On Aug 31, 9:47*am, Mike Tomlinson wrote:
In article , Doug Smith
W9WI writes

I know little or nothing about the way the UK power mains are wired so
can't really comment on the lack of an earth. *Here in the States, these
plug/PSUs almost never have an earth pin at all, plastic or metal.

UK power sockets are shuttered and a mechanical device physically
prevents you from plugging anything in unless an earth pin is present,
so even if an earth is not needed for the device, a pin is still
required. *Obviously, it's cheaper to make it in plastic.

--
(\__/) * Bunny says NO to Windows Vista!
(='.'=) *http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut00...ista_cost.html
(")_(") *http://www.cypherpunks.to/~peter/vista.pdf


Thanks very much all for your help, really good info - so far the
thing seems fine so I feel more confident about leaving it switched
on :-)

cheers!