I recently bought a childs ride on battery powered car from someone in this country (uk), but the car had originally come from abroad India i think) and as such, comes with a charger with a two pin plug. Would it be ok to replace this charger with a three pin charger to enable me to charge the car up? It sounds the obvious thing to do but just wanted to be on the safe side as it takes 8 hours to charge the battery so i could be in another room some of the time its charging. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Is it labelled to operate at 230 volts.is it certified as safe. From another country that doesn’t have the same safety rules as we do. Others will no doubt comment shortly.
Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure as i don't have the manual for the car. The charger that came with it says input :AC110v-240v.
Before you replace , you need to find out what the output voltage and current rating is plus the correct type of plug at the end of the wire where it’s plugged into the toy. You also need to check the polarity of this plug. if the wall wart is double insulated ( usually are) you can use a universal socket strip where you can use existing power supply. if unsure, get someone knowledgeable to check the thing out
If this adaptor was for use in India, it will have round pins like our old 5amp plugs - the continental/UK adaptors will fit but US/UK adaptors have flat pins at an angle so won’t
A UK to European travel adaptor ( its the opposite of what you get in travel shops - they are for use in Europe where you plug uk three pin plugs) will work.
Can you post a photo of the connector at the other end of the wire. It should be possible to find an equivalent power supply with a UK plug.
That's what I thought,but most of the ones I have seen in the UK take a Shuoko (excuse spelling) plug, i.e. they are not flat-faced, but flat ones maybe available in Europe.
What I don’t like with some of the adapters is that if the adapter is plugged into the socket but nothing in to the adapter then the contacts can be seen. Could be dangerous I guess. Some cheap nasty stuff going around.
This is the adapter you want. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EU-Euro-...=3328137459594bf8fac5f9144a6fa1d0f6a668b29248
This is what the connector looks like at the other end of the wire. Not sure if this is a universal fitting, if anyone knows? So that i could perhaps purchase an uk equivalent charger. I do have an EU to UK adapter, the flat type not schuko type. But there would be exposed holes onced plugged in, is that ok? The plug on this charger doesn't have the flat contact areas for earth so would you still use schuko adapter in that case? Was just hoping i could just buy a 3 pin equivalent to this two pin charger....if thats possible and safe.
Maybe something like this as it's 12v and 1000mA output same as power adapter charger that came with the car.
Possibly. You would need to ensure that the output orientation of the 12v plug is the same on both. I mean that the centre pin is +ve or -ve. The original doesnt indicate this on the adapter. You may need a volt meter to check this. I would prefer to use an adapter at the mains plug end rather than changing the whole thing. There are lots of options as described above.