My favourite (industrial) connector.

You should do a video like this about the Neutrik PowerCon connectors that are common in the professional light/sound industry :)

And so (David Attenborough voice), the size of the caterer herd, partial to their live mains connectors, reaches a natural balance as a result of Darwinian evolution..

Gordo

Not Australia, we have different plugs with a similar-looking pin layout.

Berkeloid

Are you sure they are Ceeform? New Zealand generally use AS/NSZ3123 plugs the same as Australia which look a bit similar to this but aren't compatible.

Berkeloid

Can't agree about the twist and clip type. Once they have been dragged round a building site through mud and water they are a devil to undo. Much prefer they screwed versions, they can at least be undone safely.

I've used that type of connector once here in the US for 60-ish Amp 3 phase application. It was for a demo industrial control cabin that would be travelling internationally to trade shows. This type of connecter seemed ideal for that application. We included a cable terminated on one end if the venue used a different style of connector. While it was fine for this application it seemed far too light and poorly sealed for the mining and oilfield applications our final products lived and worked in.

Bill Kerr

"interesting occurrences" - you can't stop there!

Mike Page

I never knew about the transparency requirement. Makes sense!

Mike Page

We use the 3 phase connector for powering our AC Voltage Source which (although single phase) can't be run on a standard 32A ringmain as the inrush trips the breaker. So instead, there's a separate 3 phase outlet on 3 x 20A fuses (which cope with the inrush) and an extension lead so whoever needs high power 3 phase for testing can have it at their workbench. For low power and precision work, we use the above-mentioned Voltage Source or to use its full name "The Hovercraft." It uses the same 3 phase connections which we then attach "magic leads" to - ie 3 phase plugs to 5 x 4mm connectors. I can then do unusual things like vary the frequency or set different voltages and phases as some of our testers have a phase rotation function and it's nice to know it will cope with real world variation. One thing I've never done though is simulate a struggling generator.

Mike Page

Those are badass. I think we use similar ones on our dynamometer setups at work. I'm not a drives guy shoo I don't use them often, but I have repaired them after interesting occurrences

Michael Thompson

I see these all the time in Sweden!

JockeTF

They turn up here in Australia on Dutch equipment, I soon whip them off and fit our 56 series connectors, not a fan of those, far too chintzy for me, and they don’t have a transparent version of the plugs, so we can’t use them on building sites, off to the rubbish bin they go.

hese connectors are widely used in belgium. especially in companies and yards and also in markets. I use them mainly at work and that is a water purification company. Very good connector. We use nothing else.

Theatre equipment here usually has 15A round pin plugs for dimmed feeds, 16A Ceeform for non-dimmed and Powercon style connectors on many modern lights.

Big Clive

I see them often in New Zealand on building sites and in server rooms (eg, primary feed into rack). Typically anything over 10A that is unpluggable uses something like those connectors for the primary feed (and IEC C13/C14 for 10A distribution in the rack, or IEC C19/C20 for over 10A distribution in the rack). They’re also widely used outdoors for temporary power feeds, including building sites during construction and other “temporary connection” power. Thanks for the tour of the insides of the connectors. Ewen

Ewen McNeill

Might be worth doing an explanation of the site yellow 110V isolation transformer system, I tried to explain it to my brother and failed miserably.

We use these here in germany in our Cable Telecomunication network for emergency power feeding in case the power goes out. Well, at least the connectors are on the panel, in practice we usually just unplug the Schuko Plug from the Outlet and plug it directly into the generator.

Daniel Rotskas

We use them at school for powering students projects...thats in the Netherlands by the way :)

Mike Weijmans

Where I work in the north central part of the US our electricians use individual wire terminals for our portable building connections, but I haven't seen what the IATSE crews use for the stages up close as that's not my department (I'm in IT, not entertainment).

Ryan Coleman

The drooping cable is what we refer to, in the LVC business, as a "drip loop".

Ryan Coleman

I seem to remember them being used bu my father on his caravan for hooking up to the mains at caravan sites. There was an inlet socket on the side of the van that went to a distribution board inside so that they could charge the 12v system and use mains items upto 5 amps- any higher than 5A would trip the circuit breaker and lead to a bollocking from the site owner!!

