Why do Braun shavers sold in the United Kingdom come with a EU 2 pin plug? 

The Braun genuine EU two pin plug is slightly thinner than the United Kingdom shaver socket plug however this will not pose a problem if your shaver socket mains adaptor plug was manufactured after 1994 as these all were made to handle both UK and EU two pin versions.

What happens if my shaver socket in the bathroom is older than 1994 can I still use a Braun EU two pin charger?

No, not without an adaptor the plug would fit into your shaver socket but as the pins are too thin compared with the UK plug, you would notice the charger falling out. Some customer have tried to use tape to keep the cable in place however we would not recommend that. The best option in this case is to purchase a two pin to three pin convertor adaptors.

A friend of mine keeps charging a device with a Genuine Braun Europlug (the Type C version without grounding, which has two pins) in the 230V shaver socket (BS 4573) in his UK home. But both UK and Europe have 230V/50Hz, so that's not an issue. The device in question is either a hair clipper or electric toothbrush with 100-240V AC, 50-60Hz and 0.4-1.4W (toothbrush) or 7W (clipper)

Is it safe to put a Europlug into a 230V UK shaving socket?

And the pins seem to fit more or less. I certainly can't convince him to stop (or stop trying to convince him in case it's actually fine) if I don't know more about it, so I'm asking here.

The answer here is:-
Yes the shaver sockets are different, they don't have mains voltage connected directly like normal sockets, shaver sockets are special and are connected to mains via a low power isolating transformer. If a device is not equipped with a shaver plug, it most likely is not meant to be connected to a shaver socket and should not be connected to one. Unless the device manual says it's OK to do so.

It's really down to whether the wattage of the appliance is within the limit of the small isolation transformer in the shaver socket. Many appliances these days are electronic, and many are rechargeable. My UK-model shaver has a rechargeable battery inside. The charger has a standard UK 2-pin shaver plug on it, and is clearly meant to be plugged into a shaver socket.

An UK shaver socket has a built-in current limiting and isolation transformer, therefore only meant for powering low power devices with matching plug and consuming low power in a similar way like a shaver would draw power from it.

Only these are suitable loads for that transformer. As shaver plug is not intended to give power to arbitrary loads like chargers with switch mode power supplies in them.

Article Posted: 26/01/2023 15:25:42