1.Appearance
As highly frequently used items in the home, switches and sockets, on the one hand, affect the taste (appearance) of the decoration, and on the other hand, determine
In terms of user experience (performance), more importantly, it is related to the safety of family members. You must therefore be careful when selecting switches and sockets. Today I'm going to disassemble the J&S LIGHTING 'Vision Pro' series I bought recently and look at the interior doors.
Talk about what kind of switches and sockets are worth buying.
Just like falling in love, whether it looks pleasing to the eye is the most important factor in choosing a switch and socket. &S LIGHTING's "Vision Pro" series is different from traditional panels with wide borders in the past, and is also different from the popular frameless panels. It adopts a unique asymmetric design of upper and lower borders;
The curvature is beautiful, in line with the rigorous and refined German design;
The fluorescent strips do not occupy the same side of the panel as the logo. This is the first time I have seen this layout. It is a small design ingenuity and the panel integrity is better. As you can see from the picture below, in dark light, the fluorescent strips are quite obvious. of.
It is not only stylish, but also practical, as you won't be fumbling around in the dark.
It offers 4 custom-made Morandi colours that can be used to match different decoration styles. I have to say that the 4 customized colors are really good-looking.
02.carrier fluid
The shrapnel is the area where the plug contacts the cable every time the device is plugged in and unplugged. As the most important structure of the internal conductor part, elastic
The quality of the tablet directly affects the user experience and lifespan, and its importance is self-evident.
The spring piece is a very important part of a good socket. It has high demands on the spring piece, including excellent conductivity. inferior
You will notice that a good socket becomes looser over time. This means that the shrapnel has lost its toughness, and a good socket will become looser and looser.
It will probably still be too tight even after a few years.
Brass, red copper and tin-phosphorus are commonly used for parts that carry current. Tin-phosphorus is the best material for current carrying parts.
Although there may be better materials available, I'm only talking about those that are commonly found on the market.
The picture below is a disassembly animation of the "Vision Pro" five-hole socket
The rose gold-colored metal sheet in the picture below is the current-carrying part. The entire metal sheet is not carrie-d in separate parts. The whole sheet is made in the "rivetless one-piece manufacturing" process, as marked by the manufacturer. It has a better strength and toughness.
The weight of the copper components also shows the quality of the product. The materials are more likely to be piled up in good sockets.
Knowledge point: Which material is best for shrapnel?
Alloys containing copper: Copper-zinc (brass), Tin-phosphorus alloy
Before the advent of composite materials, pure copper was indeed the best conductive material, and the performance of copper materials also varied. It depends on the purity of the copper. The more pure the copper the better its conductivity. Red copper is superior to brass. However, copper has its inherent flaws. It is soft. Its toughness is also low. Its resilience is not particularly good. In addition, it is easy to oxidize and rust.
Tin-phosphorus bronze has better properties than pure copper. The most obvious ones are that the oxidation resistance is significantly improved, and the hardness and toughness are significantly improved. Generally, shrapnel made of tin-phosphorus bronze can easily reach more than 50,000 times of repeated insertion and removal. .
When purchasing, you should pay attention to the details. Generally, most of the tin-phosphorus alloys will be promot-ed as selling points.
The life expectancy of household appliances can be affected by plugging them into an unsafe switch socket. In the worst case, they may cause fires. This hidden danger requires everyone's attention.
Material, fixed frame
The most common materials used for switch and sockets are ABS for standard seats, nylon 66 for the poorer ones and PC for frames, buttons, and fixing frames. The distinction is also very simple. Look at the backseat color intuitively. The white one is usually PC. The black one depends on the situation. It looks very smooth. PC may smell odorless. Surface looks rough, or made. If it's matte, it's probably ABS. If it smells like plastic, then it is probably nylon 66.
Conclusion: PC>ABS>Nylon 66
The PCs can also be divided into three, six, or nine levels. The high-end series will use imported PC, which is the so-called German Bayer material.
