The MK Safety plug

[Alucidnation]

Riley Blue said:

Alucidnation said:

The earth is supposed to be longer than the L&N.

For what reason, I can't see a practial or safety reason for that requirement.

If either of the others or both get disconnected or pulled out with the plug still in place, the appliance will still be earthed.

There is the safety reason.

[bristolracer]

V8A*ndy said:

Always used round pin for the dimmer racks on the lighting rigs. Stops idiots plugging other stuff in.

5 amp round pins are back in vogue for lighting these days

A spark i know was showing me a lead one of his customers had made up consisting of a 5amp 3 pin round plug - some flex- and a 13amp socket on the other end.He had called the sparkie out as his lights kept tripping!

[Yabu]

Alucidnation said:

Riley Blue said:

Alucidnation said:

The earth is supposed to be longer than the L&N.

For what reason, I can't see a practial or safety reason for that requirement.

If either of the others or both get disconnected or pulled out with the plug still in place, the appliance will still be earthed.

There is the safety reason.

This, but it's actually designed so that if the cord grip fails then the live gets pulled out first as it should be the shortest cable, then the neutral and finally the earth, this is done with the plug as it is going to be plugged in and out, which may result in pulling of the cable.

[TerryThomas]

OP, it seems your life revolves around plugs and Diane Abbott.

Say it isn't so!!

[griffgrog]

I absolutley loath the UK 13A plug. They're huge and are responsable for no end of damage in laptop bags etc. I wish we had the euro stuff over here. So much smaller and more compact.

[Murph7355]

griffgrog said:

I absolutley loath the UK 13A plug. They're huge and are responsable for no end of damage in laptop bags etc. I wish we had the euro stuff over here. So much smaller and more compact.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LINDY-Folding-Plug-Mains-Power/dp/B00A8MFPMS

http://www.themu.co.uk/pages/mu-classic

http://www.slimplug.com/

?

[davepoth]

griffgrog said:

I absolutley loath the UK 13A plug. They're huge and are responsable for no end of damage in laptop bags etc. I wish we had the euro stuff over here. So much smaller and more compact.

Euro plugs are awful. US plugs are a death trap. UK plugs are to my mind the best in the world.

[anonymous-user]

Only a few more sleeps until my bundle of plugs arrives !

[mygoldfishbowl]

Yabu said:

Alucidnation said:

Riley Blue said:

Alucidnation said:

The earth is supposed to be longer than the L&N.

For what reason, I can't see a practial or safety reason for that requirement.

If either of the others or both get disconnected or pulled out with the plug still in place, the appliance will still be earthed.

There is the safety reason.

This, but it's actually designed so that if the cord grip fails then the live gets pulled out first as it should be the shortest cable, then the neutral and finally the earth, this is done with the plug as it is going to be plugged in and out, which may result in pulling of the cable.

But if there's no slack, or the same amount of slack, between points A & B on all three wires it surely doesn't make any difference how long the wires are because they will all pull out at exactly the same time.

[Morningside]

mygoldfishbowl said:

Yabu said:

Alucidnation said:

Riley Blue said:

Alucidnation said:

The earth is supposed to be longer than the L&N.

For what reason, I can't see a practial or safety reason for that requirement.

If either of the others or both get disconnected or pulled out with the plug still in place, the appliance will still be earthed.

There is the safety reason.

This, but it's actually designed so that if the cord grip fails then the live gets pulled out first as it should be the shortest cable, then the neutral and finally the earth, this is done with the plug as it is going to be plugged in and out, which may result in pulling of the cable.

But if there's no slack, or the same amount of slack, between points A & B it surely doesn't make any difference how long the wires are they will all pull out at exactly the same time.

Also as mentioned before the E pin is longer to open the shutters for the L&N pins.

[thebraketester]

They are referring to the internal wiring not the external pin length.

Here's a question for you. When wiring up a plug, do you guys remove the pins when connecting the wires and then replace them? Or do you leave the pins in the socket?

Riveting stuff.....

[anonymous-user]

thebraketester said:

They are referring to the internal wiring not the external pin length.

Here's a question for you. When wiring up a plug, do you guys remove the pins when connecting the wires and then replace them? Or do you leave the pins in the socket?

Riveting stuff.....

Very good question. I can see you are being a little humorous by the question and then the comment Rivetting stuff.
Well as you know the pins are not removeable in the MK safety plug they are secured down (riveted in) you might say so it's not possible to remove them when wiring up the MK Safety Plug. This is not the case with other plugs as many do indeed allow the pins to be removed.
Personally I leave the pins in on other brands I do tend to unscrew the cord grip completely on one side and near complete on the other and then sort of lift it up and turn it at right angles to its normal position. Then once the important pin terminal connections have been made I rotate it back and screw it down. I also make sure that the earth terminal is screwed down even when it's not required.

