Calling all sparks

[3000gt ant]

Hello all,
I am new to this forum and i would like to help you and myself out. I am a design engineer for one of the main electrical companies and for obvious reasons i cant say which one. We have been producing electrical appliances for many years but i am new to this position. With your help i would like to make your jobs easier and more efficient and i would like you all to make some suggestions of how i could help with designing any useful features you may need into our product range.
The reason i am doing this is because as i see it when these companys design a new range we only go off what the customer wants i.e B & Q, screwfix etc and the people actually installing these apparatus are ignored or not questioned to how the products could be better.
I cannot promise all/any of your suggestions will be included into any of our products as with most things cost is a massive part in the design process, what i can promise is i will do my upmost to include any good ideas into any projects i am involved in.
I look forward to any suggestions anyone may have, whether you are experienced in this field or not.
To give you a idea we manufacture sockets ,light switches ,battern holders etc.
Many thanks
Ant

 

[R1CH-G]

Quite simple - supply everything with large terminals for connection. Fed up with tiny little enclosures and minute terminal blocks you'd be struggling to get a CAT 5 in!

 

[3000gt ant]

We are quite limited by how big the terminals are as a typical socket must allow connection of 3 2.5mm cable or 1 4mm cable to BS1363:2 and must also not cause creapage and clearance issues with regard to Live to neutral and L&N to earth faults. We do try to aid connection into the terminals by having a leading edge that directs the wire into the terminal. What size would you suggest i.e what cross-sectional area would be helpful??

thanks

 

[madrid]

well as its now feasible to wire a 32a radial circuit in 4mm it would be an idea to make the connections on sockets big enough to loop in and out in 4mm.What about making 45/50amp pullcords with enough room to allow connection of a 10mm(crabtree make the only decent one on the market).Oh and a cooker connection unit that allows easy(quick)connection of a cooker or oven and hob, clearly those who design most of them have never tried installing them particularly in a confined space.

 

[ezzzekiel]

wireless ones would suit me

 

[3000gt ant]

well as its now feasible to wire a 32a radial circuit in 4mm it would be an idea to make the connections on sockets big enough to loop in and out in 4mm.What about making 45/50amp pullcords with enough room to allow connection of a 10mm(crabtree make the only decent one on the market).Oh and a cooker connection unit that allows easy(quick)connection of a cooker or oven and hob, clearly those who design most of them have never tried installing them particularly in a confined space.

thanks i'll get on to these issues. Oh and i used to work in the test lab and i have installed a cooker con unit and can certainly agree that its an **** to wire!! But i'm not exactly sure how to aid in the wiring process can you elaborate i.e more space???

What about light switches any issue's wiring these up? also do you guys find the insulation length to be removed on the reverse of the product useful??

cheers
Ant

 

[telectrix]

i find with a lot of accessories that the terminal markings can only be read in good light by a hawk. they are frequently embossed very lightly. clear markings of L,N. and E is my input. oh, and a spare terminal in light switches for when you have to connect neutrals.

 

[bugsy]

All of the above espec 4mm loop in loop out and marking of terminals.

 

[DurhamSparky]

i would like to see push fit / cage clamp connectors similar to wago installed in back of lightswitchs and cooker units!

nothing worse than your 1.0 or 1.5 cable breaking away in back of a switch


also and cooker as already stated above!!

why not design a unit that is push fit from cooker cable to wall as well while your on!!

 

[telectrix]

ceiling rose bases that you don't have to use a hammer and chisel to make the cable entries, then they break. also antyhing with knock outs, make them knock outable.

 

[R1CH-G]

ceiling rose bases that you don't have to use a hammer and chisel to make the cable entries, then they break. also antyhing with knock outs, make them knock outable.

In particular metal-clad accessories - I seem to end up bashing the hell out of the box and end up with a bent box!

 

[RogertheBodger]

Lampholder skirts that unscrew.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

Terminal screws that will actually fit a screwdriver obtainable in the UK.

 

[telectrix]

here's one then. a dry lining box that is circular,( no more ragging with padsaw, just hole saw), standard lugs for single sockets that are designed to fit, and a back box designed for lath and plaster walls

 

[3000gt ant]

Thanks gents, just to let you all know alot of these ideas are now coming into use. The markings are now going to be 1mm extruded so should aid in identification. I am in total agreement of the lugs so will defonately suggest these tomorrow. We did try push fit terminals a few years ago but we were unsuccessful in retaining the cables as reliable as screw type, but i'll consider this method and get the test lab to try a few tests. The neutral terminal already exists in some light switches and last time we checked the company had a patent on using this but i will see what we can come up with. A circular dry lining box is a difficult one, there is a square drill bit in existence but it can only be used on a lathe and guide system but maybe we can look at this. We do a circular dry lining box for ceiling roses, but i cant see it working on a 2 gang socket for example, but again make a figure 8 box may work better where by you drill 2 large holes using a hole saw.

Keep them coming guys!

cheers
Ant