new guy at work did was import one of these. For whatever reason they are not sold in many parts of the world
In Germany (and other European countries) you can flip the plug, so the normaly neutral contact would get live and vice versa.
That would also mean you'd have an unfused live connection. (The fuse is only on the normal live side). So there really should be a version with two fuses.
We had ONE of these in the Physics Laboratory of my Alma Mater, Maynooth University in the 1970's. It was just used whenever a device was missing a plug top.
The Black, Green and Red is MUCH nicer than the yuck European colour scheme I think.
My own unit arrived safely about 3 weeks ago in Brown, Green and Blue.
A refrigeration engineer , i was friendly with in Coventry ( so friendly the sod still owes me £80 ) , set up a house party , ( about 20 years back ) , as he ' d run out of plugs for light ' s & amps etc ..... go round to wiring things into mains sockets using nails ....... & insulation tape . All was going " fine " , ' till , turn on one of these death traps were turned on , there was an all might bang .......... & the base cone of a borrowed base speaker attempted to escape across the room ....... we went down the pub & scrounged half a dozen plugs ............. it was a good party ........... & the music was not too loud !
I remember seeing these in Shops like Dixon's as a child. I don't recall when the requirements changed for all consumer products to have plugs fitted; bit I vividly remember very few consumer products being fitted with a plug back then. If ever you wanted to try a product out, the shop would pull one of these devices out. :)
Mine is a "Safebloc" from the early '70s . Similar to this, but no neon, the terminals are three metal alligator clips, and the lid does not have the spring bias.
This is one of your tools that I have always wanted to know about ,thank you..
These can now be ordered through the Newark website listed above in either the US/Canada or UK/European version for about $35.00 plus $8.00 shipping in the US. That is really no bad at all and a much better option either using a cord with clips on it or using wire nuts to secure wires together. Eventually I'm going to get one of these to replace my alligator clip test cord I control with a light switch for my electrical testing.
To be fair it's a relatively expensive alternative to a plug for general use.
+Timothy Sherratt Not when you are testing lots of items that do not have a plug as standard.
+bigclivedotcom I was referring to the caveat on the lid about not for permanent use.
I have seen electrician on the job site stick bare wires straight into a wall socket.
(in Canada)
+Wil Hobbs I feel like an ... even electricity in Canada is more polite
+Wil Hobbs Yep I do that too - no need expensive stuff, if you are careful you are not gonna get shocked. Besides, not a single outlet in my house is grounded.
RS part number: 458-926, a google search will show the block is available from suppliers all over the world. The RS model is made by Cliff Electronics, don't know about the others.
I use a 1:1 transformer for that. It's also a lot safer. If you accidentally touch a phase, nothing happens.
I use it for repairs and measurements, too.
You can also use 2 identical transformers and connect the low voltage sides for separation.
edit: I mean real heavy transformers with a lot of copper inside.
Please Clive. What is that tool with the blue handle that you use to push out the plastic pin? I want one!
Oh, and does the American and Canadian version have an "H" rather than an "L", since they call the live wire hot?
It was from a set of hex drivers.
Doh!
My father is a retired electrician and I now have his old one of these. I think it's made of bakelite! Useful tool though over the years.
+Choppington Otter If it's black with all-metal connectors it's a Safebloc from the late 70s or early 80s. Mine's branded RS Components and I'm trying to remember who the maker was.
Edit: It was Rendar and there's a used one on eBay UK ATM.
+Graham Langley my Dad's got a Safebloc too, they're a great bit of kit. ..
We had safeblocs on our lab benches at work - all black bakelite, but exactly the same design. Simple, safe and effective.
They also used to be used lots in places like Dixons and the electrical departments of department stores/supermarkets. That was back when TVs, hifi and the like came with bare power leads and no mains plug fitted.
And those were very much semi-permanent connections, all the TVs in the shop were connected with them 24/7
+Andrès Peña because back before the 1990s in the UK that was how electrical appliances were typically sold. I don't know if that was different to the rest of the world.
