My new voltage probe has arrived

RE: My new voltage probe has arrived

neilk — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 20:55:54 GMT

Hi Donald - thanks for a fascinating blog on a topic I no little about and usually avoid - my background and expertise is definitely low voltage and software, so your blog was an eye opener for me.

Thanks again for sharing

Neil

RE: My new voltage probe has arrived

mcb1 — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 12:03:17 GMT

inserted into the earth socket of a BS1363 outlet to lower the safety shutters on the live and neutral sockets

Here down under the neutral contains the shutter mechanism so that class II double insulated plugs without an earth pin work. [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-df9bf2a7-b0e3-4b29-b65e-f623e76e340e/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]

where a child may see this being done and encourage them to poke other items into the socket

Sockets with the shutter have a small indent/hollow but that seems to escape many people ... including the home child minding service which insisted on having those stupid plastic plugs inserted to stop children poking things into the socket.

IMO they were actually making it worse as it was not a very rigid item and could easily be shoved into the neutral only which then exposed the live socket.

Sadly while they all talk about shuttered sockets, getting information to identify what has and what hasn't seems an impossible task [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-df9bf2a7-b0e3-4b29-b65e-f623e76e340e/contentimage_5F00_2.png:16:16]

[mention:6e474abc33b64a82aa78c9813503c962:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05]

It's nice to see someone else is as concerned about electrical safety as we've been showing here.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/trust-safety/2012/11/26/sdoc-electrical-goods-requirements/

I do note that Trademe (think ebay) has this which turned up in a search

https://www.trademe.co.nz/trust-safety/2013/7/1/plugs-must-have-insulation-on-pins/

NZ has made things difficult by having regulations that state "you must meet ..." and then referring to an AS/NZ standard that requires purchasing.

Austalian manufacturer Jackson put this expanation.

https://www.ji.com.au/insulatedlivepins/

I've made comment about cheap chargers Cheap USB Chargers , and it would seem that our authorities are letting illegal goods into NZ.

(.... mental note to pay attention to retailers selling these illegal devices and report them ....)

I've reported one Trademe listing for non compliance and it was a charger like the one above ...

Cheers

Mark

RE: My new voltage probe has arrived

mcb1 — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:31:04 GMT

Nice writeup.

I've added one to my shopping list, as the meters are fine .. but the added phase rotation is very handy.

It seems time for the MCB lockouts to be standarised.

There are now an integral part of safe working practices yet you need so many different versions that an average electrician is likely to skip the step when faced with one he doesn't have.

Cheers

Mark

RE: My new voltage probe has arrived

jw0752 — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 22:43:00 GMT

Hi Donald,

That was an awesome presentation. I felt like I was reading a high quality road test. It is always fun to learn from an expert in a field. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us.

John

RE: My new voltage probe has arrived

three-phase — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 20:47:28 GMT

Edited today to add in videos that I eventually managed to upload.

Kind regards