Am 30.06.07 15.01 schrieb Eeyo

Wolfi wrote:

Am 29.06.07 11.50 schrieb Eeyo
wrote:

(Geoffrey S. Mendelson) wrote:

The current EU standard is a 2 pin plug that looks like the one you have
not seen in 20 years.
This is only confusing things. There are other types as well, but the
ones that dont fit UK sockets are todays EU ones.
There is no such thing as an *EU* plug.
Sure it is!

Thankfully it's one thing they haven't tried to standardise.
Here you are wrong.
The Euro plug is a flat, 2 prong, 4mm round contact plug, with pins 17mm
apart, fitting into regular 16A/240V outlets, but meant only for low power
devices. Its current rating usually is only 2,5A and they are widely used for
connecting consumer electronics (where the other end of the cable often is
pluggable too, having the 8-shape socket, if you look at it, with 2 small
receptacles 10 mm apart), small AC/DC power supplies, 240V to 2...24V
transformers and such.

They fit into the round 5mm receptacles of German type 3 contact "Schuko"
sockets, where the plug body actually dives into the outlet cover by some
20mm, allowing it to take on mechanical forces applied to the cable, rather
than having the contacts themselves deal with it.

It is not a standard *Euro* plug and is only suitable for 2.5A

What is your definition of "standard"?
The Euro plug was specifically developed already 1963 for insulated, class II,
low power devices up to max. 2.5A, to fit universally all over Europe with the
exception of the British BS1363 sockets. And it was adopted by the IEC in 1975
as plug C5 and as European standard EN 50075 in July 1990.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europlug

Its proper name is CEE7/16.

The European standard plug for higher currents is CEE7/17 contour plug, but
also only for insulated devices, not requiring a ground contact.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konturenstecker


The regular grounded Schuko plug system, CEE 7/4 and CEE7/7 is used as primary
electrical system in the following countries:

* Afghanistan
* Andorra
* Deutschland
* Estland
* Finnland
* Griechenland
* Indonesien
* Island
* Italien / San Marino / Vatikanstaat (nicht norm, aber verwendet)
* Kroatien
* Lettland
* Litauen
* Niederlande
* Norwegen
* Österreich
* Portugal
* Rumänien
* Rußland
* Schweden
* Slowenien
* Spanien
* Südkorea
* Ukraine
* Ungarn

Among others, these countries are using the CEE 7/7 compatible, „french“ system:

* Belgien
* Frankreich und ein Teil der ehemaligen Kolonien
* Monaco
* Polen
* Slowakei
* Tschechien
* Tunesien

So I would say, this rather long list of countries, stretching from the
Atlantic to the Pacific and from the polar circle down to Africa, qualifies it
as a "European standard" as well.
Still not "European" enough?
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schukostecker