With a myriad of styles and finishes available for wiring accessories, Marie Parry, group marketing director, Scolmore Group, looks at what makes simple, white accessories the bread and butter for the electrical contractor and why wholesalers should be stocking them.
There has never been a wider choice of styles and finishes in wiring accessories available, giving end users the opportunity to reflect the latest trends for interior design in the switches and sockets that they choose. One of Scolmore’s most significant new product developments in recent years saw the launch of a range of premium, decorative metal wiring accessories – Deco Plus. However, despite the huge success of Deco Plus, for Scolmore it is the Click Mode range of white wiring accessories that remains the company’s best-selling wiring accessories collection to date.
The Mode range was conceived and developed as a high quality, flexible and modern solution for virtually any domestic wiring requirement. The smooth, contemporary lines of the Mode accessory plate will fit easily into traditional and contemporary designs alike and the modular design allows installers unprecedented flexibility in creating dedicated wiring solutions to deal with specific wiring needs.
When selecting wiring accessories installers have often had to compromise their schemes as they have been unable to identify a suitably flexible solution to satisfy their ideas. Mode accessories have been providing that flexibility, with a comprehensive selection of products ranging from the humble light switch and socket outlet through to more specialised products dealing with the very latest developments in telephone and satellite products.
Scolmore has continued to invest in this range since it was originally launched, introducing products in visually contrasting versions to meet with Part M regulations. In 2016 the company added the award-winning Mode locating plug socket to the range. It was designed to assist people with impaired vision or poor hand to eye coordination to insert a plug more easily into a socket. The contoured shape of the front plate guides the earth pin into position, and it is this plug guide which gives the product a greater focus on usability and means its use can be extended to situations where a socket isn’t easily accessible.
The locating plug socket is available in one and two-gang options, with the two-gang version featuring outboard rockers to further assist with distinguishing between switches, making it less likely to switch the wrong one.
Other innovations for the range include the addition of USB sockets – now available in one- and two-gang, and single and twin USB options. With the twin USB option, both USB charging ports are capable of delivering 5V 2.1A simultaneously. This allows for optimum charging of two devices at the same time, without fear of fluctuations in the power supply interfering with the charging process. Unlike some products on the market, the total power available is 4.2A, thus allowing both ports to deliver 2.1A at the same time, so you are guaranteed optimum charge every time, regardless of the devices being charged.
In 2018 a 3-pin safety shutter socket, which exceeds the required safety standards, was launched. It features a safety shutter that cannot be operated using only one terminal - it requires correct insertion of all three pins of a standard UK plug.
The launch last year of an in-house laser etching service, adds another dimension to Scolmore’s Mode range. The module etching is done using a specially acquired laser printer, which produces a precise, permanent, fine marking effect and offers flexibility to suit large volume orders or for customised jobs. This in-house facility allows Scolmore to offer a fully bespoke service to customers, who can order customised laser etched modules to suit the range of projects they are working on. 14 of the most popular printed legends will be produced – including dishwasher, cooker hood, washing machine, fridge freezer.
All of Scolmore’s white moulded and Mode Part M wiring accessories are manufactured using Urea Formaldehyde, which has similar inherent properties to antimicrobial additives that inhibit the growth of infectious diseases. All products independently tested achieved a 99.99% kill off rate across all four types of the strains of bacteria - MRSA, E-Coli, Salmonella and Klebsiella Pneumoniae.
Products from the Mode range have been specified and installed across a huge range of applications including schools, hospitals, care homes, hotels, offices and leisure complexes.
In the most recent application, Mode was chosen by a candidate on Grand Designs to meet some very specific requirements. Toby Leeming has been living with a suppressed immune system following a bone marrow transplant and life-saving treatment for Leukaemia. With the help of Grand Designs, he embarked on his long-held ambition to build his dream family home. This required some careful consideration, particularly when it came to choosing materials and fittings that wouldn’t compromise his health, and Scolmore’s Mode antimicrobial wiring accessories provided a fitting solution for the electrical installation for his ambitious build.
The house was designed to incorporate features beneficial to Toby’s on-going well-being and health. With some 370 square metres of accommodation to contend with, a huge quantity of wiring accessories was needed for the electrical installation. After much research, Scolmore’s Mode wiring accessories were personally chosen by Toby specifically for their antimicrobial benefits, and switches and sockets have been installed throughout the six-bedroom, single-storey courtyard house. More than 80 x 13Amp sockets, 22 x 5Amp sockets, plus a quantity of 1, 2, 3 and 4 gang switches, dimmers, new media sockets, shaving sockets, oven switches and extractor fan overrides from the Mode range have been installed.
Comments Toby: “I had been considering other options to work with the interior décor, such as copper accessories, but these proved to be very expensive. As well as meeting those vital health requirements, I really liked the minimalist and simple stylish look that Mode offered.”