Review A Quick Comparison of Power Strips/Spike Guards/Extension Boards (Multipart Review/Guide)

Part1​

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The contenders:​

1. Fedus: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09XBD522D
2. Anchor: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00H7BI1BK
3. Nippo: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0BW5VDLV9
4. Wipro: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0B7X2625M

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Fedus Extension Board​

Out of these four, this is the highest-priced, but this isn't reflected in its quality. It's in the labour needed to manufacture it, as you'll see. Plastic quality is not good by any quantifier, whether weight, texture, or finish. But it does have a fuse holder, and this one came with three extra fuses. Switches are illuminated.



Rear:





Internals:





Bad design:





Solder quality (acceptable):





Plug and wire:





Findings:

• Cable is rated as having 23 strands of 0.0052, which is probably less than 0.5 sq mm.
• Overall construction is not very good, nor clean. Human hair and shavings were found inside.
• Internal wiring is not confidence-inspiring.
• Screws are rusty.

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Anchor by Panasonic Extension Board​

The most feature-rich of these four is at an excellent price. Fuse holder is a somewhat premium top-mount screw-type. Plastics are excellent and have a nostalgic texture and finish. Switches are non-illuminated.



Rear:





Internals:





Solder quality (excellent):





Plug and wire:





Findings:

• Cable is properly labelled and rated at 0.5 sqmm x 3 at 1100V
• Overall construction is above average, and assembly is clean, design is mature.
• Wiring detached from one socket, rendering it inoperable.
• Only three sockets have switches.
• Screws are yellow zinc plated.

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NIPPO 4KV Surge Protector​

Mis-labelled as a surge protector, this is a regular power strip without a fuse or protection. Quality is acceptable but unremarkable. Socket spacing is generous because of switch placement. This uses newer illuminated switches that simplify internal wiring. Basically a clone of the Wipro.



Rear:





Internals:





Solder quality (acceptable):





Plug and wire:





Findings:

• Cable is rated at 0.5 sq mm but has the thinnest insulation of all four.
• Overall construction is acceptable with obvious signs of cost optimisation (non-uniform silhouette).
• Wiring is acceptable, internal wires are silicon-insulated but not confidence-inspiring.
• Screws are bright zinc plated.

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Wipro Multi Socket Spike Guard​

Also mis-labelled, this is a basic power strip without a fuse or protection, a clone of the Nippo. Quality is acceptable but unremarkable. Socket spacing is generous because of switch placement. This uses newer illuminated switches that simplify internal wiring.



Rear:





Internals:





Solder quality (acceptable):





Plug and wire:





Findings:

• Cable is unrated and shows signs of bruising at the plug.
• Overall construction is acceptable with obvious signs of cost optimisation (non-uniform silhouette).
• Wiring is acceptable, internal wires are silicon-insulated but not confidence-inspiring.
• Screws are bright zinc plated.

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Summary of Part 1:​

None of these are particularly recommended; they're all a mild fire hazard in one way or the other (human hair and wire congestion in the Fedus, floating neutral wire in the Anchor and stray wire strands in both the Nippo and the Wipro). However, it could be argued that any electrical fault that may develop would be countered by an MCB or by the fault burning up before it could cause any significant damage. I'll leave the verdict up for you to decide on what's acceptable, hence the multitude of photos to draw your own conclusions.

The Anchor is very endearing, it has a retro charm, and I would be happy to have it somewhere non-critical. Probably in a place where I'd gaze upon it as I sip chai and reminisce about a life that revolved around dot matrix printers, before the internet.

The others are almost forgettable. The Wipro and Nippo can be serviceable if you're willing to have an electrician inspect it and maybe even consider redoing the internal wiring. I like their socket spacing so I'll be fixing them up for computer lab type use, like here I replaced the cable with a giant 16A plug that came with a power supply:

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More parts will be added to this thread as time and budget allows in the coming weeks/months.

 

[yugaaa]

Maybe 100% copper is not a good idea, and this might be the case why large companies don't use it.

