Advice on replacement wall socket please

[extracampine]

I replaced the standard double wall socket in my new build house with one of these:

http://www.furutech.com/2013/02/02/1858/

The old wall socket had some sort of plastic cover on the back, that presumably connected the terminals of the 2 sockets in the block. The new one has no such connections and has separate sockets.

The live/line and neutral wires were not an issue as there were 2 of each and I was able to wire 1 to each socket. There was however only 1 earth wire coming into the box. I wired this to one of the sockets, and connected the 2 earth terminals of the block with some further cable.

Please see the pictures below for how I did it. The connecting earth cable is not yet connected, though I did connect it after the photos.

What I would like to know is:

1. Did I do it right?

2. The cable connecting the 2 earth terminals is made up of a few thin strands of copper, whereas the earth coming in from the wall is made up of 2 thicker strands of copper. Is the cable with the thinner strands OK to connect the 2 earth terminals?

3. It is a plastic box that the faceplate screw into. Do I need to connect the earth of either side of the plug to the box in an way (i.e. to one of the screws)?

Thanks!

**  MODERATORS COMMENT **

Assuming this supplied from a standard  32amp ring circuit, then this method of removing a double socket outlet and fitting two single sockets is a significant danger to the integrity and safety of the whole circuit. There will now be incorrect overload protection to the whole circuit leaving risk of damage to the cables, overheating, or electrical fire in the event of a fault.

It shows a direct breach of wiring regulation 612.2.2 as the ring continuity has clearly not been checked following the alteration.

It fails to follow the guidance of numerous other wiring regulation or the standard circuit arrangements illustrated in Appendix 15 of BS7671 wiring regulations.

This wiring method could be considered as dangerous as removing a good set of tyres off a car and fitting tyres with little or no tread. The car will work, but in an emergency it will probably not stop you quick enough.

 

[Andy™]

thats about as wrong as you can get and is potentially dangerous. best check your smoke detectors are working.

both browns, both blues and both earths MUST be connected to each other as they would have been in the other socket you removed

best option would be go buy a better socket, not seen that design before but its lettuced

 

[ProDave]

You NEED to link the L an N' as well, otherwise you have broken the ring.

I have to concur, what a rubbish socket. How can they call it "high performance"?  It's two single unswitched sockets that you have to link together. Utter rubbish.

 

[Blue Duck]

Sorry.

That socket cant be designed to any UK standard as that socket layout breaks the circuit.

As above please put the old one back the way you found it.

Where did you get the socket alibaba.com?

 

[extracampine]

The socket is available from a number of audio retailers. Cost £170 so not a cheap socket. 

Why do the live and neutral of the 2 sockets need to be linked?

It works fine though - tested it this evening.

 

[Andy™]

you paid £170 for that piece of ****e?

have a read through this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_circuit

it does not work and is not safe, your testing is seriously flawed and this does not comply with wiring regulations

 

[roys]

Send that socket back and ask for a refund, that's incredible that something like that can be sold to be fitted in a "standard" house.

Just followed the link, well that is some description, very similar to someone else that use to sell grossly overpriced hifi tat.

 

[Blue Duck]

The socket is available from a number of audio retailers. Cost £170 so not a cheap socket. 

Why do the live and neutral of the 2 sockets need to be linked?

It works fine though - tested it this evening.

It is clearly designed for two radial circuits.

I read somewhere that having an amplifier on its own circuit made the sound quality bbetter, probably found it on http://www.russandrews.com

:C

 

[Lurch]

That is absolute rubbish. No idea what you are trying to achieve specifically, but whatever it is this product will not do it (unless you were trying to burn your house down).

Seriously, this is just a socket. The one you removed does EXACTLY the same job as the one you have attempted to fit.

I would imagine that you are not the only one that has managed to make his house wiring dangerous because of this crappy design.

The socket is available from a number of audio retailers. Cost £170 so not a cheap socket. 

The phrase a fool and his money springs to mind.

It works fine though

No it doesn't.

tested it this evening

No you didn't. Just plugging the wireless in does not constitute "testing it".

Take it out, put the original socket back on, send this piece of rubbish back to the con men that sold it to you.

 

[ProDave]

The socket is available from a number of audio retailers. Cost £170 so not a cheap socket. 

Why do the live and neutral of the 2 sockets need to be linked?

It works fine though - tested it this evening.

