Hardware Insights Forum

While rewireable versions of the IEC 60320 cord-end sockets and plugs aren't particularly obscure, I do have one of what is probably a fairly rare variant thereof. What differentiates it from most of those available is that this one is designed specifically to fit to light-duty flex (type H03VV-F), and anything thicker won't fit through the PVC strain-relief sleeve. This item was pressed into service a while ago for an emergency repair to a rodent-chewed fridge power cord, after which I promised to show how it's assembled, but slacked off for over a year. Well, what more am I waiting for…

The logo, I believe, is for Belling Lee, and the part number appears to be 6006. The number in the triangular symbol (some approval mark?) is 4529. The exact age is unclear, but I'd bet that it's over 20 years old. Current is marked as 6A (as specified for 0.75mm² flexible cords under British regulations), but I have tested it to the full 10A without overheating (in the short term, anyway). (For that matter, I pushed even 12.5A through a 0.75mm² cord once before, without it getting uncomfortably warm to the touch; although connectors can ultimately be the weak link under heavy load, if they're not in tip-top condition.)

Remove the single slotted screw on the cover to get inside:

The pins are removable, so that you can terminate the wires more easily; this also enables interesting possibilities, including taking out the earth pin to make a type G (instead of E) plug. Simple set-screws are used, but a very thin (0.3mm) screwdriver blade is required to turn them. The terminal bores are large enough to take wires considerably thicker than 0.75mm² (up to 1.5mm²), even though a bigger cable is unlikely to fit into the plug.

The cord grip is a simple plastic bar secured with two screws. I have found it capable of gripping a 2-core flat sheathed flex (type H03VVH2-F2X0.75), at least to some extent. However, it can bend noticeably when tightened on round flex. Both the cover and grip screws go into threaded metal inserts (I'm guessing nickel-plated brass, from the lack of magnetic attraction; even though the screws are all steel).

If anyone else has this plug and wants stripping dimensions, I have a card in SVG format (created in Inkscape) that I could upload (inside a Zip or 7-Zip archive), featuring a colour illustration and dimensioned for an A7 page.

The quality of construction seems quite good, my only real complaint being noticeable leeway in the cover-to-base alignment. Overall, quite a neat "oddity", and definitely one I'll be keeping around for life (provided it isn't somehow ruined in the meantime)…

Here are the cards (SVG, A7 size); two sets of dimensions are provided, so choose according to whether you have suitable ferrules (and their crimper) or not.
While I'm at it, I'll throw in those I've made for Clipsal plugs and trailing sockets (along with HPM's D5M cordline switch); mostly these faithfully replicate the officially-specified dimensions, but I've also figured out a way to use the Clipsal 418S on H03VVH2-F (but still not H05VVH2-F) rather than resorting to its Deta knock-off; this doesn't work for the older 418 with uninsulated pins, though (the A+N wire channel was wider there).

Page size
A7 or A6 for each item, with one group sheet compiling models I (semi-)regularly use (plus a bit of general information) onto an A4.
I can adapt some smaller items into Europe or Aus/NZ business card forms if requested; if you want any other form, you'll have to make it yourself.

Licenses
Individual cards are released into the public domain (CC0).
The group sheet is under Creative Commons Attribution—ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0.

Isn't it just cheaped out for thin chinese cables (those with 0.75, 0.5 or thinner wires)?

Behemot wrote:Isn't it just cheaped out for thin chinese cables (those with 0.75, 0.5 or thinner wires)?

I did get it (used) on one of those old Taiwanese <star>544001 cords (0.5mm² cores with 20/0.18 stranding as in the Japanese/Taiwanese cord standard, although IEC color-coded) with a molded C13 on the other end, but this plug itself is a good-quality one (Belling-Lee being a pretty reputable British manufacturer) with its pin dimensions much more accurate than the IEC 60320 tolerances (now that I've checked with my calipers), and the strain-relief sleeve nice and flexible.

That argument would hold up if we were discussing a C13 socket (before anyone debates me, I always gender connectors by their contacts and not the outer body shape – safety over aesthetics ), as IEC 60320 doesn't even allow anything below H05VV‑F (a.k.a. 60227 IEC 53) for the 10A (much less 16A) sockets; but since this is a plug (even IEC 60320 itself says so, though couldn't make up its mind about female cord ends ), the cord only needs to be thick enough for what's on the other end (be that an appliance, or a C5).

Anyway I've finally found a good use for it – I got a heated towel rail second-hand (was AU$10 but the store let me have it free), which has a BS 1363 plug (with the correct 3A fuse, even ) and had a dodgy unearthed adapter plugged on ; its cord is H03VV‑F3G0.75 (to which I'd usually fit a Clipsal 418S), but doesn't reach the outlet there so I can instead fit this plug and use a leftover C13 cord (one which actually did come with a kettle, and two of them are even new enough to have insulated pins) to get to the outlet. The only way it could be better-suited was if it was white to match

But if you do want to see a crappy version, I've obtained one (unused) among that second-hand stuff in the meantime