Now you just need to remember to put a link to this video in every video, where you use it. But don't worry, the questions about it won't end at all. Don't think about "just" putting a link in the description. Too many people are too lazy to read it.
I've always assumed these were a global thing, they are so handy!
I looked this thing on Amazon and they retailed for $71.54 U.S. or 57.38 pounds. Quite more than I expected.
You're looking in the wrong place. I initially looked on eBay for one out of curiosity and found them to be quite expensive but if you look on the website listed as suggested, you can get one for under $45.00 USD.
The fact that you had that message at the end... Has anyone ever had the idea of cutting the plugs off their tools and using this? Why on earth would anyone do such a thing?
The old ones were black with white keys with letters on L live N Neutral E earth, great for use as a test without needing a plug.
I use a "suicide cord" - a 2-conductor extension cord with the socket end cut off and replaced with insulated crocodile clips (red for "hot" and black for "neutral"), and an inline rocker switch to turn the power on and off to the device under test. It works, but it's not as nice as the Cliff Quicktest block, and I need to be very careful to examine the state of the rocker switch before plugging it into the wall outlet.
The least expensive US supplier I could find (Newark) still has the quicktest with US wire colors for $60 if you buy one and $40 if you buy 20. However, I did find a shop (cloudfree) reselling them for $48, so I bought one from there. They specialize in non-cloud-based "smart" devices but the owner must be a Clive fan since the quicktest is otherwise quite out of place in their shop.
Excellent, thanks for the US link.
You can get one with the US and Canadian color codes, but only from the first supplier listed..
We used to have these 50 years back, but they were called Rendar Safebloc. You can still Google that name for pics and eBay auctions.
So is this basically a piece of equipment of which you connect the 3 insulated wires in an appliance's wire, to use instead of buying a plug and wiring it, for testing?
+Henry Southall It is not for permanent use, as he said. But yeah you can do that if you want.
You know, I think it's actually cheaper to have the UK version shipped stateside than to order from a supplier here. I'll have to look into it more, but I'm not at mains voltage yet in my electronics journey.
I use a single phase and a 3 phase quick connect were I work. They work very well for what I use them for.
My brother swore by them, he used one for years, he is a radio ham so allways fiddling with stuff :-)
I in the other hand just make do with a 3 way chunky chocolate block terminal jobbie on a 3 foot cable, it works :-).
I like the mk plug you have there, looks like the one with brass fluted capped nuts and the two bits of nylon for the strain relief :-)
+zx8401ztv hehe i save my old mk plugs like scrooge! the black ones are like gold dust. i always used to tin the wires for fitting to this type of plug, ahh the old days! now pretty much everything has a plug these days i sold my quicktest a fair while back.
+zx8401ztv I just opened it to check. It is! I hadn't even clicked with that. It does show how old the unit is.
+jusb1066
You sold your quicktest!! i will send you to the dungeons for your disrespect of such a usefull device ha ha :-D :-D
Some of the older plugs are better made, that one on the end of clives quicktest are really nice, i bet they dont make them any more.
+bigclivedotcom
They are nice plugs, i allways liked the terminals.
Like i said to jusb1066, i dont suppose they are made any longer.
Some of the new plugs are just shit, i would not trust them with 12 volts let alone 240!!.
back in the 80's circa 1987 I had a bench tester set up for hairdryers like the princess, Avanti etc that woman spend a lot of their life's under or did, we used similar QT's to power up the Dryers memories
$60 !! That's hardly 'reasonably priced'.
you're damn right there, they're practically giving it away for so little
For a tool you buy once and use the rest of your life? Cheap at the price.
@@OhShitSeriously It's the simplest thing ever and probably cost only a couple of pounds to make. The fact that you only buy it once is irrelevant
@@Hazzza539 No, it certainly cost more than that to manufacture.
Cliff appears to be a relatively small manufacturer, and these are made in low quantities - mine is S/N 50176; fifty thousand and some, over however many decades they've been manufacturing them, is not a large number.
There's also the question of material cost. I'm not going to open mine up again right now to look for material markings, but it feels like PC or PC-ABS, and it's glass-reinforced. These are not inexpensive materials to source or to work with, and the glass reinforcing is hard on a mold, which also adds cost as you have to put more effort into maintaining the molds and also repair them more often.
