16 Apr
1999
16 Apr
'99
9:02 a.m.
>3) 240VAC 3 pin sockets are a national standard.
Now, 3 wire 240V is standard in Europe, but for the Outlet
there are more than a dozend variations. Some are compatible
(like the German and French - The french use one additional Pin
in the outlet for safty ground, while the germans use two
lids on the side of the outlet - but most plugs are made to
fit both outlets with full function.
I think only the English (and Swiss?) are the ones
that want to be
different to the rest of Europe - in this case anyway (there are many
others).
The French/German combination counts for some 80% of all outlets
in (Continental) Europe (and the Swiss system is AFAIR like the
English (but not compatible)).
Funny EU Fact: there has been a project to develop a unified
system for whole Europe, but since, like in all these projects,
no nation should be served better than others, the new standard
connectors had to be disigned to be incompatible to _all_ existing
standards, instead of geting the best solution with a possible
large compatibility to existing standards.
Gruss
H.
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Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK