Plug Outlets

One of the problems associated with operating your home appliances in a new country or region is the plug outlets available there.

When you buy your electrical appliances in the region of your residence, the power cords of those appliances come with plugs suited to the plug outlets used in that region. However, when you move from one country to another or shift from one region to another in the same country, you might face a problem. When you try to plug in your appliance into the plug outlet there, you might see that the plug does not match with the outlet used.

This is where a plug adapter comes in handy. Plug adapters do not have to capacity to raise or lower the voltage according to the requirement. They just make it possible to plug in the appliance in the plug outlet available in that region. The plug adapters should not be mistaken for the AC/DC adapter used to supply power in place of batteries.

Four or five types of plug adapters are usually sufficient to power up your appliances in any country of the world. Most plug adapters bypass the ground pin to make it easily connectable to the plug outlet. The common types of plug used are:

Type A - Flat blade attachment plug

Type B - Flat blade attachment with round grounding pin

Type C - Round pin attachment plug

Type D - Round pins with ground

Type E - Round pin plug and receptacle with male grounding pin

Type F - "Schuko" plug and receptable with side grounding contacts

Type G - Rectangular blade plug

Type H - Oblique flat blades with ground

Type I - Oblique flat blades (inverted V-shape) with ground

Type J - Round pins with ground (offset)

Type K- Round pins with spade ground

Type L- Round pins with ground (in-line)

Type M- "South African" plug, similar to type D but larger and with one oversized pin

The countries where each type of plug outlet is used can easily be found on the internet before traveling to that country.

Before buying a plug adapter without a grounding pin, it is important to consider if there is any potential risk in running the appliance with an ungrounded power connection. In fact, all appliances might not require grounding or earthing. For some cases of short term usage like recharging batteries, it is more convenient to use the nearest plug outlet available even if your adapter has no grounding pin. Hence, it depends on your needs and also the nature of the electrical appliance which is being run.

You might need plug adapters for use with your telephones also. Most telephones these days are manufactured so that they can run on any voltage or frequency. Hence, you just need to find a plug outlet and plug them in carefully. You can easily find the physical jack adapters once you are in the country or region you are traveling to.

One important thing you have to remember is that installing a plug adapter will not make your appliance operable at any voltage. To prevent damage to your equipment, you must also use proper voltage converters along with the plug adapters.