Finally, there's the costs of assembly, certification, fulfillment, and other ancillaries that often are overlooked by people not familiar with what goes into running a manufacturing business - especially for electrical equipment. I've done contract work for several small companies in that line of work, and those "ancillaries" tend to eat up a surprising fraction of their revenue - you might be able to outsource subassemblies to Shenzhen board houses and Guangzhou heavy industry conglomerates, but someone still has to put the machine together, test it, and get it certified by the necessary regulatory authorities so that your industrial customers can use it.
None of this comes cheap. Neither, therefore, does the finished device.
I'm sure you can get a cheap chinese version, if that's what your life is worth
As a cheap alternative one could simply use a set of spring-loaded Wago Lever Clamp Terminals. Works just as well for quick testing.
I use one of these almost everyday at work.
+Alan Bacon Why? Its nothing more than a termporary "plug in" adaptor for direct wired fixtures. Couldnt you just use a meter?
I repair broadcast equipment for a living. I use it for testing power supplies mostly. Nothing permanent at all.
These are very nice units, especially for workshops and for us youtubers but I can't agree $60 is a good price, for suck a device I think a good price would be $30. I personally am not getting one because of it's price.
You could probably wire one up pretty easily tbh, couple of crew connectors and a light switch and boom you have essentially the same thing for £5 or less
+The Mad Hammer I guess 3d printing one would be a good idea because you can also design the isolation slots and proper mounting tabs.
I love it ! Why couldn't I have found this years ago. Thanks Clive...
It's £25 in the UK which equals $32
So how is $60 "actually a good price"?
that is a very useful testing unit. But its probably a good think that its not so common. I can see it getting misused for a "Semi permanent" use. You can almost see the lawsuits here in the states.. I can see someone overriding the fuse and pushing way too many AMP's though the connector. Its bad enough i seen houses where People just push bear romex wire into a outlet. To wire say a ceiling fixture. Scary But for a bench top testing.. Its Brilliant..
Why is the neon connected between the live and the neutral? Wouldn't it make more sense to connect it between live and earth, so you have visual confirmation that the earth wire is connected?
Thanks, a very useful device, I'm gonna get me one.
Hi Clive thanks for the video!!
I see the drawing has gone from your hand,was it hard to remove?
+Radio Ham No. It came off with methylated spirits no problem.
Was not anything listed for the 110/120 Volt power supply testers.
several similar items. Also the Safebloc and the Keynector
this device is one of the best things humanity ever invented
finally xD thanks
+Proyectos LED ecks deee
I see a lot of fawning over this but I don't see how this differs that much from insulated clips on a suicide cord and a switched power strip with a neon indicator. At least as it applies to 10A or under loads. Esp. when the clips are like a Digikey 314-1139, BU-65-5-ND, or CT3147-5-ND. If you were really going to make it similar you'd glue down the clips to a wooden block.
A useful tool fro those times when the power you are testing with is Mains.
I came across an old Practical Wireless - Nov 69 advertising the type I use, called a "Keynector" or "Safe Bloc" very similar to your quick connect, however, in 1969 it cost 39/6 + 3/- p&p, just under £2 in todays' money :) I have a pdf of it, but don't think there is any way to attach it to my comment?
I could see two holes on the inside, is it also wall/bench mountable?
I picked up a used one of these the other day for the grand sum of £8.
No neon indicator, but Not really a issue :)
I love the terminal connectors in this unit. Does anyone know where you can buy these terminal connectors?
Thanks, just ordered one. The cheapest I found in Australia is from Element14 for $57.
Looking for the weak spot in this device for someone accidently or foolishly giving himself a mains shock I can only think of him sticking a suitable strip of metal into the mains side knife socket. Our mains 13A plug sockets prevent this happening by incorporating shutters that only open when the longer earth plug pin is inserted. I suppose incorporating similar shutters into this device for extra safety would just be silly considering it is intended for professional use only ?
