China Socket

Which? believes plug socket covers designed to stop children putting their fingers in electrical wall sockets may be a waste of money.

Which? tests showed that, in a worst case scenario, some could actually increase the risk of your child being electrocuted.

Plug covers are designed to prevent children from accessing a plug socket’s live terminals. But all British plug sockets, by law, have safety shutters that do this. And in tough Which? safety tests on 12 brands of socket covers found that some may be too easy to remove, even for a child.

Which? has reviewed hundred of child and baby accessories, including Which? Best Buy child car seats, pushchairs baby monitors and stair gates. You can also read our online guides to baby equipment and baby safety equipment.

Child safety plug covers
If a young child removes a cover, it’s possible that they could replace it upside down, opening the socket’s safety shutters and allowing access to the live terminals.

If you do want to use covers, choose one of the four brands that our tests revealed were extremely difficult to remove. The others could be removed with varying degrees of difficulty. Our child safety expert found the Upsy Daisy covers easiest to remove – they were quite loose with easy-to-grip edges.

The Mothercare and Safe Tots covers were very difficult to remove – but our expert thought a child could prise them off by poking something under the holes in the design.

Plug covers that were difficult to remove in Which? tests
Clippasafe (four for £1.99),
Boots (four for £2.94),
John Lewis (six for £2.50),
Red/Grey Electrical (four for £1.99)
Plug covers that were easier to remove in Which? tests
Emmay Care
Lindham
Maxim Electrical
Mercury Telecraft
Mothercare
Power Plus
Safe Tots
Tulka
Upsy Daisy
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andar Seri Begawan – Most building and house fires were caused by electrical faults, including overheating and overloading of electrical sockets, short circuits and loose connections.

At a press conference at the department’s headquarters yesterday, Head of Investigation and Enforcement Pg Hj Roslan Pg Hj Halus cited statistics whereby, out of the 383 incidents reported to the department from 2005 to 2008, 151 were caused by electrical faults.

Pg Hj Roslan explained that there have been two fires this fasting month, one being a house fire caused by faulty electric, incurring a loss of $107,000.

He advised the public that buildings and houses older than 10 and 15 years respectively should have their wiring systems checked to ensure the safety of workers and occupants.

Pg Hj Roslan stated that people should be careful with electrical appliances that are frequently used by ensuring that it is switched off when not in use to avoid an electrical short circuit and overload.

Head of Enforcement and Safety Unit at the Electrical Department Hj Ismail Hj Mohd Daud also spoke at the briefing, confirming that the overloading of electrical sockets was the cause of many fires.

He explained that people should avoid overloading plug sockets as this would cause the wires to overheat.

He added that wiring should be done by a skilled person who is registered with the department.

Hj Ismail advised the public to carry out tests on the electrical switchboards to ensure that the safety tripping mechanism is functioning.

He further explained that 30 per cent of incidents of electrical disturbances were caused by a tripped switch and the public should be aware of this and learn the proper method to restore power to their property.

Over $10.5 million was lost due to fires in the country last year.

Most Americans take electric current for granted and assume power will always be there when they fire up a TV, computer, or vacuum cleaner.

However, with more energy intensive products hitting the market, little do most know the strain on our electric grid will only intensify in coming years.

The annual cost of power outages is approximately $80 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Now add the risk of terrorists that want to cripple the U.S. economy.

There is now a product in development that may help end those problems: A superconductor cable that would link electrical substations and allow the sharing of excess capacity during emergencies, according to researchers at the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

This idea is not in play right now, so the flexibility strengthens the resiliency of the overall grid, reducing the likelihood of major power failures. The superconducting cable is the “inherently fault current limiting (IFCL)” superconductor cable.

Engineers are putting decades of existing electrical research into practice. S&T managers and scientists just wrapped up a test of the new superconducting technology at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

These cables can deliver more power, prevent power failures, and take up less physical space. A single superconductor cable can replace 12 copper cable bundles, freeing up more space underground for other utility needs such as water, natural gas, or phone service. The technology is capable of carrying 10 times as much power as copper wires of the same size, while also being able to adapt automatically to power surges and disruptions from lightning strikes, heat waves, and traffic accidents, even sabotage.

