ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades "Esoteric" countries and their wiring practices?

C-H,
Nice to see a database linked with power, TV and telephone standards all available together!

Re the voltage discrepancies, I've found that many of the compiled lists contain errors or omissions. The Kropla list is probably about the best, but it still has a few quirks.

Sven,
It's a bit silly to say that Australia AND New Zealand are being represented in the ECN Forums, considering that there are no people from Australia, contributing to ECN, the reasons for this, I am not sure, may-be they are too frigging ignorant, this is at their own peril!.

I just started writing up pages with descriptions of all the plugs in use. I do have much of the information in my head, but it does take some time to write it down.

Anybody who feels like writing up a good description of the type G (British 13A) so that people understands how it works and why you shouldn't open the shutter with a pen to insert a Europlug in the socket? (Something about ring mains)

The other little problem I have is the Indian and South African plugs. If I have understood things correctly (unlikely in this case) the Indian plug (D) is the old 5A BS 546 and the South African (M) is the old 15A. (Although both plugs exist in both countries)

Can anyone check that I got the dimensions right on this drawing?


(Drawing resized for your viewing pleasure)

[This message has been edited by Webmaster (edited 01-04-2003).]

Trumpy:

The reason I said New Zealand/Australia was because of the two countries' proximity and common language and wiring norms.

Kind of like USA/Canada/Mexico, Austria/Germany, UK/Eire.

I don't have the BS546 specs. to hand, but your dimensions match up with the BS546 plugs I've just measured, as near as I can get it!

The reason for not jamming a "Euro" plug into a BS1363 socket is that many such outlets will be on a 30A ring circuit. As the cord attached to the Euro plug may be as small as 0.75 sq. mm, the 30A fuse/MCB in a British panel would not offer proper protection against short circuits.

Another reason is that the contacts weren't designed to accept round-pin plugs, and therefore might not make good contact.

And of course, if you try to jam in a Schuko of French-style grounding plug, there will be no ground/earth connection.




[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 01-03-2003).]

Despite that they get jammed into BS1363 sockets (in Ireland anyway) all the time ! Screwdriver (or pencil!!!) or anything that happens to be to hand at the time jammed into the earth "hole" and shove the euro plug in.

So much for fuses!

C-H,

The 16A one in front of me - made in South Africa with a South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) mark on it has slightly longer live and neutral pins - just shorter than 21 mm. I never realised before that they were exactly an inch apart!. The earth pin is slightly thinner at 8.6 mm.

If you want one for your collection C-H, email me an address off list and I’ll send you one. I’ve got a few here and they’re not that much use to me in NEMA land!

Echo that from me. I have some spare old BS546 plugs in 2, 5 and 15A varieties if you're interested.

I've managed to get the drawings of some plugs onto the page. I noticed something peculiar when doing this: The Israeli plug has virtually the same dimensions as the other European plugs. I'm not going to accept that pins on 19 mm centres and 4.8 mm diametre are some God-given dimension. There must be a reason for this design. Were French or German plugs used in Israel at one point? Then the flattening of the pins on the Israeli plug would make sense, to prevent you from inserting these plugs.

Hutch: This plug is polarized, can be equipped with insulating sleevs and has pins that won't bend! You can even have the earth up, if you want to. (I doubt the Arab countries would adopt it though )

This plug also resembles the "Middle Eastern" plug Sven told us about.



[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 01-05-2003).]

Here are some drawings and other information courtesy of Sony:
http://www.sony.jp/ServiceArea/Voltage_map/list.html

Hope that helps.