Shaver points and electric toothbrushes

[David WE Roberts]

I thought that shaver points were fine for charging electgric toothbrushes. Well, the Braun toothbrushes come with a two pin plug which seems designed for shaver points.

Reading the Screwfix reviews on the MK shaver point it seems that it is not designed for continuous use and overheats if you leave an electric toothbrush charging. This cracks the faceplate.

So does anyone know of a suitable shaver point? Used to have one in the last house which was fine but I an't remember the make/model.

Cheers

Dave R

[John Rumm]

Ideally you need the type without the isolating transformer... however these are not suitable for installation in most moderate sized bathrooms.

[NT]

Run it off a 20w isolation transformer rated for continuous duty

NT

[John Stumbles]

Do MK actually say that themselves? Sounds very unlikely that the miniscule current drawn by the toothbrush charger would make any noticeable difference to the power dissipated in the shaver transformer, and even more improbable that it would dissipate enough power as heat to crack a faceplate! Not on a reputable genuine MK unit anyway: substitute some POS counterfeit item and all bets are off...

[Huge]

I'm with you.

I've just been and looked at the shaver point in our bathroom, which has had an electric toothbrush plugged into it for ~20 years. It's slightly warm to the touch and humming faintly. (It used to hum loudly until I filled the transformer with superglue). It's not an MK, but I don't think it's a PoS, either.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Get one with a metal faceplate. That won't crack - and will help keeping it cool.

[David WE Roberts]

So what make is it?

[Bob Eager]

Or indeed the inferior MK units apparently sold by B&Q...!

[David WE Roberts]

Go read the Screwfix reviews

[Huge]

BTFOOM. The logo has worn off.

[Dave]

Get the stainless steel (or whatever metal it is) faceplate version.

[Andy Champ]

We have two. They both work ... but...

The Crabtree one (which must be getting on for 30 years old) does the job fine. The unbranded one switches the transformer with the light, which means charging for half a day is a bit inefficient.

Andy

[The Other Mike]

Unless MK have radically changed their design then the screwfix review is a load of bollocks. The chargers on Braun toothbrushes (ours is the 2000 model) are rated at one and a bit VA. It's left on near permanent charge in an MK shaver point. We've gone through a number of electric toothbrushes over the years dropped, knackered batteries etc but the shaver point is from circa 1991.

[chris French]

In message , The Other Mike writes

It does sound pretty weird. And you get quite a bit of bollocks in such reviews.

We had a shaver point in the old bathroom, it never had a problem.

The one here doesn't either

[Brian Gaff]

What is the point of shaver points exactly? Is this some legacy thing? I notice for example, and don't try this at home... that the pitch of the pins and their size is ideal for slipping into the live and neutral of a

13a socket. All one needs is a dummy earth pin or screwdriver to release the shutter. Yes, its possibly very dangerous, but it does work nonetheless. Brian

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Brian Gaff writes

Not in my recent experience, Brian.

We took over a rented holiday cottage in Suffolk for a few days last week. Unfortunately the bathroom shaver light did not work despite trying various combinations with the room light.

Rather than going 3 days without shaving, I tried your 13 amp socket trick and found the shaver (Philips) pin pitch too narrow to enter.

regards

[Andy Burns]

I think you're supposed to refer to them as ISODs (Insulated Shutter Opening Device).

[whisky-dave]

iSods the new Apple device :)

[Richard Russell]

Our Braun Oral-B charger is labelled as 1.2 Watts (*not* VA), and of course as far as the shaver socket is concerned it's current consumption that matters rather than power. Nevertheless I've never had a problem with leaving a toothbrush on charge 'continuously'.

The same cannot be said for all appliances. We tried using a Philips LED nightlight in a bathroom shaver socket; the quoted power consumption was well below the transformer rating, but it used a simple 'capacitor dropper' technique and the power factor was terrible. The transformer rapidly overheated and shut down (fortunately it was an auto-resetting thermal cutout).

But I would hope that a toothbrush charger, designed for use in a bathroom, would have a more sensible power factor (quoting the VA rating on the product would be helpful however).

Richard.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Eh? Transformers are almost always rated in VA.