There are few PC materials with import certificates.
PCs are the best except for Bayer in Germany. Taiwanese PCs and domestic PCs are the next best.
They are already conscious products, and even more so, if they use only pure PCs. Is this possible? There are almost no manufacturers.
Fixtures are generally divid-ed into steel and PC, both of which have their own advantages and disadvantages.
1Steel
Steel brackets are strong and durable, but they have high wall requirements. And the wiring requirements are very high, and the phenomenon of loose pressure line cannot occur. And the production cost is also lower than PC.
2PC
PC lining board has good toughness, low installation requirements on the wall, and is not prone to off-line conductive phenomena. Good PC is more expensive and has better electrical performance than steel.
The fixing frame and the "Vision Pro" panels are made from German Bayer Polycarbonate.
The touch and performance of this product are outstanding.
04.Pressing method
The screws are larger for crimping the wires. The advantage is that thicker wires can be connect-ed without thread picking.
The ability to connect multiple strands at once is ideal for equipment. The disadvantage is that the screw tips are easy to damage the wires, and it is also easy for the wires to slip and not tighten the wires. Affects the secondary wiring.
Nowadays, many manufacturers have improved screws. They use flat-head or round-head screws and a pressure plate to press the wire. Two strands are connected at the same. Pressure plate is used to top-off the wire. This increases the stress area, and it is difficult to damage the cable. The disadvantage is the wire diameter. The wire cannot be too thick or it will not fit. This type of wire is fine for home decor, but is much more difficult to use for industrial equipment that often has multiple thick wires.
Quick wiring is fast. Just listen to the name and you will know that it is fast. The wires will automatically get stuck when insert-ed without twisting the screws. The disadvantage is that the wires cannot be reuse-d. You must plug them in correctly the first time, otherwise they cannot be tak-en off and re-plugged.
The saddle-type of terminal that "Vision Pro" uses is more scientific and combines the benefits of both screw crimping as well as pressure plate crimping.
05.protective door
The socket with a protective door has a "unilateral self-locking" function. Accidental electric shocks will not happen as long as you do not insert the same force into two or three holes at the same time. This type of protective door is effective in protecting children. This component is now found in all sockets. We can use an iron piece when choosing to check if the socket has a baffle and if the two holes need to be inserted together. If both are the same, it means that the socket has a protective door. .-
06.switch contact
The contact is what matters most for a switch. The contacts produce a sound when we press the switch. This is caused by the two metal balls or pieces. Contacts that are too unsafe can cause arcing, which could lead to a switch short-circuiting and causing danger. Silver-cadmium contacts are used in high-quality switches. They can suppress arcs and function as instantaneous overloads. Inferior switches use copper sheets or silver-plated iron contacts, which cut corners and pose high safety risks.
For "Vision Pro", the switch design has the following highlights.
01.V-shaped groove patented structure
Through the V-shaped groove patented structure, arcs are suppressed, excess carbon deposits are eliminated, and product carbon deposits are effectively reduced. The product can last up to 40,000 times.
Silver contacts can be enlarged and thickened
The diameter is 3.4mm, and the center thickness of the silver-coated alloy layer is >0.35mm, which greatly improves the current carrying and current impact resistance capabilities.
03.Ball-to-ball upper and lower silver contact contact mechanism
The thickness of the silver contact alloy layer is thick in the center and thins sharply toward the edges. Ball-to-ball contacts ensure that the current impact always occurs in the thickest portion of the center. This reduces the impact of manufacturing mistakes and pivot wear.
04.The electric bridge and the pivot shaft are made of red copper, and the surface of the electric bridge is plated with silver.
7.others
A qualified product series of a brand needs to have complete product models, so that it can meet the different needs of each family and ensure the uniformity of switches and sockets in the home. It is not easy to have two different types of sockets or switches.
