My boyfriend took a UK tv to Switzerland and used a two pin adapter and it blew up, but that may be coincidence. I'm not sure.
Does anyone know if this would be ok to use longterm?
This may be a really silly question but I'm not the cleverist when it comes to technology. When I move my Irish tv (3 pin plug) to Zurich to will I have any problems watching it with a 2 pin adapter? I know that electics work on the adapters short term when on holiday, but does anyone know if it is ok to use one permanently?
Swiss plugs are officially three pin. HTH
In addition to the 2 pin / 3 pin issue, you need to check volts / watts / amperes!
Well there you go, I am officially technologically challanged. I've been using an adapter for my hairdryer and mobile charger. But in my defence I was told I needed to bring an adapter.
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Ref?
Emmm... Ok how do I do that?
Sorry, I can only tell you that the voltage is 220V in Switzerland.
Thanks Swiss Pete. I'll check in an electrical shop here in Ireland and find out what the voltage is. Thanks for the info.
or better, check the TV, a label should give you all the right infos
Most TV's don't have an earth since their cases are plastic, the standard swiss plugs are 3 pin, why not just change the plug or possibly the whole lead.
No problem so far, i bought my Pc,Screens, Tv,Vcr,Ddv player etc in Ireland and all working fine here since May this year.
i bought 1 converting plug and then this :
So all my audio/video/tv equipment with irish plugs is connected with 1 lead only and secured by the plug with fuse.
However, i did change a plug on my fan from Irish/Uk to Swiss, and that worked fine all summer without blowing up.
So easy way is the setup above (picture) or go to Coop Bau & Hobby ( or similar) and buy the swiss plugs.
Bit more work invloved but seems to work fine.
When something blows up, ill let you know
Err, no and therefore no need. Ireland and Switzerland (along with the UK and almost all of mainland Europe) is 230V / 50Hz.
Joey's advice re multiblock/adapter is very sound for anyone who's not "electrically minded".
"not electrically minded" meaning lazy, quick fix sollution
See it this way, leaving plugs, buying multiblock thingie costed me 6 or 7 euro at the the time.
Changing all audio/video/tv plugs from 3pin to 2pin, and buy a two pin multiblock adapter would cost me more in both money an time.
All works fine and was the easiest sollution, untill you run out of the converter yokes since the fan was used all over the place, i gave it a 3 pin plug.
For the rest, i didn't seem to be bothered.
Thanks everyone for all the advice. Its good to hear that your appliences didn't blow up Joey82. I think I will go for the adapter idea if that worked for you.
I would just cut the old plug off and put a Swiss one on instead (plugs can be bought in any hardware/DIY store).
Migros has them for CHF 1. I bought a load of them and changed the plug on the UK/Irish multi-socket thingies (whatever they are officially called). That worked fine for me.
It's amazing that plugs can be bought in supermarkets, I am sure the Swiss would call an electrician!
Thanks that is good to know. Thanks for the info.
Hi all,
My landlord rang me yesterday to say tomorrow a "electrical inspector " is checking out the building, every appartment ,every cable and every plug will be checked, including the setup of how many plugs are connected to the wall socket.
I asked him if the adapter/irish-uk socket multi block would be a problem, he didn't think so but i should wait and see what the inspector says in the morning.
So ill check with him what todo for the house insurance/ safety, does he want all swiss plugs, or agrees with the Uk plug and multiblock attached.
Appernantly this inspection happens every 5 years..never heard of it.. ill keep you posted in what was said anyway
Back in the morning, Joey
The difference between UK/Irish plugs is that the Earth pin is in the plug and is there if it's needed or not. Most televisions (or all the ones I have seen) don't even use earth (you can tell by the flat cable). So your mate's TV blowing up in my opinion is a coincidence. Sockets in all of Europe do have earth sockets, but it may not be obvious to travellers because they mostly use the "Europlug" standard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europlug -- a plug that fits in all European sockets (except UK/Ireland without being forced). For your information, there's two main types of sockets in Europe; the French and then the German. Then there's separate Swiss, Danish, Italian and British sockets: http://www.powercords.co.uk/standard.htm