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It's amazing what you can find out on teh interwebs...
For example, that plug you use to plug normal equipment into the
electricity grid. Apparently there's a name for it. It's called "BS
1363". (Memorable, eh?)
Similarly, the lead that almost all computers are powered by. The
connector on one end is a normal BS 1363. Apparently the connector at
the other end is known as "IEC 60320 C13". (And the matching socket is C14.)
And - the point of my research - that weird "clover leaf" plug that
certain laptops have. I always assumed it was proprietry. But no,
apparently that's "IEC 60320 C5". This information will make it
drastically easier for me to find a replacement lead for the spare
laptop here! ;-)
(I still have the half of the leaf with the transformer in it - and the
half that connects to the laptop itself. That's the hard part to
replace. But some visitor from America borrowed the other half, because
her laptop also had an IEC 60320 C6 socket, and I never got the lead back.)
Even more, apparently the rare 2-pin plug you see on some low-powered
stuff is IEC 60320 C7.
Check it out:
http://www.accesscomms.com.au/reference/IEC320.htm
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48f3154d$1@news.povray.org...
> It's amazing what you can find out on teh interwebs...
>
> For example, that plug you use to plug normal equipment into the
> electricity grid. Apparently there's a name for it. It's called "BS 1363".
> (Memorable, eh?)
>
You mean normal for British Isles :-)
http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm#plugs
You don't feel lonely?
BTW the BS1363 is very reliable, gives excellent contact and can pass high
power.
Marc
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m_a_r_c wrote:
> You mean normal for British Isles :-)
Well yeah, *obviously* everywhere that isn't the British Isles is
"abnormal". :-P
</sarcasm>
> You don't feel lonely?
Heh. Well we *are* almost the smallest and least significant country on
the face of the earth. :-/
All the manufacturing happens in other countries. All the brilliant
scientists and mathematicians are from other nations. All the most
significant inventions are from other countries. In fact, about our only
claim to fame - or even significance - is that once upon a time, we
ruled the world. (Or at least a large corner of it.) Kinda depressing, eh?
> BTW the BS1363 is very reliable, gives excellent contact and can pass high
> power.
Not something you think about every day - until you realise that less
civilised countries just use a plain metal stick so it's frighteningly
easy to pull out of the wall, plug in backwards, electrocute yourself
with by touching the pins while inserting/removing, insert random
objects into the socket, etc.
I guess it's like you don't realise how stringent UK health and safety
rules are until you see some pictures on the TV of workers in some
random country using blowtorches and angle grinders without any safety
equipment at all...
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> Not something you think about every day - until you realise that less
> civilised countries just use a plain metal stick so it's frighteningly
> easy to pull out of the wall, plug in backwards,
Hey, you can plug in mains stuff here (Germany) any way round you want and
everything still works!
> electrocute yourself with by touching the pins while inserting/removing,
> insert random objects into the socket, etc.
I read that by law every outlet in Germany must have an RCD device (compared
to only outdoor outlets in the UK), so it's pretty much impossible to injure
yourself. It's also kinda convenient to have outlets in the bathroom for
hairdryers, electric toothbrush chargers etc.
> I guess it's like you don't realise how stringent UK health and safety
> rules are until you see some pictures on the TV of workers in some random
> country using blowtorches and angle grinders without any safety equipment
> at all...
Saw a big 3-phase motor once, the supply cable was simply stripped back and
tied around the contacts on the motor! No cover, nothing.
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scott wrote:
>> Not something you think about every day - until you realise that less
>> civilised countries just use a plain metal stick so it's frighteningly
>> easy to pull out of the wall, plug in backwards,
>
> Hey, you can plug in mains stuff here (Germany) any way round you want
> and everything still works!
>
>> electrocute yourself with by touching the pins while
>> inserting/removing, insert random objects into the socket, etc.
>
> I read that by law every outlet in Germany must have an RCD device
> (compared to only outdoor outlets in the UK), so it's pretty much
> impossible to injure yourself.
Typically in the UK, the mains circuit, the socket *and* the plug all
contain fuses. (Although looking at Wikipedia, it appears that the
sockets are not "required" to do so. It's just that they always do.)
> It's also kinda convenient to have
> outlets in the bathroom for hairdryers, electric toothbrush chargers etc.
