IEC 60906-1

This article is about part one of IEC 60906. For IEC 60906-2, the 100–130 VAC mains plug, see NEMA connector § NEMA 5. For IEC 60906-3, the extra low voltage connectors, see DC connector § IEC 60906-3:1994.

IEC 60906-1-plug

IEC 60906-1 (IEC designation "Type N")[1] is an international standard designed "to provide a standard for a safe, compact and practical 16 A 250 V AC system of plugs and socket-outlets that could be accepted by many countries as their national standard, even if not in the near future."[2] The standard was originally published by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1986; the current edition is ed2.0 published in 2009. Although it is almost identical to the Swiss SEV 1011 T12 plug for 10 A 250 V a.c. standardised in 1937, its dimensions are slightly different and its polarization is flipped (if the socket has the protective/earth conductor at the bottom, the phase is located left and neutral right). As of July 2014, only South Africa has introduced a standard (SANS 164-2[permanent dead link‍])[3] based closely on IEC 60906-1. Brazil used it as the basis for its NBR 14136 standard, but this is not compatible with IEC 60906-1. In 2017 the European Union (EU) published recommendations advising against the harmonisation of domestic plug and socket systems in the EU.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "IEC system of plugs and socket-outlets for household and similar purposes – Part 1: Plugs and socket-outlets 16 A 250 V a.c." (PDF). IEC. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-01-14. Retrieved 2018-01-14.
  3. ^ Botha, Mark (2014-02-14). "New plug and socket system for SA". Vector. Archived from the original on 2015-04-27. Retrieved 2015-04-20.
  4. ^ "REFIT Platform Recommendations – Internal Market: XII.24.a - "Plugs and sockets"". European Commission. Retrieved 12 January 2018.