Inside a cheap powerstrip

[Tywais]

I have the below powerstrip in the kitchen where some appliances are plugged into. I needed the independent switches for each appliance for convenience and safety. Normally I only have one appliance running due to the power handling capacity of the strip but yesterday forgot and turned two on, one tabletop oven and an electric wok. French fries in the wok and hamburger in the oven.

Everything was fine and stepped out of the kitchen for a few minutes, came back expecting the fries to be complete only to find they are sitting in warm grease and getting soggy. Figured a fuse but not a fuse, 2nd figured wire disconnect internally as have experienced it before on these cheap units. Bad/cold solder joints heating up a little and they pop loose. Just for your interest/amusement in seeing the inside of one and how poor the construction is. Nearly all solder joints are cold joints which I have now resoldered correctly. Two wires popped loose.

[ThaidDown]

Looks pretty standard to me,

Excellent earth implementation on those 3 pin sockets.

[Tywais]

Excellent earth implementation on those 3 pin sockets.

Yep, no surprises there. I only use 2 pin non-grounded appliances in it.

[Crossy]

I thought we didn't permit horrific photos on Thavisa.

EDIT I also note that the incoming cable goes to the wrong end of the fuse holder, it should go to the tip so that it can't bite when the fuse is removed. Oh and that should be the black wire to the fuse holder.

[thaibeachlovers]

I thought we didn't permit horrific photos on Thavisa.

EDIT I also note that the incoming cable goes to the wrong end of the fuse holder, it should go to the tip so that it can't bite when the fuse is removed. Oh and that should be the black wire to the fuse holder.

I have lots of horrific photos of Thai "workmanship" including earth rods 1 foot long for an electric shower heater and an appliance cable cut directly into the mains wire ( before the consumer unit ).

[Tywais]

I thought we didn't permit horrific photos on Thavisa.

EDIT I also note that the incoming cable goes to the wrong end of the fuse holder, it should go to the tip so that it can't bite when the fuse is removed. Oh and that should be the black wire to the fuse holder.

I have lots of horrific photos of Thai "workmanship" including earth rods 1 foot long for an electric shower heater and an appliance cable cut directly into the mains wire ( before the consumer unit ).

I have some good ones also. One example is a high power tool or welder with the bare wires stuck into the wall socket. Guess that is their idea of a universal connection.

[longball53098]

As I look at this pic all the wires are only laying on each connection point and held there with a dob of cold solder. No real mechanical connection such as looping the wire through the provided holes in the metal connectors.

Seems to me that when they assemble the power strips they missed having a work station in the assembly line where the wires should all be mechanically connected to the various components to make a secure mechanical connection before solder is applied then the unit should be soldered properly. But that extra work would involve another 5 minutes time and cost.

But TIT as I have seen this on most if not all the El Cheapo power strips

[watcharacters]

I thought we didn't permit horrific photos on Thavisa.

EDIT I also note that the incoming cable goes to the wrong end of the fuse holder, it should go to the tip so that it can't bite when the fuse is removed. Oh and that should be the black wire to the fuse holder.

.

Why and how would it bite? Any electrical work is advised to be done with the power off. i.e. not energized.

True or not true?

[IMHO]

I thought we didn't permit horrific photos on Thavisa.

EDIT I also note that the incoming cable goes to the wrong end of the fuse holder, it should go to the tip so that it can't bite when the fuse is removed. Oh and that should be the black wire to the fuse holder.

.

Why and how would it bite? Any electrical work is advised to be done with the power off. i.e. not energized.

True or not true?

Well if it were my company making the power strips, and I was selling them into a market where I could be sued, I'd sure be connecting the active to the fuse tip rather than the collar

[Tywais]

I thought we didn't permit horrific photos on Thavisa.

EDIT I also note that the incoming cable goes to the wrong end of the fuse holder, it should go to the tip so that it can't bite when the fuse is removed. Oh and that should be the black wire to the fuse holder.

.

Why and how would it bite? Any electrical work is advised to be done with the power off. i.e. not energized.

True or not true?

I would say the majority of consumers would not be aware of that and figure the switch on the power switch is off it's ok to pull the fuse. I suspect many of us, including us professionals, have been bit pulling a fuse. I have, but once was enough to know not to do it again. The correct way is not just power off but unplugged as you never know how the circuit it is plugged into is wired such as switching neutral off rather than high side.

And one of the 1st things you learn when taught how to solder is to have a mechanically sound connection 1st then solder it properly. As you can see, all the switches have holes in them to allow daisy chaining a wire but apparantely that takes too much time or it would cost more than the 120 baht to sell, maybe 125 baht.

[ETatBKK]

been some incidents with these kinds of power strip, as usual I disassemble them and tried to fix, but . . . not a good idea, straight to the trash.

now, I buy regular wall sockets and boxes and DIP my own power strip. not compact in size, not looking good neither, yet I know WHAT IS IN IT :- )

[bankruatsteve]

Nice to see that you understand solder connections and can fix. BUT - there should be NO solder in this type of device. Solder must not be used with HV connections unless it is simply reinforcing a mechanical connection. Most codes will not allow.

[Pib]

I thought we didn't permit horrific photos on Thavisa.

EDIT I also note that the incoming cable goes to the wrong end of the fuse holder, it should go to the tip so that it can't bite when the fuse is removed. Oh and that should be the black wire to the fuse holder.

So true if the plug happens to be plugged in where the live wire just happens to be going to the tip of the fuse. But since two-prong plugs are generally unpolarized (i.e., plug in any way vs just one way) along with sockets in Thailand, just by the power strip still being plugged in, one of the switches still turned on, and some device still plugged in into the strip to complete the circuit then you could still get bit when removing the fuse. Best to unplug a power strip before removing the fuse (preaching to the choir leader I know).

A few weeks ago I had to replace one of the switches in a 3-wire, 5 switch/outlets power strip I have...its a 3 wire strip.. The strip said it had surge protection, so I knew when I opened it I would probably see one each small varistor/MOV either connected from Live to Neutral or Live to Ground like I've seen in many strips I've opened up. OK, I open it up and there is one each small 7mm varistor/MOV hooked into the circuit but the way it was wired-in it only protected the first outlet "if" that outlets switch was on...if that outlet switch was not on like you didn't have anything plugged into it then the other 4 outlets got no surge protection. This strip was just a wiring mess.

Before opening up the strip I had plans to take out whatever varistor/MOV was installed and then install 3 varistors/MOVs to provide surge protection in all 3 line modes of Live to Neutral, Live to Ground, and Neutral to Ground like I have done with all my other prower strips...I install 20mm varistors/MOV in order to handle more of a power surge. But for particular power strip the internal wiring was just a mess with no room or good way to add in the 3 varistors. I chucked that power strip. This was an ASC brand you see sold in all the Thai stores. I've got a whole house surge protector installed also, but I also want my power strips surge protected in all 3 line modes. Since I've done this surge protection a couple of years ago, I haven't had any electronic/electrical devices fail/smoke themselves...but before I got good surge protection installed I had around a half dozen electronic devices/power adapters zapped during thunderstorms over a 3 year period. Knock on wood.

Edited July 17, 2013 by Pib

[Skint]

Poorly constructed, your best paying extra in Thailand or have some brought over.

[harrry]

There is no uncertainty that current would not flow through those connections.

But then for Tywais...who I am sure is clued up on uncerainty:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/at-work/test-and-measurement/uncertainty-over-the-uncertainty-principle