Is using 2 pin plugs in Ireland safe ?

golfdiva

Hi

First of all I know very little about electrics.

I recently bought some electrical equipment from Germany and they came with the 2 rounded pins.

What I done is just push in the earth and fit the plug direct to the socket.

Is this safe to do this ?

Is there any advantage to me fitting the standard 3 pin plug has opposed to what I've done at the moment?

Thanks

grizzly

Just pick up an adapter in any hardware store.

golfdiva

grizzly wrote: »

Just pick up an adapter in any hardware store.

Would an adapter make it safer or is it just for convenience ?

meercat

golfdiva wrote: »

Hi

First of all I know very little about electrics.

I recently bought some electrical equipment from Germany and they came with the 2 rounded pins.

What I done is just push in the earth and fit the plug direct to the socket.

Is this safe to do this ?

Is there any advantage to me fitting the standard 3 pin plug has opposed to what I've done at the moment?

Thanks

cant understand how you"pushed in the earth"
its not safe to use the appliance like this

cut off the existing round pin plug
fit a 3 pin 13amp plug(cost a euro or so)
the new plug top will have a 13amp fuse for safety

golfdiva

meercat wrote: »

cant understand how you"pushed in the earth"
its not safe to use the appliance like this

cut off the existing round pin plug
fit a 3 pin 13amp plug(cost a euro or so)
the new plug top will have a 13amp fuse for safety

Thanks for the reply

Sorry probably did not make it clear. I just pushed in the top pin of the socket and this allowed the two round pins to slot in.

I'm afraid if I cut the end of the 2 pin the wires would be different. Would the colour of the 2 pin wires be the same as wiring a 3 pin?

jimmyw

It depends on what type of appliance your using but, by doing what your doing there is no fuse protecting it which is bad.Its not just for convenience, its safety.If its a light appliance the adapter with the 1 amp fuse in it (as used for shaving razors) might do but otherwise do what meercat said but try different size fuses starting with a 3 amp then 5amp and work up to 13 amp to see which will blow.It may have a rating on it that gives you an idea of what it uses.I dont know what size voltage is used in Germany, and that will change things slightly too if different.

meercat

golfdiva wrote: »

Thanks for the reply

Sorry probably did not make it clear. I just pushed in the top pin of the socket and this allowed the two round pins to slot in.

I'm afraid if I cut the end of the 2 pin the wires would be different. Would the colour of the 2 pin wires be the same as wiring a 3 pin?

by doing this you have no earth protection on your appliance
you also have no fuse protection(you are depending on the fuseboard to blow)

cut the old round pin one off
wires will be
brown - live (connect to fuse)
blue - neutral
green/yellow -earth

really,this should be done

golfdiva

meercat wrote: »

by doing this you have no earth protection on your appliance
you also have no fuse protection(you are depending on the fuseboard to blow)

cut the old round pin one off
wires will be
brown - live (connect to fuse)
blue - neutral
green/yellow -earth

really,this should be done

Excellent -I didn't think it would be that straight forward. I was expecting to see only 2 wires given it was a 2 pin plug. Also thought they may have been a different colours as it came from Germany.

Bruthal

meercat wrote: »

by doing this you have no earth protection on your appliance
you also have no fuse protection(you are depending on the fuseboard to blow)

cut the old round pin one off
wires will be
brown - live (connect to fuse)
blue - neutral
green/yellow -earth

really,this should be done

Exactly as said here golfdiva. Could possibly have no earth wire in it depending on what the appliance is, but if no earth then just connect the other 2 as above into 3 pin plug.

shogunpower

that is dangerous because you could turn the plug upside down and insert it the way you describe which would be connecting the live to the neutral and the neutral to the live unless im missing something?

is this the type you describe?

Bruthal

shogunpower wrote: »

that is dangerous because you could turn the plug upside down and insert it the way you describe which would be connecting the live to the neutral and the neutral to the live unless im missing something?

