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And Now Something We All Use The Socket Outlets

And Now Something We All Use The Socket Outlets (photo By Mackdaddy2000 @ Flickr)

Construction & AmperageA socket outlet is a female socket connected to the power wiring in the building and will accept the male plugattached at the end of the flexible cord of an appliance such as a vacuum cleaner, electric fire or electronicequipment.

The general arrangement of socket outlets is similar to that of switches. There is a box to house the outlet, theoutlet itself and finally a front plate.

In the case of socket outlets the front plate is usually integral with the outlet. In Great Britain the majority ofsocket outlets intended for domestic or commercial use are BS 1363 sockets, and are designed to accept 13Aplugs. These plugs have three rectangular pins and the sockets have three corresponding rectangular slots to takethe pins.

Each plug also has a fuse inside it, so that each appliance has its own fuse at the feeding end of its flexible cable orcord. This protects the cable or cord, and the fusing arrangements of the building wiring need protect only thepermanent fixed wiring of the building.

European "schuko" 16 ampere-250 volt duplex outlet cee7 (eu1-16r),"shuttered contacts", 2 pole-3 wire grounding. white.

French 16 ampere-250 volt cee7/5 (fr1-16r) duplex outlet, panel mountor wall box mount, "shuttered contacts", 2 pole- 3 wire grounding.

However, there may be older installations still in existence and plugs and sockets for use with them are still beingmanufactured. The older fittings, all have round pins and sockets. They are rated at 2A, 5A and 15A . The 15Apattern is still used in the Republic of South Africa. The spacing of the pins and sockets are different for the differentratings.

This makes sure that a plug of one rating cannot be inserted, even wilfully, into a socket of a different rating. Plugsand sockets rated at 2 and 5A are available in both two and three-pin versions, but those of 15A-rating are madeonly with three pins.

The smallerrated sockets are useful in situations where switching of reading lamps is required.

The sockets are installed around the room in suitablelocations, and a wall switch at the doorway controls thelighting socket circuit. The reading lamps are then allturned on together.

Two of the three pins are for the line and neutral cables,and the third one is for a separate circuit protectiveconductor.

It should be noted that although a separate circuitprotective conductor was not always provided on manyolder installations, it is essential with all present-daymethods of wiring buildings.

Typical socket outlets are illustrated in Figure 1.5. It will beseen that they are available with and without switches.Unswitched sockets have the contacts permanentlyconnected to the wiring and are, therefore, permanentlylive. The appliance to be connected is turned on as soonas the plug is pushed into the socket, and is disconnectedwhen the plug is pulled out.

If, however, a switch is incorporated in the socket outlet,the switch must be turned on before the line contactbecomes connected to the supply. The switchmechanisms built into socket outlets for this purpose are ofthe same type as those used for lighting switches. It ispossible to leave a plug half in and half out of a socket sothat on older types of plug, parts of the bare pins are leftexposed.

If the socket is permanently live the exposed part of one of the pins is live and in this half-way position it could betouched by a small finger or a piece of metal. Newer types of plug have the rear end of the pins insulated so that theproblem with older types of plug top has been alleviated.

Also if an appliance connected to the plug is faulty and takes an excessive current arcing can occur as the plug ispushed in and out.

United kingdom, british 13 ampere-250 volt bs 1363 (uk1-13r ) duplex

outlet, shuttered contacts, 2 pole- 3 wire grounding.

South Africa sabs 164, india, u.k. bs 546, bs 546a, 16 ampere-250 volt(uk2-15r) panel mount or wall box mount outlet, shuttered contacts, 2

pole 3 wire grounding.

These hazards are avoided if the socket is not switched on until after the plug has been pushed in. Of course there isnothing to stop a householder switching the socket on firstand pushing the plug in afterwards, and in fact manypeople do this. The switched socket outlets in a house arethen left permanently switched on, so that the advantageof a switch is lost.

However, people will not learn to use equipmentproperly if they are not provided with it, and it mayperhaps be regretted that unswitched sockets aremade at all.

A further refinement to a socket outlet is the addition of aneon indicator light which shows when the socket isswitched on. This can be reassuring to mechanicallyminded people who find electricity difficult and feel happierif something visible happens when a switch is turned on.

It is also convenient for seeing at a glance whether it is thepower supply that has failed or the appliance connected tothe plug, which has developed a fault.

Like switches, socket outlets can be recessed into a wallwith the front flush with the face of the wall or they can bemounted completely on the surface. The socket outletsillustrated in Figure 1.5 are of both types.

How To Wire Wall Sockets (VIDEO)Cant see this video? Click here to watch it on Youtube.

Resource: Design of Electrical Services for Buildings Barrie Rigby (Get it from Amazon)

And Now Something We All Use The Socket OutletsConstruction & AmperageHow To Wire Wall Sockets (VIDEO)