Where is the ground on European receptical plugs?

Keith Hilton · From: 248 Laurel Road Ozark, Missouri 65721

All of the European receptical plugs have two prongs. England is the only country that uses a 3 prong grounded plug. Many years past in the United States receptical plugs only had two prongs, without a ground. Today most 120 volt United States electrical plugs have three prongs, one of which is ground. Without grounds, a receptical could be in parallel with a refrigerator across the street, or a air conditioner next door.
It seems logical to assume without grounds on recepticals musicians in Europe face a big noise problem, and increased shock danger. Besides no grounds the voltage is 240 volts in Europe. I have always been taught the importance of grounding for noise issues and saftey issues. Maybe someone can explain to me why European plugs have no grounds?

Ed Phipps · From: Chino Valley, AZ

Here is my take on European power systems from several years ago. I am "slightly" familiar with UK, and some of "old Europe", Germany as a example. The UK had different standards and different type plugs.

Go here to see the variation of plugs in various countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets

The two main reasons, as I believe are, economy and most the European systems are reasonably new, or have been extensively rebuilt, after WW-2.

Our North American system, uses a secondary center tapped transformer to feed our residences, with the center tap as the neutral and earth ground. The full transformer voltage is 240 V. Using the ground / neutral center tap, gives us 120 V from each side to the neutral / earth ground.

The European system uses less copper and higher voltage to obtain the same number watts to the customer. Higher voltage, smaller wire, less current are more economical. And, the original German power system, used 240 V at 50 Hz. I "believe" one side the European secondary house drop systems also are connected to earth ground but my memory is no longer perfect.

The ground on some appliance plugs are a ring like connection around the shell of the plug or maybe just metal tabs in a few places. I have seen this in Ukraine, Russia and I believe in Germany. If my memory is correct, Denmark used some different type plug and the UK used flat pins, like us, but spaced differently, at a angle, I believe. The others used round pin type connectors.

The noise mitigation may not be much different in their systems than here. Many of the power line noise problems are from the 7th and 9th harmonic of 60 Hz. The triple odd harmonics are difficult to tame!!!

I hope this is somewhat clear cos my background was not in the power distribution field. I spent years with Contel and am very familiar with your area in MO because the old microwave system in Ozark that fed the places to the south.

Good luck in trying to figure all this out. Hopefully, some others will chime in here too.

Ed

CrowBear Schmitt · From: Ariege, - PairO'knees, - France

don't be mislead Keith, most european EEC countries Do have a ground
it's mandatory in most cases except for what is named "class 2 " appliances
considering the metal casing most active electrical vps have, the ground IS mandatory here
in France, the ground is the top prong on the socket (male) & (female) on the plug
usually, + Phase is on the left & N Neutral is on the right on the sockets
do refer to Ed's link for examples of the different models

Olli Haavisto · From: Jarvenpaa,Finland

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Olli Haavisto
Finland

Graeme Jaye · From: Spain

Olli's photos show where the ground is - it's the two flat strips on the periphery of the plug. However, it can be anyones guess as to which of the pins is live or neutral, as the plug is not polarised.

This is not so much of a problem for equipment designed/made in Europe as the manufacturers make allowance for this fact. Gear imported from elsewhere might well be polarity conscious, so it's often worthwhile to try the plug both ways.

More details can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko
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Graeme

Some of my music here

Keith Hilton · From: 248 Laurel Road Ozark, Missouri 65721

Good information, thanks. Here in the United States "most" our 120 volt plugs are supposed to be polarized. One of the two flat prongs of the plug is a little wider than the other one. One of the prongs is "supposed" to be the hot wire and the other the neutral wire--but that usually depends on how the "Carpenter" wired the receptical. Most carpenters are not electricians, so you can't depend on which prong is hot, and sometimes the carpenter even forgets to run the ground wire. The ground is supposed to be the round 3rd prong. Here in the USA, like in Europe, there are many devices that come with two non polarized prongs, without a ground. The assumption being the device is protected in some way, like a plastic case. The all important thing is "if" the wall receptical is grounded. Otherwise you could be running in parallell with a refrigerator next door. In reality, many recepticals are wired by carpenters,or others, not trained as electricians. That is why some wall recepticals wind up with the polarity the wrong way, and no ground wire attached. I don't suppose the 240 voltage is any more dangerous than the 120 voltage, because voltage is not what kills, current is the real danger. I suppose the bottom line is to try and avoid your body being a path to earth ground.

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

From wikipedia:

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