Live and neutral swapped around at a plug, i.e. 2 pin swapped around, wont make a difference to AC appliances, they will all still work. Your vacuum cleaner will even still suck up dust:).

golfdiva

shogunpower wrote: »

that is dangerous because you could turn the plug upside down and insert it the way you describe which would be connecting the live to the neutral and the neutral to the live unless im missing something?

is this the type you describe?

Yip thats exactly the one. It seems to be standard enough in Europe for some reason.

DublinDilbert

Just Becareful it's just a plug and not a transformer too. Many new 'wet' electric shavers have a transformer built into the plug.

People are cutting off these trafos and connecting on a 3 pin plug, putting 220v into a shaver that's expecting 12vdc. Highly dangerous too as the normally 12v dc contacts (now at 220v) can be touched in the shaver docking connection...

Bruthal

DublinDilbert wrote: »

Just Be careful it's just a plug and not a transformer too. Many new 'wet' electric shavers have a transformer built into the plug.

People are cutting off these trafos and connecting on a 3 pin plug, putting 220v into a shaver that's expecting 12vdc. Highly dangerous too as the normally 12v dc contacts (now at 220v) can be touched in the shaver docking connection...

At least it will be a quick shave:eek:

golfdiva

DublinDilbert wrote: »

Just Becareful it's just a plug and not a transformer too. Many new 'wet' electric shavers have a transformer built into the plug.

People are cutting off these trafos and connecting on a 3 pin plug, putting 220v into a shaver that's expecting 12vdc. Highly dangerous too as the normally 12v dc contacts (now at 220v) can be touched in the shaver docking connection...

How could you tell if the plug is a transformer as well ?

staker

It'd be bigger than a normal plugtop,loike a phone charger.

Just from your username,did you buy a battery golf trolley?

Bruthal

Yes what is it you actually bought?

Bruthal

staker wrote: »

Just from your username,did you buy a battery golf trolley?

A fan of german cars?:)

staker

robbie7730 wrote: »

A fan of german cars?:)

Hadn't thought of that:D

I'm sure I've seen OP over in golf forum..

Like your posts over in the RC section btw, something I'd love to get into but can't due to shillings.

Bruthal

staker wrote: »

Hadn't thought of that:D

I'm sure I've seen OP over in golf forum..

Like your posts over in the RC section btw, something I'd love to get into but can't due to shillings.

Yea the shillings are tight all round. Once we have the gear it cost little or nothing, once we avoid too many crashes:D. A few off boards have come down and tried it here anyway. We do a bit of flying by a live view on a tv as well, fly a few km`s away. Its interesting. Have a few youtube videos of it up as well.

golfdiva

Its more the sport for the name:)

The German plug is on a JBL1501 (a filter in a tropical aquarium) . The heater I also got came with a 2 pin plug.


The filter will be on 24/7 its consumption is 20W according to the manual.

What amp plug should I get that will suit the equipment?

Bruthal

Take a close up photo of the actual plug if you can.

golfdiva

Hi Robbie -This is whats at the end of the filter

sharkbite1983

it would be a huge big plug, like the ones youd get with alot of PC equipment. erm, phone chargers are all traffo's in the plugtops. that kinda size.

What you are doing at the moment is safe, the only safety issue really is to make sure your earth pin in the socket isnt left with something wedged into it when your appliance isnt plugged in. As you know the live & neutral are exposed when the earth has something in it.

Besides that, there is nothing "dangerous"
Your appliance obviously doesnt need an earth, its known as class 2 double insulated equipment. it should have a symbol somewhere on it of a small square inside a slightly bigger square. Just use it as it is & dont stick your fingers in the socket when plugging it in & out, you should survive ;-)

Bruthal

golfdiva wrote: »

Hi Robbie -This is whats at the end of the filter

It looks like just a 220-230v 2 pin plug alright. I think them filters have a transformer encased in resin (for waterproofing) in the actual filter unit itself, so should be fine to cut plug off and fit a 3 pin one. The main thing this is doing is introducing a fuse into the item, which them 2 pin plugs dont have.

