27 Nov
2011
27 Nov
'11
11:48 a.m.
this is
common practice in Europe for tea kettles?
Yes. Well, actually the conenctor on an
electric kettle over here is
the 'hot condtion' one with a notch on the socket and ridge insdie
the plug. Originally, the 'normal' one, as used on computers, was
rated at 6A, the 'hot condtion' one at 10A. I could never work out
why, the contacts were identical. Now it appears all are rated at
10A. presumably runs hotter than the low-temperature ones
are rated for. Of
course, a cable with the notch can be used in a device with no ridge,
but that's OK; a high-temperature cable in a low-temperature device is
the safe kind of mismatch.
Do you find that plausible?
Yes, but that's not the point I was making. The electrical parts -- the
contacts, are the same in the normal and the 'hot codition' ones, and yet
the former was rated at 6A and the latter at 10A. Why the difference?
Now, I suppose the hot condtion ones could stand the contacts running
hotter so they could carry more current, but IMHO if the contacts of a
connector are getting that hot, it's underrated.
-tony