Chuffin' European 2 pin plug

StanleyAccrington

Just bought an amp from a German retailer which is powered by 12 volts DC. Great if I want to use shedloads of batteries....but I want to use the AC to DC adapter lead that came with it. But its a 2 pin plug. Not just your bog standard German two pinner but the pins are set into a plastic block and stick out at a right  angle to the block (i'll try to put a pic up later). I've currently (pun intended) got it plugged into a 3 pin 'converter with a 1 amp fuse in it. The set up works ok but what concerns me is that there is no earth.

Bridgehouse

Don’t worry, it might be flat, but there’s plenty of Earth...

uncledick

If the power supply is 2 pin why do you want an earth?  What would it connect to?

StanleyAccrington

uncledick said:

If the power supply is 2 pin why do you want an earth?  What would it connect to?

It won't connect to anything. To clarify....if I buy the equivalent 3 pin British use version of the power supply....will it will still only have two wires in it....live and neutral.....no earth. Or will it have all three?

RiftAmps

StanleyAccrington said:

uncledick said:

If the power supply is 2 pin why do you want an earth?  What would it connect to?

It won't connect to anything. To clarify....if I buy the equivalent 3 pin British use version of the power supply....will it will still only have two wires in it....live and neutral.....no earth. Or will it have all three?

It’ll have a 3-pin plug, but the earth pin will be plastic (only req. to operate the shutters in the socket).

In the EU - and probably in most other regions - appliances that are double insulated, or which work from ‘safe extra low voltage’ are not required to be connected to protective earth. You’ll see that most DC powered appliances which come with a power supply (mobile phone chargers, laptop chargers etc) have a plastic ground pin.

StanleyAccrington

RiftAmps said:

StanleyAccrington said:

uncledick said:

If the power supply is 2 pin why do you want an earth?  What would it connect to?

It won't connect to anything. To clarify....if I buy the equivalent 3 pin British use version of the power supply....will it will still only have two wires in it....live and neutral.....no earth. Or will it have all three?

It’ll have a 3-pin plug, but the earth pin will be plastic (only req. to operate the shutters in the socket).

In the EU - and probably in most other regions - appliances that are double insulated, or which work from ‘safe extra low voltage’ are not required to be connected to protective earth. You’ll see that most DC powered appliances which come with a power supply (mobile phone chargers, laptop chargers etc) have a plastic ground pin.

Thanks for the explanation. I'm an old duffer who is from the generation of lion stamped eggs and the British Kite Mark......In retrospect my initial query seems rather stupid...but I thought it better to ask for safety's sake.

57Deluxe

/\ I still have some brown Bakelite MK plugs on appliances! - with Flathead brass screws...

TheBigDipper

StanleyAccrington said:

<snip>

Thanks for the explanation. I'm an old duffer who is from the generation of lion stamped eggs and the British Kite Mark......In retrospect my initial query seems rather stupid...but I thought it better to ask for safety's sake.

There are no stupid questions when it comes to mains electricity and personal safety, my forum friend...  

ICBM

57Deluxe said:

/\ I still have some brown Bakelite MK plugs on appliances! - with Flathead brass screws...

So do I, and the cream versions. They are excellent quality and have a much better cable retention than the later white ones with the nylon spring cable grips instead of the proper screwed-down fibreboard clamps. Their only real flaw is that they don't have half-sleeved live and neutral pins, so it's possible to stick something down behind the plug if it's pulled out slightly, and contact the live.

If you want to feel really proud of being British, we have without doubt the best electrical system in the world - the only one with a fuse in every plug as well as earthing with a pin that opens a shutter on the live and neutral holes and on all modern plugs, the half-sleeved pins so the connection is broken before the dangerous bit is exposed. If everything is fitted correctly as it should be and the right fuse for the cable type is in the plug, it's completely safe. (Unfortunately there are still bodges which can defeat some of these protections...)

ecc83

ICBM said:

57Deluxe said:

/\ I still have some brown Bakelite MK plugs on appliances! - with Flathead brass screws...

So do I, and the cream versions. They are excellent quality and have a much better cable retention than the later white ones with the nylon spring cable grips instead of the proper screwed-down fibreboard clamps. Their only real flaw is that they don't have half-sleeved live and neutral pins, so it's possible to stick something down behind the plug if it's pulled out slightly, and contact the live.

If you want to feel really proud of being British, we have without doubt the best electrical system in the world - the only one with a fuse in every plug as well as earthing with a pin that opens a shutter on the live and neutral holes and on all modern plugs, the half-sleeved pins so the connection is broken before the dangerous bit is exposed. If everything is fitted correctly as it should be and the right fuse for the cable type is in the plug, it's completely safe. (Unfortunately there are still bodges which can defeat some of these protections...)

And, our building cable ratings are very conservative, a ring main breakered at 32A is virtually bombproof. Then, I am not a qualified sparks but I think all new installations have to have an RCD consumer unit?  But I would aver THE biggest safety advance was the mandatory moulded mains plug on all domestic equipment?  OH!! How the electrical industry moaned about that! Like the minimum wage, it was to be The End Of Civlization As We Knew It!