A 3 amp fuse will then be used in the plug.

Bruthal

sharkbite1983 wrote: »

Besides that, there is nothing "dangerous"
Your appliance obviously doesnt need an earth, its known as class 2 double insulated equipment. it should have a symbol somewhere on it of a small square inside a slightly bigger square. Just use it as it is & dont stick your fingers in the socket when plugging it in & out, you should survive ;-)

Its not for the earth that the plug should be fitted if no earth is required, its to have a fuse in the appliance, a requirement in ireland.

sharkbite1983

Seriously, no point in changing the plug, it will give you a fuse in the plug, but putting a 3 amp fuse protecting a 20 watt appliance is pointless.

20 watts pulls approx 0.086 amps 3 amp fuse is pointless.
plug the two pin plugs into a small extension lead & plug the lead into your socket if you want to be able to plug the filter in & out easily.

Also, if you dont know much about electrics, dont change the plug yourself, its suprisingly easy to create a slighlt loose connection that arcs & melts.

Ive been a qualified electrician for over ten years, with a degree in electrical engineering, trust me!!!

user1842

robbie7730 wrote: »

Its not for the earth that the plug should be fitted if no earth is required, its to have a fuse in the appliance, a requirement in ireland.

If your worried about safety just buy the below:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Travel-Adaptor-Plug-Worldwide-European/dp/B000P0FIUM/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1306320115&sr=8-7

To be honest what your doing is ok as long as the house is wired correctly and the MCB on the circuit is not high rated.

golfdiva

sharkbite1983 wrote: »

it would be a huge big plug, like the ones youd get with alot of PC equipment. erm, phone chargers are all traffo's in the plugtops. that kinda size.

What you are doing at the moment is safe, the only safety issue really is to make sure your earth pin in the socket isnt left with something wedged into it when your appliance isnt plugged in. As you know the live & neutral are exposed when the earth has something in it.

Besides that, there is nothing "dangerous"
Your appliance obviously doesnt need an earth, its known as class 2 double insulated equipment. it should have a symbol somewhere on it of a small square inside a slightly bigger square. Just use it as it is & dont stick your fingers in the socket when plugging it in & out, you should survive ;-)

I don’t see the square with in another square symbol on the plug. It does have 2.5A and 250v wrote on the front though.

sharkbite1983

where abouts are you living? If you are worried about it and if you are anywhere near me I'll change it for you, but an adapter of the way youre doing it now is perfectly safe.

Bruthal

sharkbite1983 wrote: »

Seriously, no point in changing the plug, it will give you a fuse in the plug, but putting a 3 amp fuse protecting a 20 watt appliance is pointless.

The fuse is to protect in the event of short circuits in the power chord to the appliance, amazingly enough. Mainly because they are portable appliances which can be moved around, and have their flexible leads damaged.

20 watts pulls approx 0.086 amps 3 amp fuse is pointless.
plug the two pin plugs into a small extension lead & plug the lead into your socket if you want to be able to plug the filter in & out easily.

So why do we bother with plug fuses on tv`s, standing lamps, radios etc, which all take well below 3 amps?. The point of a 3 amp fuse on an appliance that takes 20 watts is protection for the supply cable mainly, which because they are not a fixed appliance, can be damaged. Its very simple really.

Also, if you dont know much about electrics, dont change the plug yourself, its suprisingly easy to create a slighlt loose connection that arcs & melts.

Ive been a qualified electrician for over ten years, with a degree in electrical engineering, trust me!!!

You will be doing very well indeed to get a load of 0.087 amps to arc and melt anything, would an electrical engineer not know that? Not that loose connections are recommended or anything.

It may not be lethally dangerous to have no fuse in a plug, but saying a 3 amp fuse is useless because a portable appliance is taking only 0.086 amps is very amateur to be honest.

Op i thought i had suggested a 2 gang short extension myself which has now been mentioned again, which would work, but i must of never posted it, but that would work ok, and put a 3 amp fuse in the plug. Thats another option to cutting off the heater and filter plugs.