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Joined: Mar 2005
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I see a poster quotes "forcing a round pin UK plug" into an Americal receptacle. I doubt that many round pin 5A plugs have been fitted to UK appliances for several decades. I'd bet it was a faulty adaptor. A BS1363 13A plug would need a stick of dynamite to force into an American recept.... Hey, perhaps that's what apertained...
Wood work but can't!
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Joined: Dec 2001
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Unless both TV and DVD player were live chassis and connected via the shield of the RCA cable I can't see how polarity could possibly have been an issue here.
Probably the TV went up in smoke when the fire caused by a wobbly adaptor spread far enough to reach it. The stick of dynamite sounds pretty reasonable too though.
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Polarity was most definitely not the issue as any DVD player sold in the UK would comply with European standards, which would include no-sensitivity to polarity as they have to be safely connectable using CEE 7 family of plugs which are not polarised.
Also, most DVD players have a figure of 8 connector on the back which cannot be polarised.
Also I have no idea how anyone could insert a UK plug into a NEMA 15A socket outlet. They're very physically different devices.
It's also completely impossible to bend or twist BS1363 or older BS546 pins. They're solid brass and pretty serious bits of machined metal. They won't bend or deform, even if you took a sledge hammer to them. The plug would break first!
I can only conclude that someone was using a dangerous adaptor or some kind of plug-in transformer.
These devices need to be regulated to comply with UL or CE type certification regimes.
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Joined: Dec 2001
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Do you really trust China-made DVD players? Seriously I guess the adaptor or transformer shorted. Jokingly I still like the dynamite best! I don't think the poster who wrote about the "round pin UK plug" was in any way involved in the affair and just mixed up BS1363 and Euro plugs (thought the UK used Euro too).
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Joined: Sep 2003
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I don't think the poster who wrote about the "round pin UK plug" was in any way involved in the affair and just mixed up BS1363 and Euro plugs (thought the UK used Euro too).
Correct. The comments are made by readers registered with the web site. Not much detail to go on,but this is the first time I have heard of a 230V appliance smoking up from being connected to a 120V outlet. Thanks for everyone's input on the matter.
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Joined: Nov 2002
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I noticed that the date of the article was April Fool's Day, FWIW. Anyway,
Most DVD players and similar consumer electronics usually have power supplies that can accept any powerline between 100V to 250V 50 or 60Hz. Usually a switching power supply that automatically adjusts itself to whatever line voltage it finds itself supplied with. This allows China to ship the same product to anywhere in the world, and all they need do is supply a detachable power cord with the destination's power plug. This means that that DVD player should have had no problem with 120V vs 240V. Another issue would be the British video signal is PAL (25 frames a second) and America used NTSC (30 frames a second), but a TV set shouldn't burn out with the wrong signal.
It was probably just a bad plug adapter (bad contact making it hot and catch smoke).
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Joined: Dec 2001
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It was probably just a bad plug adapter (bad contact making it hot and catch smoke). Must have been a seriously bad contact given the usual current draw of a DVD player. Maybe it even shorted, that could well cause a fire. I mean I ran a hair dryer on a seriously wobbly adaptor and it didn't even become hot, even though it was awfully close to falling out of the NEMA 5-15 outlet! (if I remember correctly 1200W 120V or maybe even more). (In case eanyone worries, that was when I was 15, before I joined here).
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Adaptors are the bane of my life! No matter how many you have, they all vanish into thin air when you urgently need one; or you find dozens, herded together like Wildebeasts stretching to the horizon - and they are all the wrong ones! Living in France, with a lot of brit and french tools, camera, toothbrush and chargers etc., plus visiting the anklebiters in Blighty regularly, I have to put up with French to English and vice versa on an almost daily basis. For some reason they are all flimsy china junk [sic], prone to falling out of sockets, overheating & disintegration. Oh for an Eu wide standard!
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Joined: Jul 2004
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I guess the Americans settled on the 5-15 and use it universally because they know we will just cut the cap off, strip the wires and poke them in the holes if the plug doesn't fit. "Get'er done!"
Greg Fretwell
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