On the subject of power strips, here is a earlier thread on the subject. In that thread I said,
I have a power strip rated for 15 A. I took it apart. As you can see, the hot contacts for the six receptacles are tied together using a stamped, elongated metal strip. There’s an identically-looking strip used for the neutral contacts. Each strip contains spring tabs for making electrical connections to the prongs of each plug. It looks like the spring tabs are made using a punch and die.
I don’t know what the strips are made of. They look like they’re brass, though I’m not sure if they’re solid brass or if they’re solid copper with some kind of plating (brass or nickel plating?).
In pics 7, 8, and 9 I insert a plug into the contacts. I’m not an ME, but I am skeptical the spring force can remain constant after many years of use based on this design. It just looks very sub-par in my book.
There is a UL sticker on the enclosure. I assume this means it complies with UL 1363, which also means each of the six receptacles must meet UL 498 requirements. According to UL 1363, if a 15 A load is plugged into one of the six receptacles, the temperature rise of the electrical contacts should not exceed 30 °C above ambient.
So yea, my power strip should be O.K. when the load current is 15 A. But something still bothers me about it. I have heard quite a few stories (albeit anecdotal) about power strips melting or catching fire. Regular 120 V / 15 A wall receptacles (NEMA 5-15R / UL 498) do not seem to have this reputation.
So let’s compare a power strip to a standard 15 A/120 VAC wall receptacle. Here is a folder showing how I took apart a brand new 15 A/120 VAC wall receptacle. Note the large size of the contacts and “real” looking springs. I also noticed the insertion force was significantly greater when compared to the power strip.
So power strips might meet spec when they’re new, but I suspect the contact force decreases over time due to a crappy & cheap design.