this does not specifically regard only home automation, but i would love to hear from someone who did already solve the issue. For easy visual reference, i am including a link to the standards of sockets.
I want to get the hold of one of the Chinese “monitor your power consumption” smartplug basically for educational purposes and fiddling around. However i found out, that, as i am living in a bananistan where for some reasons the sockets used are type E instead of type F as in western European countries, I can’t get hold of the “correct type”. Now this does not constitute a problem for my “playing” purposes, as type C plug can be used in type E and F sockets without any problems and the standard for type E and F plugs is common (they have both, the hole for ground and the two pins on top and bottom for ground). There are, however, some plugs which for some reason implement only one of the two, namely the “side pins” and no hole.
It got me thinking, as far as i know, the legal standards regarding this only require the correct voltage and limit the current, but do not conclusively specify that you must use type E and in my next apartment i know i will have a much more freedom to change stuff around the flat.
Did anyone encounter any problem which would constitute the change to type F beneficial? And if so, what was your solution?
I now life in a country where i find the two versions of L (which are non-compatible, one works also for C plugs, the other, 16A, is wider and does not) in my apartment for outlets, and when i buy devices with a cord they have with equal probability an C, L or F plug, the latter of course not fitting in any of the L versions, go figure… There is a generous sprinkling of one or the other L-version in my apartment and very few outlets that incorporate both versions; I have some extension cords that adapt at the same time the two versions of L and E (but come only with plugs for the 16A L version). And I own devices with A and B plugs…
This is just to say, that changing all to type F is nice, but only if you can buy the devices with the plugs (or you want to retrofit). In my case, I mainly life with adapters, lots and lots of them, you can find them cheap, 1-2 EURO or US$, mainly from China. The convenient part for me is that not all adapters may be up to code, some provide the 10A L plug and a F outlet (as well as the two L-versions), which are rated for up to 16A. But, as I am using it only for stuff that uses a few watts only, there is little risk.
As I said, even when I had all in F type, I still would need adapters, so I just buy adapters and leave the rest as is. If you go to aliexpress, amazon, ebay or so, you can find adapters that adapt in all kinds of directions, maybe that will help.
Hi, thanks for the response. I am even thinking about socket standards (not really anything i would usually think about) because of the E plug in post communist countries, which do not have important enough market for the big companies to provide exactly. these socket sides in smart plugs. It really is not anything major, just that i’ve come to realize that i really prefer the looks of F type and i am afraid of compatibility issues (and necessity for adapters, as i really hate those - im the kind of guy that just buys new set of cables to everything after apple decided to leave only usb type c ports on macbooks, just because i don’t want to use dongles). Thats why i asked if anyone has ever done this.