“The IFCL superconducting cable being tested could well revolutionize power distribution to the country’s critical infrastructure,” said Dr. Roger McGinnis, director of the Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency at S&T. “Eventually, these technologies will help incorporate localized clean, green electricity generation into the power grid.”

As for the science, the cables work by transmitting electricity with near zero resistance at higher temperatures than usual. The cables conduct electricity at -320°F instead of -460°F for traditional superconductor cables.

Holding and conducting energy better than traditional copper means these cables take up a fraction of the space. Manhattan’s electrical workers may be able to eventually clear out the subterranean congestion beneath Wall Street that looks much the same today as it did a century ago.

Since the cables themselves better prevent extremely high currents from cascading through the system, they will help eliminate the power surges that can permanently damage electrical equipment, similar to a breaker switch in a home, McGinnis said. The cable switches off during a surge or failure, but automatically resets when conditions return to normal.

For some context, electrical substations take electricity delivered over transmission and distribution lines and lower the voltage so homes and businesses can use it. Even if power is lost to an individual substation, by creating multiple, redundant paths for the electric current, the cables allow quick power restoration to all the surrounding power loads. Ultimately, these cables may allow substations that companies had intentionally isolated from one another in the past, for fear of cascading failures, to now interconnect in order to share power and assets.

Researchers at security firm Inverse Path plan to demonstrate how standard power sockets (used in a home, for instance) can be used to eavesdrop on what is being typed onto a computer keyboard. They plan to make a presentation at the Black Hat Security conference taking place in Las Vegas from July 25-30 this year.

The researchers found that poor electrical shielding on some keyboard cables can result in data being leaked into power circuits. Analyzing such information allowed the researchers to see what was being typed on a keyboard.

So far, demonstrations of the attacks have worked at distances up to 15 meters, but with some refinement, the attacks could work over much longer distances.
Research Focused on PS/2 Connector Cables

Andrea Barisana and Daniele Bianco plan to show that information leaks in the most unexpected ways and can be retrieved. Their research was focused on the cables that are used to connect PS/2 keyboards to desktop PCs.

The attacks work because the six wires enclosed inside the PS/2 cable are typically close to each other and poorly shielded, meaning that the information traveling across the data wire leaks onto the earth/ground wire in the same cable when a key is pressed.

The researchers found that data travels along PS/2 cables one bit at a time and uses a clock speed that is far lower than any other PC component. Both qualities combined make it easier to pick out the voltage changes that are caused when the keys are pressed.
Blame the Ground Wire

The information leaks out onto the power circuit because the ground wire ultimately connects to the plug in the power socket.

One person died and as many as 20 others were injured on Wednesday when a ruptured power cable fell onto a local market in Russia’s Ingushetia region, causing several explosions.

A high-voltage power line hit a store and a nearby car, causing several explosions and starting a large fire in the central market in Ingushetia’s main city of Nazran, said a source in the region’s interior ministry.

He said at least one person had been killed.

“One of the power lines somehow became unhinged and fell on the roof of the market,” Ruslan, a 40-year-old shop owner in the market, told Reuters by telephone.

The RIA-Novosti news agency quoted local investigators as saying that more than 20 people had been injured.

It was not immediately clear why the power cable fell onto the market, though infrastructure is often in a bad state of repair in one of Russia’s poorest regions.

Officials made no immediate link between the incident and a simmering Islamist insurgency in Ingushetia, which has taken over from neighboring Chechnya as the main area of violence in Russia’s turbulent southern flank.

Blocktrab arrestors offer type 3 surge voltage protection for 230 V rated equipment. This universal arrestor has been designed to be directly fitted into junction boxes, installation sockets or into connection spaces for multiple socket and equipment outlets. Using the side straps, they can be fastened to flat surfaces; if the straps are not required they can be easily removed. Due to their small size these arrestors can also be fitted into 60 mm deep installation housings behind the plug sockets.

