Lamp from the USA

[Steve]

Do they still sell lamps and stuff in America with "bellwire" (ie. single insulated) cords?

 

[TicklyT]

Do they still sell lamps and stuff in America with "bellwire" (ie. single insulated) cords?

Yep... I've got a shedload of US power leads with single insulation, US 2-pin plug one end and 'Figure of 8' connector at t'other. The insulation was rated at 220V, IIRC...
A project manager (who specified the wrong mains leads when he ordered the kit from the US) thought we could just cut the plugs off and fit UK 13-amp plugs on the single insulated leads. Although the 35Watt switch mode power supplies were rated for 250V, the inrush current easily pops a 3A fuse, so we would have been sticking 5A or 7A fuses on the end a bit of bellwire, with the insulation rated at 220V

Nice chunky conductors though...

 

[HDRW]

Do they still sell lamps and stuff in America with "bellwire" (ie. single insulated) cords?

Oh yes, it's the usual way of doing things here (I'm in New York at the moment). And the standard way of doing wiring is twist-together and put one of those screw-on caps ("acorns"?) over it.

Just had local sparkies replace the ceiling fan/light unit here in my girlfriend's dining room (I wasn't going to risk fiddling with 50-year-old aluminium wiring!). Three of them turned up, the boss (who when he'd decided how the job was to be done and told the others,retired to the van to make some phonecalls) while the junior electrician and the lad did the job. They used a bulb on two wires as a tester, and tested each wire-pair (including live-earth) with the lightswitch in both positions, then taped the switch in the off position to do the job. I offered to switch off at the breaker, but they refused! I presume GFCIs (their equivalent of our RCD) are rare enough in this area that testing live-earth with a bulb isn't usually a problem

The job took 45 minutes, and the charging rate was $184 /hr (about a hundred quid), which I suppose isn't bad for three people.

Cheers,

Howard

 

[JohnD]

... the charging rate was $184 /hr (about a hundred quid), which I suppose isn't bad for three people.

Except of course that the job could have been done by one person

 

[Steve]

AFAIK, GFCIs are rarely fitted in their breaker boards. They like their GFCI outlets.