(Topic ID: 252544)

Changing a Euro plug cord to US (not in Vid’s guide)

By drsfmd

4 years ago


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  • 36 posts
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  • Latest reply 4 years ago by Dent00
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#33 4 years ago

As a Brit, currently an EU Citizen for at least a few days - I can clear up a little of the confusion on the two pin EU plugs, as we have these all the while arriving on EU imports and in the UK we use 13A, square pin connectors, so get used to adaptors.

The EU plugs come in two main styles. The female connectors on the wall outlets are usually a Schuko design - so they are recessed, and the connector you have seen in the picture with the ground(UK speak Earth) slots fit in and are then a 3 circuit connection - our live, neutral and earth. EU colours are always green/yellow stripe for ground/earth, blue for neutral and brown for live. Our phase to neutral voltage is 240V in the UK and 220V in the rest of EU. It's often written as 230V to cover both, and the 20V makes no difference at all. However - US folk often bring their electrical items here and I can confirm that two things happen when plugged in here - it works fine (because so much nowadays uses switch mode power supplies, so is happy anywhere between 100 and 250 or so, but older transformer gear usually goes bang straight away, or the transformer fails in just a few seconds.

Another oddity here is that while you may see mains cables with moulded Shuko 2 pin and the side ground variety you also see the figure 8, 2 conductor connector wired to a 2 pin euro plug that does not have the side ground. These will fit in the recessed wall outlets happily, either way around.

In the UK all 2 conductor connectors require the appliance to be double insulated - because shocks here with 240V are more impressive. We don't have 'code' like you have in the US, but a 3 core appliance with a safety ground cannot be legally connected to an adaptor with the ground lifted. Illegal, but sadly done quite often.

In Europe/UK, the colours mentioned above are the only acceptable ones. All the pinballs I have seen since the 70s have used the higher voltage taps on the transformers, and had the UK wiring colours between transformer and wall outlet. One warning is that while we are now on Brown-live, Blue-neutral and green/yellow-earth, Pinballs from the 70s/80s may still have our old wiring colours - Red-live, Black-neutral and green-earth.

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