Can You Wire A Plug?

[sunny-dave]

The plug on my coffee machine got splashed with a good lump of hot water whilst I was cleaning the worktop. Fortunately nothing went 'BANG' - but it was a moulded on plug & I couldn't be sure it was all dried out.

So I found a spare plug, cut the old one off the cord, stripped the wires & then had a 'bit of a moment' ...

... I must have fitted hundreds (thousands?) of plugs over the years, but haven't done one for a good while, now that everything has a fitted plug when you buy it.

Logically I know which colours are which - but would you trust yourself without checking?

I did check (and was right) ... but would you?

[Baldric]

Yes, no worries.

[Buenchico]

It's often said that the best way to really learn something is to teach it. I've taught kids how to wire plugs (as part of a General Science syllabus) so, unlike 99.9999% of all the stuff that I've ever learnt, I can still remember how to do it!

[Tilly2]

Yes, I can but I always have to check which colour goes where. I can never remember.

[weecalf]

I thought wiring a plug was real simple and down to earth .......ok I away

[Baldric]

^^^
Flipping Bright Spark!!!
;-)

[weecalf]

is that a compliment or am I getting my wires crossed

[Baldric]

Wasn't aimed at you, you just short-circuited my aim!

[sunny-dave]

Red Card (or should that be Brown Card) for weekoff.

[Old_Geezer]

For sure. old or new colours.

The latest is easy. The mud coloured one that clearly should be earth because it is that same colour, is actually the dangerous live one, and has to go to the fused terminal, on the right as one looks at it all from the back. Such a good choice of colour. Then the sky blue, which seems such a peaceful colour, is the neutral and needs to go to the non fused connection to the left. The candy stripe yellow and green goes to the large earth terminal at the top.

Try to cut the lengths such that the last one you'd expect to pull out if the flex grip becomes loose, and some idiot pulls on the flex, is that candy strip one.

[Mosaic]

I always take a photo of the existing, then find up to date info online and compare the two before proceeding.

[Mamyalynne]

Yes no problem , but always get someone to plug it in just in case.

[gness]

Once I wouldn't have even checked.....maybe things have changed or I have become accident prone with age....so

Now I check...Justin Case.....but what does annoy me is when a female friend gets a man in to change a plug......

Although.....come to think of it......☺

[EcclesCake]

I use the mnemonic bLue=Left, bRown=Right.

Only problem is I don't know my left from my right :-(

[Sipowicz]

No problems with the currant, Eccles!

[Old_Geezer]

You also have to recall whether you are looking at the front of the plug where the pins are, or the back where you can see the connections !

[grasscarp]

Can I wire a plug. Yes. Thanks to a Scottish handy man at work about 45 years ago who was sick of me bringing him my things that needed a plug to wire for me. In those days products usually came without one. He said one day - you're a clever girl - watch how this is done.
Then when new colours for the wires was introduced there was a tv ad which I remember clearly to this day
Brown live
Bloo nuootral
Green and yellow earth
Repeated over and over

[Butterbun]

No. Man about the house does things like that otherwise there'd be nothing for him to do.

[heathfield]

I worked in Germany, where, with older wiring before European colour standardisation, red was earth!

[kvalidir]

Yes, no need to check, it's indelibly imprinted in my mind with a few other things.

[boxtops]

I can, but I haven't done so for ages - not since everything comes with fitted plugs these days.