Moulded mains plug failure

The wires have broken, a fairly common problem on moulded plugs.

If you are really interested perform surgery and cut the rubber off with a stout knife and investigate if there is something strange tell us

That's a common problem, the wires have simply broken through fatigue, there is almost certainly no protection device in the plug. Just replace the plug. But personally I wouldn't bother, bin it and get a proper temperature controlled station.

Dave.

...and AFAIK, you should NEVER, under any conditions, have less than close to zero ohms continuity between an earth pin and the frame of an appliance...

But you should get less than one ohm if you measure between the earth and neutral in a GPO socket.

In the early days, it was common to cut off ANY moulded plug (from new) and replace it with a standard aftermarket plug, there were that many failures. One I remember was a

Other problems with moulded plugs from that era is the cord outer sheath coming free from where its attatched to the entrance to the plug, exposing the coloured wires inside. While the plug will still work, its not very safe.

The few moulded plugs I managed to hack apart years ago typically used spot welding or direct crimping to the pin to make the electrical connection. Obviously it isn't good enough in some cases.

On Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:23:48 -0600, bruce varley put finger to keyboard and composed:

AFAIK British mains plugs (not the moulded type) protect the active wire with a user replaceable fuse. I doubt that your plug is anything out of the ordinary.

I've had to replace the mains cable on my old Micron temperature controlled soldering station twice, but then I'm in the habit of packing my iron away after each use. Both times the break was at the iron end. BTW, I've since dropped the hand-piece and fractured the ceramic element inside, so if anyone needs the unit (cat # T2441, 60W) for spares, they are welcome to it.

- Franc Zabkar

I think the point he was getting at was the the earth could fail first, and you'd be blissfully unaware of it until the fatal shock.

Hence ELCBs / RCCDs should be mandatory in ALL installations.

Graham

Eh ? What has that got to do with the price of fish ?

Graham

I bought an inexpensive but decent looking 4 way extension lead from a local supermarket some years ago.

It didn't 'feel right'. I examined it and no, it wasn't welded but used standard screw down connections made by cheap Chinese workers.

The thing that 'didn't feel right' was a single strand of copper wire attached to the live connection of one of the outlets that had 'missed the hole'. I corrected it.

Heads you lose, tails you lose.

Graham

The moulded type also have fuses inserted from the 'bottom face'.

However I did once find ONE with no visible fuse. Maybe it was internal and 'one-shot' ?

It's great to have the safest electrical system in the world !

Graham

As opposed to shoddy British labor?

The safest system is the one that was never built.

I'm sure you could contribute very positively to that.

Graham

Certainly. Anyone could. by following any of your rejected designs.

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On Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:25:45 +0000, Eeyore put finger to keyboard and composed:

All other things being equal, I would have thought that a 110V system was safer than a 240V system.

As for mains plugs, the safest ones I've seen are those with an integral ELCB. Maybe one day they'll be mandatory ???

- Franc Zabkar

I recall a friend telling me of the US electricians up near exmouth who installed the VLF submarine comms system many moons ago, they had the habit (in USA) of wiping one of the wires across the back of the hand, ostensibly to find the active - from the inevitable reaction etc, Few yelps when doing that over here...!

Along with the intelligent power coupling (trekkie talk for mains socket), which has optical fibre, other voltages, choice of mains source etc etc...

NO design of mine has EVER been rejected. In fact I've turned design failures into commercial successes.

Don't believe me ? I'll get a PhD to send you an email.

Graham

Why ? Both are lethal voltages and 120V as it actually is requires twice the current carrying capacity with 4x increased I2R losses and hotter conductors that catch fire more easily.

Give me even ONE example. Aside from British.

It seems to me you know little about electricity. Besides, about 90% of the world uses 220-240V. As ever it's the USA that's the BACKWARD IDIOT.

Graham