Non-sleeved plugs aren’t British Standard Compliant.
If a socket has the contacts at the wrong place and are resting on the sleeves, then the socket is wrong and should not be used. If you use plugs and sockets that both conform to British Standards, then there is no problem.
BS1363 covers the design and features of a complaint plug. Since 1984, the Neutral and Live pins have been required to be sleeved, so the only plugs you should find without this are from appliances that are 33 years old or more.
BS1363-2 covers the distances between the socket face and the first contact point for the corresponding Type G socket, either on a wall or extension lead.
http://www.bs1363.org.uk/ - PlugSafe are the group highlighting the risks of dangerous non-BS compliant devices and help prosecute sellers of these items.
I would imagine ST will be looking at whether this damage was caused by their device having the wrong socket dimensions or loose connection, or the plug itself not being correct and not making the correct contact. It’s hard to tell from those photos, but anything that raises the resistance (eg a slightly bent pin only connecting on one side) will produce significant heat at 230V / 2000W
Everything you say regarding standards is true. Of course. But doesn’t detract from the fact that the SmartThings outlet struggles with some sleeved plugs. Not just bad connections, sometimes no connections. Yet as others have noticed a) it doesn’t happen with non-sleeved pins, and b) you only have to ease the plug out 5mm or so for the problem to disappear. It’s not bent pins, it’s the internal connection being too close to the face of the device.
You can throw standards around as much as you like, but it won’t make the current (sorry!) problem go away.
Ok. I have a same power outlet and it’s showing sign of trouble, it’s buzzing loud enough that I can hear it 10 feet away, so I unplugged it and thinking what to do next…
It may be out of warranty, if it’s so I will attempt to open it up to check.
Not strictly accurate… the voltage stays the same but there is resistance introduced due to the plugs poor contact which causes a voltage drop and this means the appliance receives less voltage and hence draws less current. However that full current is carried through the plug pins, and as they have poor contacts they have a resistance and so generate heat.
Ignoring PF … Watts = Volts x Amps and Watts = Resistance x Current squared so a 2KW appliance draws about 9 amps. At 9A with even say 0.5 ohm resistance per plug pin this would generate 81 watts of heat in the plug. Even very small fractions of an ohm resistance are problematic at high current
Any bad contacts between plugs and sockets are very serious issues easily exacerbated by any misalignment of the contact grip position relative to the pin sleeving… Loose / Half inserted plugs can cause similar issues leading to fire hazards.
That then sounds like the ST Outlet hasn’t been designed properly, or is failing in use (pins becoming misaligned).
Encouraging people to swap to a 35 year old potentially lethal plug they found in the shed is not the answer, the standards are there to protect so in this case it IS the answer and SmartThings need to check that their device is complying.
I also had a similar issue. Even though the appliance was plugged into it, it didn’t work unless i angled it just right. I could hear a buzzing inside when the appliance wasn’t working.
It didn’t show burning etc on it, however support swapped it out for me as something obviously wasn’t right. Haven’t tested my new one though…
I’ve not been following this thread that closely, but from the information above, it seems likely that the SmartThings UK power outlets are non-compliant with BS1363 (due to the contacts inside the socket not being far enough from the face). If confirmed, this would be a fire hazard and SmartThings likely risk prosecution.
You have to kind of laugh at how quiet the SmartThings team are being right now, despite the fact that you can be almost positive that most of them have already read this thread and others.
Given all that I have just read, I think it’s time to check mine.
On a serious note though, if it is found they appear not to be to spec and SmartThings do not react appropriately to the seriousness of this then surely users have the moral responsibility for the safety of all users to ensure its reported to the already mentioned standards agencies.
May be I don’t have fire hazard as I did not plug in anything on the smartthings outlet at all (mostly using it as a ZigBee repeater) but kept getting disconnections from the hub from last week or so, support seems clueless except talking about range or trying to reset it etc, returning the whole kit and hope better luck for next one
@Aaron can we get a response from customer support about all these claims that the ST outlets in the U.K. have a design flaw that fails to meet British legal standards for safety? Instead of a response to an off-topic post about an individual unit with connection issues (that poses no safety issues, as far as I can tell)?
Is it possible to insert a plug upside down on these things? i.e just the two prongs.
It looks darn close to being possible from the picture. obviously, disconnect it from the mains
It looks as though the measurements would just about let you put a plug in upside down (disclaimer: I’ve only used the highly technical method of holding a ruler up to my monitor) - however, if these are BS complaint then they should have a shutter, activated by the earth pin, which opens the live and neutral. If the (longer) earth isn’t inserted first, then the others are blocked. You’d have to wedge something in the top first before you could get an upside down plug in.
If it would be possible to insert the plug upside down, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. The only plug that would be exposed would be the ground plug from the device side. In any properly installed electric installation nothing bad could happen from this. This pin would have the same properties as the outside of the casing of a metal device.
More than half of the world are using ungrounded plugs for everything.
