Electrical – Is this 230V steampunk metal robot lamp safe

electricallampsafetythe-netherlandswire

I bough a steampunk robot lamp from ebay. It is made out of (painted) metal fittings. After receiving it, I was a little concerned regarding safety and disassembled it. The plug suggests that this is a class II appliance, but the individual wires aren't double insulated and just connected via wire nuts. Is this safe? If not, what would be the best action?

I couldn't find any CE mark on the lamp. They also supply a super cheap looking 5W LED bulb, which has a CE marking on the package (but not on the bulb).

I kind of expected that this item would be safe, because it shipped from the Netherlands and therefore should conform to EU safety standards (it isn't like I'm directly importing it from China).

Update: I contacted the seller and according to him this is "not a problem", but they offered me to return the product (to a German warehouse).

Very regrettable. The European plug is like this, the product is no
problem, If you need to return the product, please install it and send
it to this address: Ma Kun (Jbingo) Tilburgstrasse NSR GMBH. 15, 41751
Wilson ☆Note: Please write down the product number, order number and
eBay buyer ID on the paper, and put it in the return package so that
our warehouse can identify it, thank you. ☆ Please provide us with a
photo of the tracking number or logistics ticket, and then we will
refund you in full. Thank you for your understanding and wait for your
reply. Greetings

What a strange arangement. The seller is a Chinese company that ships the item from the Netherlands (according to the product description) and has a warehouse for returns in Germany. This sounds to me like an intresting way to get around safety laws and to be unreachable for any lawsuits.

robot lamp
wirering of robot lamp
lamp screw
missing strain relief
metal fittings

Best Answer

It's dangerous. You've spotted one important flaw but it can combine with others to make a really dangerous product.

I originally suspected it was made in Europe by someone with more interest/knowledge in the sculptural aspect than the electrical one, but I've since spotted contact details in China for the seller. Either way it shouldn't be sold.

Here's why (as I only have a little training in designing stuff for mains, and haven't inspected it, this list isn't exhaustive):

  • It needs be earthed (assuming the metal really is metal and not plastic).
  • Wire nuts are rare in Europe and any decent solution shouldn't need tape.
  • Secondary securing on the wires near the joints is a good idea, even required in some cases but needs to be much more solid than tape.
  • I doubt the wire is properly strain-relieved where it goes into the assembly. This is now confirmed by the 4th picture. The wire nuts will take the strain of any pull on the cable, and the edges of the cable hole can abrade the insulation.

This adds up to a dangerous and easily foreseeable failure mode where you trip over the cable, rip the live out of the wire nut, it touches the pipes, making them live, you pick up the lamp, you wake up in hospital - if you're lucky.

I've been known to cut corners for something I'm using myself, but not to anything like this extent, and certainly not for something that's going to be used by others.

These days the preferred solution would be an external low voltage power supply (complying with the regulations and safe on the output), but it could be built safely for mains operation - it just hasn't been.

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