Socket and see

Let’s talk sockets. It’s not every day you sit around and discuss the design of that most urbane and humble of items, the electrical power socket in the wall – but in Australia when designing a renovation, it’s actually a matter of some importance. To me, that is. Pretty much everyone else ignores the things, and gets on splashing paint around.

However, while I’m lying on the floor drilling into the wall, to get the cables ready for power to the people, I’ve had plenty of time to contemplate the concept of power socket design.

There is however a problem with the design of electrical sockets in Australia. Two problems, infact. The design of the socket plate, and the design of the switch next to the socket.

Now, I’m not talking about the design of plug. Although, there is plenty to criticise here: it is a design first created in the US in 1916 (US patent 1,179,728 no less) and it started to be used in Aussieland in 1937 by electricians who had emigrated from California (also used by the Kiwis, plus bizarrely Argentina and Brazil). It’s now become a core part of AS 3112 – vital bedtime reading if you want a miracle cure for insomnia. With thin pins that can get bent, sockets are easy to damage, plugs frequently come loose, and it can only take a low current. There isn’t even a fuse in the plug to protect the cord. Good, it isn’t.

No, I’m talking about the universal rocker switch in Australia. Small and oval, it’s a pain to switch on and off, isn’t obvious which position it is in, and as ugly as sin. It’s nearly, but not quite, as bad as the US universal switch, the toggle.

Compared to the vast array of choice of both socket faceplates and switches you get in most countries, Aussie walls have identical white plastic rectangles (they come in only one size too!) with the same identical 1980s style of switch.

Which is why I’ve spend hours on this new interweb thing trying to track down someone – anyone! – who will sell me something totally different. A metal plate with a big switch.

There is a company in Queensland that imports switches from the UK: however they have to be individually tested and they cost a fortune: a fiver in the UK translates into well over $100 here. Or you can import them from the US or Japan. However – instant factoid! – did you know that in the US light switches are upside down compared to the rest of the world. Or in Japan they are sideways, to avoid the risk they may be switched on accidentally in an earthquake?

Indeed, it the AS 3112 Australian electrical wiring standard that is to blame for much of the design woes, as it specifically specifies (if you’ll pardon the alliteration) the small oval switch. Elsewhere it’s up to you, although in the US they like their rocker switches, but they produce an annoying loud click (The design, patented in 1916 by Newton and Goldberg, intentionally does this to stop the contacts burning out). Then there are rocker switches, near-universal in the UK where MK produce them in large numbers.

Now Clipsal, the German company which is responsible for blighting thousands of Aussie homes with its one design fits all approach has come up with – thank goodness – a proper metal plate socket too. Vastly expensive and still with that ugly switch, it does however offer the prospect of not making your eyes bleed.

I would go out and buy a dozen, but at $90 a pop, I don't want to hatch all my eggs in the one basket until the chicken hits the fan.

As for plugs – there is an alternative. A socket which takes both Aussie and UK plugs: considering the British Standard BS 1363 13amp plug is now becoming a defacto standard around the world from Hong Kong to Singapore – and 32 other countries - it makes sense to be able to connect. Alas, it’s even uglier than the plain variant!