The socket inside the female board is made of brass, and not copper, because even though the copper has the best conductive properties, it lacks in :-

1. Mechanical Strength - Pure copper is soft and can deform or lose shape after repeated use, which would make the socket loose and unsafe. Brass is harder and stronger than copper.
2. Resistance to Sparking and Wear - Brass generates less sparking than copper when contacts are made or broken.
3. Corrosion Resistance - Brass is more corrosion resistant than copper, especially in humid environments.
4. Cost - Brass is easier to machine and shape into precise socket holes.
5. Electrical Conductivity - While copper has better electrical conductivity than brass, brass still has good enough conductivity for standard electrical applications. The slight reduction in conductivity is acceptable in exchange for the increased durability.

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The sparking issue you are describing, probably has nothing to do with the socket material, it might be due to the shape of the socket.

See this is the normal standard Indian socket shape.

View attachment 238721

Perfectly round holes - Ideally all socket in the house should be of this type.

But where people make mistake, due to lack of understanding is, they put these following types of sockets in the house, because they think they will be able plug anything in these, and you also see these on extensions too.

View attachment 238722

Now these are meant to be compatible with all plug types and in doing so, this is the compromise - the spaces in them is so wide, such that when we plug our normal Indian male plug it wobbles or gets loose quickly and might cause sparking, if sparking is happening then heat is not far behind.

When you use the non-standard plugs in these they fit better than our normal plugs.

Ideally our female sockets should be of round type only, and if we have an appliance which has non-standard plug we should buy a adapter specifically for it, like this one.

View attachment 238724

It has the proper round pins at the back that will fit so nicely in our standard female sockets. Perfect contact everywhere.

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Now when you build your own extension board chances are you used the round shape female sockets, and it improved your sparking issue as oppose to using the ready made extensions, which try to be compatible with all plug types. Made you think that the socket material made the difference, but it is in fact the shape.

Of course I can be wrong. I don't know the full context.

Yes , you are right . The terminals are brass , inside the switches the contact surface is made of copper . Copper wears out faster due to sparking or higher current . Perfect round holes are Indian specs , but most of the adapters , plugs come in different standards . The multiple hole socket pic which you have posted is an international socket and it is perfectly ok if we have a non standard Indian plug .

 

[Ssreek]

How are Honeywell devices?
There seem to be lot of promise on spec sheet, that's seems even better compared to Belkin's.
Anyone using these?

 

[TEUser2K1]

Anyone using these?

Generally works fine. Had used Honeywell power extension which got damaged after ~3yrs use in humid & dusty environment. Opened and found they used a single strip of copper alloy plate as conduit. OP can find some info on YT also:

The Honeywell extension I mentioned had internals similar to:

 

[Party Monger]

I have nothing against any company . Nothing can be better than assembled one because you can get a wire for any length .The sockets are 100 % copper with adequate contact surface , you can have a mix of 2 pin , 3 pin sockets and the option of 5 amp or 15 amp sockets and switches in the same form factor . On one extension I have a 20mtr wire for the extension for my tools . Next the switches are capable of continuous 6 amps which can take any sort of tool and it is not restricted to just modems , monitors or low power cpus . The total cost of assembling is also cheaper for better quality that you get .
I do agree that it is bulkier but also stable with multiple plugs connected and the plugs do not come out at their will .

Obviously you buy it if it fits your needs man. For where it fits, I dont bother with anything else. It's sleek and works well.

 

[rsaeon]

Catching up on replies:

ie, if all 4 were working, would it be good ?

Yes, Anchor has the advantage of decades of iteration. The components are high quality. Soldering is the best I've seen, switches are satisfyingly clicky, and plastics are excellent. The design is mature, like using the fuse holder as part of the cable's strain relief. The in-built wiring tester adds incredible value. MX sells just that for Rs 250: https://www.amazon.in/Mx-Ac-Line-Fault-Detector/dp/B00HZL0NVS/ It is also a surge protector and has a built-in fuse. That's almost everything you'd want in a power strip, apart from indicators. It's the very definition of "cheap and best", except that it is cheap only in the sense of cost, not any other compromise.

Here is the GM Power Strip I am currently using for almost 5 years and these never gave any problem.
Model: GM 3060.

I didn't include GM because I'd be biased; they make good products. Years ago, they were considered a low-cost alternative to industry standards like Anchor, but they've improved significantly since. That power strip has an excellent strain relief, a resettable fuse, a properly rated master switch and clean bus-bar internal connections. The only detractor is the soldering quality, which I'd grade as acceptable.

