German Schuko plug to 3-point?

Ickle Magoo

Hi there,

I have a small appliance with a German Schuko two prong plug & I know you can get adapters but I was wondering if it's possible to change plugs to the UK/Irish three prong?

Thanks

KTRIC

Ickle Magoo wrote: »

Hi there,

I have a small appliance with a German Schuko two prong plug & I know you can get adapters but I was wondering if it's possible to change plugs to the UK/Irish three prong?

Thanks

Just cut it off and put on an Irish three prong plug.

Ickle Magoo

Cool, I didn't know if that was possible, thanks! Anyone any idea how to do such a thing? Which wire goes where?!

Ickle Magoo

Ok, looks same as UK/Irish wires so here goes....:)

Ickle Magoo

And job's a good 'un! Thank you very much!

KTRIC

Ickle Magoo wrote: »

And job's a good 'un! Thank you very much!

No problem, now where do I send the invoice ?

Ickle Magoo

Hey! I did all the hard work!

NikkiC

Hi. I also want to buy an electrical product from Germany and change the plug. How do I know what fuse to put into the plug?

Thanks.

Nikki

KTRIC

NikkiC wrote: »

Hi. I also want to buy an electrical product from Germany and change the plug. How do I know what fuse to put into the plug?

Thanks.

Nikki

Thats where is gets tricky. German plugs don't have fuses or even fuses in the main power boards in the house.

Plug the device into a power bar with build in fuse when you swap the plug and you should be fine.

Fuzzy Clam

NikkiC wrote: »

Hi. I also want to buy an electrical product from Germany and change the plug. How do I know what fuse to put into the plug?

Thanks.

Nikki

You will need to check what wattage the appliance is. Small appliances (less than 1000 watts) would usualy be fitted with a 5 amp fuse. Sometime 3 amp on very light stuff. Use a 13 amp on wattage above 1000 watts.

NikkiC

Thank you very much for your help. I was getting confused as German plugs don't have fuses. I think the appliance is 1400watts and 230V. I will use a 13amp fuse. I hope it does not blow up. Are German wires the same as UK? Brown, blue and yellow/green?

KTRIC

NikkiC wrote: »

Thank you very much for your help. I was getting confused as German plugs don't have fuses. I think the appliance is 1400watts and 230V. I will use a 13amp fuse. I hope it does not blow up. Are German wires the same as UK? Brown, blue and yellow/green?

Just brown and blue, no third wire. So no fuse possible.

L1011

13 amp won't blow; the risk is that its over-rated for the device and won't burn out when it should do if it gets a fault. But 13 would be the right type for that.

NikkiC

Thanks. But I do need to use a fuse don't I? Excuse my ignorance but I want to make sure that I am doing the right thing.

Do you think it will be safer for me to use an adapter instead of changing the plug?

Fuzzy Clam

KTRIC wrote: »

Just brown and blue, no third wire. So no fuse possible.

What do you mean by that? The 3rd wire would be the earth and would not have a fuse on it anyway.

Fuzzy Clam

NikkiC. By all means change the plug. If the wire is colour coded, them simply wire the brown to live and the blue to neutral as normal. If the colours are different, then let us know what they are.
1400 watts is approx 6 amps so you could use a 10 amp fuse if you wish. 13 amp will not be a problem though. Don't worry, the appliance will not blow up.

loumac

KTRIC wrote: »

Just cut it off and put on an Irish three prong plug.

Hi there. I just bought an electrical product in an irsh retail outlet and it has a German two pronged plug. Is this even legal? I was under the impression retailers had to conform to local voltage/plug socket requirements. It's annoying because it never mentioned it on the package AND I can't even charge the damn thing until I get an adapter. I know I can cut the plug and replace with an Irish one but I don't think I should have to after spending €140 on a product in Argos!

Soundman

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

What do you mean by that? The 3rd wire would be the earth and would not have a fuse on it anyway.

Exactly. The fuse is in place across the Live part of the circuit which is the BROWN wire. The missing cable as Fuzzy Clam said, is the EARTH which is the yellow/green one.

Jonathan

KTRIC wrote: »

Just brown and blue, no third wire. So no fuse possible.

The fuse is on the live as the others have said.