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Old 7th Apr 2012, 4:30 pm   #141
unabridged
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by AndiiT View Post
For a picture of a Fitall plug see thread #102 here
Sorry Andrew for such a "schoolboy" error!
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Old 18th Apr 2012, 9:28 pm   #142
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

Here are a few I acquired from a recent house clearance.
1. Clix 2 pin 5A cotter pin type
2. Bulgin "Fuse Plug" 2 pin 5A DP fused (see post #110)
3. Agro plug, 2 pins one offset tube, marked + and - (DC?), pins same diam as 5A plug but pitch slightly bigger.
4. 2 pin 6A 250V early European?
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Old 18th Apr 2012, 11:17 pm   #143
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

I used to have several of the Clix 2 pin cotter type. Fond memories.
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Old 19th Apr 2012, 12:29 am   #144
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Red face Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

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Originally Posted by MrElectronicman View Post
I used to have several of the Clix 2 pin cotter type. Fond memories.
Got a whole box of the little *******. Someone from here gave it to me. Why did I take it?
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Old 19th Apr 2012, 9:48 am   #145
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

Hi,just found these in Sisters shed .some look interesting.
1 x Henley Solon 25w
1 x British made ? Bayonet plug
1 x British made by Ashley Bayonet plug
1 x Rubber three pin round plug made by Walsall 5Amp
1 x 2 round pin 5Amp Clix two pin plug with Ediswan name on
2 x 2 round pin 5Amp Clix two pin plugs
1 x 2 round pin flat plug
1 x MK 5Amp
2 x Hubbell 5Amp 125v American/Austrailia me thinks
1 x S.K 16Amp 3pin round see through plug.may be south African.
2 x NOS 16Amp 250v round pin see through with a crocodile logo on the front.
1 x Large screw to bayonette adapter.
1 x Large rubber plug and socket.
Hope they are of interest.Gezza
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Old 21st Apr 2012, 5:44 am   #146
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

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Originally Posted by gezza123 View Post
2 x Hubbell 5Amp 125v American/Austrailia me thinks
Like I said in a previous post somewhere, those would be the better "industrial" quality standard USA plugs for 15 amps/125 volts.

Not the sort of stuff you'd see in most mom & pop hardware stores (unless they are in a commercial/industrial district).

It's the type of article you'd see at the end of an office cleaning lady's vacuum cleaner - we also have a bunch of them on extension cords for the workbenches at my job. They'd also be used at construction jobsites for homemade extension cords and power tools.

You're more apt to find them at electrical suppliers. They're expensive too. I think like 10-15 dollars a pop. The female versions are more expensive, as always.

A "regular" house-hold plug of that configuration would cost anywhere from $1 to $4, depending on brand, quality, where you get it, etc.

Quote:
1 x S.K 16Amp 3pin round see through plug.may be south African.
2 x NOS 16Amp 250v round pin see through with a crocodile logo on the front.
Those two white plugs would both be of South African provenance. They are both made by Snapper, one of the big brands of electrical bits down there.

I have one of the "Crocodile brand" Snapper plugs in my collection -- found it on something in a second hand store here in the USA. How it ended up here, I have no idea.

The more squat looking of the two is just simply branded as "The Plug", as you can see on the bar code label. That one I'm actually interested in.

On these plugs, the two halves of the shell snap together and separate by poking a flat screwdriver into that center slot and GENTLY twisting until the catch springs free. Don't know if that would be allowed under BSI standards.

Last edited by stephanie; 21st Apr 2012 at 5:50 am.
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Old 21st Apr 2012, 6:24 am   #147
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

Quote:
1 x S.K 16Amp 3pin round see through plug.may be south African.
This is the same fitting as the old British 15A 3 pin standard, to BS546. This is still widely used for stage lighting in the UK. It's also the standard plug in South Africa and used in Israel for heavier loads such as aircon units. That may not be a complete list. It's smaller 5A brother is still widely used in India.
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Old 21st Apr 2012, 7:09 am   #148
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

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Originally Posted by ppppenguin View Post
This is the same fitting as the old British 15A 3 pin standard, to BS546.... and used in Israel for heavier loads such as aircon units.
Also still found in Nigeria for the same purpose.
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Old 21st Apr 2012, 12:49 pm   #149
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Smile Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

Hi,
I've got one of those South African plugs. It's called a 'Lumex Snapper'. It's rated at 16amps and the cord grip is exactly the same as that used in the MK Safetyplug from the 80s. The cover hinges downwards.
Cheers, Pete
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Old 21st Apr 2012, 1:07 pm   #150
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Smile Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

Hi, it's me again.
You may be interested in these radio interference suppressors I've accumulated over the years. They were made by Belling-Lee, Aerialite & Dubilier plus an anonymous 2pin example. Most of them released smoke when I plugged them in which, I assumed, was from the ancient duff caps. This was long before I learned that caps could fail
The Belling-Lee one has two wander sockets marked "Earth" & "Set Earth" and had two plugs marked likewise. I may still have them somewhere. The Dubilier one is made of rubber.
Cheers, Pete
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Old 21st Apr 2012, 8:08 pm   #151
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

Thanks again Guy's for the information.
That all fits as my sister often went to (Johannesburg Africa), don't know why she would want these over here as her house was fully british standard three pin flat plugs, and nothing else electrical was brought into the house from Johannesburg, unless when relations came to visit they brought them on portable appliances and forgot them.

