Groovy powerpoints...

We have finished our kitchen splashback and it looks great. We used 300x600 honed rectified tiles, they have a matt grey finish. Amazingly they wipe clean really easily.

Anyway, I can't imagine putting just standard powerpoints back on. So I've been searching the net and have found some I like. I'm just wondering what people's opinions are, do you have these in your home, do they look classy or tacky?

HPM Linea in the earthy colours

http://www.hpm.com.au/Uploads/HPM_Linea ... lowres.pdf

Clipsal Saturn

http://www.clipsal.com/saturn/home

There were a couple of others but I can't find them now. I'd like to see them in person, do you know where? Do most electrical supply shops stock these sorts of powerpoints? I'm in Adelaide.

Thanks!

We've ordered Saturn for our main areas

Lots of us have used Saturn on H1. We have ours in the "public" area of the home. For the price of them we couldn't see the point in putting them everywhere (ie behind furniture / bathrooms / bedrooms etc).

Saturn have a few colours in their range now - from memory 3? White / Black / is it Ocean? We have the one I can't remember the name of LOL.

I can see saturn powerpoints working on glass splashbacks. but do they (white/ocean mist) stand out too much on white walls?

BBB - not sure, our walls aren't white.

Are your walls the same colour as your powerpoints? Or did you make your powerpoints a feature?

Nope we have taupe coloured walls - Sierra Snow by Wattyl so the power points are a feature (albeit a tiny one!).

But surely there is something other than Saturn... I like to have more to choose from. I guess the fancier they are the more you pay!

either the clipsal showroom in hilton (i think) or P&R Electrical Wholesalers should have a display board up, I know their Stepney branch has a good display section

I just went to P&R on South Road. All they had were catalogues. Their display board has been taken away because apparently they are all changing... so there might be something new to choose from!

don't think Clipsal are bring out anything "new" ... maybe purely upgrading thier dispaly boards more likey

I was in Ideal Electrical last week and they had some gorgeous glass type of switches. The photo was taken on my phone, so doesn't do it justice, but they are a glass looking outer and look fantastic! She said roughly $100 each ... though I might have misheard as I had my 'helpers' with me making too much noise.

Hi!
Could you please advise me. When electrician work in my kitchen and put a new wire on the wall I ask him when will be install power point normal one next week can I change later on to the Clipsal? He said no problem at all. We talking about put on glass splashback. But when I’ve been a few days ago in electric shop the shop assistant said me the backsplash glass need to cut specifically for a Clipsal not like for normal power point.
Who is right? Do I need to buy Clipsal switched sockets Before or I can change plastic one later on????
Problem is I still don’t know which colour of splashback I prefer. Shop assistant said he can order for me any colour from Dulax. But It may take up to 3 weeks. It’s not a problem if I can change plastic one later on. But if not?
Please help me.
Thanks

When you have the splashback cutouts for the outlets done, see that they are cut to the maximum possible size to allow the power outlets to fit within the confines of the mounting centres and high enough to allow for the mechanisms.

What outlets are you currently getting? The HPM, PDL and Clipsal double outlets are roughly the same dimensions on the back.

Thanks a lot! But now I don't have anything. Kitchen was removed and electric things were prepare for next stage to install. By contract they will put some chip staff. Better of to buy proper switched sockets and show to the man who will do the glass. He will next week do check meger. Glass will be done hopefully in April.

Ocean mist looks fine on white walls as it isn't actually white, it has a greenish tint to it, hence the name. They now have a true white colour that might look a bit much though, but guess some people would like that.

There are two things I dislike about Saturn. Firstly if your wall is not 100% true then sometimes the wall plate will warp a little meaning the glass cover plate doesn't fit right. Over tightening the mounting screws does the same thing. The 2nd is the mounting frames, which are generally purchased separately, are designed for the plate to be mounted vertically. Fine for light switches (if you like them that way, personally I like them horizontal), but for power points that are horizontal it means that on the right side you have two holes to allow for plate removal which can look a tad ugly.

