in a previous video we had the great pleasure of launching the Rapid Fix socket from MK and we'd
like to respond to some of the questions that that video threw up what we going for Gordon
the main one was Gary some electricians thought they could still tighten screw terminals faster
than these screwless terminals so that meant only one thing we'd have to pass it over to one of our
tame electricians who's currently the leader of our electricians challenge so it's time to hand
this socket over to Ross Sands swinging into the commentary box to join me it's the Indiana Jones
of the electrical industry how are you doing mate very good well let me start by explaining
the challenge we have in front of us we have pre-stripped those 2.5 millimetre solid conductors
in the dado rail trunking and all ross has to do is connect them to the screw terminals in the
first half of this challenge and the screwless ones in the second half of the challenge don't
have to screw this socket back to the dado or trunking so we are literally comparing the time
it takes to connect screw terminals to screwless terminals yeah we've removed any variables the
stripping variable putting the front back on it could be a case you drop a screw and it
isn't a direct like for like comparison between screw and screw the socket outlets then we're on
the first one only completed so it's going to take some time to get through these five yeah
so we have seen Ross on the channel before if you haven't seen Ross in action on our electrician's
challenge well i recommend you check that out if you would like a go yourself he is the person to
beat and has been for some time we did have some other contractors in as well Gary have a crack at
the challenge as well don't we yeah so with this is not obviously there's ten people had to go at
this we can do a comparison with just one person and it was interesting those results that came
out of it but as we're going through here we still don't know whether he's going to be quicker with
the screwed terminals or those uh screwless ones do we but i'm sure in our own mind we've probably
already got a conclusion yeah well we had to go on them and uh yeah we found it to be a pretty quick
option but what about that other question we get back from people Gary that other comment
when it comes to this type of terminal well it's de-skilling the industry so of course as
electricians and trades people we want to make our life as difficult as possible we must have i don't
know rebelled against removing the use of a horse when automotive vehicles came along we rebelled
against the use of battery tools maybe electric tools before that because all of those things
were maybe just skilling our industry making it easier nobody wants an easy life at work do they
no i said i just get up in the morning i think actually i want to have a really difficult day
of the day so i put the Wago 221's to one side and search down at their wholesale counter to
see if they've got any of those old brown junction boxes you used to have on the ring
final circuit Gary yeah absolutely and you think about those Wago 221 and the equivalent family
of connectors they're a little bit more expensive than those choccy block 5 amp 15 30 amp connectors
but nobody bothered because we fell in love with them they're so easy to use and they make
a fantastic electrical connection but we're still hearing people rebelling against moving away from
a screw those people who go to work on a horse i would suggest yeah we'll see that play out as this
range develops hopefully we'll see these terminals in other things such as light switches such as
fuse spurs such as the metal clad sockets well i think the next logical place it should be going is
inside a consumer unit i don't see why we're doing screws in there we could be in there obviously
with our screwless terminals i think we've also explored that and with the our good friends on
the continent are already doing it are they Gordon yeah yeah they almost laugh at us when they see
some of our electrical equipment because they've had screwless sockets and have had screwless
consumer units for some considerable time wow it's about time we caught up then isn't it as we move
towards this screwless adventure that we've all imparted on thanks to MK so just these CPC's to go
in all five socket outlets will be completed these are the MK logic plus sockets so we've gone again
like for like for manufacture as well and Ross is just about to press that button in about three
days and two hours and 26 minutes wooo just before we get into Ross taking on the screwless terminals
on this rapid fix socket Gary the other comment we got back from a lot of you was they're struggling
when it comes to price point i would suggest those people probably aren't MK users in the first place
but there is a chance to jump in because we've reviewed the MK bass range we've done a deep
dive into that range we'll leave a link in the description to the three videos we made on that
and it gives you a chance to say level up your installation by installing MK electrical
accessories but let's not let's not waste any more time let's jump over and see how quick Ross can be
when screws aren't involved so i'm not flying Solo in this second commentary session yes i'm joined
once again by the Indiana Jones of the electrical industry i don't know where you get that from Gary
but uh here we go Ross is into the screwless contact of the MK Rapid Fix here and i suggest
the name somehow gives it away this looks pretty rapid to me yeah and just a quick word of warning
that you don't need to lift all three of the levers say for the line neutral or CPC in order
to make one or two connections it's just i think Ross is finding it quicker just to lift them all
and find a hole and push it in yeah you said he's got sausage fingers there you go
suggesting i would suggest a little bit of moisturizer wouldn't go a miss he's also a keen
uh off-roader on his motorbike does it out of the weekends i think those hands are signs of a bike
that's been apart many times yeah that's it but they're not holding them back here so again dead
easy these sockets just lift the lever up push the conductor in and close the lever and that is
it as you're watching this would you suggest yourself your mind's going i'd rather be screwing
them down is that what your mind's telling you no i'm thinking this could be the future i think a
lot of people will like this approach yeah so do we and i'm sure it's going to be in a wider range
i'm sure MK will put it into the fuse connection unit the light switches etc as we move forward
it's in the socket outlets at the moment and we can already see the massive benefit that those
connections are making you know they're all at the same torque setting effectively i know the
tension of those springs are all the same that's it yeah pressure Gary we've got a CPD coming out
on torque it's rotational nothing to do with lever connectors so everything's the same so every time
you put it in okay nothing's gonna obviously break over screwing connectors yeah i've done it before
myself and i screw too tight into a conductor it can break that's where we get our open ring final
circuits when we're testing i would suggest the last one here just about going to be done
quick i think Ross has left us in no doubt there with these two times the screwed time versus the
screwless one that looks about a 50 saving to me yeah so many electricians out there think
they are still quicker when it comes to using screw terminals compared to the rapid fix you
are more than welcome to pop up and have a go at our electricians challenge you may even beat Ross
and we did have more than one person take on that challenge we showed that one we actually had 10
contracting electricians from here in the Skipton area attempting it didn't we yeah we did and uh
yeah Ross was the fastest and we had yeah but all times were similar when it comes to that time
saving so so when you say similar all of them were faster using the rapid fix socket yes absolutely
there's one more thing we want to have a look on the back of the socket that people brought
up it's those two test points isn't it yes it was yeah people said how do i test the socket
because obviously you can't probe it onto screw terminals but if you look MK thought of that
there are two test positions there where you can get a small tip probe and access the live and
neutral terminals in there okay the thought of everything i would suggest however it's
still being a case that you do not want to go over to the screwless socket outlet it might be
the price point that's causing you an issue and that circles back to this the MK base range and
i strongly recommend they check out those links in the description as always we'll be interested
in your feedback can you leave it in the comments below we'll try and get back to as many as we can
you