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Old 25th Aug 2019, 10:36 pm   #1
flyingtech55
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Default 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

Can any of you good folks tell me if 5A or 10A round pin double mains sockets still exist. Note, I deliberately haven't put this in the 'Wanted' section because I'm still having a 'think' about what I'm thinking about what I want to do.

Thanks in advance

Tim

PS: The current project is not compressor based!
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Old 25th Aug 2019, 10:48 pm   #2
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

I doubt that you will find a double round pin mains socket.
The single round pin sockets are still made in 5 amp and in 15 amp and you can of course fit two of these side by side in a dual mounting box.

The 10 amp ones were never common and are not manufactured anymore AFAIK.
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Old 25th Aug 2019, 11:40 pm   #3
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

According to my trusty copy of Odhams "Radio Television and Electrical Repairs", 1956 edition, the contemporary wiring regulations required individual 5A and 15A sockets to be wired to " ..a separate fuseway on a central fuseboard.". The only exception was that up to three 5A sockets could be daisy-chained to a single fuseway with a 15A fuse if 15A-rated cable were used throughout. There would be little demand for a 5A double socket that would need to be wired using 15A cable: a single socket plus a double or triple "Grelco" adaptor would be the economical solution.

AFAIK you could connect as many 2A sockets as you liked to a lighting circuit, but I have never seen a double 2A socket, other than in a photo once posted on this forum of a plate the size of a double socket, bearing one 13A socket and two 2A sockets connected to it via a fuse.
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Old 26th Aug 2019, 12:07 am   #4
Graham G3ZVT
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

Posted solely to show such things exist, and not to suggest they are compliant for UK use.
https://www.alibaba.com/countrysearc...et-double.html
https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...d4f68c02KqfFDg
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Old 26th Aug 2019, 9:22 am   #5
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

Yes, they are still used in South Africa and India amongst other places, and those are big new build markets.

When UK houses were being wired to BS546 before the 60s there were many fewer electrical appliances around and very few needed to be plugged in permanently, so most people just plugged things into a single socket as needed. Proliferating appliances did lead to the use of 'adaptor trees' despite stern warnings from public information films.
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Old 26th Aug 2019, 10:21 pm   #6
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

I have a old mem catalogue and it shows double5amp sockets, then in the small print for export only.
The nearest thing I can find is this socket from the early to mid 60s . It’s unbranded but the 2A sockets have there own fuse on the front .i can remember seeing them in a few upmarket homes.
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Old 27th Aug 2019, 9:08 am   #7
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

You can still get double round-pin 15A 3-pin socket-outlets - they take up a double-width box and are unswitched/unfused.

See https://www.mtxengineering.co.uk/pro...Socket%20Boxes

Given that the MK socket-modules used are also available in 5A 3-pin (or at least they used to be...) many permutations are possible.
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Old 27th Aug 2019, 9:12 am   #8
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

15A BS546 connectors are used for professional stage lighting.
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Old 29th Aug 2019, 6:41 pm   #9
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

Yes I went on a backstage tour of the Millennium Centre theatre here recently and noticed that all the lighting that was stored on racks had round pin 15A plugs. The advantage for stage lighting is that they aren't fused, instead fuses or circuit breakers are elsewhere where they are more accessible.
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Old 29th Aug 2019, 10:07 pm   #10
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

CPC only have single round pin wall sockets, 2A & 5A un-switched and 5A & 15A switched.

David
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Old 29th Aug 2019, 11:02 pm   #11
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

Quote:
Originally Posted by bionicmerlin View Post
I have a old mem catalogue and it shows double5amp sockets, then in the small print for export only.
The nearest thing I can find is this socket from the early to mid 60s . It’s unbranded but the 2A sockets have there own fuse on the front .i can remember seeing them in a few upmarket homes.
That unbranded socket is also MEM. They also made a more modern version on a standard double face plate. Picture no.9 on link below.

http://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/British1.html
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Old 29th Aug 2019, 11:06 pm   #12
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

Also note the 4th terminal on that 13 and 2 2amp outlet. This is connected to the fuse and was for connecting to a similar size plate with 4 2a outlets on it.
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Old 30th Aug 2019, 11:11 am   #13
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

Thanks so much Winston! That's been bugging me for days! I've tried magnifying the photo to see what that 4th terminal was for.

I wondered if it was a functional/protective earth for the metal back-box, but realised such things weren't even thought of all those decades ago.
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Old 30th Aug 2019, 3:52 pm   #14
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

I have got the similar socket in my "junk" box and I am hoping to mount it on my next " old socket board" that I will be making for the vintage wireless and television museum, however the extra terminal is missing ( but you can see where it was meant to be ) and there is an extra plastic strip glued over that side of the rear hiding the writing , if anybody is interested , they are welcome to come and inspect it !
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Old 30th Aug 2019, 7:57 pm   #15
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Default Re: 5A or 10A round pin mains sockets

My old company Crabtree, for whom I used to be PR Officer in the 90s offer 2A and 5A shuttered sockets: https://www.electrium.co.uk/products...ub=AAF&level=3
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