Electrickery in Tenerife

[Gordon Henderson]

Anyone know how they run the mains in Tenerife?

Apart from the obvious answer - "without much care" that is...

Seems there is no earth and my laptop is giving me regular shocks when I touch some of the metal connectors - e.g. the extrnal VGA socket and the audio sockets. Not big shocks, but enough to irritate.

My laptop's power supply is the usual little "brick" device - 3-pin cloverleaf input, 19v output...

I'm told (by some of my family who live here) that "that's the way it is", but I can't help thinking that maybe it could be better!

Cheers,

Gordon

[Brian Gaff]

Well I doubt its the fault of the mains, sounds to me like there might be a fault with the brick.

Brian

[Martin Brown]

Does your brick have the double isolated symbol on it? Looks like two concentric squares ASCII art _____ | _ | | |_| | |_____|

I am guessing not and that with a non-polarised plug it is luck of the draw whether your laptop is sat at neutral + 19v or line voltage - 19v.

If it bothers you you might want to get one that is double isolated.

There must be some earth path otherwise you wouldn't feel it.

[Gordon Henderson]

No.

Might do for next time I'm out here.

That's my thought too - but everything is sort of hot & sticky and feels damp here - although it's not that high a humidity.

I am quite bemused by their seemingly lax attitide to it all - power sockets in the bathroom, etc.

Oh well... Flying home tomorrow...

Gordon

[Brian Gaff]

I'd have thought that all current bricks sold in the UK or indeed Europe are double isolated. However often they have capacitors inside to stop interference and these can give the impression of tingly shocks. Of course they could be faulty so its best to be careful. If you are really worried earth the metal bits of the computer before plugging into the mains with a wire. I'm surprised any metal bits protrude though, many seem to have plastic even on the jackscrew holes these days, and most so called metal cases are in fact mostly plastic with metal glued over the top.

These canpick up tingles but are not usually dangerous unless connected to something inside. Brian

[Martin Brown]

I thought that too, but the first one I picked up here wasn't!

It does provide interesting modes of failure for metal chassis mains powered PCs in countries with flaky earth and two pin sockets.

[Brian Gaff]

Yes, but I thought it was actually illegal to supply non double insulated psus here now? Is this yet another non policed thing like most things these days.

Brian

[Gordon Henderson]

My Laptop is some 4 years old now, so who knows. Surprisedi it had the cloverleaf connected rather than the figure-8 type.

As for connecting it to an earth... Somewhat challenging as there is no earth.

Not in the sockets anyway.

Gordon

[RobertL]

Not all countries supply line and neutral to the socket. In Norway, for example, every house gets all three phases but no neutral. Each socket in the house is wired across two of the phases with different rooms on different pairs of phases.

Robert

[RobertL]

sockets in the bathroom, etc.

When i vist my in-laws in Romania I always insist on unplugging the electric fire that stands beside the bath and which is usually plugged into a sucket conveniently located within reach of the bather.

They think I am a fuss-pot.

Robert

[Bill]

In message , Gordon Henderson writes

My most recent Lenovo Thinkpad has over 20 different what look like safety marks on the power supply, but no two square boxes inside each other.

The amazingly cheap Chinese replacement power supply that I'm using on this older Lenovo, but which was sold as suitable for either machine does have the square boxes.

Both have clover leaf mains leads.

[DerekG]

Take some in a milk bottle next time you go out. ;-)

DerekG

[Martin Brown]

These days you also need a jewellers' loupe to be able to read the minuscule details on the postage stamp sized ratings sticker.

[Paul Herber]

Won't be allowed to be taken on the plane. Having earth on board would be a huge danger to the plane if it flew through a thunderstorm. ;-)

[polygonum]

Back to the old elements:

Earth + Air + Fire => Water

[Phil]

example, every house gets all three phases but no neutral. Each socket in the house is wired across two of the phases with different rooms on different pairs of phases.

So Norway have 400 (440?) volt mains?

[RobertL]

:53 AM UTC+1, Martin Brown wrote: > >> with a non-polarised plug it is luck= of the >> draw whether your laptop is sat at neutral + 19v or line voltage= - 19v. > > Not all countries supply line and neutral to the socket. In Nor= way, for example, every house gets all three phases but no neutral. Each so= cket in the house is wired across two of the phases with different rooms on= different pairs of phases. > > Robert > > >=20

No, they have 230 Volts between each pair of phases, so the sockets are '23=

0Volt' sockets. It means, I think, 132Volts (=3D115*sin(60)) Volts between= any mains wire and earth - which is considered safer than having 230 Volts= between some wires and earth as we do in the UK.

Robert

=20

[RobertL]

...and in Japan they have 100 VOlts (using line and neutral) at 50Hz in the west of the country and 60Hz in the east.

Robert

[John Weston]

No, their three phase is Delta rather than Star connected, hence the lack of a Neutral connection. I found that out when fixing a problem with a three phase powered disk motor... (the disk was the size of a large washing machine)

[Tim Streater]

This can't be right as sin(60) = 0.866 approx i.e. less than 1.0 you prolly meant 115/sin(60).