In our blog post,
Six Things to consider when hiring an Electrician, we mentioned that there is a time to DIY and a time to get assistance. Although it may seem daunting, rewiring a plug is relatively simple and something you can attempt at home, with minimal equipment. No need to call an electrician for this one.
The equipment that you need:
• Wire strippers
• A screwdriver, either a flat or a star depending on the type of plug you are rewiring
• Side cutters
1. Loosen the screws
Open your plug, use your screwdriver to loosen the screw holding the plug together. This will be found on the side where the three prongs are protruding and, depending on the plug, will either be in the centre of the plug or two between the prongs.
2. Place the pins right
Make sure the prongs or pins are in the right places (if they fall out while you unscrew the case, you can just place them back in). The longer pin should be at the top of the triangle and the two shorter, thinner pins should be at the base.
3. Strip the cable casing
Take the cable that you are using. Cut the jacket of the cable or the casing, but make sure to not break through the casing to the wires. It is better to first mark the jacket with a knife or blade, not going through completely and then bending and pulling the casing until you can remove it.
4. Prepare your wires
Select your green wire and wire strippers. Remove approximately 10 mm of insulation from the green wire, but be careful to just remove the wire covering and not to cut through the copper. This shouldn’t be a problem if you are using wire strippers as they have a hole in them to prevent this. But if you use side cutters, take care. Then cut the blue and brown wires at the level where you have removed the insulation from the green wire. Then remove around 10 mm of insulation from them. This will mean that your green wire is longer than your brown and blue wires (this will be important later as your green wire goes to the top pin, so it needs to be longer than the other two).
5. Prepare your points
Now that you have your three wires, a longer green wire and two shorter brown and blue wires, with 10 mm of the exposed copper – twist the copper strains to a point.
6. Unscrew the pins
Return to your plug and unscrew the screws from the pins. Most plugs will be labelled with live, neutral, and earth. The brown wire is the live wire, it helps to think of it as bRown, R for Right. This wire goes to the right-hand side. The blue wire is the neutral wire, think of bLue, L is for left. This wire goes to the left. The earth wire is the longest wire and goes to the top of the plug.
7. Start wiring
Partially remove each prong, one at a time, and place the wire in the hole of the prong. Screw down the wire so that it is fitted into place. Leave the earth wire until the last one. The screw must fasten onto the copper, not the insulation. This is why we removed the insulation earlier.
8. Secure the main wire
Wedge the main wire, or the central wire, into the base of the plug. Make sure that all your wires are placed snuggly, that none of them are pulling and that all your screws are tight.
9. Replace the plug top
Lastly, screw your plug top back on. There you go! You have successfully rewired a South African plug. As you can see, rewiring a plug is not too complicated. If you’ve finished rewiring the plug, but the appliance still isn’t working, maybe it’s time to call
a trusted electrician to help you out. There might be a deeper electrical or wiring fault in your home, such as a faulty plug socket. It’s best to call the pros in for more complicated work.