Hi Guys,

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As I recall, these are mounted on a block of wood, and the wire lead out from under the wood.
They must have some arrangement like that to sit flush,
as the fittings themselves don't have any provision to lead wire out of them when flush mounted.

Also.. I believe the switch is a light switch only, and that power points did not have switches,
even though that "could" have been done. Is that correct?

Lastly, anyone have any photos of them mounted?
Cheers, Brek.

These are considered surface mount rather than flush mount, the latter only applying when the mechanism is hidden within the wall with only a flat plate showing as are the standard pattern accessories sold today.

The pictured accessories were mounted either on timber mounting blocks (usually Australian Red Cedar) or architraves because the screws that fixed them were too small for mounting directly on the walls in most cases and there was a market desire to follow previous mounting techniques that applied to the older gas lights, which were mounted in the same way in most cases.

It is correct that there were no sockets with switches built in at the time though the SAA Wiring Rules (AS/NZS 3000) still required a socket to be switched so it was often seen that a light switch (ceiling or wall mounted) would be mounted on a circular block whilst a power point would be mounted on an oblong one, especially those that also had a bayonet socket for appliances fitted with that style plug. The latter situation existed most often in kitchens where radios like the AWA Radiolette 500M, irons and those old (and very dangerous) immersable heating elements were used.

"radios like the AWA Radiolette 500M" That's rather arbitrary, you must like that one, there's no other reason to say that

So what you're talking about for a mounting block with two or more
fittings on it, is a circle shape just stretched out to fit the other fittings or truly oblong close to the shape of an egg?

I think I can get away with this so long as it's not illegal for a licensed electrician to still use the old fittings.
It is not fixed wiring though, essentially it's all for the socket end of a modern extension lead.

I found this picture:
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Does the wiring disappear into the wall or is it lead out the side along the wall interior?

Used to see these cedar switch bases sometimes at local markets.

I got the two fittings at an antique shop for $8 the pair.
They probably aren't supposed to sell them.
I can get the red cedar from an industrial waste recycler near me.
They charge $4.95 per kilo of cedar.

So in the end what I want, is the original unearthed figure 8 cable plugs into this,
and the earth wire is hidden.. permanently connected behind the cedar mounting.

So to finish this corner display thing, I still need some bits of architrave.

This style of thing is still manufactured for period buildings. See here:

http://www.palesinstyle.com.au/switches_index.htm.

However, only duly licensed persons are authorised to wire up power points and light fittings.

It happens I know one of those persons
Unfortunately he's on holidays right now, as I have plenty of questions, but I mean like this:

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I still don't know if it can legally be done or not, even by an electrician.
They'd likely want to remove the authentic vintage fittings rather than re-install them

Maybe it won't be a corner (triangle),
but a square instead that can sit on any edge of wall,
and only has one edge of architrave in that case.

I don't know whether or not this is fixed wiring.

I have difficulty reading the detail in your images as they don't seem to be expandable.

Is that drawing showing an old power point on the skirting board? If so, I believe the Australian wiring standard now requires power points to be raised above the floor to avoid mechanical damage.

The old surface mounted fragile bakelite switches and sockets are especially prone to breakage and the subsequent exposure of live parts.

I mentioned the 500M because that model more often came with bayonet plugs on them. I've collected seventeen since 1987 and twelve had bayonet plugs with five having three pin plugs and the last having crocodile clips because it is a A/B battery model.

That's what I'm worried about. The whole thing could be pulled away if the power point was fragile.

The whole thing is slightly elevated though so the architrave for the display part is higher than the real wall architrave.
Difficult to explain, but a picture will help when I get there.
I'll do the same thing whether it has a power point or not.

It is illegal to put back into service any electrical fitting where live parts can be exposed without requiring a tool. This applies to fixed wiring and otherwise.

Oh, I'm sure you've seen my previous posts on this



American electrical manufacturers made grounded outlets that turn out to be the same as the Aussie powerpoint pattern. This before our modern grounded outlet pattern (two parallel pins with round ground pin) was adopted after WW2 here. We don't have switches on outlets, only for outlets meant to power a floor or table lamp have separate wall switches.

I've used a few of these to power my Aussie radios here. Power companies supply homes with a pair of 120Vs to give me 240V 60Hz, which the Aussie radio transformers are happy on. Each slanted pin is hot with 120VAC, the ground is ground. and as my Aussie radios all have power transformers, they don't care.

I have two sheds that still have the old surface mount Bakelite blocks. The only issue found with them was that someone had managed to get it to stuff up & get the switches inverted. Insulation (recently tested) is fine.

They do still make surface mount plugs. Where you tend to find them is on internal lighting where it is easier to modular service and that does not require an electrician. Same as pulling out a valve & putting in a new one.

Where one has problems is with the plugs similar to those posted by Wa2wise. There are several that have inferior cable clamping and several with a face like those, where the live terminals are at the front. Small fingers can touch them.

Irrespective of the idiots that try and unplug by prizing with knives (seen the results ???? Darwin award).

There was an Article on Energy safe Victoria. What it points out for those repairing is that if you change the cable, or need to replace the plug, you can only replace the plug with the new type with the insulation on the pins.

I do not accept that pulling away is an issue exclusive to cedar blocks. Issues are the use of tapered screws (&wrong screws) in soft wood & over zealous use of power screwdrivers Mine are screwed to hardwood. They have been there 52 years. The power point consists of a cedar block with switch and socket.

Here's an interesting one I found on an electrical contractors forum:

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Basically it's one of our (Aussie) old Clipsal double adaptors that
swaps the active and neutral for one of the sockets that it provides before there was any standard about which side is which,
apparently explaining why some appliances switched both sides in their power switch.

It's the middle one in the first picture of adapters.

Funny stuff because I went out and found a bakelite Clipsal double adapter too, but it wasn't one of these!

Funny stuff because I went out and found a bakelite Clipsal double adapter too, but it wasn't one of these!

Those adapters which reversed active and neutral were banned from sale decades ago. IIRC in the 1970s, if not earlier.