Funny little round 3 pin sockets?

lexuslass

Hi

Hopefully someone can help me - please excuse me if this is a really dumb question to ask!

Some of the rooms in our house have funny little plug sockets... not the normal 3 pin ones though.

Rather than being three prongs as you get on normal everyday electrical items - these are actually three round ones.

We have three lamps on the upstairs landing that were here when we moved into the house that have these round prongs on the plugs and I would like to get a couple of lamps for the hall downstairs.

Does anyone know what these plugs are called and where I'd get a lamp with them on from? are they special safety ones or some sort of energy saving plug or something? I have looked around for them in shops and on ebay but have never seen a lamp with one of these plugs on!

Would you be able to buy a normal appliance and replace the original plug with one of these round ones (again I wouldn't have a clue where to get a plug from)?

Thanks in advance!

melipona

Are they like this?
If so then I assume that you are in an older house with a 5A lighting ring main. B&Q also sell the plugs that, at least I have seen them in store but couldn't see them on line.

Rikki

I have these plug sockets in my static caravan and this circuit is run on a battery. The portable television this type of plug on.

Not much help really.

I wondered if the circuit is on a lower voltage or you have the old style wiring in the house?

EdInvestor

Have you got a light switch somewhere (eg near the front door) which doesn't seem to switch anything on? This could be the switch for the lighting ring main. If you plug several lamps into the 3-pin sockets you mention, you should then be able to switch them all on simultaneously from the one switch at the door (or wherever it is).

Would you be able to buy a normal appliance and replace the original plug with one of these round ones

Yes.

This type of round 3 pin plug was normal in very old wiring systems ( eg 1940s) but if the rest of your electrics are modern, then they are likely to be part of a lighting ring main - which is IMHO a neat idea BTW..

lexuslass

melipona wrote: »

Are they like this?
If so then I assume that you are in an older house with a 5A lighting ring main. B&Q also sell the plugs that, at least I have seen them in store but couldn't see them on line.

Thank you...

Yes they are exactly like that...but what I don't understand is that our house is no more than 10 years old, so why would someone use this type?

So I'd be able to swap the plug on a normal lamp for one of these plugs from B&Q?

lexuslass

EdInvestor wrote: »

Have you got a light switch somewhere (eg near the front door) which doesn't seem to switch anything on? This could be the switch for the lighting ring main. If you plug several lamps into the 3-pin sockets you mention, you should then be able to switch them all on simultaneously from the one switch at the door (or wherever it is)...

Thank you - Can't say I have noticed one but I will go and have a look!

EdInvestor wrote: »

This type of round 3 pin plug was normal in very old wiring systems ( eg 1940s) but if the rest of your electrics are modern, then they are likely to be part of a lighting ring main - which is IMHO a neat idea BTW..

Can I ask another dumb question - why is it a neat idea?

lexuslass

EdInvestor wrote: »

Have you got a light switch somewhere (eg near the front door) which doesn't seem to switch anything on? This could be the switch for the lighting ring main. If you plug several lamps into the 3-pin sockets you mention, you should then be able to switch them all on simultaneously from the one switch at the door (or wherever it is).


My god, you are good! :T

I have had a mooch around and there are a few switches around the house that don't switch anything on!! never thought anything of it before...thought we'd had some bulbs out but could never work out where!!

We have switches in the kitchen, the study, the downstairs hall, the upstairs landing and the master bedroom that do not seem to switch anything on.!!!
Although the only place where we have these funny plugs in is the 3 lamps on the upstairs landing which are controlled by a seperate switch to the one there that doesn't do anything.

There doesn't seem to be any switch on it's own anywhere though that would appear to control all of these?

Am I losing the plot now...still can't understand why someone would put a completely different set of sockets in?

point3

We have those too.
There's a set of them with a separate wall switch in our conservatory. It always seemed a bit pointless, as they have the normal 3-pin sockets next to them. I think the idea is that you can have a separate set of 'mood lighting' table lamps that can be switched on from the wall switch.

Plasticman

We have them too. They are designed for lamps which can then be controlled by a light switch - no need to go around and switch each lamp on separately, just flick the switch like you do with the other lights. We use ours for the Christmas tree lights too, much easier than crawling around the back of the tree trying to find the plug socket..............

OddjobKIA

just to throw a spanner in the works...

Do these plugs have another socket type thing near them that has a hole about the same size as a can of coke???

lexuslass

Plasticman wrote: »

We have them too. They are designed for lamps which can then be controlled by a light switch - no need to go around and switch each lamp on separately, just flick the switch like you do with the other lights. We use ours for the Christmas tree lights too, much easier than crawling around the back of the tree trying to find the plug socket..............

So you do actually change the plugs to these funny round ones then?

Sounds like a great idea for christmas lights!!