My razor charger (2-pin) won't fit in a continental socket!

[MM]

I've just realised that I can't plug my Philishave charger (new shaver bought 2 months ago) into a German socket, even though it has two pins like all German plugs. The charger's pins are ~slightly~ closer together than a normal German 2-pin plug. What can I do short-term? The fully charged shaver is good for 17 shaves, but I've a feeling it isn't fully charged!

By the way, it's the same with my Oral-B electric toothbrush charger. It also has a 2-pin plug that won't fit in a German socket.

What weird "standard" are these 2-pin plugs manufactured to?

MM

[Adrian]

They're to a proper imperially-measured UK standard, rather than one of Johnny Foreigner's damnable Not-Invented-Here metricised standards...

The various Europlug standards agree on two round pins measuring 4.8 by

19 mm (0.189 by 0.748 in), spaced 19 mm (0.748 in) apart

But the BS 4573 UK shaver has 0.2 in (5.08 mm) diameter pins 0.625 in (15.88 mm) long and 0.656 in (16.66 mm) apart.

And our Oral-B toothbrush plugs straight into our perfectly normal UK shaver socket. "But so do Europlugs", I hear you cry...

"It is more usual to find shaver supply units meeting BS EN 61558-2-5 which include an isolation transformer and usually accept multiple two- pin plug types including BS 4573, Europlug and Australian."

All c'n'p from...

[Tim Streater]

So buy an adapter for tuppence-ha'penny. Plenty about.

[MM]

Where? I can find ~plenty~ of UK 3-pin plug to Euro socket adapters, but so far no adapter for a UK *shaver* plug to Euro socket. That's the problem! Amazon do have one listed (actually supplied as a pair), but one of the comments expressly says the UK shaver plug/Oral-B plug won't fit it.

MM

[Adrian]

Shaver -> UK three-pin -> Euro Plug?

Or (assuming it's not a wallwart) just snip the moulded plug off and wire a Euro on?

[JTM]

I assume you bought it in the UK? The plug is for use in a standard bathroom 'shaver socket'. It is not a continental 2 pin plug and to use it abroad you need a 'continental adaptor' (for uk plugs) but not just

*any* continental adaptor.

You need one of the 'smiley eyes' adaptors, where the holes for live and neutral have a slight rounded part like the pink one in the first link.

There are much fancier adapters as well as simple ones like the second pic which is ONLY for shavers and toothbrush chargers etc..

John M

[Dave Plowman (News)]

At one time there was a so called Europlug (IIRC) 2 pin plug which fitted (after a fashion) pretty well all the common sockets across Europe. Including the two pins of a 13 amp socket - if you could open the shutter. Snag was it fell out of a normal shaver socket too easily.

[Mentalguy2k8]

The little-known "shaver socket" standard plug that virtually all UK shavers and electric toothbrushes are fitted with...... They're designed to be plugged into the shaver sockets in bathrooms, not wall sockets in various genocidal European countries.

If they fitted into ordinary German sockets, then German appliances like

3-bar heaters and tellies would fit into shaver sockets in bathrooms, and that's the whole point.

[The Other Mike]

The pared down lightweight three pin adapters CPC sell take the Oral B 2 pin / shaver plugs

Maybe this

although I have a feeling what I have may be one of these

[dennis]

British standard.

Buy a travel adapter.

[Martin Bonner]

Where do you get wire-on Europlugs? I have looked, but can't see any.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Have a close look at a shaver socket. They are usually designed to take both a round pin plug and a US style flat pin one. You'll see that by the flats top and bottom.

No - a small pin can fit a large sprung loaded socket. A large pin won't fit a small hole.

[Adrian]

So chop a moulded one off something dead, and use a little inline junction box.

[Adrian]

[Steve Firth]

I wander down to the iron mongers and buy a handful, they're only a Euro each. (bTicino brand, they seem to be the best make.)

[Tim+]

Better still, wet shave.

Tim

[Rob Morley]

But doesn't everyone have spare IEC cables with Euro plugs that came with PC/TV/whatever?

[bert]

In message , MM writes

Try Boots - that's where I got mine (3 piece kit) though it was many many years ago.

[bert]

In message , Rob Morley writes

Nah - always chuck em in the bin. Foreign crap.

[Thomas Prufer]

The round ones? Pretty much anywhere...

The flat two-pin? Rare, but available:

(either crimp-on or solder-on, I guess)

Thomas Prufer