Shaver points and electric toothbrushes

[Richard Russell]

So? Given that the voltage is known pretty accurately, VA and current are effectively interchangeable. The limiting factors as far as transformers are concerned are primarily heating (I^2R) and saturation; in both cases it's the current that matters.

My point was that the power consumption (which is what the Braun toothbrush charger quotes) isn't relevant to determining whether or not the shaver transformer will be able to cope with the load. I assume it's quoted to emphasise its 'green' credentials, but the VA figure would be more useful.

Richard.

[PeterC]

even in Summer, the plug-in meter gave no reading on W or VA (no mantissa).

[The Other Mike]

I was going from memory. Some time ago I roughly calculated what it would cost to leave on charge for a complete year. I've forgotten how much that was too :(

[Graham.]

It's the thinner pinned Euro plugs that do that. Shaver plugs have thicker pins, the same dimensions as German Schuko plug pins.

Most of the 13A sockets in this house have the panted MK shutter system that doesn't involve the earth pin so a Euro plug will go right in. Not to be recommended of course.

[Andy Wade]

Either that, or it's based on old information. In the current Clearshave section in the MK catalogue

says "Clearshave products with shaver sockets are now all suitable for use with electric toothbrushes too."

[Andy Wade]

And the K701WHI shaver supply unit, which is a 'logic plus' product, rather than 'clearshave' is now described as being a "Shaver/Toothbrush Supply Unit,"

(p.6 of the PDF).

[SteveW]

I quite agree that a genuine MK item is unlikely to have any problem with this. However, plugging in a toothbrush does have more of an effect than you might imagine, as I'm pretty sure that the normal arrangement is that the transformer is de-energised and is only energised by the action of plugging something in.

SteveW

[SteveW]

Some sockets (certainly older MK and quite possibly the current ones) don't need the dummy earth pin, as they don't open the shutter that way. Instead the shutter is pivoted in the middle and has "ramps" in opposing directions, so as a plug is inserted, the live and neutral pins rotate the shutter open.

SteveW

[NT]

Another option is to heatsink a transformer and add ventilation. Use ali not steel for the heatsink, got to be nonmagnetic. Its a simple way to uprate transformers a bit.

NT

[David WE Roberts]

> It says "Clearshave products with shaver sockets are now all

Which implies that in the past they may not have been. :-) So the reviews may reflect the performance of past MK sockets. Ah - followed the link and this is for lights with a shaver socket. Up thread people have complained that the socket is only live when the light is on. These now turn the socket on at plug insertion. So possibly nothing to do with overheating at all.

Cheers

Dave R

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Well yes. But how many simply leave the shaver plugged in and switch off at the shaver? This is how you switch off pretty well every electrical appliance - not by unplugging it.

[Brian Gaff]

There is something odd going on with shavers. My new Remmington has a kind of narrower plug than the normal shaver plug and the plug is very long with the lead coming out the side and the connection to the shaver is smaller than the old kind, so this means the psu is now in the plug one assumes, but why change the pin size. it still works in a shaver adaptor, but not as positive. It also says that you should not leave it running via the mains for very long as it might fail. Fantasic, a great leap backwards. it also has no light so people with sight cannot tell its chaging unless they get their magnifiers out and look at a tiny lcd.. Brian

[Mathew Newton]

Brian,

It looks like you may have inadvertently changed the sorting order of the newsgroup as you've been resurrecting a lot of old threads!

Mathew

[sharoncaldwell37]

Hi.just joining in the toothbrush talk and wondered if anyone could offer h elp. The sink vanity unit I have has 3 down lights and shaver point with ki nda block thing beside it. It does say shavers only and power only works wh en pull cord on to put lights on in unit. I've been charging a brawn family type into it for periods when lights on and been ok but recently I think I smell burnin from toothbrush unit and crackling sound. Haven't used since. Is the blank a fuse place or other voltage point? Can lights b shut off or bypassed so they don't need to be on while charging? It's such a pain!!! A ny advise?? Thanks ShaC

[Andy Burns]

Get an electrician to fit a socket that's rated for constant toothbrush charging, as well as sporadic shaver use, e.g.

[Andy Burns]

Note the graphic on the old vs new model

[tabbypurr]

the other option is plug the toothbrush into an adaptor outside the bathroom

NT

[Andrew Gabriel]

The socket is designed for a shaver load. The toothbrush charger will be next to no load on the isolating transformer, particularly when charged, and the socket output is likely to rise to 270V (IIRC, it's allowed to go up to 275V off-load), which the toothbrush probably wasn't designed for.

Assuming the toothbrush is designed for 120-240V supply, you should always plug it into the 120V shaver socket (with an adaptor of necessary) when using an isolating socket shaver socket.

[Nick]

What will happen bad if you use the 240V socket, as I have been doing for the last 20 or more years.

[Robin]

No longer a safe assumption given the OP referred to a "brawn family type". Braun stopped providing dual voltage chargers with their Oral-B toothbrushes several years ago.