Belkin and Honeywell also produce quality power extensions and surge protector.

I've yet to try Honeywell, but Belkin was the highest standard for a very long time. Just the fact that it had high-quality swithc and dark grey plastics was enough to set it apart from the rest.

Another model called GM 3061

Thank you for these photos, they've added individual switches to the previous design in a very elegant way and surge protection in a not-so-elegant way. Soldering quality is still acceptable, but I like everything else about this.

90 % of the strips do not have real copper terminals . Most have these nickel plated ones which are actually a huge risk

Copper will tarnish over time. Nickel-plated copper is how you'd get both the conductivity of copper and resilience for q high number of insertions. But from what I've seen, they're either a low-grade brass that's bare or plated. I think I have one that is copper, I'll look for it and add it later to the thread.

But for AC at low amperage, it could be argued that conductivity doesn't really matter; there are greater losses in transmission length.

The Chinese cannot produce something for cheap without compromising .

That was the consensus for a very long time, but after lockdown, the quality of their manufacturing increased significantly to the point where if you see something from China with questionable quality, it's likely that whoever commissioned that product had insisted on the lower quality to reach the profit margin they were targeting. Chinese factories are capable of high-quality manufacturing, but very few rebranding/white-label companies opt for it.

The Belkin ones were real copper terminals

True, I just checked one of mine. Copper terminals with brass bus bars. Really nice design inside.

And what's a reset button? Does it resets the functionality back in case it's tripped?

Yes. It's a resettable fuse, very useful and costs a lot more than just a fuse holder. Thanks for mentioning that, I'll be getting one for house use, it looks great.

 

[yugaaa]

Catching up on replies:



Yes, Anchor has the advantage of decades of iteration. The components are high quality. Soldering is the best I've seen, switches are satisfyingly clicky, and plastics are excellent. The design is mature, like using the fuse holder as part of the cable's strain relief. The in-built wiring tester adds incredible value. MX sells just that for Rs 250: https://www.amazon.in/Mx-Ac-Line-Fault-Detector/dp/B00HZL0NVS/ It is also a surge protector and has a built-in fuse. That's almost everything you'd want in a power strip, apart from indicators. It's the very definition of "cheap and best", except that it is cheap only in the sense of cost, not any other compromise.



I didn't include GM because I'd be biased; they make good products. Years ago, they were considered a low-cost alternative to industry standards like Anchor, but they've improved significantly since. That power strip has an excellent strain relief, a resettable fuse, a properly rated master switch and clean bus-bar internal connections. The only detractor is the soldering quality, which I'd grade as acceptable.



I've yet to try Honeywell, but Belkin was the highest standard for a very long time. Just the fact that it had high-quality swithc and dark grey plastics was enough to set it apart from the rest.



Thank you for these photos, they've added individual switches to the previous design in a very elegant way and surge protection in a not-so-elegant way. Soldering quality is still acceptable, but I like everything else about this.



Copper will tarnish over time. Nickel-plated copper is how you'd get both the conductivity of copper and resilience for q high number of insertions. But from what I've seen, they're either a low-grade brass that's bare or plated. I think I have one that is copper, I'll look for it and add it later to the thread.

But for AC at low amperage, it could be argued that conductivity doesn't really matter; there are greater losses in transmission length.



That was the consensus for a very long time, but after lockdown, the quality of their manufacturing increased significantly to the point where if you see something from China with questionable quality, it's likely that whoever commissioned that product had insisted on the lower quality to reach the profit margin they were targeting. Chinese factories are capable of high-quality manufacturing, but very few rebranding/white-label companies opt for it.



True, I just checked one of mine. Copper terminals with brass bus bars. Really nice design inside.



Yes. It's a resettable fuse, very useful and costs a lot more than just a fuse holder. Thanks for mentioning that, I'll be getting one for house use, it looks great.

Chinese make high as well as low quality products . For example if you buy a low cost SMPS power supply for a computer , they give a short power cord . The power cord looks thick and good enough . If you happen to strip it you will find barely a few strands and not real copper cores . If you get a dell or a HP power cord which also is manufactured in China , you can see real copper and less thicker insulation with good current carrying capability . So it depends on who is the buyer from China .

The belkin wire quality is very good with at least 1 sq.mm core .