[Andehh]

davepoth said:

griffgrog said:

I absolutley loath the UK 13A plug. They're huge and are responsable for no end of damage in laptop bags etc. I wish we had the euro stuff over here. So much smaller and more compact.

Euro plugs are awful. US plugs are a death trap. UK plugs are to my mind the best in the world.

So very true. I gave myself a nasty shock when I was young with a US plug. The two prongs were slightly too far apart to go int he socket, so at 10 years old I decided to push one of the pins in whilst inserting it into the socket. Even 2 decades later I still remember how much that hurt.

[curlyks2]

Tend to prefer the rubber impact resistant ones myself...

[yeager2004]

Is there a better make to use then than MK? Up until now, MK is brand I usually buy for sockets and switches

[WinstonWolf]

Morningside said:

mygoldfishbowl said:

Yabu said:

Alucidnation said:

Riley Blue said:

Alucidnation said:

The earth is supposed to be longer than the L&N.

For what reason, I can't see a practial or safety reason for that requirement.

If either of the others or both get disconnected or pulled out with the plug still in place, the appliance will still be earthed.

There is the safety reason.

This, but it's actually designed so that if the cord grip fails then the live gets pulled out first as it should be the shortest cable, then the neutral and finally the earth, this is done with the plug as it is going to be plugged in and out, which may result in pulling of the cable.

But if there's no slack, or the same amount of slack, between points A & B it surely doesn't make any difference how long the wires are they will all pull out at exactly the same time.

Also as mentioned before the E pin is longer to open the shutters for the L&N pins.

When you wire a plug correctly all three wires are different lengths after the cord grip. If there's enough force on the outer sheath to pull it from the pins and leave the plug in the socket the live will fail first.

[ruggedscotty]

MK all the way....

read up on ring main circuits to find out why we use 13a plug tops...

the common way to distribute power in the home is by way of a 32A ring main. This is a loop of cable that leaved your consumer unit and returns back to the consumer unit after threading its way round the house to all the power points. Its generally wired in 2.5mm cable. And as the cable leaves and returns back to the consumer unit the effective cable is 5.0mm the circuit is protected by a 32A circuit breaker.

this means that every device that plugs into the socket is connected to the supply through a 32A breaker, this wouldnt be safe so plugs are fitted with fuses, 3A 5A 10A or 13A depending on what you are connecting to the plug, a 3kw kettle down to a radio alarm clock. The right fuse being selected to protect the device and its connection cable.

So there you go. different plug sockets can be used when there is a need to seperate the wiring but still allow easy connection disconnection. Items like lights may be connected into the lighting circuit so that the wall light switch turns on and off a light. You may have other items of equipment say computer equipment or medical appliances that require a special supply so they are fitted with a plug socket that is different to the normal 13A plug top. These items may have back up or other special requirements that require to be seperated from the normal mains.

[Super Slo Mo]

WinstonWolf said:

Morningside said:

mygoldfishbowl said:

Yabu said:

Alucidnation said:

Riley Blue said:

Alucidnation said:

The earth is supposed to be longer than the L&N.

For what reason, I can't see a practial or safety reason for that requirement.

If either of the others or both get disconnected or pulled out with the plug still in place, the appliance will still be earthed.

There is the safety reason.

This, but it's actually designed so that if the cord grip fails then the live gets pulled out first as it should be the shortest cable, then the neutral and finally the earth, this is done with the plug as it is going to be plugged in and out, which may result in pulling of the cable.

But if there's no slack, or the same amount of slack, between points A & B it surely doesn't make any difference how long the wires are they will all pull out at exactly the same time.

Also as mentioned before the E pin is longer to open the shutters for the L&N pins.

When you wire a plug correctly all three wires are different lengths after the cord grip. If there's enough force on the outer sheath to pull it from the pins and leave the plug in the socket the live will fail first.

This ^^^

To add to that, the greatest amount of slack should be in the Earth cable and the least slack in the live, so that if the cable does get pulled, it's the live that disconnects first.

[Smiler.]

WinstonWolf said:

When you wire a plug correctly all three wires are different lengths after the cord grip. If there's enough force on the outer sheath to pull it from the pins and leave the plug in the socket the live will fail first.

If the strain relief provided by the cord grip is compliant with the requirements of the BS or EN (IEC) standard with which it complies, then the plug will be ripped from the socket before the strain relief gives way - assuming that it has been fitted in the correct manner by a suitably qualified person.

[WinstonWolf]

Smiler. said:

WinstonWolf said:

When you wire a plug correctly all three wires are different lengths after the cord grip. If there's enough force on the outer sheath to pull it from the pins and leave the plug in the socket the live will fail first.

If the strain relief provided by the cord grip is compliant with the requirements of the BS or EN (IEC) standard with which it complies, then the plug will be ripped from the socket before the strain relief gives way - assuming that it has been fitted in the correct manner by a suitably qualified person.

Yup, that's the theory but having different length wires gives a secondary safety feature which has to be a good thing.