The international convention is that all cables have a blue (Neutral), a brown (Life) and green/yellow (Earth or 
) wire. The earth wire is not used on double insulated equipment.
The golden rule in replacing a plug it that the live and neutral wires should
be connected to the correct pins. This is easy! When looking at the opened
plug from the back the bRown wire goes to
the Right and the bLue wire to the
Left. (With very old cabtyre and house wiring the Red wire goes to the Right
and the bLack wire to the Left). The
top centre pin is for the earth wire.
Ideally the bare wire ends should be soldered.(See: How to solder)
16A 3 pin. The most common plug in South Africa. Available in plastic or rubber. Used on almost all appliances such as refrigerators, microwave ovens, irons, fans and heaters. It is extremely important to fit the plug correctly wired, especially on heaters. Often these are moulded onto the cable but can be cut off and replaced. In the case of kettle cords, however, it is better not to replace the plug or the kettle connector as there is usually a fair amount of water present. Rather buy a new cord.
15A 3 pin dedicated. The earth pin of this plug has been flattened and is dedicated to sockets with a flattened earth pin hole. This will prevent equipment not fitted with a dedicated plug from being used in sockets dedicated to certain equipment. Dedicated plugs always have red tops.
15A 3 pin Surge suppressor. Surge plugs always have a lot thicker tops to accommodate the suppressor electronics. Surge plugs do not protect against close lightning strikes but they can certainly minimize damage from sudden peaks in current supply.
5A 3 pin Euro round. Always moulded to the cable. These can be removed and replaced with an ordinary 16A 3 pin plug top but it is better to use a Euro adaptor.
5A 2 pin Euromate hexagonal. Always moulded to the cable. These can be removed and replaced with an ordinary 15 A 3 pin plug top, disregarding the earth pin connection but it is better to use a Euromate adaptor. Most cellular phone chargers and AC DC Converters are fitted with these plugs built into the body of the transformer.
5A 2 pin can either be round or flat. They do not have an earth connection and are mainly used to supply current to table lamps and other small appliances that do not need an earth connection.
16A 3 pin plug to 16A 3 pin + 2 x 5A 2 pin sockets.
16A 3 pin plug to 16A 3 pin + 2 x 5A 2 pin Euromate hexagonal sockets.
16A 3 pin plug to 2 x 16A 3 pin sockets.
16A 3 pin plug to 3 x 16A 3 pin sockets.
16A 3 pin plug to 2 pin Euromate hexagonal top loading socket
16A 3 pin plug to 2 pin Euromate hexagonal bottom loading socket
16A 3 pin plug to 2 pin Euro round socket.
Never build a Christmas Tree with double adaptors one on top of the other. This can be extremely dangerous. Rather use a multiplug.
All have a 60 cm cord with from tree to six 16A 3 pin sockets which are sometimes mixed with Euro sockets in various combinations with or without switches. They are always fitted with a reset button.
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