Australian Plugs

[uksparks]

Hi,

I had a nice little job of cutting 20 Australian plugs off appliances etc the other day and replacing with uk plugs...

It occurred to me though, none of them had fuses?..

I have no idea how it works down under and just wondered if someone would kindly tell me why the appliances are not fused.

 

[davesparks]

Ring final circuits and fused plugs are an entirely british thing and only appear in this country and some of those we used to own.

Everywhere else they use radials and the protection for the appliance flex is provided by the OCPD

Don't forget the plug fuse is only intended to protect the appliance flex as the 32A OCPD is too big for the purpose.

We do also use unfused plugs in the form of everthing other than the 13A plug. You don't find fuses in 10A IEC plugs, 16, 32, 63 or 125A plugs or 400A powerlock plugs

 

[wildgoose]

Multiple radial rcd protected socket circuits fed from 10 amp fuses - that's how they do it.

Our British 32amp ring circuits are not common outside the UK thankfully, but let's not open this thread up to a ring vs radial argument again!

 

[uksparks]

Ok so they just have loads of smaller radials then? Sounds easy to test.

 

[davesparks]

They have a lots of radials yes, the same as we did before the ring was invented

 

[overskilled]

Depends how many outlets said radial feeds and where they are...don't personally fancy crawling through the founds and coming across a redback /black widow /taipan best. ...
Weather would be a boon though

 

[overskilled]

Oops correction - nest not best

 

[Engineer54]

I think many of you here would be surprised how many countries use the BS 13A sockets and ring circuit....

 

[davesparks]

I think many of you here would be surprised how many countries use the BS 13A sockets and ring circuit....

Are there any that we didn't used to own ?

I know they can be found throughout the commonwealth, but that is just logical.

 

[overskilled]

Off the top of my head....several ME countries Inc Oman IIRC
Hong Kong
Malta
Eire
India did in some parts

 

[davesparks]

Malta, Hong Kong, India and Eire are hardly surprising!

 

[wildgoose]

Depends how many outlets said radial feeds and where they are...don't personally fancy crawling through the founds and coming across a redback /black widow /taipan best. ...
Weather would be a boon though

Here in Victoria it's the bloody tiger and brown snakes you look out for and those tiny nipping ants that get everywhere!!

 

[Engineer54]

Malta, Hong Kong, India and Eire are hardly surprising!

India and Pakistan NO, (well not that common anyway) they still use the old BS 15A and 5A outlets. But most of the Middle East especially in the Emirates, you'll find them in use on prestige buildings, Malaysia, Singapore, Cyprus, as well as a good few more. Also the two projects i've worked on here in China are using the BS 13A outlets and ring circuits. They also use the old BS15A outlets for bigger load appliances like AC's etc.... Though the most common outlet system over here is the Ozzi outlets and the multi system outlets, neither of which i rate very highly!!

 

[davesparks]

It is a pet hate of mine to hear people refer to BS546 connectors as being old or obsolete etc!
They are alive and well in the entertainment industry, all small dimmer circuits (2.4KW) in nearly every theatre is connected via 15A plugs and sockets.

I believe they are used in South Africa too but with a 16A rating

 

[Knobhead]

5A and 15A BS546 are great for dedicated supplies to fixed appliances. The 2A sockets ideal to be added to a lighting circuit.

They ain’t dead yet.

 

[Pete999]

Russia, that was me sorry Ivan

 

[Engineer54]

It is a pet hate of mine to hear people refer to BS546 connectors as being old or obsolete etc!
They are alive and well in the entertainment industry, all small dimmer circuits (2.4KW) in nearly every theatre is connected via 15A plugs and sockets.

I believe they are used in South Africa too but with a 16A rating

I didn't say obsolete, but they are an older design and are now basically relegated to specialised installations such as in theatres and the like in the UK.

Yes they are very popular still overseas, and are often used in 16A/20A dedicated circuits. One things for sure, they are more than capable of carrying a lot more than there 15A rating!! You only have to physically compare them to a flat pin US 20A plug top to see that... lol!!

 

[Marvo]

It is a pet hate of mine to hear people refer to BS546 connectors as being old or obsolete etc!
They are alive and well in the entertainment industry, all small dimmer circuits (2.4KW) in nearly every theatre is connected via 15A plugs and sockets.

I believe they are used in South Africa too but with a 16A rating

Yep, we class them as 16A plugs and they're standard for appliances. Final domestic/light commercial circuits are all 20A radials on 2.5 flat twin (or separate wires in tube) with 4 sockets per circuit. We generally use c curve ocpd's for socket circuits. I don't see a problem with having an unfused plug on a 20A circuit as long as trailing leads/appliance cords are of a decent CSA size and not above a meter or two in length.

 

[Guest55]

singapore also uses the exact same plug / socket / wiring systems as the UK

;-)