Those cheapo travel-adapter plugs aren't rated for devices that draw a lot of power and all the ones I've ever seen were a bit loose and shonky. Stay away.

Just get a good 4-gang UK plug, cut off the end and put a Swiss plug on as Rock suggests. I used a setup like this for years with no problems.

These days I'm looking at doing the opposite and getting a Swiss multi-gang and sticking a fused UK plug on the end as in the end all my electrical kit was Swiss standard ... Might confuse the burglars if I ever get robbed too

Hurrah! That's a relief, and quite possibly within my abilities...

You can simply replace with a swiss unit

or

uk swiss adaptors 9 chf from a shop in Seefeld Zurich....
I've used them for years.
I can't remember the name of the shop right now but I can find out again if anyone needs ( this may have been discussed before here )

Nick

Name of ths shop is Blattner www.blattner.ch

Strangely, I've never seen three-pin Swiss plugs in any of the shops I have looked in. And I have been looking for them.

Jumbo, Coop Bau+Hobby - all the plugs they sell are three-pin.

You're talking simply about plugs and not travel adaptors, right?

I had been having some trouble with vaious equipment tripping the main fuse. For example a Dyson hoover + 1000 Watt kettle, or kettle + iron.

It has been bugging me for a while so I checked the fuse box and found that while the fuse box for all the plug sockets is marked 15 amps / 240 volts, the fuse that is in there is only a 5 amp / 240 volt fuse.

This seems to be the source of the problem, but why would the landlord/hauswart have put in 5 amp fuse? Will I cause any problems by going and buying a new 15 amp fuse? Maybe this is a Swiss thing to stop us using too much electricity...

I'd check with a professional before changing the fuse - there may be a good reason for it.

That said, it does look like some sort of mistake or misguided attempt to restrict your use of high power devices. When I lived in halls of residence at university, not only did they have ridiculous non-standard plugs in every room they also had really low-value fuses in the fuseboxes for each group of rooms. Since they weren't metering electricity to the rooms, they were trying to stop people from plugging high power consumption devices in and running them 24x7. eg. Electric heaters.

You are probably right about checking with the professional. Always a good option with electrics.

I am pretty sure that we are billed for our electricity use seperately, so the landlord shouldn't mind...

I wouldn't mind except that having a cup of tea while ironing is pretty much essential, to say nothing about watching the tv at the same time.

All,

Am coming to Zuirch soon, will my UK TV, DVD player etc work in Zurich, what type of transformers etc will I need? Should I contact a proffesional electtician to help everything work ?

Cheers
Peenal.

Hi,you will have to change the cable cord caps, 220v is the same.

Similar question, I am moving from Canada and I would like to bring my computer with me. Will I be ok switching the power supply out of my tower? I will also need a new monitor and speakers. Would you know where I can pick up the parts and tools or where I can get this done?

Thanks,

Computers coming over are fine. Check the back of the chassis - most built in the last 5 years are either auto-switching or have a small red (or black) sliding switch to change the input voltage.

Speakers will work as well; if they are powered with a DC brick variable voltage bricks are available here as after market items.

Flatscreens - should take "universal voltage" (100 - 240); check the back of the panel.

You can do some price comparison via www.toppreise.ch and pick a reseller. Beware - not everybody has everything in stock, even if they say they do. I also use digitec quite a bit (http://www.digitec.ch)

More imortant - what not to bring: Anything with a high resistive or inductive load (coffee maker, waffle irons, etc). Although transformers can be purchased, these things draw a lot of current and generally don't work well (we have a 13A transformer here).

If you have a favorite lamp, you can bring that as well. The bulb sockets are standard, so it's a matter of buying a 220v bulb and putting a new plug on (about 2CHF).

I hope this was helpful!

regards

P

I've just arrived in Zurich and am finding this plug business more difficult than I thought! Probably in part due to my own ineptitude.

Just as a note to others out there who may be reading - the problem with using UK-Swiss adaptors is that they do not fit in the plug sockets on Swiss extension cables (because they have that plastic rim sticking out which prevents the adapter from going in) and, also, only one adapter can fit into any one socket (even if the socket has three places for plugs to go in), again because the adapter is broad and covers the other sockets. It is annoying if, for example, you have to have your Swiss phone plugged into one socket and then cannot use that area of the room for anything else.

