Does anyone know where I can find more suitable Swiss adapters to tale 3 prong British plugs, ideally in the central Zurich shopping area?
Thanks,
Ian
The foreign travel plug adapters I bought which worked fine in my hotel when I visited a few weeks ago are too fat for all the recessed adapters in my B&B.
have you tried the station?
Media Markt Sihilcity should have the recessed ones... if not places such as Hornbach and some Beau and hobby do...
im not in zurich ian, but if you go to InterDiscoutn stores (a large chain of retaillers) they should sell these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Swiss-World-...6844312&sr=8-4 which have the swiss connection.
Its a tricky little narrowing of the pins that does it. Why switzerland is just slightly narrower than other EU countries I dont know but we came into the same problem and had to get a bunch of these.
Mike
Migros City at Löwenplatz have adapters upstairs, definitely German (the one you have) to Swiss, and I think English to Swiss too. Cost about 5 CHF.
This is what I did (I'm guessing that you're back in UK regularly):
[](https://www.englishforum.ch/attachments/other-general/27650d1306845836-where-buy-plug-adapters-british-plugs-zurich-uk-extension-cable-447.jpg) + [](https://www.englishforum.ch/attachments/other-general/27652d1306846208-where-buy-plug-adapters-british-plugs-zurich-scissors.jpg) +
These multi adapters have no earth, so do not use them with earthed gear!!
Really you want a 3 prong adapter
That was my first port of call, but couldn't see anything.
Most urgent need is for iPhone and iPad. I did a quick look in the Apple store. 39CHF for a Swiss power adapter to USB out and a completely different 10W adapteer for iPad at same price. Way too expensive given "single device" limitations (also need adapter for Dell laptop and portable Blu-ray player)
That makes sense, but really don't want to use those scissors as this is equipment I also want to use in the UK as well and I suspect the first item will be even harder to find here than a straight adapter. Not back in the UK for another 7 weeks :-(
Im not sure what you mean, do you mean three prongs out into the swiss plug socket ? Ive not come across any adapters that provide a three prong output.
the post office sell multi adaptors for travellers
I think he meant that you could make your own adaptor using a Swiss plug. It would have the advantage of the earth pin so you could safely use it with both earthed and unearthed appliances.
Finding plug adapters for British plugs was an adventure. I tried about 2 weeks ago.
I tried several Interdiscounts, Migros Electronics, Coops, Migros and Mediamarkt in Sihlcity.
For some reason they only usually have Euro to Swiss adapters.
I finally found them at an EKZ shop however it was outside downtown Zurich. There is one in Rüschlikon and Wädesnwil.
I see they have an online shop. Maybe that is a possibility.
Correct, Tom.
Instead of a single UK socket at the end, you could also consider a switched multi-socket (3 or 4 or more). Just cut off the 3-pin UK plug [may actually be better to "un-wire" it - then you wont need to prepare the wires for connecting to the Swiss plug] and replace with a Swiss one - the pins are also marked L (brown), N (blue) and Earth (symbol - grn/yellow).
I prefer this, as often it is heavy transformer plugs that need plugging in - when they then have to go into another adapter plug, they can become a bit wobbly.
Wont solve your problem today, but may be a good long term solution. As you give your location as London and talk about a B&B, I'm assuming that you're "commuting" between there and here.
Yes, I understand that. The problem is with getting hold of the first item to mutilate.Not back in the UK for 7 weeks and I suspect a British extension lead is hard to find in Zurich. It's definitely the "right" longer term solution though
They should work for me as short term solution though. I already have Brit to Euro adapters. I could just add one of these in the chain :-)
It seems the have an EKZ shop downtown - Dreikönigstrasse 18, 8002.
The adaptors were about 9.50chf each.
conrad also sell them, even ones that will fit in the recessed sockets
temporary workaround: get the 3-way extensions from Coop or Jumbo DIY which are FLAT
medium workaround: get lots of 4-way gangs from the UK and chop chop chop the plug off....you can then have an earthed connection with UK plug here. Interestingly, when I moved from Germany to the UK as a kid, it took years to get rid of the German extensions we had amassed for kit.
long-term: LET GO OF YOUR RETARDED PLUGS
Yes all three prongs into the swiss with a UK or multi output... I'll try and find some... back in a tick...