ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Some products from Eastern Europe

If the duplex looks the same as our duplexes inside it's not polarised, since there's only one set of phase and neutral conductors each, with one screw on each side.
Whether shuttering is required or not depends on where you live. Only IP44 and higher outlets are shuttered here in Austria, as well as imported power strips. Italian receptacles are always shuttered, Swiss hardly ever or never are.
Eek! That's definitely the ugly stone-age 3phase plug we were talking about some time ago. I had no idea these beasts were still used anywhere. I was told these plugs caused a lot of electrocutions due to the scraping ground loosing contact.

Like Ragnar said, shuttering seems to be country specific. In Sweden, all socket have shutters except IP44 and higher outlets and imported power strips. Modern Danish sockets have shutters.

(I think all sockets should have shutters. But that is another topic.)

One type of socket that puzzels me is the IP 44 ungrounded.



I have seen a number of manufacturers with similar products.

Which country is still using that?

I would have thought that CEE 17 is the only type manufactured thesedays.

I came across a really weird blade plug on a heater in Spain. From what I remember it was 1 phase just 3 horizontal blades

like

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Anyone know what it was?

Djk,
do you mean this plug and socket?





25A 250V. Used for cookers. (In Sweden too)

That's the one, the only difference was that the outlet was mounted vertically and the plug was configured so that the cord came out the bottom when inserted vertically.

Not a bad design at all for a pan-european model either.

You could have a 16A and 25A version where the 16 fits the 25 but not visa versa.

I don't think fusing plugs down to suit an applience is a bad idea either. Although I hate the British approach which is both bulky and bypassable (fusing 13 amps on things that should use 3amps etc)

I'd suggest a small slot in keyed cartridge fuse.
Small plugs for small loads would only need tiny 3 amp fuses anyway, something along the lines of those used in cars.

Larger appliences could have physically bigger plugs that carrier larger (potentially hotter) fuse cartridges.
These should be non-interchangable making it impossible to over-fuse an applience.

Just make sure it's incompatable with NEMA

Use the keying on the socket to ensure polarity that way you don't comprimise the pins strength/capacity to carry current by making one larger than the other etc.

That looks a very similar arrangement of pins to the proposed European standard 16A plug of the 1970s that I mentioned in another thread.

The one there, however, had polarization by having the ground pin slightly offset to one side (or upward in the case of the photo of the socket above).

Paul:

They're actually in line from what i remember of the Spanish version but there are keyways on the top of the plug making it impossible to insert it the wrong way around.

By chance I discovered that one of the large D-I-Y chains have begun selling Elda's sockets and switches.

Of course I bought a socket and took it apart. It's the shucko version, but it should be very similar to the Polish/French version.

The quality is clearly better than that of the Swedish-made low cost sockets with which it competes. (Many of those are broken already on the shelf.) Not as good as the quality sockets, but it only costs half as much. More importantly, although this chain only carries the sockets and switches, ELDA manufactures the full range with dimmers, switches, computer sockets, combination frames and so on.