plugs

hi there

a bit of a follow up to this post what i did on the subject of moving electric equipment from SA to the UK. a bit of a discovery of sorts in respect of Microsoft, the Xbox 360 and their odyssey of plug adaptor fittings.

the Xbox 360 has been working fine (except for me being no use at games) via using one of them SA to UK plug adaptors. however, they are pricey (seven pounds each, as point of fact) and not really a long term solution.

i went off to get a replacement cord to put in the power adapter / convertor / big black box things, which you can see in picture here, and made a somewhat interesting discovery. this two pin plug socket thing is far away from being standard in the UK. they are, then, not readily, freely or easily available. oh dear, whoops. it seems for the most part that UK Xbox power thingies come with that 3 pin or 3 slot sort of connector for the power cord, like the kind you once upon a time would have called a "kettle cord", or if you prefer like you put in the back of a proper desktop PC.

what to do, then? stick with the adapter plug thing? as i said, not a long term fix. i did think about simply cutting off the South African plug and attaching a UK one, as in theory this should work. i am reluctant to, however, as if it does or did not then i would be stuck with no means at all of plugging it in.

i am not at all sure if your circumstances involve informing children that a toy does not work anymore due to "Daddy trying something with it", but let me assure you that this approach does not usually end very well at all. so there is no point in taking scissors, a knife and a screwdriver set to a power cord as plan a if you don't have a very good plan b in place. trust me on this one, if nothing else.

the picture you can see there, however, shows and tells you that i found an answer. with some wildcard google search action i found the correct power cord to plug into the power box thing that comes with an Xbox 360 from South Africa. two pounds and twenty one pence pieces was the cost of it, which isn't too bad i guess. better, certainly, than the thirty or so pounds an entire new Xbox 360 power cord set would have cost.

would cutting the SA plug off and attaching a UK one have worked? no idea. i am reasonably sure that yes it would, but i wasn't prepared to gamble on it. quite happy that i don't have to, to be honest.

those two hole "figure of eight" plug power cord connector things are, i am delighted to report, freely available here at the least. so i am, oddly, happier with Sony than i am Microsoft at the moment.

quite a dull post, this, for my regular readers (which yes i know is saying quite a thing) but i can only hope this info helps someone somewhere.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!