ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Which plug is most common?

Paul,

It looks exactly like the one in the first picture but the little barrier strip on mine doesn't have the notches - just a plain plastic "wall".

I can understand the first one being "outlawed", but the two white ones with the screw and nut holding them together do meet the updated regs that you mention(requiring a plug that can only be taken apart with a tool).

I guess if I'm living in the UK and the molded-on shaver plug gets damaged, I'd have to go to Maplins and pick up one of these:



and plug it into one of these:





Are the white plugs available from real electrical suppliers or not at all anymore?

Pretty difficult to damage one of those moulded on versions! Unless you really try using tools!

Pins are unbendable, it would survive being run over with a car..

Much more likely that you'd break the shaver/toothbrush attached so i guess the replacements are not exactly hot sellers.

A rewirable Europlug would work fine though

Well, if you fitted that U.S.-style plug from Maplin, you might not even need the adapter. Quite a lot of the xfmr-isolated shaver outlets here will accept American, British, and Continental (Euro) plugs. Some take Australian as well, and some provide 110V as well as 240V.

There might be someone still making or importing the old 2-pin plugs, but they're not in any of the major manufacturers' catalogs anymore (3-pin BS546 plugs and outlets are still available, however).

Options for tracking them down:

(a) A second-hand/junk/thrift shop, where there might be a drawer full of old electrical plugs and switches. Just make sure the one you pick up has all its fixing screws etc.

(b) Garage sale - Ditto.

(c) Some electronics nut who has boxes of all sorts of things lying around! (Did I have someone in mind? Maybe... )

(d) An old back-street electrical dealer who has been there for decades and probably still has a box full out the back.

Going off topic a little, but sadly, these "old-time" shops are few and far between these days, and those that are left are often in what are now rather run-down parts of town that you might not think of visiting.

There's one in Great Yarmouth, about 20 miles from here, and he still has all sorts of new-old-stock items in the back. Funnily enough, a couple of hundred yards further up the road is another old-style shop for domestic appliance parts. Want a spare bag for a 35-year-old vacuum cleaner, or a replacement water pump for that 1965 washing machine? He probably has one, or knows someone who can get one.

It's not a nice part of town to visit these days, though I imagine that being in the very low-rent district is the only way that these shops have survived into this modern age.


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 05-13-2003).]

Here's a typical U.K. molded-on shaver plug. This is a later type - Note the partially shielded pins:

It's not quite legible in the image, but this plug is actually stamped "Remington."

"I liked it so much, I took a photo of the plug!"

(With apologies to our Continental friends who might not understand that last bit!)

Isn't there a weird BS cable coupling unit too?

3 short stubby round pins with the earth slightly off centre..

Seen it used here anyway.

Yup...these things:

5-amp 3-pin version:


There's also a two-pin version - this is for 10 amps:



What's the point of these anyway? Why not use conventional BS-1363 connetors if you want to make an extension cord? Or is this for internal connections for appliances, machinery, etc.?


[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 05-15-2003).]

They're used to couple equipment a lot.

Lawn mowers and garden equipment for example. A short cable dangles off the mower with a plug and you have lead with a socket.

BS1363 isn't very suitable for that kinda thing because it can't easily be pulled apart.

Often irish garden equipement comes with Schuko plugs and a BS1363 (with RCD) plug to a tough rubber schuko socket.

If for some reason you need to quickly disconnect BS1363 it just doesn't happen.. they won't pull out of a socket unless you grip the plug and pull.

They also limit what can be plugged into a "coupling" to the applience only.

Those couplers have been common in the U.K. for many years on appliances such as lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, and so on.

Another reason for using them in preference to BS1363 extensions is the rating of the cord. Far too many people will try to use any BS1363-equipped cord to run anything they can plug into it, including a 3kW fan heater! Although smaller gauge BS1363 extensions will come equipped with a 3 or 5A fuse in its plug, we all know how often that gets replaced with a 13A type.

At least the use of these "dedicated" extension discourages such abuse with high-power appliances.

I've noticed that quite a lot of the latest garden equipment sold in Britain comes with latching IEC-style connectors these days. In some cases, there is no cord attached to the appliance at all -- Just a molded IEC plug in the casing for the attachment of the cord.

Yeah the IEC connectors seem to be very popular with manufacturers. Most Bosch gear here still comes with one of those "contour" schuko plugs on a short lead though. You get a rewirable very very tough black rubber schuko trailing socket wired to a bright orange cable with a moulded on BS1363 plug though.

Highly unlikely someone will plug anything else into it over here in Ireland but it could easily happen in the rest of Europe.

Those IEC connectors are prob. a better sollution as they're totally incompatable with anything else unless someone decides to use a Flymo lead to boil a kettle on the lawn! (Which wouldn't at all supprise me)

A lot of garden equipment also ships with RCD plugs fitted as standard too.

Heck, you remind me I've got to fix my Flymo! My aunt tries to get something like a lawn after we had a bulldozer going around in our back yard last year (they dug a trench around the foundation to seal it) and my cousin keeps bugging me to mow the lawn. Until now I could get her off by telling her mowing would rip the grass out, but I guess now it's really time.
My Flymo is a weird thing with a makeshift motor casing made of an old aluminum cooking pot and the mounting strips of the pot (thin sheet metal) tore out where they were fastened to the pot. Now I've got to screw them back together with huge washers. At least the Flymo was for free