ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Some real old stuff from Austria - still in daily use

Yikes! That's not nice!
One point for scraping grounds...

Regarding the "French/Schuko in ungrounded socket" issue, after all it's only turning a Class I appliance into a class 0 appliance - and after all for example my lamp definitely _is_ a Class 0 device... still, I'd never plug grounded electronics stuff (like computers) into an ungrounded receptacle for fear of electrostatic damage. On the other hand... my first computers accidentally have been plugged into ungrounded outlets yor years - after some plumber removed the ground connection to the water pipe in the bathroom we didn't have a ground anywhere and never knew until we relocated the meter! (Who would have thought the ingenious sparky in 1978 didn't see any necessity to include a ground wire with the new feeder???)

I was looking through the Irish Standard linked above and the diagrams of the 10A schuko plug described in it don't look drastically different from the modern 16A version.

When was it re-rated to 16A?

Supposedly the "new" dual rating is for AC & DC voltages.

Why it's still rated for DC mains is beyond me.

No idea - the oldest plugs I have are from the 50s or early 60s and they're already dual rated.

Ragnar,
Sorry mate, I must have glossed right over that.
I'm too jaded from Home-owners "fixing" cords with PVC tape.

I know that all too well... crumbling old rubber cords or cords with bare copper looking out wrapped with some tape and used to run the lawn mower...