UMC Gen2 Questions

[Mr Miserable]

My mother taught me how to wire a plug when I was a small boy.

Exactly!

and people complain about my factories in Asia which are educating children in a similar manner.

 

[rotor2k]

The UMC cable is too thick for my extension enclosure (see picture) to close. I could probably force it if I was desperate, but the UMC cable is basically a lot thicker than a standard extension cord would be.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

The long extension I made up some time ago for taking away on holiday uses a BG IP66 single gang outlet, with the cable connected via a cable gland into the top, with some cable ties internally for additional strain relief. Works fine, as the BG weatherproof outlets seem to both have more space internally and are more tolerant of a plug with a fat cable:

The extension lead is made up from a length of 2.5mm² HO7RN-F heavy duty outdoor flex, and has a 16 A commando on the end, plus a short adapter cable with a commando socket and an RCD protected 13 A plug. I've used it a few times when charging both my old Prius and the i3, and found it useful to have both connection options.

 

[NorfolkMustard]

On the wtf theme...

“Needs earthing? Oh ok. I have an earth rod”

 

[Adopado]

My mother taught me how to wire a plug when I was a small boy. Even now when I come to do one I recall her telling me "Red on the Right"...

The plugs in question would have been the round pin ones we had before BS1363 plugs were in common use.

How things have changed! The common use term to describe a handless twit was "he/she couldn't change a plug"! Nowadays it's common for people in their 20s to look on in horror if you cut off a plug and fit a new one ... "are you qualified to do that?" ... well, yes, I was first taught by my mother when I was about 9 years old and subsequently in secondary school as part of a physics class! I've certainly never had a plug that I've fitted cause an issue during professional PAT testing (though some of the guys that do the PAT tests leave something to be desired in the skills department).

 

[WannabeOwner]

I was first taught by my mother when I was about 9 years old and subsequently in secondary school as part of a physics class!

me too ... but I don't ever remember being told to correctly size the fuse, and I probably wouldn't have had the correct one to hand anyway, so quite likely than manually-wired plug would have wrong fuse ... which is presumably where moulded plugs came into being in the first place

 

[Adopado]

me too ... but I don't ever remember being told to correctly size the fuse, and I probably wouldn't have had the correct one to hand anyway, so quite likely than manually-wired plug would have wrong fuse ... which is presumably where moulded plugs came into being in the first place

Ah well, different mothers! When my mother died some years ago I inherited her little Tupperware box full of plug fuses, all ratings kept for re-use, to add to my own collection ... I won't claim that's typical behaviour!

 

[Glan gluaisne]

me too ... but I don't ever remember being told to correctly size the fuse, and I probably wouldn't have had the correct one to hand anyway, so quite likely than manually-wired plug would have wrong fuse ... which is presumably where moulded plugs came into being in the first place

When my mother taught me to wire a plug they didn't have fuses in!

Apart from the obvious points, like fitting the wires to the correct terminals, and installing a fuse appropriate to the appliance flex current rating (remembering that the fuse is primarily there to protect the flex), there are a couple of other things that get overlooked.

Main one is failing to tighten the cable grip on the external insulation sheath. The other is a point my mother taught me when I was small, which is to always ensure that the earth wire is slightly longer than the others. The idea is that if the cable does get physically strained, the last connection to be broken will be the earth. It's the same reasoning behind having the earth pin on a plug longer than the other two.

 

[Roy W.]

Ah well, different mothers! When my mother died some years ago I inherited her little Tupperware box full of plug fuses, all ratings kept for re-use, to add to my own collection ... I won't claim that's typical behaviour!

I’ve got my fuse collection in an old tobacco tin that my dad used. It’s a strange choice as neither me nor dad ever smoked! I imagine he cadged it off a workmate, as pipe smoking was quite popular at work back in his day.

When I was a lad I worked on Saturdays in a Dixon’s electrical shop. We charged 99p for a 13A plug then, which back in the 1970s was quite a lot. They used to say we made more money selling the plug than the radio or whatever the customer was buying

 

[rhumbliner]

Disclaimer: If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it.

I’m reminded of a computer software manual from the 80’s that contained this disclaimer:

“Do not attempt this if you don’t know what you’re doing and frankly, if you’re reading this manual, you don’t know what you’re doing”.