Yeah, some bathrooms have special "shaver" sockets which are weird 2-pin
connectors fused at 2A or something. Personally, I don't know about you,
but my bathroom is so tiny that you'd be just as well to go somewhere
else... ;-)
> Saw a big 3-phase motor once, the supply cable was simply stripped back
> and tied around the contacts on the motor! No cover, nothing.
o_O
That's cute.
OTOH, I sometimes wonder just how lethal this stuff is. For example, my
dad told me a story once. He had one of those electric bar heaters. It's
basically a coil of the cheapest unrefined steel wire, with many ampares
dumped through it until it glows red hot.
Anyway, one freezing winter's day, one of the coils snapped. Obviously
this broke the circuit. So my dad unplugged the heater and picked up the
ends of the coil and hooked them round each other. Then he turned the
device back on.
That worked for about 20 minutes, and then the ends unhooked.
Frustrated, my dad picked up the ends again... and then got up off the
floor and UNPLUGED THE HEATER before repeating this action. ;-)
So it seems putting 250 V through your hands isn't necessarily an
instant fatality like they tell you on TV.
OTOH, take a look at those overhead power lines. It's not so much that
the current involved might make your heart stop beating... it's more
that your body is liable to be transformed into an actual human crisp. ;-)
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> Typically in the UK, the mains circuit, the socket *and* the plug all
> contain fuses.
Fuses do not act fast enough to stop you getting a lethal dose of current.
That's why RCD devices are used.
> That worked for about 20 minutes, and then the ends unhooked. Frustrated,
> my dad picked up the ends again... and then got up off the floor and
> UNPLUGED THE HEATER before repeating this action. ;-)
Luckily I guess the shock disconnected him from the supply before any
serious damage was done, if, for some reason, the shock made him grip the
ends tighter then he would have likely died. I have seen several people who
"flick" the end of a wire to see if it is live or not. I think it's the
amount of time as well as the current, plus how well you are connected to
other stuff etc. PErsonally, I wouldn't want to risk it!
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On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:24:30 +0200, "scott" <sco### [at] scott com> wrote:
>I have seen several people who
>"flick" the end of a wire to see if it is live or not.
It's always more exciting to stick your tongue to it. ;-)
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48f33dfe$1@news.povray.org...
>> Typically in the UK, the mains circuit, the socket *and* the plug all
>> contain fuses.
>
> Fuses do not act fast enough to stop you getting a lethal dose of current.
> That's why RCD devices are used.
>
It is not so a speed issue than a current issue.
If I don't mistake, RCD switches off if the difference between both wires
(which is assumed to be a leakage through a body for example) is higher than
30mA which is far less (typically around 500 x less) than the max current
that blows the fuse.
Marc
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Kyle wrote:
> It's always more exciting to stick your tongue to it. ;-)
"Exciting" is one way to put it. :-P
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scott wrote:
> Fuses do not act fast enough to stop you getting a lethal dose of
> current. That's why RCD devices are used.
Maybe. Personally I'd prefer to avoid having to find out either way. ;-)
>> That worked for about 20 minutes, and then the ends unhooked.
>> Frustrated, my dad picked up the ends again... and then got up off the
>> floor and UNPLUGED THE HEATER before repeating this action. ;-)
>
> Luckily I guess the shock disconnected him from the supply before any
> serious damage was done.
Er, yeah.
The closest thing I've done it touch an electric fence. Jesus, no WONDER
the cattle stay the **** away from that thing! o_O
Of course, it isn't permanently live, it pulses. Was quite funny
watching the class idiot try this, actually. (This was on a different
day.) I walk up to the fence, briefly tap it, and loudly yell "oh, it's
not turned on". Class idiot saunters over and grips it. "Hey, no, it
isn't o-ho-HUGG!" Looked like somebody had just kicked him.
Ah, we really hated that guy...
> if, for some reason, the shock made him grip
> the ends tighter then he would have likely died. I have seen several
> people who "flick" the end of a wire to see if it is live or not. I
> think it's the amount of time as well as the current, plus how well you
> are connected to other stuff etc. PErsonally, I wouldn't want to risk it!
My dad has also been hit by lightning, FWIW.
Basically, the dude is unkillable! >:-D
(And I inherited his genes...)
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