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Yes, this is how every power strip looks inside. More or less.
Isn’t this how all power strips look inside? Am i missing something? They are usually a bunch of screwed brass stripes.
To me it looks like a lot of manual labor is needed to assemble one, which increases the chance of risks due to human error. There are way better socket designs out there. And for European use I wouldn’t pick any socket that’s not rated for the full 16A (this one seems to be 10A based on the photo in this thread)
I’ve seen a lot worse working safely.
A couple of concerns however.
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Those Chinese universal sockets work, but are quite dangerous. They lack a lot of the safety features of sockets like the BS1363 (UK type G socket). They also can fail in nasty ways, due to wear and tear. Loose contact being the nastiest.
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Those wires also look a bit thin. If the plug is properly fused on the other end, it should be fine. They don’t look rated for sustained large loads however. Even if they are fine initially, any damage e.g. a bit of furniture pinching them, could push them over the edge. A hotspot can easily become a melty cable, which is a fire risk.
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Internally, it looks safe, but not amazing. Solder joints aren’t the best option, but they aren’t subject to motion either, so should hold up fine. There’s a bit of a lack of isolation, but again, it’s fine so long as it’s not damaged internally.
In conclusion, I have a hard veto No on the Chinese universal sockets. Other than that it looks acceptable for light loads. So long as it’s not treated like it will withstand anything and keep working safely.
For reference, I’m UK based. Our plugs are some of the safest in the world, at the cost of being big and bulky.
Why use wire for sustained large loads, it’s a power bar with a fuse. Solder joints don’t arc or get loose.
Solder joints are use case dependent. If done badly they can become a weak point that can fail. Either from heat, or from mechanical stress.
Ideally, you want a crimp connector, or a proper terminal. However, in this context, I would not have an issue with it. You can also see it’s been done well on this version.
As for the wire, I was referring to the incoming cable. Power strips should be designed for the worst case scenario. In the UK, that would be a sustained 13A 240VAC load. The wire cores look a little under spec for that load. There might be a fused plug upstream, that de-rates it to a safe load. We can’t tell from the photo.
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Just think about how you’d feel if your house burned down. It’s not worth it. Power strips made to safety standards are not expensive.
I would throw this in the bin, but first I would cut the cable so that nobody else tries to use it.
Nope not at all. Both the live and neutral already have signs of heat damage on the insulation next to the soldered joints.
It’s possible that happened during soldering but the earth looks fine.
It’s actually the earth that would worry me; the solder looks like it wasn’t properly fluxed; dull and with black soot where the solder meets the brass earth rail. There is also no mechanical interlock like a crimp to serve as a backup.
The live and neutral aren’t good quality but in theory should fail safe if the earth or the circuits protection are in working order.
The power bars with that little insulation assumes the bars will never move and neither wont the cables and neither will there be more humidity than normal and never more power (watts) than normal etc. Looks like you wouldn’t want to look at that thing wrong.
Edit: soldered connections on high voltage is a big no no. Wouldn’t be legal in Europe. Needs to be clamped or screwed.
Not an electrician per se, but an electrical engineer of sorts. ;)
Why is soldering on high voltage a big no no? Almost any machine on high (230v) has a PCB with high voltage soldered parts. Whats your reasoning?
Soldering wires, specifically. Wires are flexible, and solder joints are not. If the joint tries to flex anyway, it can crack. If it cracks then it no longer conducts so well, and instead generates heat. That’s both wasteful, and a fire hazard.
When attaching wires to things which needs to be robust and reliable, you generally see crimp connections of one kind or another, which are much less susceptible to damage because of wiggling around.
On a PCB is another matter, because the board is already rigid and unbending so using a rigid joint is fine
Its not my reasoning, its the VDE’s which makes the rules for most of the EU standards. The risk does not come from the high voltage but how much current/power is flowing through there. Cables with too much power for the cable square will heat up the cable and the solder will melt. Especially in home installation scenarios this is a problem AFAIK.
Isn’t VDE a national organisation?
Heat.
I don’t know them or their track record in how truthful they’ve been in the past so impossible to say.
That’s the way they are made… and circuits are wired.
I think a US power strip would have more beefy copper connecting everything together but we operate at 120V so have to carry more current than you do.
The important thing to keep in mind is what Amperage the power strip is rated for and not exceed that
Well, not now that you’ve broken it apart. Why did you do this and why are you asking? Are you investing in this power strip company?
But really, what is your use scenario? What is the rating on the unit?
Probably because I’m paranoid when it come to electricity but this is what on the back
if the power strip is upside down you absolutely should not trust it, the electricity will be reversed and might fall out.
You can use them upside down, just make sure to also turn it back to front and left to right so the polarity of all three phases are reversed.
or you just put a bucket under and empty it from time to time in your electric car tank
i mix it into my cereal for a nice boost in the morning
I’ve spotted an alarming problem with this power strip. It’s been manufactured upside down! With such low production standards, I don’t know if I’d trust it.
If I’d never seen inside it, it probably wouldn’t bother me. Now I have, I’d probably snip that end off and rewire it to a rewirable socket bought from Screwfix or Toolstation or whatever.
You’ll often find in plugs or sockets that aren’t designed to be opened and rewired, that they’re an absolute no-standards shitshow on the inside - but they generally last and work fine. We hold human-rewirable ones to a much higher standard.
That looks like a BS 1363 power strip? It seems fine to me: I see a circuit breaker, an MOV, and each socket is switched on the live (brown, in IEC color convention) wire.
That’s not a UK plug socket. It looks like one of those Chinese “anything plugs”. They are fine the first few times, but can get dangerous over time. They also lack a lot of the safety features the BS1363 specs require.
Tbh it’s just a random no name Chinese power strip branded itself as “SATA”, that’s why I’m very skeptical about it
They labeled it SATA when it’s clearly NVMe: not very much electricity
