Foreign mains plugs - supplier?

Knock yourself out...

A big electronics supplier like RS or CPC. But you may fall foul of their minimum order value.

On Sun, 25 Jun 2006 07:04:37 +0100, SlapHead wrote (in article ):

I have this issue as a result of travelling somewhere elsewhere in Europe or beyond almost every week. I've been doing this to a greater or lesser extent for 25 years.

I need to be able to plug in various notebook computers and assorted chargers and have some lead length away from the socket - e.g. when sitting at a conference table and the socket is on the wall.

The other issue is not wanting to cart around more stuff than I have to.

I've been through the whole gamut of travel adaptors and frankly as you say, they are generally crap. They are designed to be used a couple of times and then binned. If you thought that ones that you can get in Europe were bad, those available in the US are diabolical.

Occasionally I am involved in exhibitions and for these I have adopted the same approach that you are suggesting. However, I have only ever needed to use a Schuko type of plug since generally exhibition centres either have this or the French (compatible) version type F. So if a ground is needed, the type F plug will work in types E and F. It will also fit type C but not provide a ground. The only place in Europe that I have found where this plug won't fit is Switzerland where they have type J in a lot of places. A Schuko plug won't fit this, but a narrow type C will if you forgo the ground.

For my regular weekly travel, a few years ago I found a universal adaptor made/branded by Fujifilm. These are available in camera shops and the Dixons etc. shops at Heathrow have bucket loads of them at around £20. On the male side they have UK, type C (shaped to fit type J if needed), U.S., Australian,..... There are little sliders to select which pins you want. On the top there is a choice of two clip on components. One is for mains plugs and will accept any of the types for which there are pins and more. The other is a small USB power supply, so you can charge anything which uses this. I use that for charging my iPod and IPAQ etc. Internally there is a fuse.

The only place that I regularly go to where it is not useful is South Africa.There they have type M which is like the old British 15A plug. However, adaptors to UK BS1363 are widely available and the whole thing is massive so no issues there.

Type D is like the old British 5A plug. I have never found this in use in Greece or the islands - it's always been one of the other three that you list, mostly Schuko but occasionally the French one.

If you really wanted to go the made up lead route, I would be very surprised if more than the Schuko one would be needed. Otherwise the Fuji adaptor works well for me. One of the computers that I use as well as the projector need to be continuously powered in use so I can't have anything where the plug would fall out or make poor contact. This has never happened.

The trick I use is to put an IEC (kettle/computer) plug on the end of everything I take abroad. It's usually easy to beg, borrow, steal, or if all else fails, buy, a computer lead with local plug on it.

Chris

Why not take your 4-way strip and fit it with an IEC socket on the end? Local "kettle"/PC mains leads should be readily available or borrowable.

Owain

SlapHead writed in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Thanks for all the links, especially Andy Hall with his advice about the type F plug being the most useful.

I've managed to find a couple of unused server power cords that have type F plugs on them so I'll attach those to the mains blocks and (hopefully) all will be well.

Thanks again

Perry