Mike Hughes

I once went to an interview where the guy who was supposed to interview me had been the victim of someone putting the male connector on the supply end of a cable. He was in hospital for quite some time...

Phil Collins

Never seen them here in the States. I have seen similar connectors used in medical explosive atmospheres but not recently. My experience has been beefy twist lock connectors rated for similar loads as you mention. I'm curious, what connectors are you finding on theatrical lighting equipment? We find everything from the original Stage Pin to common grounded Edison, twist lock in a variety of ratings (but most common 125V @ 20Amps or L5-20), and the PowerCon connector.

I'm not sure if this is still the rule today in switzerland, but earlier the 16 Amp single phase CEE Plug was only used for camping because we had an old 16 amp socket that was so similar to the CEE plug that it does fit but the earth would be connected to the phase...

You never see them in Australia though, as for some reason we have our own equivalents which serve much the same purpose but have the added flexibility of allowing lower-current plugs to fit in higher current sockets.

Berkeloid

They're the standard connectors for server racks in data centers all over the world, except for the US I think, who tend use hubbell connectors. I've installed kit with everything from single phase 16A upto three phase 125A

I figured that as I was once in charge of a small lake by my house. I never could find a solution that would allow me to disconnect and service the fountains since the lines were usually buried and run under retaining walls. Fortunately, my term in lake hell ended 2 years ago.

Underwater connectors are pretty specialist. Here they are more likely to use a waterproof joint to bring the connection out to a non submerged connector.

Big Clive

Clive, what kind of connectors are used for heavy-duty, long-term submersible disconnects - such as for water features (fountains, lights, pumps. etc)?

always assumed these were global...in IT datacenters they tend to be used for PDUs in the rack, with the sockets under the floor...at least in the uk, netherlands and australia

Ben O'Hara

These are used throughout Europe on campsites.

Bas

I've seen these used on high load IT power distribution units and telecom in the US. They seem to be a common standard for loads greater than 30 amps.

Kadah

And in Sweden, Proper Joooob!

Magnus Franzon Uvebrant

Like in Norway we have them in Finland.

Norway is the same as UK it appears, blue ones are everywhere for events, building sites, industrial and so on. Red ones seem to be more or less standard for three faze everywhere except where older types has not been replaced yet.

Thor Syvertsen

You forgot to point out how the flap locks over the inserted connector so it can't be accidentally pulled out.

evilution

Clive, please never finger a grommet like that again lol

Neil Tonks

It's quite funny that I had just ordered some before watching this video! I've terminated hundreds of these, and plugged/unplugged thousands! The worst to unplug was a 125A 3ph panel inlet on a distro where something had gone very wrong, arcing had occurred, and the socket had welded to the inlet. UK here, and obviously my main use of these in on events, and yes I definitely agree about the caterers extremely dubious tactics. We have refused to connect caterers at festivals if we saw dodgy techniques.

Chris Plater

I really like speakon and powercon connectors. I went out of my way to get an amp the used them.

Greg

We used these for 480 V, 3 phase on my grad school experiment the US. The lab happened to be located 2000 ft underground in a mine. The main use was for some repurposed cryogenic dehumidifiers that were prone to breaking down. We needed at least one running on UPS power at all times, and that often required swapping the circuits around as they broke down. The sockets we had also had interlocked switches, so you couldn't unplug them while they were energized, presumably to avoid arc flash.

SaberTail

I have never seen those in the U.S. but I am not an electrician.

Mark Trombley

in the US. I have seen these when I worked for a Audio/lighting company, there were some convention center venues that used these, but it was mostly to prevent unauthorized use, since the plugs are INSANELY expensive in the US ($500++ per plug) We also use them in datacenters for 3phase /208V/60amp PDU's since there is no US NEMA standard plug for >50A single phase or >30A 3 phase

BiggieJohn

I've never seen these in the US or Canada. Common in the UK, of course - most often seen by the general public at outdoor events or caravan sites I expect