I have decided to talk about sockets and switches. It’s because sockets and switches add a lot of beauty to a home. Out there, there are a lot of brands that make sockets and switches.
I am going to show you the best sockets and switches, that are affordable and are of good quality. and they last long also. I believe that either a switch or socket, should not just look good in your eyes, but it should also be of good quality and a long life span.
Did you know that even switches have a lot of types of ranges? Depending on what you want your room to look like. Or depending on how you want to control the lighting in your room.
I am going to walk you through a number of electrical sockets and switches. I believe that at the end of this article, you will have a picture of the types of sockets and switches that are available.
I hope that you will also have a clear view of which sockets and switches feels your needs and solve the socket, switch problem you have either in your existing home or in your new project.
Electrical sockets
In your kitchen, you have appliances like a toaster, blender, rice cooking machine, and a cooker. All these appliances need an electric socket to control them. There are basically two common types of sockets, these are double sockets and single sockets. These can be further classified as either switched sockets or non switched sockets.
Non-switch sockets outlets are normally used to power home appliances that do not need to be switched on and off frequently. This includes home refrigerators but is not limited to them.
DLPELE UNIVERSAL SOCKET.
Brand name : DLPELE
Rated current :16A
Grounding : Standard
Shape : Square
Conductor material : Pure copper.
Features.
- 2 USB Ports
- USB output voltage 5V Current 2.1A.
- Input voltage 100-240v.
- Frequency 50Hz/60Hz.
- Provision for earthing terminal
- Number of poles ,2P.
- The packaging comes with 1 wall charger
Benefits.
- The wall socket comes with 2 USB ports, these help you to charge your mobile devices and digital products.
- This device can be used in a number of buildings, it can be used in hotels, restaurants, home, and public places, where customers can charge their digital products.
- It comes with an LED indicator lamp. This serves as an indicator telling you that there is power at the socket outlet.
Delviz International,Universal Socket.
Brand name : Delviz
Rated current : 13A
USB Output : 5V,2.1A
Shape : Rectangle
Maximum voltage : 250V
Features and benefits.
- USB, the USB port is made with high-quality materials, the voltage output for this port is 5V, and the current output of 2.1A. It is fitted with overload protection, as a result, it makes charging your devices through the USB port more secure.
- The socket uses high-quality phosphor tin bronze for its conducting material.
- Delviz international socket is a switched double socket. This allows you to control the flow of current through a small rocker. This prevents the fast wearing out of the sockets to frequent plugin and un plugin of appliances.
- The international socket comes with three terminals for connecting power to the socket. The terminals being live, earth and neutral.
- Delviz double socket can be used in many countries.
Data points and TV sockets.
Data points are usually covered using RJ 45 sockets, these sockets come in various ways. The most common data socket is the one that comes with two data points on one socket and the other comes with one data point on one socket.
It is recommended in these times to include data sockets when you are planning to electrify a new home. Therefore whenever you a having a new home project, don’t forget to include data points.
Nowadays with the introduction of digital television, it is common to include TV points in your home when you are doing your electrical house wiring. I feel it is important to mention that they are a number of TV sockets available on the market, the most common type is the one with the provision of one port.
Apart from data and TV points, it is common to add telephone points in a home. With the coming in mobile phones, the use of landlines telephone has declined. This does not mean that landline telephone receivers have gone into extinction. It is common these days in a company setting to have a switchboard for internal communications.
Lighting switches.
Lighting switches play a very important role in electric house lighting. A switch helps you to switch on and off the light. You will be glad to know that switches are of various types depending on how you want to control your light.
For the purpose of this post, I will discuss the most commonly used light switches. These are. one-way switches, two-way switches, and intermediate switches.
One-way switches: These are switches that have one switching position, they have an on and off position. This type of switch allows you to control your light point from one position.
Not only does it control your light point from one position, but it can have more than one controlling gang. I know you asking what is a gang? In layman’s language, I can say a gang can easily be related to a number of rockers or switch buttons on a switch.
Two-way switches: These switches have no fixed on and off position. What do I mean by a switch not having a fixed on-off position? With a two-way switching system, you can control the light from two switches.
This kind is switching is commonly used in corridors and rooms that have two entrances. How do they work? When you are entering a room from one door, you can switch on the light. And when leaving the room from the other door you can switch off the light.
Intermediate switches: These switches work in conjunction with two-way switches. An intermediate switch helps you to control your light point from three positions.
Do you know that you can use an intermediate switch to control a geyser or water heater from three positions? This can be handy when you have a water heater supplying hot water to three bathrooms. You achieve this by installing Three switches in each room.
Dimmer switches.
A dimmer switch is a switch that can dim your light fixture. In the recent past, it use to be easy to dim incandescent and halogen lamps and very difficult to dim Led.
Today as I am writing this post, there are a lot of led lights or lamps that are dimmable. With improved research and development, manufacturers produce dimmer switches that can dim LED lights, incandescent, and many other lighting lamps.
Dimmer switches can enhance your room experience, this is done, by dimming the light bulb to the level that you want.
Pullcord switches.
Pullcord switches commonly known as pull witches are used in bathrooms, they are usually placed on a ceiling and it uses a cord to switch it on and off.
Blank plates.
Blank plates are very useful when you want to cover a switch box that you no longer use. They also come in two types, one for the switching point and the other for sockets.
At times when wiring sockets outlets and switches, You put junction boxes for the purpose of pulling cables.When done with the wiring of both lighting and sockets. You cover those junction boxes with Blank plates.
Smart switches.
A Smart switch is a light switch with advanced features, to automate a home. I know you might be asking what is to automate.
I would say that the word automate comes from the word automatic. A thing that is said to be automatic has some degree of independence, or the ability to execute a certain task without human intervention once it has been set or programmed.
In a layman’s language, to automate is to set some functions of a switch to operate without being physically present to either switch on or off.
The question is how does this automation happen? they are many ways through which one can automate the smart switch. I have chosen to talk about two ways. Voice and remote control. You can use an app to control lighting remotely.
This does not mean that you can not control your lights from the normal switching button, you can still use it. This is handier if your smartphone is not within your reach, or when you have visitors.
You can also control your light using your voice in conjunction with smart speakers. The part I like the most about smart switches is you can control your lighting even when you are many miles away.
Cooker control and double pole switch.
A Cooker control unit is a switch that is used to control a cooker. Basically, there are two common types of cooker control units that are used widely. These are a 6 by 6-inch cooker control unit and a 3 by 6-inch cooker control unit.
There is no special regulation as to when you can use a 6 by 6-inch cooker control, and when you can use a 3 by 6-inch cooker control. During the time that I have spent wiring the cooker circuit, I have seen that the choice of whether to use a 6 by 6-inch cooker control is the personal preference of the owner of the project.
Double pole switches are mainly used for circuits like geysers and airconditioning. This is because when you supply current to a heating appliance like a geyser. when you are doing maintenance works, you have to switch off both the neutral wire and the live wire. You can learn more about double-pole switches and geyser switch wiring.
Do you have a question, contribution or experience to share with us?do not hesitate to do so in the comments section.