Dave.

mbe

Not so long ago, most electrical goods came without the plug and a warning to consult a qualified electrician if you didn't know how to wire a plug. This also necessitated the separate purchase of a 13-amp plug.

Today, we have progressed to the simple plug and play scenario when you get your electrical item out of the box.

ICBM

mbe said:

Not so long ago, most electrical goods came without the plug and a warning to consult a qualified electrician if you didn't know how to wire a plug.

An instruction almost never followed... hence Dave's comment that stopping this improved safety more than any other single factor.

To this day I still open up the mains plug of *anything* I work on if it's not a moulded one, before I ever plug it in. It's remarkable how many are either potentially or borderline dangerous due to poor cable clamping (clamp not done up properly, or on the inner cores), loose terminal screws, frayed/stray wires, or deliberate disconnection of the earth wire.

Quite a few amps with problems like cutting out, crackling, buzzing or giving the owner mild electric shocks are entirely due to the plug wiring.

deano

I remember being taught in science classes at secondary school, how to (a) wire up a 3-pin plug and (b) change a fuse in the fuse box using proper fuse wire that came on a piece of card. Will kids today be able to do that? No they won't. Bloomin' nany state. It's political correctness [sorry, you need to virtually poke yourselves in the chest round about now - thank you] gone mad, that's what it is. Is that how we beat the Nazi's eh? Eh? By not knowing how to wire a plug? Eh? I blame the EU and immigration. Mutter, mutter.

Stuckfast

None of this alters the fact that any electrical item for sale in the UK should come with a UK plug, so do badger the retailer that sold it to you to send a UK-compatible power supply.

Sporky

Stuckfast said:

None of this alters the fact that any electrical item for sale in the UK should come with a UK plug, so do badger the retailer that sold it to you to send a UK-compatible power supply.

It does say "from a German retailer" in the first line of the first post...

Rocker

Stuckfast said:

None of this alters the fact that any electrical item for sale in the UK should come with a UK plug, so do badger the retailer that sold it to you to send a UK-compatible power supply.

There are adapters that clamp the two pins securely.  Thomann sent me one when I complained that the PSU for a Yamaha keyboard had one of those two pin plug-tops.  The adapter works fine.

olafgarten

deano said:

I remember being taught in science classes at secondary school, how to (a) wire up a 3-pin plug and (b) change a fuse in the fuse box using proper fuse wire that came on a piece of card. Will kids today be able to do that? No they won't. Bloomin' nany state. It's political correctness [sorry, you need to virtually poke yourselves in the chest round about now - thank you] gone mad, that's what it is. Is that how we beat the Nazi's eh? Eh? By not knowing how to wire a plug? Eh? I blame the EU and immigration. Mutter, mutter.

I just recently left High School, we were never taught how to wire a plug, but I learnt myself after spending less than a minute on the internet. My generation isn't completely stupid .

deano

olafgarten said:

deano said:

I remember being taught in science classes at secondary school, how to (a) wire up a 3-pin plug and (b) change a fuse in the fuse box using proper fuse wire that came on a piece of card. Will kids today be able to do that? No they won't. Bloomin' nany state. It's political correctness [sorry, you need to virtually poke yourselves in the chest round about now - thank you] gone mad, that's what it is. Is that how we beat the Nazi's eh? Eh? By not knowing how to wire a plug? Eh? I blame the EU and immigration. Mutter, mutter.

I just recently left High School, we were never taught how to wire a plug, but I learnt myself after spending less than a minute on the internet. My generation isn't completely stupid .

The Internet! The Internet! Let me tell you something, in my day we had books, and if you didn't know that book back to front you were beaten! You don't forget how to wire a plug when the teacher is stood there with an old trainer ready to thrash you within an inch of your life if you mix the red and the blue up! The Internet! A communist plot to make us all soft! Mrs Thatcher wouldn't have stood for it! Now, get off my lawn!

Sporky

deano said:

You don't forget how to wire a plug when the teacher is stood there with an old trainer ready to thrash you within an inch of your life if you mix the red and the blue up!

Red and blue?

Danny1969

deano said:

olafgarten said:

deano said:

I remember being taught in science classes at secondary school, how to (a) wire up a 3-pin plug and (b) change a fuse in the fuse box using proper fuse wire that came on a piece of card. Will kids today be able to do that? No they won't. Bloomin' nany state. It's political correctness [sorry, you need to virtually poke yourselves in the chest round about now - thank you] gone mad, that's what it is. Is that how we beat the Nazi's eh? Eh? By not knowing how to wire a plug? Eh? I blame the EU and immigration. Mutter, mutter.

I just recently left High School, we were never taught how to wire a plug, but I learnt myself after spending less than a minute on the internet. My generation isn't completely stupid .

The Internet! The Internet! Let me tell you something, in my day we had books, and if you didn't know that book back to front you were beaten! You don't forget how to wire a plug when the teacher is stood there with an old trainer ready to thrash you within an inch of your life if you mix the red and the blue up! The Internet! A communist plot to make us all soft! Mrs Thatcher wouldn't have stood for it! Now, get off my lawn!

I think it was red and black wasn't it back in the day ?

We were taught to wire plugs at school as well. And change wheels on cars 

deano

It's the Internet and the EU that changed red and brown over! A commie plot to make our kettles melt!