ceecrb1 Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 OK Chicos!Lesson 1. How not to wire a plug. ESPECIALLY if the plug is in a distro, 4 floors up ontop of a hotel, which requres the use of a keyed lift to gain access and you are the only tech on site, meaning 3 trips to repair, test, etc the same cable. This was found by me on a gig, a witch hunt ensued in the warehouse to find the culprit........... http://www.telefonica.net/web2/colinbone/plug.jpg (appologies but its a phone quality pic.. but you should get the idea!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamchristuffin Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 At least the clamp is on..........;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pritch Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Playing Devil's advocate here, but how often does the average person need to wire a plug these days? I'm really not sure when the last time was that I did it at home. Is it a skill that's commonly enough required to be taught in schools? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingatall666 Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 easy; bLue (left)bRown (right) ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Playing Devil's advocate here, but how often does the average person need to wire a plug these days? I'm really not sure when the last time was that I did it at home. Is it a skill that's commonly enough required to be taught in schools?I have to say that personally I say it is a skill one must have! I changed a plug just a couple of days ago. I think it should very much be taught in schools as it is very likely that it will come into use one day. It would be more useful than some of the rubbish they teach in schools these days! I was taught in year 8 at middle school how to wire a plug (12 or 13 at the time), and I was taught that you know green/yellow is the earth, the brown is live becusae thats the colour your pants will be if you touch it and then blue is neutral and fuse the live. Works for me! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Console Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Well, I am supposed to be the only person in my school allowed to wire a plug. That is because I am also the school's in-house PAT tester! (That will be my summer anyway - 3,000 or so items.) Now remind me chaps:- "Does the brown wire go to earth, and the green and yellow go to live, cos it's like a Daffodil, or wot?" - an actual quote of a non-school person learning how to wire a plug! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_cahonjes Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Bit past high school now but I was taught in my third year as part of standard grade physics. As for a 15A, wasn't till out of school, all I did was get one that was wired, open it up to look at and then copied the one that needed replaced. Simple. Its actually the best way to learn how plugs and sockets are put together IMHO. Carefully open a good one and just look at it then replicate. Practise makes perfect. Incidentally was given 15A and 16A wiring as one of the first lighting lessons at QMU. I only got 16A because I buzzed through the 15 so fast I would of been twddling my thumbs for 20 minutes waiting on the ones who hadn't done. The number of plugs that had been launched across the rooms as people neatlly strpped and screwed their wires and then went to put the cover on.....forgetting it has to be slid up the cable first. ;) (To be fair we all still do it sometimes) (edited for some error which double posted and then merged) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRW Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Now I finished Uni last year, and school nearly 4 years ago, but I read some of the posts in this thread and thought I'd reply anyway! Playing Devil's advocate here, but how often does the average person need to wire a plug these days? I'm really not sure when the last time was that I did it at home. Is it a skill that's commonly enough required to be taught in schools? Just as a spin off from this post- I suppose the average person does not need to change plugs that often at home now- Just looking around my living room, pretty much everything is either plugged in with a wall-wart transformer, or has a moulded plug or moulded IEC lead. (Perhaps ironically, everything except for the toaster and kettle) I have to say that personally I say it is a skill one must have! I changed a plug just a couple of days ago. I think it should very much be taught in schools as it is very likely that it will come into use one day. It would be more useful than some of the rubbish they teach in schools these days! I thoughroughly agree with this. In fact IIRC we did get shown how to wire a plug in Physics in year 8. However, given what I said above, maybe the ridiculously simple task of wiring a plug is becoming something of a lost art in todays protective and Health & Safety conscious culture. ("Ooh, we shouldn't show the kids how to change be changing plugs, that's dangerous!") Also, if any of you were to damage a cable at home with moulded plugs on, how many can say they wouldn't just throw it away and get a spare cable from the drawer, or just go and buy a new one?! Oh, and just in case you were wondering, despite the above, I can wire a plug by the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niall Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Everything that I have learnt that may be useful to to me electronics wise in the future hasn't been from the GCSE but rather from TBR and it's amazing collective knowledge. A couple of examples:Power FactorsRCD/MCB'sElectronics Regs (There has been NO reference to the dangers of working with electronics in my classes)Plus many other things that I never would have known apart from this Forum and my inquisitive mind. they're not "electronics" more "electrics". my take on electronics is the circuitry (logic gates, op amps, transistors, etc) inside a moving head that makes it work, electrics is power factors/etc. (I'm currently doing electronic and electrical engineering, so am dabling in both!) I can't remember who showed me how to do a plug (I probably taught myself while at primary school), but I do remember putting a light fitting into our garden hut aged 11/12 and it was still working fine until a few years ago! We were also taught how to wire a plug in Standard grade physics (ages 13 - 16ish), and it was one of the compulsory practicals that you had to pass or you didn't pass the course! I believe there was a discussion on this not that long ago somewhere else on the blue room, I'll go have a look... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artimis Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 I got it when I was about 7 or 8 dad have me a Fresnel and a new 5 amp striped the wires for me then said here's a screw driver fix it I did during the 1st act of the panto dad was tech directing. Still I got it mixed up so did it again and got it right, and I read in a post before about the pride I felt the same. I do suppose we could also have the same about XLR and DMX I know I can do either. potter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPlater1 Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 I've been able to wire plugs for yonks, and we got shown how to in school in year 10/11 Physics. By that time I had wired 13A, 5A and 15A plugs, so it wasn't that much hassle! Slightly OT, but it annoys me when people say a DMX connector! Sorry, I can honestly say I've never seen a DMX connector - 5 pin XLR, yes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pritch Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 easy; bLue (left)bRown (right) Well, yes. But there's the question of whether knowing that counts as being able to wire a plug. I've seen plenty of occasions where I've opened a plug to find a load of bare copper coming from the terminals, a loose cord grip or far too much wire inside so that the only way to get the plug together involves squashing the wire between the two halves of the plug. Knowing what colour wire to stick in which terminal is only half the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffa Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Heres a couple for you young 'uns ........... What would you do if faced with the following colour combination in a 3pin plug? RedBlackGreen And in a 5pin plug with these colours ? RedBlueYellowBlackGreen And no cheating Answers later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPlater1 Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Red - LiveBlack - NeutralGreen - Earth Red - L1Blue - L2Yellow - L3Black - NeutralGreen - Earth Was there meant to be a challenge in this? Did it without looking it up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffa Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 First answer correctSecond correct But the real challenge would have been if I'd asked for the Japanise/ American colour versions of both from 1985. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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