Errrrrrm..... A European 2-pin socket??????? News
to
me.....
Hope
you are not confusing the Italian CEI23-16/VII, socket (not 19mm centres)
or
the Swiss SEC1011 sockets - 19mm centres, but the Swiss did not get in
with any standardisation on this one, but still with earths, although in
the
Italian case possible to force a Shuko plug into.
Otherwise you have the CEE7/4 (Shuko) or CEE7/7
sockets, both with earths.Yes the earth is either the strip on the side, or
the pin sticking out, respectively.
But
remember you can only buy pre-wired plugs in Europe (one good thing we
adopted) so a two-pin plug is on a bit of kit that is double
insulated.
The
cables are fully rated for the type of socket too, so no need for a
fuse.
My
Swiss colleagues take great delight in being able to plug two-pin leads
into
13A sockets, and have got it down to a fine art :-))))
But
you are right, it is a mess... even I was unaware of the Italian Job until
recently.
Roger