+meandmymouth not really a lot of point in guarding the knife sockets when the whole point of the device is to connect arbitrary bits of wire to the mains. This device should only be used in suitably controlled environments where everyone is aware of the hazards of electricity.
I tried to find one on aliexpress as I can't find anything similar locally in Romania. Do you know where I could get one for a reasonable price? I am considering making one myself.
would be great if there was an overhang over the hinge so it could be opened easily with one hand with it not bolted down to a surface.
have you ever started takeing something apart without unpluging ?
Hi, where could I get one of those screwdriver sets that you use in your videos? Thanks.
I remember these from college 1997-2002, I know they're called "safebloc" (black) or "quicktest" (red), but i'm convinced they're just some generic device you could buy cheaply from China...... Problem is it's hard to search for something like this because everyong calls it something different. Cliff just refer to it as Quicktest QT1, but don't give it a generic name.
+Strider9655 Closest I can find to a generic name is "Mains test block"
+Strider9655 The one I have is made by RS and is branded as SAFEBLOC.
Ancient Clive!? Really!? How about one of the original all black ones with uninsulated terminals marked with red green and black painted dots (isolated with lid open just the same and fully protected with the lid down). Also, sadly with no neon! Mine is now 45 years old, has fallen and broken three times in the past but now repaired again with plenty of epoxy resin (Araldite of course), sprayed matt black instead of the original bakelite chocolate brown/black but otherwise STILL working perfectly! GREAT devices - and yes, MUCH less than 60 bucks!
I have one of these at my bench as well, but with north american color code. got tired of using my old test lead whic\h was a cord end with marettes...
The older version to that was the 'Keynector', the keys stay exposed (but safe), only a section at the back would open, and only isolated the live wire, when it was closed, it would stop the keys being pressed i.imgur.com/IHYz6vo.jpg
Wow. Plastic and and a fuse is expensive these days. eBay wants anywhere from $50 - $100 for these things.
Been an owner of one of these for a fair while definitely worth it, I fix a lot of appliances and usually folk cut the cables off, usually it's not the material it's the self worth and they have the monopoly as very few companies make them
£29.95 is the cheapest one on Ebay. I bet before you showed it on your channel it was 68P.
A set of 4 quick speaker connections (saw one off and paint the others) and a 99P micro switch along with a toilet roll and some of Vals' knicker elastic. Shades of 'Blue Peter' there I think. I don't think my friend Ruth and Banggood does them. Either that or they are under 'Wang Ho do it yourself electrocution unit 4000W 600V. Eco friendly good for windmills and solar panels'. No need to change hands.
£30 pounds BigClive - that's taking the pee. Nice neon though - change it for a warm white.
I think you have been looking at the 'Intimate Apparel' section on Banggood. My wife went downstairs to get her glasses when I showed her that. I still can't believe you did that Clive.
£30 is cheap for these units. They used to be very common and cost a lot less, but in more recent times the cost has been closer to £50 or more.
I'll wait for the Wang Ho to appear.
Do you get email from Ruth ? I am serious - just this once. I was wondering if every email from Banggood comes from Ruth. She's very polite and her English is better than mine. Nice company to deal with, if you don't mind waiting for the bullock in paddy field No 9 to finish having a dump. Poor thing was stuck for 2 months last time but it managed to sort itself out in the end. I sent it some rhubarb you know. That moved it.
I think it may be too specialist for the Chinese to bother with. In a way I hope it doesn't get ripped off.
I get lots of email with random names from Banggood and other suppliers, but generally delete them. I prefer to buy products myself so I can be blunt about any issues they may have.
The email I refer to are those about orders I have placed. I do get advertising email from them occasionally. All the ones about my orders come from Ruth and that has been several in a day. I just wondered if it was just a name Banggood use or is there really a Ruth. This has been going on for months, just wondered.
Every morning I look at your channel wondering what we are going to get. Your light hearted approach to some 'subjects' is perfect. Our local Poundland doesn't have such 'interesting' items as yours. Pity.
Is there a version of this available in the US?
(NOT considering UK eBay sellers due to insane shipping cost nor newark due to silly high price)
Yes, it's in the description.