With direct plug technology the spring-cage terminals offer simple installation and a minimum amount of cabling for wire cross-sections of 2,5 mm². Two wires can be connected to the double terminals in a feed-through configuration.

Since the insulation is very effective the arrestors need not be disconnected during insulation tests. The Blocktrab arrestors comply with all pertinent VDE and IEC standards and are thus suitable for industrial applications.

This style of connector, produced by Italian brand Bticino, appeared in the 1960s and was intended as an alternative to the Europlug or type L connectors then in use. The socket is an almost rectangular receptacle, with one or more lateral key pins and indents to prevent inverting the plug (it is polarised), or connecting plugs  sockets with different ampere ratings. At least four models were produced: three single-phase general purpose connectors rated respectively 10 A, 16 A and 20 A; plus a three-phase industrial connector rated 10 A; all of them have different key-pin positioning so plugs and sockets cannot be mismatched. The socket is closed by a safety lid (bearing the word ‘’Magic’’ on it) which can be opened only with an even pressure on its surface, thus preventing the insertion of objects (except the plug itself) inside the socket. The contacts are blades positioned on both sides of the plug; the plug is energized only when it is inserted fully into the socket.

The obvious drawback of the system is that it is not compatible with europlugs. As household appliances were never sold fitted with these security plugs, once this system is adopted all standard plugs must be cut off and replaced with the appropriate security connector. However, the Magic security system had some success at first because its safety features appealed to customers; standard connectors of the day were considered not safe enough. The decline of the system occurred when safety lids similar to the Magic type were developed (VIMAR Sicury) and then applied to standard type L sockets by third brands and by Bticino itself.

In Italy, the system was never definitively abandoned and, though rarely seen today, is still marked as available in Bticino’s products catalogue.

In Chile, 10 [A] Magic connectors are commonly used for computer/laboratory power networks, as well as in those to be used with communications or data equipments, as a measure to standardize and improve reliability, due to its polarised nature, and the difficulty to be accidentally unplugged, compared to the type L plug, commonly used.

Sockets that take a variety of normally-incompatible plug types can be found in developing countries where electrical standards are either lacking or unenforced. These sockets may accept both 120 V and 240 V plugs, so there is no safeguard against devices being damaged by the wrong voltage. Sometimes these sockets have one or more earth holes to allow 3-pin plugs, but the earth contact may not actually be connected to earth and in any event will not necessarily mate with the plug’s earth contact, as in the case of Schuko or French plugs with female earth contacts. Great care must be taken to avoid incompatible voltage and earthing connections when using such outlets. Devices designed to adapt automatically to whatever voltage and frequency is supplied, and which don’t require earthing, are generally safe to use with these sockets.

A power cable is an assembly of two or more electrical conductors, usually held together with an overall sheath. The assembly is used for transmission of electrical power. Power cables may be installed as permanent wiring within buildings, buried in the ground, run overhead, or exposed. Flexible power cables are used for portable devices, mobile tools and machinery.

History

Early telegraph systems used the first forms of electrical cabling, transmitting small amounts of power. Gutta-percha insulation used on the first Submarine cables was unsuitable for building wiring use since it deteriorated rapidly when exposed to air.

The first power distribution system developed by Thomas Edison in 1882 in New York City used copper rods, wrapped in jute and placed in rigid pipes filled with a bituminous compound.[1] Although vulcanized rubber had been patented by Charles Goodyear in 1844, it was not applied to cable insulation until the 1880s, when it was used for lighting circuits.[2] Rubber-insulated cable was used for 11,000 volt circuits in 1897 installed for the Niagara Falls power project. Oil-impregnated paper-insulated high voltage cables were commercially practical by 1895. During World War II several varieties of synthetic rubber and polyethylene insulation were applied to cables.[3]