Tom
No, as they won't fit into Swiss sockets.
Are these not UK to Swiss 3 pin for Swiss plugs? I am
What UK adapter should I use then?
If you look at the photo, the plug has rounded ends.
Swiss plugs are hexagonal.
Tom
this is news to me thanks.
I think I may just wait till out there and buy some fused swiss plugs and change the UK plu on the 4 way UK extensions or individual items as necessary...
Swiss plugs are NOT fused.
Tom
ah so what does one do with UK electrical items that have fuses in Switzerland?
my solution:
Buy a 4-plug bar adaptor in the UK - ensure it does not have a moulded plug.
For safety, get one with a power breaker.
Get a Swiss plug from OBI/Coop B&H, etc
Take off the UK Plug for the UK Adaptor and re-wire with the Swiss plug.
Success!
I would say this - for fused items with a UK plug - DO NOT CHOP THE PLUG OFF!!
I would simply run off all the big electrical items using a bar adaptor with a CH plug on the end.
I am running a complete AV system and PC set using a Belkin PowerSurgemaster running of a re-wired 4-bar adaptor - so far so good.
Hope that this helps.
Perfect, exactly what I was looking for - thank you.
Just to confirm by power breaker you mean surge protection like this;
One might want to reread the previous posts in this thread recommending (for reasons of simplicity and safety) that one leave the UK-block-including-UK-plug-and-fuse intact and using a UK/CH adapter between the UK plug and the CH socket.
UK mains supply is usually 60-100a to the house. The distribution is to 45a supplies for shower and oven and ring mains cabled for 45a but with 30a breakers. Light circuits are usually wired for 20a with 10a breakers. IIRC 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5mm cable. The main supply is usually a thick armored thing into the supply companies fuse.
Since most heavy UK devices are rated for a 30a circuit then you should be careful about using them on Swiss circuits that are rated for a max of 20a. The supply to my flat is only 30a for example. Sicne the supply for Switzerland is not 240v but 220v the appliances will need to draw more amperes.
Finally on the adaptors, I only use the Skross ones now since they are rated for 15a and have a proper earth bonding on them. Bulky they may be but also safe
Indeed - on top of that I have plugged in a Belkin PowerSurge on there, and plugged all the appliances into that.
To re-iterate the point, you have to have lost your marbles to cut off a UK Moulded plug.
Some posts when I first came over here were quite blaise about it, stating that is wht you should do -
Under no circumstances should you do this ever - it just increases the chance of summat going wrong....
Just to underline the point, most modern flexes are made with fine braded wire, if you cut off a moulded plug the ends should really be soldered to ensure that a good mechanical connection can be made to the fixing in the Swiss plug. In the uk this is with a screw fitting, in Switzerland it is often a clip which is not strong enough for a braided cable.
If insufficient of the fine wires making up the cable are making connection then it gets hot and you run the risk of causing a fire.
I have fitted a Swiss three pin plug to a UK square hole multiway, but ensured that the fitting was secure and the ends soldered
Rubbish - if you know what you are doing then it's fine. Our flat is fitted with RCCBs for every circuit which I test regularly. These protect against excessive earth leakage and over-current and so are as safe if not safer than a UK plug (where if the earth became disconnected, you wouldn't be protected against electric shock if the chassis of the device became live).
I don't want loads of multi-adaptors all over my place.
It would be better to say that you shouldn't change plugs if:
a). You don't know what you are doing and,
b). You don't understand the implications of doing so.
However, having seen some of the questions on here, a lot of people shouldn't be.
Often a clip?
In 25+ years here, I've only seen the screw type.
Tom
Check out the electrical bits and bobs in Top Tip... some of them are sprung clip type.
Never been there, electrical stuff I get either at Migros, or Industrial supply houses.
Tom
Hi
Am looking for a adapter 3 pin (indian model)to swiss convertor?Can anyone recommmend where to get one?? Not in migros,interdiscount..
I wouldn't solder the strands of the conductor together. Solder is soft material with a low melting point. At rated load (230V, 10A), the solder will become soft and will deform. This will result in a mechanically weak connection and higher contact resistance, therefore generating more heat.
Just twisting the strands together is perfectly acceptable, but don't overtighten the screw.
For the UK 4-way multiblock discussions, care should be taken. The Swiss socket on the wall is protected by a 16A circuit breaker (radial circuit, shared with lighting). This is there to protect the installed cable from overload and will trip in 5 seconds with a fault current of 80A (for type B) and 60 seconds with 30A fault current. With a dead short, the fault current can be much higher (couple of kA), therefore it will trip immediately (milliseconds)
The fuse in a UK plug is there to protect the cable, not the device; this has it's own internal protection (fuse, thermal cutout, whatever). Therefore the cable should match the current demands of the equipment and the fuse should be selected to match, or be lower than, the rating of the cable.
The UK plug is rated for 13A at 230V (=2990W), whereas here it is 10A (=2300W). Therefore care should be taken with large imported items, such as irons, heaters, etc, as the Swiss plug may well overheat over extended time periods.
Swiss plugs have no fuses, so the flexible cable to the equipment has inadequate protection, i.e. a 0.5mm2 cable rated at 3A is protected by the 16A breaker. Spot the weak point in this chain; if your equipment suffers an overload fault, the 3A cable might give up the ghost first. For dead-short faults, the breaker will trip immediately, however.
The UK Multiblock is rated also at 13A and has it's own 13A fuse built into it. So, with using a multiblock you have three fuses in series (plug-block-plug)
If I was to use a multiblock here, then I would remove the UK plug and replace it with a Swiss plug; but, to maintain adequate overload protection (based on the rating of the plug/socket), I would replace the 13A fuses in the block and the equipment plugs by 10A versions - except these fuses are a little hard to find here.
Cheers,
Chris
Hello,
I plan to take with me some electronics, my LCD TV,desktop computer and Xbox 360. I searched on the web if it's compatible in terms of voltage and frequency and so far so good, here in Portugal and in Switzerland we use max 250v and 50Hz. My doubt in on the plugs. I know that on Switzerland is used type J connectors, SEV-1011 rated to maximum of 10A.Here in Portugal we use CEE 7/4 and CEE 7/16 rated max 16A.
For small apliances is not an issue because they all consume/uses ??? less than 10A just need to buy a universal converter, but for other things like my desktop computer, tv and xbox it's safe to plug them with adapter since all of them says on tech specs more than 10A?
Thanks in advance for your help
Actually the Swiss voltage was moved up from 220V to 230V about 15 years ago. At the same time the UK voltage was moved down from 240V to 230V all in the interest of European harmonization.