New product suggestions.

1) fused connection units with a GREEN indicator lamp, for items intended to be left on, green is preferable.

I'm sure I've seen one in the dim and distant past - (might possibly have been amber rather than green though - memory isn't what it used to be - but certainly deliberately another colour, not just a faded red) - probably Crabtree. You can get green indicators in most grid ranges - so I guess an alternative is to just build your own FCU in grid form.

 

2) A 13 amp plug to fit standard outlets, but designed to accept 2.5mm flex when this is required for longer extension leads or other purposes.

Sounds reasonable - although I've seen enough 2.5 T&E in plugs to realize that several designs do effectively support 2.5mm2 - if not officially.

 

4) A multiple switched fused connection unit, 4 or 5 switched fused connection units in one box, ideally suited for multiple kitchen appliances. Oven, hob, dishwasher, washing machine, extract fan, for example. One input connection for 32 amps, and four or five switched, fused outputs.

Again, building what you need from grid components seems to be the usual, and reasonably sensible, approach - especially when you can then use switches with the appropriate appliance names already engraved on them.

 

5) An improved type of pull cord 45 amp switch for showers etc. Big enough to readily accept a pair of 10mm twin with earth  cables. Intended to be mounted ABOVE the ceiling in the interest of neatness, with only the operating cord passing through the ceiling via a ferule into the room below.

I'm not picturing how that would work unless you had good access above the ceiling (e.g. shower directly below accessible loft) - in which case you could mount the switch up there anyway and drop the string through whatever hole you liked (although I'm not sure how the 'open contacts' indication is then shown). As for accepting two 10mm2 cables - the Crabtree-type design with the terminals on the fixed base seems to work well (but is far from being flush I agree).


If I could add another one - a FCU where the outgoing terminals are accessible independently of the incoming terminals (i.e. so once switched off the appliance it's supplying can be removed or replaced without the still live incoming terminals being accessible or their wiring disturbed - or without having to isolate the entire circuit).


Also a 'doubly recessed' socket, so that even with a plug in it it was still flush with the wall - for going behind kitchen appliances ('cos kitchen appliance manufacturers don't seem capable of standardizing how much (or where) they leave any space behind their appliances).


   - Andy.

My understanding for lamp colours is:

White:  Power or control ON

Green: Machine or equipment running and normal

Red: alarm or abnormal condition

Amber: Indicator for an auxiliary function.


David

The above is more applicable to complex machinery with several lamps for different purposes.


However for simple equipment connected via a fused connection unit, green seems suitable for equipment intended to be energised continually. Such as fire alarm panels, freezers and fridges, CCTV equipment, sump pumps, anti frost heaters and the like. Red should also be available for appliances such as heating or cooking equipment that is not intended for long term un-attended operation.


It seems odd that a red lamp on a fire alarm panel, denotes an alarm condition, but red on the adjacent fused spur is the normal condition.

The lamps built into fused connection units are indeed neon lamps, and these are normally red/orange in colour.

Green neon lamps do exist though, or of course LEDs.

It would never get past the EU committees as it is a British idea. But like many ideas in the past a great one.