rec.arts.theatre.stagecraft

In article <5o4aumFks9heU2@ >,
Magic wrote:
> Can anyone advise me, I've been told that a 16amp socket to 13amp plug
> adapter cannot be used and will fail its PAT test.

> This sounds crazy to me, we use several adapters of this sort in our
> theatre including 15 and 16amp and I've seen exactly these sort of
> adapters used for PAT testing 15 and 16amp equipment.

> His argument was that it would potentially enable too much power to be
> drawn from the 13amp supply. But as far as I can see, as long as the
> 13amp plug is fused correctly that can't happen anyway. The adapter in
> question is being used to power a follow spot, well there's two of them
> actually but both do exactly the same thing. They are 240v - 500w spots
> so nothing powerful and certainly well within a 13amp power supplies
> capabilities.

> There was no other reason why it should fail a PAT test by the way. Just
> the fact it was a 16 to 13amp adapter. The person telling me this was
> the freelance PAT tester we employed to check our equipment, so he
> should know his stuff.

I went on a PAT course (run by Stage Electrics) earlier this year and such
a problem was not mentioned. It would seem that your PAT Tester has no
common sense. Ask him under which regulation he is failing the equipment,
or if he still refuses to pass it, simply hide the 16amp plug/socket
connection in a sealed box so that all he sees is a follow spot fed from a
13A plug.

Or Employ someone else.

OR buy him a PAT tester which has a 16A socket on it - mine has ;-)

--
From KT24 - in "Leafy Surrey"

Using a RISC OS computer running