New house - bugger all power points

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › New house - bugger all power points - overloading question

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Mad Scientist
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#1241093 17-Feb-2015 20:24

richms: And don't buy $3 house brand power strips. At least get the hpm ones.

oh dear ... mine are all warehouse & kmart ones

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#1241106 17-Feb-2015 20:57

joker97:
richms: And don't buy $3 house brand power strips. At least get the hpm ones.

oh dear ... mine are all warehouse & kmart ones

Bin them.

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Batman

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#1241109 17-Feb-2015 20:59

where do i get the HPM ones?

Jase2985

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#1241118 17-Feb-2015 21:08

DSE or any number of other electronic retailers

gzt

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#1241156 17-Feb-2015 22:13

Changing single to double is low cost and distributes the load a bit better.

Multiboxes I use for computer and av if needed because that equipment the way i use it rarely reaches it's own rated load.

Any device which is on most of the time, bad idea. Esp heaters.

Some of the trade multiboxes I've seen are not that impressive. In trade you have usually short duration loads like power saws, drills, compressors, on for a relatively short time then rest.

The home environment is tougher electrically imho because loads have potential to be continous.

richms

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#1241159 17-Feb-2015 22:26

The click and elto and the whatever they choose to put on them this week ones all have the same useless contact method, one day you will put a plug in it will be hard to go in and then it will crunch as part of it folds over, and then that pin is only contacting on one side of it. Then it will lose its springieness, and it will start to arc.

That is a bad thing. It kills switching power supplies, it gets hot and the plastic will deform so that it will move more and arc worse.

Richard rich.ms

tukapa1

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#1241160 17-Feb-2015 22:26

Thanks for all the replies!

I took some photos of the board and the plug seeing as how some of the discussion has gone over my head!

I don't know if this is any help?

Equinox IT

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richms

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#1241163 17-Feb-2015 22:32

The socket has been opened a few times from all the marks on the little plastic bung things. May have been for wallpapering, may have been a dodgey swap over done by someone at some stage.

Those sockets are not as bad as the ones that predated it, but I would still get them swapped for double's so you can run one powerstrip off each side of the double.

That is from the era when 1.5mm cable was able to be rated at 15 amps, so it may be the thin stuff. As you have fuses you cant just add more to the circuit even on the sly without doing the RCD, as fuses always had limits on the number of sockets.

Not sure on the quality of those circuit breakers, they are quite vintage.

I would get a sparky to have a look over it and see if they can swap out the fuses for breakers, and change and "relocate" your sockets to get you some more where you need them.

Richard rich.ms

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#1241167 17-Feb-2015 22:46

richms: That is from the era when 1.5mm cable was able to be rated at 15 amps, so it may be the thin stuff. As you have fuses you cant just add more to the circuit even on the sly without doing the RCD, as fuses always had limits on the number of sockets.

Not sure on the quality of those circuit breakers, they are quite vintage.

Complete with spider web seal :-D

Note powerpoints 2 × 20A breaker, 2 × 10A fuses 20A fuse

DarthKermit

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#1241219 18-Feb-2015 04:14

tukapa1:

I don't know if this is any help?

That's a PDL 200 series socket, from the 1980s.

The PDL 500 series with removable switch modules was introduced in 1989, so that outlet of yours is fairly old now.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

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#1241447 18-Feb-2015 11:10

DarthKermit:
tukapa1:

I don't know if this is any help?

That's a PDL 200 series socket, from the 1980s.

The PDL 500 series with removable switch modules was introduced in 1989, so that outlet of yours is fairly old now.

Has that (vertical) socket been installed horizontally, or has the image been rotated?
If it is horizontal, it should be easy to replace it with a 4-outlet switched socket (available in horizontal format only), provided that your total current draw is below 2400 watts.

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richms

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#1241618 18-Feb-2015 13:44

There is a vertical 4 way as well.

Richard rich.ms

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#1241661 18-Feb-2015 14:12

richms: There is a vertical 4 way as well.

I stand corrected

PDL 641 Vertical 4-way Switched Socket 10A

PDL 644 Horizontal 4-way Switched Socket 10A

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graemeh

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#1241816 18-Feb-2015 17:06

Sideface:
richms: There is a vertical 4 way as well.

I stand corrected

PDL 641 Vertical 4-way Switched Socket 10A

PDL 644 Horizontal 4-way Switched Socket 10A

Bunnings also have a 5 way Horizontal if OP is looking for horizontal.

tukapa1

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#1241949 18-Feb-2015 20:16

Sideface:
DarthKermit:
tukapa1:

I don't know if this is any help?

That's a PDL 200 series socket, from the 1980s.

The PDL 500 series with removable switch modules was introduced in 1989, so that outlet of yours is fairly old now.

Has that (vertical) socket been installed horizontally, or has the image been rotated?
If it is horizontal, it should be easy to replace it with a 4-outlet switched socket (available in horizontal format only), provided that your total current draw is below 2400 watts.

For some reason the photo uploaded rotated. It is installed vertically (rotate the pic 90 degrees clockwise).

I think I need to get a sparkie in!

Thanks everyone.

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