US socket distribution blocks

I have a growing collection of US terminated mains leads, which at present I'm running using US-UK socket adapters. This probably isn't ideal though so I was wondering what US socket distribution blocks might be available over here that might do a better job? I'd be thinking of running one of these off a Trichord block, so I'm thinking more in terms of a distribution block rather than something that does any fancy mains filtering. Just curious what people might know of really as my quick Google efforts never turn up that much.

Cheers,

Martin

 

Are your socket adapters fused ? In any case, if you can take out an adapter you're going to have 1 set of contacts less in the 'juice' path and anytime you can take out a set of contacts you get a jump in performance. You can always order a block form somewhere like Parts express

Although I could imagine that it'd cost more in shipping!

 

Yes, why do you ask? On the basis that US leads aren't, and neither are UK wall sockets, this seems a sensible arrangement.

If I were to buy a cheap US distribution strip like this:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=130-725

would there be any issues over UK mains voltage use? I'm just thinking that my HiFi leads (Shunyatas as it happens) are sold for use in this country and so presumeably are OK with European voltages, but that a straight import like this might not be. Or at least an insurance company might think it wasn't?

 

The fuses in UK plugs are to protect the cables. In the US and in Europe the plugs do not have fuses. Fuses are a limiting factor in performance, but they are there for safety reasons.

 

Yeah, I realise the fuses are there to protect the cables, and therefore the building from any resultant fire. US sockets I believe have fuses in them rather than them being in the plugs, but that serves roughly the same purpose I assume. What's the situation in France?

 

i don't believe that us socket do have fuses. i think all appliance have fuses built into them and so an additional fuse is seen as superfluous. wadiameister's foo foo box has us sockets i believe.

 

Martin,

Have a look here under Powerblocks.

http://sishifi.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/

This guy seems to have interesting toys for sale from time to time!

Steve

 

When I lived in the US, I don't recall seeing fuses in sockets, at least not in the sockets I used for my HiFi at the time. In France, neither the plugs nor the sockets have fuses. The only time I've had faulty appliances and plugged them in, it's the circuit breaker at the main distribution board that popped.

 

Actually to be honest I was going with what I was told by a Canadian coleague of mine regarding the fuses in US sockets. Maybe it's a Canadian thing, or it's a case of them sometimes being there and others not.

 

I think that Eichman Express have what you are looking for.

They have a power strip that has a standard IEC input therefore you can chose which cable between wall and power strip, it can also accept a US/UK/Australian plug from a power cord between power strip and your equipment.

I think that they are on sale in UK. In Australia they are about A$70.00 (£27.00)

Scroll down half a screen;

http://www.eichmanncables.com/ac_enhancer/index.html

Ken

 

Cheers Ken, that looks interesting. I'm not sure they are sold in the UK actually, although I'll look into it, but there's a dealer in New Zealand that sells them that I've bought an amp from in the past so that could be a plan.

 

There isn't a UK distributer for those Eichmanns blocks, but they'd be easy for me to buy straight from Australia/New Zealand.

Does anyone have any experience of using them? They look like this BTW:

 

I have heard this before; but don't understand why. One would have thought that if a short develops in the cable, a fuse elsewhere in the same circuit will blow.

Of course, unlike hi-fi equipment that have a fuse, kettles and kitchen appliances don't.

 

BM
The 2.5mm T&E that supplies the socket can take 30A +, the flex for your lamp/hifi/etc will take considerable less. So if there was a fault within the cable itself, the cable would likely melt/burn before the main fuse pops.

 

Yes you are right there. Though I guess, in the event of a short, even a 30A fuse will blow long before the cable heats up or melt.

But I was really thinking about the fuse that many hi-fi and other electronic equipment have inside them.

 

yep, that'll protect at the rated current for the unit, plug top fuse will protect cable

 

Since the fuse inside the unit is in series, one would have thought that it will blow if there is a short in the cable also. Surely, a fuse is not intelligent enough to know what it is supposed not to protect.

Isn't it strange that rest of the world get by without an additional fuse to protect the cable!

 

how would it blow if the fault was in the cable prior to the fuse

 

Because it is in series.
BTW. with AC current does not flow in any one direction to suggest that the fuse is 'prior to' or not.

 

no, if the fault was downstream of the fuse, the current overload will blow the fuse prior to it in circuit, not the one after.