very basic question

"John"

PCs use IEC leads with a female plug at the PC end - so no prongs.

....... Phil

You've been a great help.

I was looking for something like this:

Or this

Kevin Martin

"John"

then from left to right it is : Neutral - Earth - Active.

The IEC female plug is known as a C13.

It is " female " because it has sockets, not pins !!

That idiotic web page you found from some half witted compewter geek got everything 100 % dead WRONG.

The imbecile who wrote it does not even know male from female.

IMPORTANT:

The IEC male socket ( aka C14) must NEVER be attached to the end of a AC power cord - since that creates a 100% LETHAL male to male lead.

....... Phil

see

-- Regards Blue

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I thought you would be amused.

-- Regards Blue

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PS and yes I didn't notice until you pointed it out. It is actually very hard to find a correct and clear IEC plug and socket wiring guide on the net.

Hopefully the rewirable connectors are not being made in China by someone using a web site as a labelling guide though.

And if you do a Google image search for "IEC plug" or "IEC socket" even those selling them mix the terms around 50% of the time. So much for IEC being a standard.

"aussiblu"

....... Phil

So is Wikipedia wrong here too

So from this

perhaps we should be referring to "appliance inlets" and "connectors" rather than plugs and sockets and males and females when talking IEC.

I look forward to someone with the appropriate expertise confirming the correct term usage.

I have actually contacted the sites and asked the question. The first site mentioned (Ray Heffer) has contacted me and removed the page.

"aussiblu"

The common IEC C13 " plug " is a female connector - for obvious safety reasons. It *plugs* into a mating socket which is male, since it has pins.

The way most makers have long described connectors like these is to completely AVOID the use of " plug " and " socket" .

Instead, the terms " line male" or "line female" are used for ones that attach to cables & " panel male " or " panel female" for the ones that mount on equipment.

This pretty much eliminates the ambiguity of " plug " and " socket " - for most people that is.

There is no accounting for autistic IT geeks lacking even one scintilla of common sense or it seems the basics of the "birds and bees" .

..... Phil

"aussiblu"

No need to program a cruise missile after all.

...... Phil

Firstly it can't really be wrong since no connection details are given. Secondly why would anyone trust Wikipedia anyway? Sometimes it might be right of course, but knowing when it is frequently wrong is the problem. And if you are already sure, why bother looking?

MrT.

I was asking was it wrong in what it describes as a socket.

Can't see any 'pinouts' given there just dimensions.

-- Regards Blue

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