Australian Plug with Round Earth Pin

[Abhishek]

Hello,

I recently moved into a house that has a power point with a round earth pin.

Asking the landlord to replace the power point is not an option due to some reasons.

What is my workaround for this issue?

I can only use power plugs with 2 pins, however, I want to use a power board and most come with 3 flat pins.

Is there an extension lead that would convert it to the standard 3 flat pin plug?

Thank you in advance.

Cheers!

Abs

[Walter]

@Abhishek 

Welcome to the community.

The socket with a round plug is usually for special purpose circuits, not normally meant for ordinary domestic purposes, but is usually used for "off peak" storage heaters etc.

Since it would be (I expect) for "off peak", then I might wonder if it's clock related (and will only work during off peak times).

I'd always recommend a licenced electrician when messing around with AC voltage.

Maybe another member of the community might have ideas

[MikeTNZ]

Hi there Abhishek,

Walter is correct, these outlets are used for special or dedicated circuits, where either it is supplied

during some sort of night rate relay or the circuit has been current limited, by way of a smaller sized

fuse or circuit-breaker, plugging something like a heater or the like will normally cause the circuit protection

to trip.

What you could try however is getting a plug-top from an electrical supplier, with a round earth pin.

Bearing in mind, you need to follow the installation instructions to the letter, if you don't feel confident doing this, I would fully recommend enlisting the help of a qualified electrician.

As Walter said, 230V is not to be messed with, electric shocks and house fires are no good for anyone.

Cheers,

Mike T.

[Abhishek]

I didn't realise I had a responses.

The landlord is planning major electrical works sometime in June this year, however, I have some visitors coming over next month and I need basic things such as table lamps with LED globes and phone chargers working. Can you think of an alternative? Are there extension leads or power boards available for such power points?

Why on earth would they install this in the first place is a question I ask myself every time I walk into that bedroom.

[redracer01]

I suspect that at one point they had either a wall mounted water heater or under basin unit. But as they renovated they neglected to update the power point.

[Mathy]

HI @Abhishek - it would seem you’re going to have to run an extension cord from somewhere else in the house. LED lamps don’t draw a lot of power, and perhaps your guests can charge their devices elsewhere in the house. Alternatively, explain the problem and suggest they bring Powerbanks, for their devices, with them - they can charge these during the day off a different outlet. Cheers Deb

[Jason]

Hi @Abhishek,

Welcome back. 

You weren't receiving email notifications about responses because your email address hadn't been verified. I've taken the liberty of verifying it for you. You can now adjust your subscriptions and notifications preferences in the My Settings section. Just click on the menu next to your username at the top right hand corner of any Workshop page. 

Thanks,

Jason