Schuko plugs come in two basic versions. The original (larger) plug has two solid round pins for the AC interconnect, and two metal strips along the side of the plug (one on each side) that are grounding contacts. When inserting the plug, the body of the plug disappears into the socket recess BEFORE any electrical contact is made, making them far safer than the plugs used in North America. Ground contact to the side ground strips is made before any AC contact. These plugs have no polarization feature when used in German and most other European Schuko sockets. The plug can be rotated 180 degrees with no possibility of polarizing it.
However, the Schuko plug had to accommodate the slightly different French AC socket. This socket is almost the same as the "normal" Shuko socket, but there is a ground pin that sticks OUT of the recessed socket, and inserts into a hole in the Schuko plug beside the 2 AC pins. This hole has a female contact (that is in parallel with the grounding strips along the edges of the plug). If the French ONLY be inserted one way around. The second type of Schuko plug is rather like the North American 2-prong plug (except is not nowhere near as cheap, flimsy or dangerous). It is flat and has no ground contact. There are two solid round pins, but they are made of plastic, with metal contacts ONLY at the very tips, so once again, no metal is exposed once contact is made. Bob Wilson TIR Systems Ltd. Vancouver. ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/pstc/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: [email protected] with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: [email protected] Dave Heald: [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://ieeepstc.mindcruiser.com/ Click on "browse" and then "emc-pstc mailing list"
