Safety bananas

[Andre Majorel]

Could someone point me to a document explaining how safety
banana sockets work ? Probably supidity on my part but when I
look at models such as these

http://www.rapidonline.com/netalogue/photos/M078197W01.jpg

I have trouble understanding how they could possibly work with
normal, non-safety banana plugs.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Andre Majorel]

I got a page not found error, but I assume you mean safety plugs like
those found on newer DMMs???

Sorry, Rapid's web site is being worked on. Here's another one :

http://uk.farnell.com/productimages/farnell/standard/1011404-40.jpg

I looked at mine and there is no reason a non-safety type wouldn't touch
the internal conductor of the jack. In fact I tried it out and it
worked fine. Maybe *I* am missing something here, but they look and act
backwards compatible.

Seems the female contact is buried deep inside a plastic tube of
inner diameter 4 mm. It looks to me like the plastic body of a
non-safety plug would bump into the tube before the pin is fully
inserted in the female contact.

 

[Andre Majorel]

Yes, *some* of the plugs do not make full contact, but they do make
contact. A lot of replacement plugs actually have a little extra depth
to make up the difference.

These guys would NOT make full contact :
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103479

These guys would :
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103797

Ah, the female contact must not be buried that deep, then. Means
I can put safety sockets on my stuff and still use my old
non-safety leads if I have to. Thanks !