My Question is about the re use of the older non suicide plugs that come with out the heatshrink 3 quarters along each prong. One of the reasons I ask is because there was a particular HRSA member ( dont know his name) that would peruse the radios for sale at meetings and cut the plugs off claiming that they are now illegal. Of cause I had a particular pair of rusty pliers ready if he came and tried that at my table.
I do know that you cant legally sell power plugs with out the latest safety designs but what of the old ones? What are the regulations.

I don't know of any rules or regs governing the sale of any second hand goods though it is not illegal to keep an old plug in service on an old appliance it was originally fitted to. It is probably illegal to fit an old plug to a new cord but then again it is a matter of weighing up the risks. On all old plug designs there is no clamp on the cord to isolate stress from the connections. At the same time, if a strand of wire pokes through the two halves of the plug, it poses a shock risk. If the installation of an old plug on a new cord is done in a professional manner and is checked twice before the plug is reassembled and then only used for display purposes or occasional private use then I cannot see any harm in it.

When I've sold radios on Ebay, if the cord is the original, regardless of condition, I have always cut the cord off, detached the plug top and then included the plug with the radio and discarded the cord.

Victoria is the only state that requires a testing tag or printed electrical safety warning to be fitted to a radio before sale. I call BS on it because a tag does not prove that a flexible cord is safe beyond the date of inspection. It only proves that the cord was inspected and tested for defective connections on the date the tag was fitted - and then one is just assuming that the person that fitted the tag inspected the cord correctly and was qualified to do so. Far from making things safer, it can easily lead someone into a false sense of security.

That said, the person who wanders around throwing their hands in the air and claiming that every flexible cord is illegal is kidding only himself. When someone claims that something is illegal, I usually ask them to produce the legislation or regulation that states that it is illegal. If they can't then I usually just tell them to pull their heads in. Additionally, what may well be illegal in one state is not necessarily illegal elsewhere.

During the house move I had a Sony Stereo that was a beauty,But it was modern so I didn't want it and so I took it down to donate it to the Salvos, The guy came out and looked at it a d said ,sorry it's illegal for us to sell it because of the plug ! Which was original just did not have the heat sink prongs ! I was blown away !
The stereo was a great unit .
So I put it on the side of the road out side my house and within half an hour it was gone .

Pete

That is a strange one Pete. I know years ago The charities decided not to accept even new ( old stock ) electrical items as donations because of liabilities brought about by imbeciles using them wrong and zapping themselves. This resulted in lots of quaility computer items just being put in the trash.

Its more the taking the plug and using it on new cable is the legality I'm thinking of. My opinion is that the old bakelite non suicide plugs are still pretty safe if installed properly

there was a particular HRSA member ( don't know his name) that would peruse the radios for sale at meetings and cut the plugs off claiming that they are now illegal

Incredible. Have never seen or heard of such a thing at an HRSA event. Seems Dudley Do-Right is alive and well and living in Canberra. As Brad says, he needs to be challenged to put up or bugger off.

About the stupidest thing I've seen at my local HRSA meet -- which is in a school hall -- is a guy who plugged a WW2 vintage wire recorder into the hall's mains 'to see if it worked' and immediately blew a circuit breaker. Said breaker was behind a locked door and couldn't be reset, leaving the HRSA's branch president to have to explain that to the school's administration.

The reason for this is the live Christmas tree syndrome.

A piece of tinsel falls between the plug and the outlet and connect the tree to the active. Or shorts out on the N and causes a fire.

Carl
I have no trade in electrical industries so I'm probably not the person to be able to say much about the plugs,
But it sounds like a wank to me!
This particular salvos sold electrical items .
I think perhaps people are just to extreme in many cases.

Pete

the old bakelite non suicide plugs are still pretty safe if installed properly

Problem is that they crack fairly easily and a cracked plug is usually a no-no. These sometimes come up on eBay in bulk lots removed from radios and other vintage appliances and, if the pictures are good, you'll usually find a number of them showing cracks.

(Hey, maybe that's how Dudley Do-Right disposes of them!)

This particular salvos sold electrical items

I haven't been in a Vinnies or Salvos store here in NSW for a long time, but I seem to recall a staff member in one of them telling me that they cannot accept electrical items anymore, either that or they have to cut the cord off and throw it away.

With Vinnies it seems to be a local policy. Their site says: "Some Vinnies shops take electrical goods; please call your local shop before dropping off"

The Salvos are more specific with policies for each state on what they cannot accept: https://www.salvosstores.com.au/donate/

No they sell electrical items ,but they needed to be Tagged, mostly a tradesmen volunteer comes in once a week and tags the items .


Pete

No they sell electrical items

I'm quoting the Vinnies website which implies that it's a store-by-store decision.

The other thing is ,The salvos and Vinnie's were good before they became a business.
When the old ladies in the community ran them they were great places .
Now there full of scams going on ,I'm aware of it because I buy and sell second hand stuff ,I deal in it .
More stuff goes out the back door than ever makes it onto the floor .

Pete

Gtc ,yes I'm sure each store makes the decision what they do and don't take

One of the remaining members of our Radio Club does Tag & Test for Vinnies Benalla.

I concentrate on the Mens Shed (member) & have been through the place. We (as noted before) get donated stuff "In good faith". I was involved in OH&S in another life. Some stuff is good some is absolute beep.

With our Shed based on what we get. If its mains anything: I get it first. Then its appraised. If there are any defects, a decision is made on the viability of repairs. Basically the rules are, no tag no use, because some of that stuff donated is deadly. We don't need accidents and the paperwork is a PIB if its serious.

We do sell off some of the stuff that is of no use to use to us & its criminal to toss it, like perfectly good Microwave. However, the second hand goods regulations prevent you from selling it with a cable on it untested.

So if it cant be "tagged" it's neither sold, or used in our shed.

Back in the CRT days I often used to find TV's whilst lawn shopping and the tech in me just couldn't resist picking them up and dragging them back to the workshop if they looked half decent.
9 times out of 10 I would have them going again with parts costing peanuts (electrolytics etc).
I used to take them to St Vinnies who very gratefully accepted them until one day some years back I was told they couldn't accept electrical goods any more unless they were tagged and tested.
So that was the end of that.