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. Therefore, you must not be careless when choosing switches and sockets. Today, I will dismantle the new J&S LIGHTING “Vision Pro” series that I just bought and take a look at the internal 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 has a unique, asymmetrical design for the upper and lower border;
The curves are beautiful and in keeping with the German design, which is rigorous and refined.
The fluorescent strips are not on the same panel as the logo. It is the first layout I’ve seen. This is a little design innovation and the panel integrity has improved. The fluorescent strips can be seen in the image below. of.
It is not only stylish, but also practical, as you won’t be fumbling around in the dark.
In terms of color, in addition to the common standard colors such as black, white, gray and gold, it also provides 4 customized Morandi colors, which can match various decoration styles. The 4 custom colors look really nice.
02.carrier fluid
That is, the place where the plug comes into contact every time it is plugged and unplugg-ed, also call-ed the shrapnel. Elastic is the main structure of the conductor internal part.
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. In addition to excellent conductivity, it also has extremely high requirements for the elasticity of the spring piece. 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.
I’m afraid it will still be tight after several years of use.
Brass, red copper and tin-phosphorus are commonly used for parts that carry current. Currently, the better ones are tin-phosphorus bronze.
There may be better materials, I am just talking about the common ones on the market.
Below is an animation showing the disassembly of a “Vision Pro” 5-hole socket.
The rose gold-colored metal sheet in the picture below is the current-carrying part. The metal sheet as a whole is not carried in parts.
In addition, the weight of the copper parts also reflects the conscience of the product from the side. Good sockets are more willing to pile up materials.
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 purer the copper, the better the conductivity. Brass is better, and red copper is better than brass. Copper has some inherent flaws. It is soft. Its toughness is also low. Its resistance isn’t very 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. Shrapnel made from tin-phosphorus can be inserted and removed more than 50,000 time. .
You need to pay attention to detailed parameters when purchasing. Most of the tin phosphorus alloys are promoted as selling points.
If household appliances are plugg-ed into unsafe switch socket, it will affect the life of the appliances at best, or cause fires at worst. Attention is needed to this hidden danger.
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. It is very easy to distinguish. Look at the backseat color intuitively. White is the most common. The black one depends on the situation. It appears very smooth. If it smells odorless, it may be PC. The surface looks rough or simply 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
But PCs are also divid-ed 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. , followed by PCs produced in Taiwan, and more domestic PCs.
They are already conscious products, and even more so, if they use only pure PCs. Is this possible? There are very few manufacturers.
Fixtures are generally divid-ed into steel and PC, both of which have their own advantages and disadvantages.
1Steel
Steel bracket products have good installation strength, but have high requirements for the wall. And the wiring requirements are very high, and the phenomenon of loose pressure line cannot occur. The production costs are also lower than those of PC.
2PC
The PC lining board is tough, requires little installation on the wall and does not suffer from off-line conductivity. Good PC is more expensive and has better electrical performance than steel.
The “Vision Pro” panel is ma-de of German Bayer polycarbonate + the fixing frame is made of German Bayer PC material.
It can be said that a lot of money has been spen-t, and the touch and performance are excellent.
04.Pressing method
There are more screws for crimping wires. It is possible to connect thicker wires without the need for thread-picking.
Many strands can be connect-ed at one time, which is suitable for work 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 secondary wiring.
Nowadays, many manufacturers have improved screws. The wire is pressed by flat-head or rounded-head screws, and a pressure-plate. The advantage is that two strands of wire are connect-ed at the same time. Pressure plate is used to top-off the wire. This increases the stress area, and it is difficult to damage the cable. The wire diameter is a disadvantage. It can’t be too thick, otherwise it won’t fit in. 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. It is not possible to re-use the wires. They must be correctly plugged in the first time.
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
A socket with a protective cover has “unilateral locking” functionality. As long as the same force is not use-d to insert two or three holes of the socket at the same time, accidental electric shock will not occur. This type of protective door is effective in protecting children. Basically, all good sockets now have this component. 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 they are both the same, the socket will have a protective cover. .-
06.switch contact
For a switch, the most important thing is the contact. When we press the switch, we can hear a sound, which is produced by the contacts and is produced by two metal pieces or metal balls. If the contacts are not safe enough, arcing may easily occur, causing the switch to short-circuit and cause danger. High-quality switches generally use silver-cadmium contacts, which can function as instantaneous overcurrent and have a very strong ability to suppress arcs. 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 life can reach more than 40,000 times.
02.Enlarge and thicken silver contacts
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.
The electric bridge surface is silver-plated.
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. After all, it is quite awkward to use two kinds of switches/sockets.
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 need only one switch to control the light at one location, you can use this switch.
Double control switch: If you want to control the same light not only in this place, but also in another place, you need a double control switch socket.
Taking my home as an example, a dual-control switch is installed at the door of the master bedroom and at the head of the bed to jointly control the opening and closing of the bedroom lights. 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. The base of the Vision Pro is slimmer on the right, as you can see in the image below. This allows for more installation options.
Shopping tips
01.3C certification is a must
has already mentioned the key points for buying sockets. You can compare the five-hole sockets of different options before deciding.
Here’s a very important reminder! There must be a 3C certification mark! ! ! Switches and sockets are electrical devices that involve 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 safety when used?
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.
02.Buy products from big brands and factories
Small workshops are able to produce switches and sockets because the technical barrier is low. Small factories also have lower costs for opening molds, more flexibility in production and less supervision. They can create personalized products more quickly, according to the market’s demand. Most major manufacturers won’t do it.
The introduction of this kind ofswitch socket is usually about how beautiful it is, but the performance of the product is simply mentioned or not mentioned at all. The reason why I recommend buying brand products from major manufacturers is because as mentioned above, as for durability and electrical safety, only regular major manufacturers will strictly enforce these and invest a lot of financial and material resources to purchase related equipment.
The quality of mass-produced switches and sockets is high, because if a defective switch socket is used, it can cause malfunctions or even threaten property and personal safety. Small workshops are unlikely to purchase the equipment necessary to perform salt spray and socket durability tests.
So which brands are considered reliable brands? This is not a complete list.
03.Watch out for fakes
Profiteers are attracted to profiteers wherever there are people. Switch and sockets are no exception. It is one of the products most affected by counterfeit goods. Take J&S LIGHTING, which is very popular in the market, as an example.
As non-practitioners we are unable to identify a lot of these high imitation products, from their packaging or serial numbers. 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.
Take the &S LIGHTING “Vision Pro” series as an example in this article. It is reliable in terms of appearance, brand and performance.
Rich model types and colors are eye-catching.
