Europlug

The Europlug is a flat, non-rewirable two-pole, round-pin domestic AC power plug, rated for voltages up to 250 V and currents up to 2.5 A.

[1] It is a compromise design intended to connect low-power Class II appliances safely to the many different forms of round-pin domestic power socket used across Europe.

The Europlug design, intended for use with socket-outlets meeting other standards, appeared first in 1963 as Alternative II of Standard Sheet XVI in the second edition of CEE Publication 7 by the contributing members of Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and Yugoslavia.

[citation needed] In 1990 it was defined by Cenelec standard EN 50075[1] which has national equivalents in most European countries, as described in IEC 60083[3] which superseded IEC/TR 83 (and no longer uses the C5 designation).

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.

The elasticity of the converging pins provides sufficient contact force for the Europlug's current rating with a variety of socket-hole arrangements.

[4] In some types of BS 1363 sockets (but not all) the safety mechanism can be tampered with so that a Europlug may then be forced into the open line and neutral ports.

The UK Electrical Safety Council has drawn attention to the fire risk associated with forcing Europlugs into BS 1363 sockets.

UK consumer protection legislation requires that most domestic electrical goods sold must be provided with fitted plugs to BS 1363-1.

[6] The exception is that shavers, electric toothbrushes and similar personal hygiene products may be supplied with a Europlug as an alternative to the BS 4573 plug (see below).

All variants of type N sockets as used in Brazil and South Africa (rated for 10 to 20 A and with a hole diameter of 4 to 4.8 mm) accept Europlugs.

However, since Thai sockets also accept NEMA connectors (type A and B), whose blades are closer together, Europlugs might experience loose contact.