Here is a better picture of the two Snappers.
Croc's don't bite.Gezza
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Old 21st Apr 2012, 9:35 pm   #152
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

Quote:
plus an anonymous 2pin example.
Something tells me that is not a suppressor but a series resistor for operating a 110V shaver from 240V, although which shaver I cannot recall.

15A BS546 is becoming somewhat marginalised in theatre lighting but still there. There was a time when I expected 16A BS4343 / EN60309 to take over quickly and completely, however the rapid increase in the use of intelligent lighting fixtures that must not be run from a dimmer has encouraged the use of 16A for 'hard power', while 15A survives for dimmed circuits.

Although there are still UK brands of 15A plug and socket such as MK and Duraplug, these suppliers do not offer multiway adaptors. For a long time, 'Snapper' brand adaptors by Lumex have been imported from South Africa as a suitable alternative. Because these are made to South African (SABS) standard 164, they are rated at 16A although they are mechanically interchangeable with BS546 15A.

Due to long established usage, the generic term 'grelco' survives, from Grelco, the archetypal but long defunct British brand. So if you ask a theatre electrician for a 15A grelco, he will probably hand you a 16A Snapper. Lumex also make a 3-way Snapper which by extension is termed a 'trelco'. Snapper is also becoming genericised to mean adaptor since it was for a long time the only widely available brand. Obviously Lumex make other products such as plugs under the Snapper name but we don't find many here, due to the continued availability of Permaplug, Duraplug etc.

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Old 22nd Apr 2012, 5:39 pm   #153
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Smile Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

Hi,
I will have a closer look at the "Anonymous 2 pin example". The holes may well be ventilation.
A mate of mine was showing me some photos of his friends in Johannesburg, and I noticed 1960s brown MK 13amp BS1363 plugs in the background. So I assume South Africa uses those as well as the 16amp SABS164 plugs?
Cheers, Pete
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Old 13th Dec 2012, 12:27 pm   #154
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

Quote:
Originally Posted by AndiiT View Post
A recent purchase of mains plugs to add to my collection brought with it a strange round pinned 3 pin MK branded plug which at first sight appears to be a "standard" 5 amp one.
Good morning Andrew.

I have been searching high and low for this plug/socket type - the one in your second picture, and have joined this forum specially to reply to you. Thank you for posting it.

I remember as a child, round about 1960, moving into a new (old) house which had these sockets. I have never seen them since and have for a long time been trying to find out more about them, including their vintage.

I have a feeling that my dad, shortly after having moved in, had all the sockets changed for obvious reasons - we'd have had to buy lots of plugs to fit and they probably were no longer available.

Anyway, thanks for the post and pictures. Do you have any more information about these?
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Old 13th Dec 2012, 1:06 pm   #155
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

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Originally Posted by hannahs radios View Post
I can remember when I was in Brompton hospital in London in about 1979 the sockets for the portable X-ray machines looked like they were 30 amp round pin jobs.
I remember them on old Dean mobile X-ray machines (I used to be a radiographer). Unfortunately, being a long time ago, I'm not completely sure but I believe they were rated at 30A, or possibly even 60A. Great big things!

Then we got some new units that only needed a 13A supply, as they used large capacitors which charged up within a few seconds.
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Old 13th Dec 2012, 6:06 pm   #156
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

30A round pin plugs and sockets are still available- they're an odd industrial size.

See here:

http://www.lewden.com/sites/default/...ad%20range.pdf

around p84 onwards.

Looks like a 15A plug on steroids.
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Old 13th Dec 2012, 7:45 pm   #157
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

It states that those pictures are 1:1 scale, but the sockets I used were much bigger than the domestic 13A square pin or 15A round pin. Perhaps the diagrams are not all to the same scale, despite what it says.
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Old 14th Dec 2012, 5:43 pm   #158
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

I dont know if this one has appeared in this thread.

It is a 2 pin 5A, made by MK, and has two fuses, which, the cover states, can be between 1 and 5 amps.

(Why fuse both legs?)
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Old 14th Dec 2012, 6:15 pm   #159
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

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Originally Posted by Alan Stepney View Post
(Why fuse both legs?)
If, and only if, the appliance is wired between two phases of a three-phase supply.

Parts of the Continent used a three-phase supply of 127 volts (phase to earth), giving 220 volts phase-to-phase. Maybe 140 / 240 supplies were used in some rare industrial applications in the UK?

A fuse in the neutral would create a potential death trap if it failed (or should that be "succeeded" ?)
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Old 14th Dec 2012, 6:36 pm   #160
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Default Re: Another unusual plug and some other questions

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If, and only if, the appliance is wired between two phases of a three-phase supply.
Or supplies that have an undeterminate phase/neutral polarity, I would like at least one fuse to work in that case.
 
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