It might "work" as in electricity comes out of both sockets but it is NOT SAFE because the ring circuit is now broken. Try fitting two of them like that on the same circuit, then you will find it does not "work"

If you paid £170 for that, then the saying "a fool and his money......."

It looks like from that website you have been sold it on the missguided promise of using rare materials and supreme workmanship it will improve the audio quality of a hifi plugged into it. UTTER BALONEY.  There is Nothing wrong with a standard double socket, and you will not notice any difference.  Let me guess you also paid £100 or more for special fuses to put in the plugs?

I wish I had the nerve to charge ridiculous prices for tat to the gullible, but I am more honest than that.

 

[binky]

hmmm, to coin a phrase, you've been sold  a pup. Worse than that you now have a broken ring main. If you want to improve the stereo you would be better off with a plug in gadget that smooths the supply, but I doubt you would ever notice the difference in audio quality either way as decent gear has that sort of stuff built in.

I've not looked at audio gear for some years, but one thing that clearly hasn't changed is flogging gadgets that don't work for big money  :slap

 

[Murdoch]

That layout reminds me of the 1960's MK sockets .....

i wonder how a £170 socket improves anything? Other than the retailers profits

 

[extracampine]

 not the most positive of feedback so far!

Why do the live and neutral of the 2 sockets need to be connected?

 

[ProDave]

 not the most positive of feedback so far!

Why do the live and neutral of the 2 sockets need to be connected?

Read the Wickepedia link that Andy posted a few posts above, that will explain it. If you still don't understand then it's time to admit you don't have the understanding and to call an electrician. His fee for correcting it will be a LOT less than the £170 you have already spent.

 

[extracampine]

According to this site where this particular item is installed:

http://singaporehifi.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/furutech-fp-1363-uk-ac-outlet.html

Each outlet has an independent terminal - the terminals of each have to be jumpered together if the outlet only has one set of wires. I.e. if it has 2 sets of wires, then one goes to each terminal and they do not need to be jumpered.

If it works fine now with no issue - under what circumstances might it become a problem?

 

[Andy™]

did you even bother to read the link i posted? basically, the cables are in a circle. you have now broken that circle. yes, it might 'work' but you now have an imbalance of power going through the wiring in a way its not designed.but since you have more money than sense, go buy some more and change them. then come back when you suddenly find many sockets in your house dont work

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

May I?

In the UK sockets are normally wired in a ring. You have broken the ring.

Yes it will "work" but the problem lies elsewhere. If you plug in too much to the ring you are likely to cause a fire as the cables will over heat. This never happens with a ring because there is a "duel supply" what you have done by breaking the ring is made all sockets have a single supply.

As an aside, the site you linked to is only a "blog" which means it is just the persons opinion. It was also written 6 years ago, and he has probably found out by now that what he wrote then is wrong.

 

[ProDave]

According to this site where this particular item is installed:

http://singaporehifi.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/furutech-fp-1363-uk-ac-outlet.html

Each outlet has an independent terminal - the terminals of each have to be jumpered together if the outlet only has one set of wires. I.e. if it has 2 sets of wires, then one goes to each terminal and they do not need to be jumpered.

If it works fine now with no issue - under what circumstances might it become a problem?

That is simply bad and dangerous advice.

I will spell it out.

A ring circuit is a special circuit that allows cable that is "too small" to be used, because it is wired as a ring there are 2 bits of this "too small" cable connected in parallel, so the circuit is safe.

As you have now broken the ring the 2 halves of the ring are no longer connected in parallel.. It is now perfectly possible for you to use appliances that can overload the cable, without it tripping the circuit breaker. The first you will know is when the smoke appears from inside a wall somewhere.

When this happens, send the claim for the repairs to that website that has given downright dangerous advice.

Of course you can ignore the advice of several qualified electricians if you believe we are all wrong and some bloke on a hi fi blog is right.

 

[Blue Duck]

If it works fine now with no issue - under what circumstances might it become a problem?

When you start using more than two appliances at the same time you may start to notice a fishy burning smell.

What have you have inadvertently done is broken a circuit that is capable of a load of 32 amps and turned it into one that is only good for 20ish amps but it's still protected by a 32 amp fuse (MCB whatever) So it is more than likely that one leg of the ring will be overloaded and will start to smell a bit fishy.

Meh.

 

[kerching]

Is it CE marked?......doubt it

I think you should contact trading standards

and PLEASE tell us that£170 was a typo and you meant £1.70