Europlug

The Europlug (CEE 7/16) is a flat, two-pole domestic AC power plug that is generally supplied moulded on the end of an appliance's flex or a power cord, designed for voltages up to 250 V and currents up to 2.5 A.^[1] It was designed such that it can safely be used in the domestic power sockets of all European countries, except for the BS 1363 system found in Britain, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Ireland and Malta.

1 History
2 Design considerations
3 Details
4 Incompatibility with British sockets
5 See also
6 References

History

The Europlug design appeared first in 1963 as Standard Sheet XVI in the second edition of CEE Publication 7,^[2] a document that summarized all the national domestic AC plugs and sockets used across Europe. The Europlug is therefore sometimes also referred to as the "CEE 7/16" plug. It was also adopted in 1975 as plug C5 in IEC Technical Report 83 (now IEC/TR 60083^[3]), and as European standard EN 50075^[1] in July 1990.

Design considerations

The dimensions of the Europlug were chosen for compatibility and safe use, such that with all European domestic power sockets

reliable contact is established when the plug is fully inserted;
no live conductive parts are accessible while the plug is inserted into each type of socket;
it is not possible to establish a connection between one pin and a live socket contact while the other pin is accessible.

Europlugs are only designed for low-power (less than 2.5 A) Class II (double-insulated) devices that operate at normal room temperature and do not require a protective-earth connection.

Details

The pins of the Europlug are 19 mm long. They consist of a 9 mm long conductive tip of 4 mm diameter with a rounded ending, followed by a 10 mm long flexible insulated shaft of not more than 3.8 mm diameter. The two pins are not exactly parallel and converge slightly; their centres are 17.5 mm apart at the tip and 18.6 mm apart at the base. The elasticity of the converging pins provides sufficient contact force for the Europlug's current rating with a variety of socket-hole arrangements. The entire plug is 35.3 mm wide and 13.7 mm high, and must not exceed these dimensions within 18 mm behind its front plane (this allows for the recesses on many European socket types). The left and right side of the plug are formed by surfaces that are at 45° relative to the horizontal plane.^[1]

Incompatibility with British sockets

The Europlug is not compatible with British BS 1363 13 A sockets for three reasons:

BS 1363 sockets contain a child-safety shutter and need an earth pin or a combination of pins to be inserted before the live and neutral contacts become accessible.

The ring circuits found in many British homes are only protected by high-current breakers (typically 32 A) and therefore rely on a lower-current fuse (typically 3–13 A) in each plug to protect the appliance cable from dangerous overcurrents when a fault occurs. Europlugs are not designed to contain fuses or switches. In most other European countries, it is customary to use radial circuits, where smaller groups of sockets are each protected with a fast-acting 10–16A circuit breaker, a current limit that even Europlug cords can support briefly in fault situations.

The free space between Europlug pins (13.5±0.5 mm) is slightly less than the corresponding dimension in a BS 1363 socket (15.8 mm^[4]). While europlug pins are designed to be flexible the resulting bending force plus the fact that the conductive tip of each pin is 0.2 mm wider than the non-conductive shaft can sometimes make the pins difficult to remove from a BS 1363 socket. Further proper contact with the europlugs smaller pin is not guaranteed by the relevant standards.

It is physically possible to insert a Europlug into most BS 1363 sockets by inserting another object into the earth hole first. Doing so is not recommended for the above reasons. In fact, in many countries where both BS 1363 and Europlug connectors are on the market (e.g., Malaysia, Singapore), such use a Europlug into a BS 1363 socket is not an uncommon practice.

Equipment sold in Britain with a Europlug must be marked with or accompanied by a warning that it is not suitable for use in a British mains socket.^[5] The exception is that shavers, electric toothbrushes and similar personal hygiene products may be supplied with a europlug as an alternative to the larger BS 4573 2-pin plug. The Europlug is compatible with 2-pin shaver sockets used in British bathrooms, which have isolating transformers.

The flat design of the Europlug and the comparatively large shape of the British plug made it possible to design fused converter plugs that have outer dimensions only slightly larger than most normal BS 1363 plugs and that encapsulate an entire Europlug internally. They can be fitted quickly and safely by relatively unskilled personnel (there is no real way to get it wrong unlike a normal rewirable plug which can be miswired), making them attractive to manufacturers and importers who sell equipment in the UK that was manufactured using moulded Europlugs.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c European Standard EN 50075: Flat non-wirable two-pole plugs, 2,5 A 250 V, with cord, for the connection of class II-equipment for household and similar purposes. CENELEC, Brussels, 1990.[1]
^ CEE Publication 7, 1993.
^ IEC/TR 60083: Plugs and socket-outlets for domestic and similar general use standardized in member countries of IEC.
^ BS 1363-2:1995 defines in Figure 14 (page 30) a non-contact test gauge with a pin clearance of 15.775±0.055 mm
^ BS EN 50075:1990, Annex A (national deviations, GB), says with reference to Statutory Instrument 1987 No. 603 – The Plugs and Sockets etc. (Safety) Regulations 1987: "A Europlug can only be supplied when connected to any electrical equipment where the equipment conforms to any standard that provides the use of a Europlug and must under these circumstances be marked with or accompanied by a warning that it is not suitable for use in a GB mains socket"

German Standard DIN VDE 0620-1: Plugs and socket-outlets for household and similar purposes - Part 1: General requirements.