David A Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Simply plug your plug spider into your socket spider and run the unit through a PAT tester, this will check it's safe, or not and allow you to identify what is where. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommulliner Posted April 7, 2010 Author Share Posted April 7, 2010 Thanks for taking time to reply guys :up: , much appreciated. I will be checking the things that people have mentioned. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumbles Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 The pin out is eight pairs of L + N. I'm not sure but the last two cores may be four earths per core...In which case it should be condemned tomorrow. My point is that eight seperate circuits can be sent up via socapex...No they can't. The reason it's not industry standard is because it's illegal. I am not going to mention legality, will just say that it is at best foolhardy, and at worst.... Unless (and as I don't know hobitlight's example this is mere conjecture) what hobitlight means is that the bars are hardwired out of the patchbay/dimmers and into terminal boxes on the end of the barrels using socapex cable (ie 19 way mains rated multicore) rather than with soca connectors at either or both ends. If this is the case the the only problem I can see is the reduced number of earth cores. But as all the earths on an IWB are commoned through the barrel, and through the common earth rail in the terminal box, AND as hobitlight has said, an additional heavier gauge earth is installed then I don't see what is wrong! (If you can, please let me know as I am struggling to see any problems with it!!) As I said this is all based on a certain amount of conjecture, however all of the school type installs I have ever seen have been hardwired bars rather than the 'plug it in to make it work' soca connectors variety. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommulliner Posted April 7, 2010 Author Share Posted April 7, 2010 I don't get the point of your post mumbles, you've just quoted lightnix's post as far as I can see??? :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trunker Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 If anything on a circuit is different to the norm and is legal, I would expect to see it labelled to tell you exactly what is different. With Soca though, I would have thought this not to be good practice. What if someone plugs a 'standard' soca into yours? :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HobitLight Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Unless *snip* what hobitlight means is that the bars are hardwired out of the patchbay/dimmers and into terminal boxes on the end of the barrels using socapex cable (ie 19 way mains rated multicore) rather than with soca connectors at either or both ends. If this is the case the the only problem I can see is the reduced number of earth cores. But as all the earths on an IWB are commoned through the barrel, and through the common earth rail in the terminal box, AND as hobitlight has said, an additional heavier gauge earth is installed then I don't see what is wrong! (If you can, please let me know as I am struggling to see any problems with it!!)This is indeed what I meant, sorry for not making this clear! It is all hardwired directly to dimmers. I assume I confused matters using the term socapex which obviously applies to the connector, not the cable used! Just 18 way cable is used, no connectors at either end. Hope this clears matters up a little... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmeh2 Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Simply plug your plug spider into your socket spider and run the unit through a PAT tester, this will check it's safe, or not and allow you to identify what is where. Hi Just a tiny point but bear in mind that PAT testing each circuit individually will not alert you to commoned earth or neutrals. I've seen quite a lot of noise boy soca with commoned neutrals and earths to try to dispel ground loops from forming between bits of equipment. Its done a lot more than you think. As for the issue, you can ask the question, 'Do I really need 6 seperate earths? Or even 6 seperate neutrals?' given that on single-phase supplies the entire lot runs back to the same place. The answer is, no, you don't, provided that the return for your load doesn't go over the rated current for a single conductor. This is where the install guys can get creative with mad cabling designs and custom pin ideas, providing that the whole lot is a closed system and can't be unscrewed from either end where some unsuspecting technician can plug in and blow himself up in the process. Just out of interest the most messed-up soca circuitry I've seen is 16 25W birdies off one custom spider, with 16 lives, 2 split-load neutrals and one earth. And It had been in the venue for the best part of 10 years and had never caused an issue, so who am I argue? All the bestTimmeh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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