To ZA-plug or not

[ians]

MCE do the onesto range ... the switches and sockets I installed were the MES range.

It turns out there is a problem with the 4X4 grid plates and they will be sorting the issue out and sending replacements once the mould has been modified.

What is the issue ... the 4x4 grid plate holes are just too small for the switches ... so if you fit a single lever light switch it works but doesnt switch as easy as the 4x2 grid plate switches ... throw in a 2 way switch that when it becomes a real problem.

I will be stripping the entire site and replacing with the schneider Iconic range ... lets hope schneider have a better quality product ... I can see why they stopped the S2000 range ... they didnt stand achancce against MES for price.

[ians]

Just to p$$ me right off ... the cable on my backup light breaks so I have to fit a new plug top ... imagine that I went out and bought a new plug ... it looks like a 2 pin plug ...but has 3 pins ... I fit the plug and realise it wont plug into the the 2 pin socket ... so off to the workshop ... cut the middle pin off with the angle grinder and imagine that it doesnt fit 1 socket outlet in my entire house

To fix this issue ... off to oline ... a strip of obo trunking fitted with 10 x 2 pin looking 3 pin socket outlets ... problem solved ... at least a 2 pin plug top fits into the 3 pin socket ...but not the other way around.

Has anyone seen an appliance with a 2 pin looking 3 pin plug top?

[GCE]

Has anyone seen an appliance with a 2 pin looking 3 pin plug top?

Yes - we were supplied with 10 extraction fan hoods for stoves with the new ZA plug about a year ago.

[ians]

Yesterday I went shopping ... and made a point of checking every single appliance ... power tool etc for sale. not even the Samasung dedicated store had a 3 pin SANS 164-2 type plug top.

The bad news ... not one appliance was fitted with a 3 pin SANS 164-2 plug ... yip not one.

more than 90 % of appliances were fitted with the same 15 amp 3 pin (type SANS 164-1)

In conclusion ... I will be attaching a note to all COC issued from today until they start selling SANS 164-2 plug tops fitted to appliaces.

The note will exclude the clause forcing us to fit SANS 164-2 socket outlets ... for the simple reason that there is not one appliance sold in any appliances stores fitted with a SANS 164-2 plug top ... and you will loose your waranty if you cut off that massive moulded 3 pin SANS 164-1 plug top.

As CGE indicated ... all extractor hoods are fitted with a 2 pin plug tops ... not a 3 pin plug tops ... it would be advisable to fit a 2 pin socket outlet.

Something else to be aware of .... common sense tells me that the reasoning behind a 2 pin socket not requiring a switched outlet ... in case of emergencey you can pull the cord and it will remove the plug top from the socket outlet ... which is not possible with a SANS 164-1 type plug top ...not impossible ...but would take a pull which could result in the cable coming out the plug top.

NOt using a switched socket outlet on a standard SANS 164-1 is another silly reg ... the reason ... it is not advisable to remove a plug top while the socket is under load ... common sense tells me that switching off a device or applicance prior to removing it from the socket outlet is good practice ... other wise we back to the same issue we had with crabtree.

Crabtree had a switching issue many years ago ... if a kettle was plugged into the socket and the switch was operated under load a blue flash would come out the side of the switch ... when we notified them of the problem ... they did nohting about it ... word spread about the dangerous plug ... slaes dropped ... clipsal launched the S2000 range ... sales boomed as people moved away form crabtree ...
crabtree addressed the problem by fitting a cover in the switch.

now the S2000 range has been discontinued because MES has a cheap crap replacement range which looks similar ... and we al know the cusotomers want the cheapest crap on the market ... its good for electricians ... we are certainly not complaining ... a R15 switch ... costs R 665 to replace.

[GCE]

The note will exclude the clause forcing us to fit SANS 164-2 socket outlets ... for the simple reason that there is not one appliance sold in any appliances stores fitted with a SANS 164-2 plug top ... and you will loose your waranty if you cut off that massive moulded 3 pin SANS 164-1 plug top.

Cutting the plug top off and fitting a new plug top does not cause the warranty to fall away and is covered under section 56 of the Consumer Protection Act.

Something else to be aware of .... common sense tells me that the reasoning behind a 2 pin socket not requiring a switched outlet ...

The perceived requirement of every socket outlet having a switch has not been written into the regulations for years , 15 odd years I would guess

Bear in mind that the regulations are the minimal requirements and a person may request extra safety precautions.

NOt using a switched socket outlet on a standard SANS 164-1 is another silly reg ... the reason ... it is not advisable to remove a plug top while the socket is under load ... common sense tells me that switching off a device or applicance prior to removing it from the socket outlet is good practice ... other wise we back to the same issue we had with crabtree.

All/most appliances have there own on and off switches , kettle , toaster etc jump to mind and yes I agree switch off the load before unplugging but it does not need a switch on the socket outlet to switch off the load.

[ians]

GCE thanks for the feedback ... I dont totally disagree with the reg.

I agree in some cases as noted on the weekend while having breakfast at wimpy ... having a 164-1/ 164-2 and an ushuko plug at each table is a good idea ... you can charge your device or for some ... plug in the laptop etc.

However making a rule that ever single plug should be fitted with a za ... not wise ... considering the fact hat 96% of the appliances in the 5 stores I visted had the standard 164-1 ... 3 % had 2 pin plug tops and 1% had ushuko ... maybe changing the reg to allow for at least one za plug in each room would make far more sense.

A good example is my kitchen ... I have decided to replace 1 double socket outlet on each wall with a combo 164-1/164/2 and an ushuko ... and the one in my charging cupboard with all 6 x 164-2 on one 4x4 grid plate.

