It's amazing what you can find out on teh interwebs...

For example, that plug you use to plug normal equipment into the 
electricity grid. Apparently there's a name for it. It's called "BS 
1363". (Memorable, eh?)

Similarly, the lead that almost all computers are powered by. The 
connector on one end is a normal BS 1363. Apparently the connector at 
the other end is known as "IEC 60320 C13". (And the matching socket is C14.)

And - the point of my research - that weird "clover leaf" plug that 
certain laptops have. I always assumed it was proprietry. But no, 
apparently that's "IEC 60320 C5". This information will make it 
drastically easier for me to find a replacement lead for the spare 
laptop here! ;-)

(I still have the half of the leaf with the transformer in it - and the 
half that connects to the laptop itself. That's the hard part to 
replace. But some visitor from America borrowed the other half, because 
her laptop also had an IEC 60320 C6 socket, and I never got the lead back.)

Even more, apparently the rare 2-pin plug you see on some low-powered 
stuff is IEC 60320 C7.

Check it out:
http://www.accesscomms.com.au/reference/IEC320.htm

Post a reply to this message