European to UK plug conversion. 2-pin to 3-pin

[Engineer54]

Thank you all for your replies. Just to cover some of your questions

Before I bought the lights I checked with the company whether they would be okay to use in the UK and they said "The lights will work in the UK but you will need to change the plugs or use an adapter", which brings me to asking how to rewire them to a UK plug.

I did hope they would be "kettle leads" as that would mean I'd simply have to change them for UK 3-pin ones, but the lead goes inside the housing of the light so this isn't the case.

I have rewired plugs before, I've just never converted 2-pin to 3-pin before (and didn't know if you can) and there doesn't seem to be much about it on the internet so I wanted some professional advice.

Please see the attached photos

The photo shows this as being a French plug top, not the German Shuko which has a scrapping earth. The French system has a protruding earth pin at the socket outlet that enters the plug top as it's inserted into the outlet. Also the German plug tops are NOT polarised, the French plug tops Are. (but can still be used in a German outlet in an unpolarised form) !! ...lol!!!

Just cut the French plug off and replace with the UK, using Rockingit's sketch if your unsure how!!!

 

[Rockingit]

I'd said Schuko as a guess before I'd seen the pic, in my defence! It was a good enough bet.

Not my sketch, something I pinched!

 

[Engineer54]

I'd said Schuko as a guess before I'd seen the pic, in my defence! It was a good enough bet.

Not my sketch, something I pinched!

In reality, they are both Schuko's, the French have just added a means of polarising the Schuko. If you look, you can see the provision for the German scrapping earth on the French plug top in the photo above, so it can be used in either country...

You posted the sketch, so it's YOURS!! lol!!!!

 

[Dan]

Just bumping some threads in the Electrical Wiring Theories and Regulations forum category here on our Electricians Forums. If this specific topic isn't current, just ignore it, it'll drop off the list in no time. However, if it's something you'd like to contribute to, feel free to reply and bring it back into current discussion.