It seems everyone elese agrees with the reg ... so as I mentioned ... I will make sure I put a note on each of my COC's with the reasoning behind my choice to fit 5 % of the electrical installtion with 164-2 plugs as per the reg.

I am also going to send the note to the AIA for our area and see what he thinks about my decision ... ultimately he will have to make the decision to take legal action if another contractor challenges my decision and what steps should be taken to fix the problem ... one of the reasons I keep a thick pile of complants and documentation of illegal installations just in case I need to bog him down and waste his time.

[Dave A]

Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Ultimately - there is a reason why the rest of the world has not fallen over themselves to implement this new standard; change of this nature is not trivial.
Work in progress and too early to tell how it will play out in the end.

However, expect extreme stubbornness on the part of Standard Setting Authorities for the foreseeable future. Sometimes one has to pick our battles.

[AlmostUnique]

The origin of the new South African plug is IEC 60906-1, which was created in 1986 and proposed, during the 1990s, as a replacement for all of the European grounded plug types, including CEE 7/4 (Schuko) the current British rectangular pin BS1363 type.

The problem was, while it's a nice idea and the plugs are neat and compact, it ultimately was seen as being a very expensive and disruptive solution in search of a problem that few people were having, as the vast majority of European countries either already use CEE 7/7 compatible grounded electrical sockets. Two outliers, Denmark are also in the process of migrating towards CEE 7/7 by adopting either 'Schuko' (CEE 7/3) in the case of Italy or the French/Belgian standard with a grounding pin CEE 7/5 (allowed in Denmark).

The present day European CEE 7 system works like this:

Sockets:

CEE 7/3 - 16 Amp 'Schuko' recessed socket, with side scraping earths - (Unpolarised) - Most Common type.
CEE 7/5 - 16 Amp 'French/Belgian' recessed socket, with pin earth - (Polarised) - Used in France, Belgium, Poland, Czechia and Slovakia.

Plugs:

CEE 7/7 - 16-amp grounded plug that fits both types of socket above, and has both earth pin receptacle on face of plug + scraping contacts - Standard on all modern grounded appliances. Used with Class I appliances requiring grounding and in many countries is the only re-wirable plug type sold, so you may find it wired with class II appliances, with a superfluous ground terminal.

CEE 7/16 - 2.5 amp non-grounded plug with springy pins that angle slightly inwards. It is only used on low powered appliances and also fits both of the sockets above. (It is also compatible with several now obsolete socket types, and non-CEE 7 systems used in Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, British Shaver Sockets and the modern South African system etc). - This is used with low power, class II (double insulated) appliances and devices like mobile phone chargers etc.

CEE 7/17 - 16 amp non-grounded plug, compatible with the two socket types above. This has cut outs that make it polarisable with the French/Belgian grounding pin, or may be symmetrical and non-polarised i.e. go in either way. (It is also compatible with several non CEE 7 systems: Denmark etc and obsolete non-grounded sockets). You'll often find this on hair dryers, vaccum cleaners and high power, class II (Double insulated) appliances.

Obsolete types:
CEE 7/1 - Non-Grounded sockets and CEE 7/2 non-grounded plugs. These existed in the days of Class 0 appliances and are banned in most EU countries in new installations.

Semi-compatible systems to national standards, nothing to do with CEE 7.
Italy - 10 amp sockets accept CEE 7/16.
Switzerland - 10 amp sockets accept CEE 7/16.
Denmark- 13 amp sockets dangerously accept all CEE 7 plug types, without connecting earth. This is an issue with Danish sockets, not CEE 7.

Additional safety features:

Recessed sockets (protect fingers) - required since the 1930s.
Shutters - increasingly required in most countries and mandatory in all countries using CEE 7/5 (French/Belgian) sockets.
Polarisation - implemented with CEE 7/5 but all European appliances are designed to be polarity agnostic, so it's largely irrelevant.
RCD protection - mandatory in all EU countries, beginning at various times from the mid 1970s onwards.
Grounding - mandatory use of grounded sockets is standard in most EU countries - start date varies from 1935 to 1990s.

---

Being phased out:
Italy CEI 23-50: 3 pin sockets/plugs of 10 and 16 amp variety - replacement alternative is Schuko (CEE 7/3) or dual-standard sockets.
Denmark AFSNIT 107-2-D1 - 13 amp, 3 pin sockets - replacement is CEE 7/5

Systems being retained:
BS1363 / IS401 - Current UK/Irish sockets and plugs used in UK, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta.
These are use rectangular pins and interlocking shutters, and are very much physically incompatible with all of CEE 7.
Due to use of ring-circuits which require individually fused plugs, this type is unlikely to be replaced.

Swiss SN 441011 - Swiss Sockets
These are not being replaced, but are fully compatible with CEE 7/16 (Europlug)

But as you can see CEE 7 is very much the de-facto standard in Europe and it's just being enhanced with shutters and so on. From a safety point of view it works extremely well and is highly unlikely to be changed anytime soon.

I would suspect the problem in South Africa was a sense that CEE 7/7 is dangerously semi-compatible with old British BS546 type sockets, without connecting the earth.

However, I think logically speaking it would have made more sense for South Africa to have adopted CEE 7/5 (French/Belgian) type modern sockets with shutters and polarisation. They would have brought South African appliances into line with continental Europe and provided all the same benefits, albeit with a slightly larger size plug than what has been adopted.

The problem with the South African new standards is, while it's IEC based, nobody else is using it. Brazil also adopted a odd off-shoot of it, which is being used without sheathed pins and has been uprated to 20amps and is used with both 230 and 127V.

The other alternative, if you'd been going for something totally incompatible for safety reasons, might have been BS1363 (Current UK system) although I would have thought perhaps if it were adopted, the ring circuit wiring philosophy might be best left in England. It works fine with radials.