Chinese plug to irish

clint_silver

Got 2 lamps from china. theyve got that asian plug. I could order a couple of adaptors off ebay but is there a problem snipping the cable and wiring it straight into an irish plug?

The asian cable only has 2 wires which are uncoloured, decided to test so I wired it to brown and blue in an irish plug and it works but thought I was just lucky so I rewired them alternatively (blue and brown) and still worked. I dont really understand that so am wary of using it until i do. Is what I did any different then using an adaptor?

aido79

clint_silver wrote: »

Got 2 lamps from china. theyve got that asian plug. I could order a couple of adaptors off ebay but is there a problem snipping the cable and wiring it straight into an irish plug?

The asian cable only has 2 wires which are uncoloured, decided to test so I wired it to brown and blue in an irish plug and it works but thought I was just lucky so I rewired them alternatively (blue and brown) and still worked. I dont really understand that so am wary of using it until i do. Is what I did any different then using an adaptor?

A light bulb works by passing a current through a piece of wire(filament). It doesn't matter which direction the current travels in so will work with live connected to either end with neutral connected to the other end. In the case of a bayonet type bulb it doesn't really matter which wire is connected to which end but in the case of an edison screw type bulb the conventional(and correct) way is to connect the neutral to the screw part of the lamp and the live to the base.
The easiest way to figure out which is the live and neutral is to use a multimeter on continuity setting with the lamp unplugged.

clint_silver

I was thinking more from a safety point of view. Is there anything that could go wrong if live and neutral were wrong way round even if lamp still works. Im not going to make anything live that shouldnt be?

gctest50

clint_silver wrote: »

Got 2 lamps from china........?

Are they made of metal ?

Borzoi

clint_silver wrote: »

I was thinking more from a safety point of view. Is there anything that could go wrong if live and neutral were wrong way round even if lamp still works. Im not going to make anything live that shouldnt be?

Yes, assuming the lamp has a switch. If the live wire is switched then when replacing a bulb there's no danger if somebody accidentally touches the lamp connections. If the switch is on the neutral then there is still a live feed at the lamp holder.

TBH I'm in 2 minds. Chances are your lamp is not CE marked and from what you say has no earth wire. I can't say whether I'd be skipping it or be prepared to put up additional risk.

aido79

clint_silver wrote: »

I was thinking more from a safety point of view. Is there anything that could go wrong if live and neutral were wrong way round even if lamp still works. Im not going to make anything live that shouldnt be?

Is it Bayonet or Edison screw? If its bayonet no you won't. If it's Edison screw then the neutral needs to go to the screw part of the fitting as it may be possible for someone to come into contact with this part while taking a bulb out or putting it in. Apart from that there are no real safety issues.

clint_silver

Its actually an LED fixture lamp, not just a straight electrics into a bayonet bulb type.

Lamp casing is plastic.

Theres no switch, when plugged in its on, unplug to turn off.

Some electronics inside it.

seamus

The chinese plug is the same as the Aussie one:

https://www.accesscomms.com.au/reference/powerplug.htm

clint_silver

its a 2 pin version of that plug. A snip of the cable shows both internal wires are dark grey.

clint_silver

heres maybe why

http://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/China1.html

number 6, it doesnt matter which is which as theyre not polarized. Apparently.