Sparks Electrical News October 2019

CONTRACTORS’ CORNER

6

ERRATUM

FAQs: SANS 164-2 PLUGS AND SOCKET OUTLETS S ince the introduction of the new compact 3-pin plug system to the South African market, there have been questions that are frequently asked,. Here are some of them, with answers by SAFEhouse that are applicable and will be for the foreseeable future.: Q: Why was this standard introduced in South Africa? This standard was originally adopted from the In- ternational Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 1986 and was called 'The IEC world wide plug and socket-outlet system' which was a rather ambitious title, given that most countries had their own National Systems and really did not want to have to change to some internationally adopted one. However, South Africa persisted and introduced it as a National Standard in 1992. Local manufacturers did not take it up immediately and it took another five years to realise the significant benefits and a further 10 years to complete the work locally. The reason for its intro- duction and local support was 3-fold: 1. Reduced cost to manufacture.

I n the article on the new ELPA board as featured in the September issue of Sparks Electrical News Magazine,the photograph alongsidewas incorrectly captioned – the correct caption should have been: The new ELPA Board of Directors: (seated from left to right), Hano Oelofse, Tertius Oelofse, Helmut Kanwischer, Israel Melodi, Rhyno van der Westhuizen, Graeme Smart, Mike Visser, Gerhard Human, Karen Evert (minute taker) and Richard Evert. Elsewhere in the article, Richard Evert was listed as being ELPA chairman, whereas he is, in fact, the National Director.

Enquiries: www.elpasa.org.za

2. Increased safety for the consumer. 3. Compatibility with 2-pin Euro plugs.

Q: What are the main differences between the old plug and the new one? This is best described by the following pictures:

OLD PLUG

• Plug is bulky and over engineered for the power it can handle.

• Typically the brass pins weigh 70 g.

• There is no 2-pin plug in the SANS 164-1 Standard.

• This configuration has been with us for over 70 years and is found on both the rewireable and non-rewireable (moulded-on) versions.

• The socket-outlet has a ‘flat’ face allowing small fingers to touch the live and neutral pins during plug insertion. • Fitted with a safety shutter operated by the earth pin. • 2-Pin plugs can only be inserted via a plug-in adaptor.

SPARKS ELECTRICAL NEWS

OCTOBER 2019