Anyway, I am happy to change my plugs, but got a bit stuck on my molded plugs - I have them on my laptop, my printer, my waterbed (for which I need extension cables), etc.

I have seen the moulded and iron cables with wires sticking out for sale in Migros DIY, but wouldn't know what to do with one if I bought it. For instance, my laptop cable is moulded at both ends, so what do I do with that? Similarly, with my waterbed, it all looks a bit like a single, seamless system. What do I cut off and where? Could I replace these plugs with just normal (Swiss) plugs or do they have to be replaced with moulded plugs?

Thanks for any help.

kfc.

Moulded plugs can only be fit in the factory, and they do the exact same thing as a regular plug. Just go to the store, get as many Swiss plugs as you need (if you don't have a set of pliers you should get one too), and then cut off the moulded plugs. There should be three cables: two with regular colours for the live and the neutral (it varies from country to country, and I think in the UK the neutral is blue and the live is brown), and a third cable that's green and yellow. That third cable is the "ground" or the "earth", that goes in the Swiss pole in the middle. Normally it looks like this:



The other two can go in either end, left or right, indistinctly. Hope it helps.

Hi kfcfriend

Caleb is right here - the plugs can be cut off and replaced (in my place blue is neutral, brown is hot, green/yellow tracer is ground). If you have completely separate cords (like the type that normally go into the back of a computer) these can be purchased (the entire cord) quite cheaply. Just to check- on the device side there is a rectangular receiver with three vertical spades, yes ?

Same for laptops - usually the cord plugs into the brick. The two wire variety can be bought at Fust (Sony, HP and others) the three wire variety (IBM) most likely at a computer shop.

If you're in Zurich after work some time I can give you a few of the [entire power cord] type.

regards

P

That's only half correct, if you look at an outlet, live/brown is always the top right hole and neutral/blue is top left.

It only doesn't matter for appliances with the two pin Euronorm connector, because this norm is designed to be 180° point symmetric (double isolation, low current or something like this).

The Swiss 3 pin connector on the other hand requires that one doesn't confuse live and neutral, it could short-circuit the appliance.

Hi Peter,

Thanks, if you have some spare cables that would be great. My laptop is a Dell - my current cable has a 3-prong UK plug on one end and a 3-prong rectangularish thing on the other end that plugs into the AC adaptor or whatever it is. A printer cable (HP) would also be useful, if you have a spare. I work in Oerlikon and can probably finish at around 5.30pm. Feel free to email me through my profile. Sorry I didn't reply yesterday, but it was my first day in my new job today and was a bit busy last night (in part because the fuse on my 4-way power strip blew just as I was doing my ironing).

Also, there are two contradictory posts in this thread now - one saying that live (brown) goes left and another one saying that it goes right. I can look it up on the internet, but just thought I would warn anyone who is reading and hadn't noticed! I have been using those three-prong Swiss plugs from Migros (well, I have only done two plugs so far).

Caleb - thanks for reminding me that I would need some pliers! I had actually forgotten (it is years since I last did this and my memory was of using a kitchen knife, but I tried that and it was too difficult!).

BTW, I notice that Swiss plugs don't have fuses. I assume this is because the electrics tend to be fused centrally over here? I don't need to worry about this, do I?

kfc.

I don't know if all households have the electric installations fused centrally, but all places I lived in and saw when scouting for my current house had circuit breakers. I would bet that it's mandatory in Switzerland for safety reasons.

Modern properties have circuit breakers, but there are still very many homes with fuses. Check out Migros, they sell a range of Swiss fuses - grey little pots about 4cm long...

I also had troubles with my Iron, it kept tripping the main fuse in my flat. I posted about it here but can't find the post. In short, get a new one, I think it draws too much power...

I found the easiest way to cope with chargers and pc setups, plus tv and hi-fi, was to just change the plugs on my uk 4 way adapters. Change 4 plugs at once!