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 France, Belgium and some other countries have standardised on a socket which is different from the CEE 7/4 socket (type F) that is standard in Germany and other continental European countries. The reason for incompatibility is that grounding in the E socket is accomplished with a round male pin permanently mounted in the socket. The plug itself is similar to C except that it is round and has the addition of a female contact to accept the grounding pin in the socket. In order to bridge the differences between sockets E and F, the CEE 7/7 plug was developed (see photo above): it has grounding clips on both sides to mate with the type F socket and a female contact to accept the grounding pin of the type E socket. The original type E plug, which does not have grounding clips, is no longer used, although very rarely it can still be found on some older appliances. Note that the CEE 7/7 plug is polarised when used with a type E outlet. The plug is rated at 16 amps. Above that, equipment must either be wired permanently to the mains or connected via another higher power connector such as the IEC 309 system. A type C plug fits perfectly into a type E socket.
Countries Using Type E Electric Plug/Socket - Belgium, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canary Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Czech Republic, Djibouti, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, France, French Guiana, Greece, Guadeloupe, Ireland, Indonesia, Italy, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mali, Martinique, Monaco, Morocco, Niger, Poland, St. Vincent, Senegal, Slovakia, Syria, Tahiti, Tunisia. |