The hole spacing of the socket is also a very important indicator. The distance between the plugs can be too close and cause them to "fight", lowering the socket's usage rate. The "Vision Pro", five-hole socket, adopts a design with a large space.
The distance is slightly larger than other sockets, so two plugs can be connected at the same time.
You should pay attention when purchasing a switch to whether it is single control or dual control.
Single control switch: If you only need to use one switch to control a light in one place, then you can use a single control switch for this switch.
Double control switch socket: You need this if you want to be able to control the light in both places.
In my house, for example, I installed a dual-control light switch at the entrance to the master bedroom as well as at the foot of the bed. This allows me to control the lights in the bedroom from both locations. Switch on the light through switch 1, when you enter the bedroom. Turn off the light through switch 2, when you go to sleep, to avoid having to get down to the floor. I designed dual-control switches for the stairs of the first and second floor. This function can be achieved by using smart sockets for home decor if it was not taken into consideration during the installation.
From the appearance, there is no difference on the front, mainly on the back; each button of the single control switch can be connected to two wires, while each button of the double control switch can be connected to three wires.
Another point of purchase that is often overlooked is the thickness of the back seat, especially if there are multiple wires in the bottom box. If the back seat is too thick, installation problems may occur. As you can see from the comparison in the picture below, the base of the Vision Pro on the right is much slimmer, providing more installation possibilities.
8.Shopping tips
01.3C certification is a must
The key points for purchasing sockets have been mentioned in the previous part. Before deciding to buy, you can buy a five-hole socket of each alternative and take it apart to compare.
A very important reminder is here! There must be a 3C certification mark! ! ! Electrical devices such as switches and sockets can be dangerous to your personal safety. How can I be sure that your goods are not made in a small shop if you do not have 3C certification? Who can guarantee the safety during use?
The previous disassembly I did was just an analysis of the materials and structural design. As for durability and electrical safety, professional equipment is still needed to test, and 3C is the most basic guarantee.
Buy products from large brands and factories
The technical threshold for switches and sockets is not high, and small workshops can also make them. Small factories also have lower costs for opening molds, more flexibility in production and less supervision. They can produce personalized products faster according to market demand, such as the picture below. Almost all major manufacturers will not do this.
In the introduction to this type of switch socket, the focus is on how beautiful the product is. The performance is either not mentioned or is only mentioned briefly. It is for this reason that I always recommend purchasing brand name products from major manufacturers. As mentioned above, major manufacturers are the only ones who will enforce durability and electrical safety and spend a great deal of money and resources on related equipment.
For mass-produced products such as switches and sockets, the quality is high because once defective switch socket are used, short circuits may cause malfunctions, or they may threaten personal safety and property losses. Apart from anything else, I don't believe that small workshops will purchase equipment to conduct socket durability tests and salt spray tests.
So which brands are considered reliable brands? This is not a complete list.
Watch out for fakes
Wherever there are people, there will be a market, and where there is profit, profiteers will be attracted. The switch and socket market is no exception. It is one of the products most affected by counterfeit goods. J&S Lighting, a very popular product on the market, is a good example.
There are also a large number of high imitation goods, no matter from packaging to serial number, as non-practitioners, we cannot identify them at all. It's okay to spend money in vain, the key is to worry about affecting safety!
The first suggestion I give here is: choose the official flagship store or authorized store to purchase, and check the anti-counterfeiting codes one by one (mixed sales of originals and imitations also happen from time to time). Don't be greedy for small gains and suffer big losses.
9.Summarize
As electrical components, you must not be careless when purchasing switches and sockets. After all, safety comes first.
You must pay attention to appearance while also taking into account performance. We are not professionals and we do not have the equipment to test each product one-by-one. So, buying products from major brands via formal channels is a safer option.
In this article, we will use the &S Lighting "Vision Pro" Series. It is reliable when it comes to appearance, brand and performance.
Rich model types and colors are eye-catching.