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Irish-European phone charger


Construction

Many European countries use AC power plugs of @w|Power_socket#Type_E_.28French_2-pin.2C_female_earth.29|type E and F UK and Ireland (and some other countries) use
@w|Power_socket#Type_G_.28British_3-pin.29|type G plugs. Frequent commuting between continental Europe and Ireland makes it necessary to have a cellphone charger capable of operating in both countries. The different wall sockets can be solved by an adapter, but that is another piece of junk to carry around, prone to loss - especially during storage when it is not needed.

The two-pin European adapters can be connected to the Irish sockets if the protective plastic pieces over the power contacts are pushed aside; that is usually done by the protective ground pin, the middle one. In the field it can be done manually, by a screwdriver or a pen or anything suitable on hand. However, this is not comfortable.

The charger has to be modified. The metal contacts on the plastic pins have an edge that gets snagged in the Irish sockets. To alleviate this, the edge has to be filed off, to leave a smooth surface where the pins come in contact with the inner sides of the socket holes. The change is so small it is not visible on the images; it is however meaningful.

The middle pin can be simulated with any piece of material (plastic prefered over metal because of being an electrical insulator), of the length of 22 mm and profile 4x8 millimeters. (To this length 18 mm has to be added for the depth of continental sockets, then something for reaching the axis it is mounted to.) As it would be in the way with continental sockets, it is made as flip-off. The holders of the flip-off stick are made from a piece of aluminium that was on hand, and are hot-glued to the charger body. The pin is tapered at its last centimeter, to not be gripped by the metal contacts of the middle pin with so much force.


Images


Charger in position for continental Europe

Charger in position for UK/Ireland

Charger in position for UK/Ireland

Charger in continental socket

Charger in UK/Ireland socket

Charger, disassembled

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