As for alternatives to Saturn, Clipsal has quite a lot of other options. Ranging from metal cover plates for their Classic 2000 series plates (these have the full cover, whereas the standard 2000 series is just an outter frame) thru to the Saturn range. The metal plates are cheap and look pretty good depending upon your colour scheme. Have a look at their power point/light switch page here: http://www.clipsal.com.au/homeowner/pro ... d_switches

My Saturns were delivered from the wholesaler today and I felt like a kid at Christmas opening them up- it is ridiculous to think how much joy material possessions can bring! Anyway, I originally planned to only get them on my black glass splashback in the kitchen but then I just kept wanting more and more. I pushed the hubby to get the light switches in Saturn in the ‘open’ areas of the house and from there it wasn’t much more to get the light switches done in Saturn everywhere as we only have a 3 bedroom home. Then I got even cheekier and ordered the power points in the Bathroom and Ensuite in Saturn as well. So in the end we have Saturn light switches everywhere except in the WIP and Garage and power points to Bathrooms only. Paid about $900 for the privilege but it’s money well spent for the big wow factor. They suit our colour scheme perfectly too as we have grey walls with gloss white woodwork- we want them to stand out as we have a bit of a ‘show’ home. You can program the LED light to be on constantly or when the light is either switched on or off. We will have them on constantly as we have a few 2 way switches so the either on or off option would not work. We were going to buy them from http://www.ozwidelighting.com.au/ as their prices are even cheaper then wholesale trade prices but hubby is a sparky with an account at Middys so we got them price matched.




RaryGirl, the photo you have there is of a Legrand Arteor switch (http://www.arteor.com.au/). They are newer than the Saturns and there are many more different faceplate designs and colours. They are more slimmer than the Saturns and look nicer from the side with the nice curved chrome detail but I don’t really like how the centre of the faceplate is just a normal grey switch plate- unlike the fancy Saturn LED push buttons. Also, Saturns are the standard size that we are all used to and the Arteors are much bigger. Hubby tells me that Clipsal have the better reputation for quality too (HPM is owned by Legrand). I took the photo below of a different Arteor design from a display home. I never got them priced so I can’t help you there.




AJW, I wish the two gaps in the mounting frame were not there but it is not something that would put me off them and lucky for me, my walls are plumb, square and level. What bothers me more is the 'Clipsal' logo on the bottom of the power points.

Clipsal is owned by Schindler (A French company like Legrand) and now does a lot of it's manufacturing in China. Have noticed over the years the quality of their products has dropped off somewhat too. Haven't looked at any HPM Legrand products in a while, but before they were owned by Legrand and manufactured in Aus they weren't too bad either. These new switches from them look pretty nice actually and my guess is they would be a little bit cheaper than Saturn owing to the fact they appear to have used standard switch mechanisms.



Agree for most it wouldn't put them off, (it hasn't put me off either), but as I said for a top end product it is disappointing they choose to put them where they can be seen. I would have thought that when they brought out the power points in particular which are almost always horizontal mounted they would have designed it so the cover release clips were underneath not on the side, especially with the quad GPO. I mean to say they had a more or less blank canvas to work with as it seems the power points share little in way of design to the C-bus Saturn light switches which were the first Saturn products released which Clipsal seem to want people to install vertical for some reason.

Have one quick question as you clearly have the 240V light switch range. Are the cover plates on these switches glass or acrylic? The reason I ask is my first foray into Satun was 3 years ago when I replaced some of my C-bus switches with Saturn and these use real glass on the facia. Recently I did up the kitchen and got some GPO's, but these have acrylic facia's. So am curious as to what the 240V light switches use if they are glass or acrylic.

I believe only cbus switches have real glass fascia. The non cbus are just plastic.

My sparky said he was going to speak to clipsal about the backing plates as you have to tighten them a bit otherwise they will move, but then they don't sit flush properly. He said they need some sort of bracing on the back and it would solve the problem.

Yep, the non c-bus ones are plastic.