Electric Supply Pins Plugs Adapter etc explained

I used my Swedish 2 round pins in northern India ; often there were two sets of holes, one slghtly narrower, where they would fit. They even worked in the square holes in Tibet..

I have a number of "two-pin" things here bought in India that do not fit the Indian 2-pin socket but will fit the two pins of the three pin socket.

Is it safe? Is anything electrical in India safe?

Europlug or CEE 7/16 is probably the most widely used international plug. It will mate with any socket that accepts 4.0 mm round contacts spaced 19 mm apart. It is used in all countries of Europe except the UK, Ireland, and (former) UK dependencies such as Malta and also used in India. This plug is generally limited for use in class II applications that require 2.5 A or less.

Although there are some odd variations the above is close to what you have and therefore a class II gadget. No problem to stick it in.

The only real concern would be if you had a large appliance (dryer etc.) with the wide large 3 - prong and somehow managed to convert it (with an adaptor) to the much smaller and unearthed 2- prong and thus were physically able to insert in to the corresponding female receptacle -- the dryer would then be drawing way to much current for the lower amperage rated female and things would get very hot very quickly!

One other point, make sure when you stick it in that it is a tight fit! Sometimes the connection in India is so loose due to non-standarizations that the appliance literally toggles on/off hundreds of times during usage.
If you did that to a light bulb you are not going to get a very long life out of it - same with any appliance.

Adapter the Indian way: cut the plug off, strip the wire ends and stick them in the holes.

.... and insert some matchsticks ( hopefully used ones ) to keep them in place...

I've seen Indians desperate for some juice for their TV - to watch a cricket match - use car booster cables to clamp on to external power lines - creating a surreal blue arcing, sparks and smoke that would put most Diwali celebrations to shame. Hope they had a warranty on the boob tube.

yeah....



(from www.economist.com)

... and for a moment I thought I was imagining what I was actually seeing!

Matchsticks is for wimps. A few sparks as the wire ends jiggle about just prove the current is flowing properly


....The jumper wire stuff sounds terryfying!

and now our page shows up some ad for "the world's finest cables"!!!

DO YOU ALL actually lug around an Adapter/converter/surge protector??

Isnt thier an eaiser way? I was thinking some of the guest houses may have a surge protector, but I dont wana leave my Ipod with someone for 4 hours.

I mean damn, thats a lot of electronic equipment! What can I do to minimize?

Most importantly,

When I arrive in Delhi in 10 days, where can I buy these things, and how much am I looking at? It would be cool to find some small surge protectors..

I carry a plug adapter since I have to. A voltage converter is very rarely needed since most of the "electronic stuff" is multi voltage. A surge protector I would only carry around if I have something expensive to protect, like a laptop.

Hey,

I got a small question, I'll be going to India(from Nederland) at the tsart of next week and of course I wanna bring my digicam and mp3 player. For that I need AA batteries for the cam and AAA batteries for the mp3, both are at 1.2 volt.
I use rechargable batteries so can I bring my own recharger or won't that work there?
If not, can I use one from there or won't that work on my batteries?

It'll work, as long, that is, as there isn't a power cut, but the plugs won't fit. You'll need an adapter.