lordretsudo

Hoping someone can answer this question for me... my sister recently bought a standard lamp over the internet from Germany. It's turned up, but of course it has a continental plug on it. Is it OK to just swap this with a UK plug and then the lamp will be safe to use? I know that you can't do this with something bought from the US and need a transformer, but I vaguely recollected that it was OK for continental stuff?!

Any advice would be much appreciated I didn't know where else I could ask and be assured of a helpful reply...

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Yup - straight swap -or you can get covering adapters for a couple of quid

one like this: Electrical Plug Adapters US to UK and UK to US - also Euro plug adapters - look for the round and square body adapters

pslewis

Doesn't even matter which way the wires go

richieh

so its ok to wire neutral to live and live to earth in the new plug then pete?

Think pete may mean it doesnt really matter if you wire live and neutral back to front-personally i wouldnt. live to live-neutral to neutral-best practise and all that-of course mr lewis wouldnt understand h+s cos hes a <bush mode on>nuculur sciuntist<bush mode off>
apparently
richie

Shark Man

Having had a hum dinger of a jolt by a plug wired the wrong way on a table lamp, I wouldn't advise it . As the outer part of the bulb (presuming it's an screw fitting) remains live - even when switched off (still plugged in and switched on at the socket though - of course)

But then I was pulling out the remains of a pulb with a pair of pliers and forgot to unplug it

Me 1 : Darwin: 0

The Zohan

<makes mental note to use insulated pliers in future>

blockmonke@fsmail.net

And you are in charge of our nuclear technology

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

Pete, can you hold these bare 2 wires please whlist I check the mains power is turned on

OllyK

What pete's saying is true enough as far as light's are concerned, you may well find that the cable from the light doesn't even have anything to distinguish between the wires. It won't have a separate earth being a euro appliance.

lordretsudo

Thanks to all for the (mostly!) helpful replies

exvaux

iTrader: (1)

as olly says as long as its not earthed then it doesnt matter which way they go

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

Feels like Yahoo Answers around here sometimes

Shark Man

Indeed, just need someone to call someone else a dumbass and retard and to say 240volts sucks and 120volts kicks ***



.....


damn

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I don't think it would have made any difference tbh.

At any road, the live wire is not actually live is it? I mean electricity really flows from negative to positive contrary to popular belief (electrons are negative).

Shark Man

Kind of. It's potential difference...the potential is always on the live wire (brown): Be it +240v or -240v. The neutral (blue)is just a return path or feed. The latter, when held on to usual gives a mere tingle if touched. But there are exceptions, as it is a return path for the live, so if diconnected in certain circuits you can still get a hefty shock if touched.

The neutral wire in a good working insallation is a few millivolts at best, unless there is wiring issues where a wire is broken or the neutral is switched instead of the live (I.e wiring up the plug the wrong way).

If in doubt, put a voltmetre between earth and neutral: it should read pretty much zero. If your getting a significant voltage reading - something is wrong.

andy97

iTrader: (1)

Thats electron flow, conventional current flow is what most people understand. Try and tell someone that the live wire is negative and then get them to hold it