Electric Shaver Charger Plug Question

[dangie]

Just bought a new Philip rechargeable shaver. It came with a standard UK 3 pin plug charger cable. My old shaver had a 2 pin plug charger cable which I plugged into the shaver socket in my bathroom, which is what I would like to continue doing.

My question is, can I use my old shaver cable on the new shaver? The connections into both shavers are the same, but the outputs from both plugs are different. They are as follows:

New 3 pin plug: Output 15v 0.3A 5.4w
Old 2 pin plug: Output 8.0v 100MA (no w indicated)

From what I can see the output from my old plug is lower, so firstly can it be used without damaging the shaver, and secondly if ok would it just take longer to charge? Thank you.

 

[dosxuk]

While you shouldn't do any damage with the old cable on the new shaver, it may well refuse to charge. The old cable provides significantly lower voltage and current.

 

[Ediswan]

I would not even try it.

 

[dgl]

You'll need to get another Philips charger, mine is 15V and has a shaver plug (BS546?).

 

[dangie]

Thanks everyone. Just a bit more inconvenient but think I’ll charge it in the kitchen. Play safe.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Jun 2024 ==

Just bought a new Philip rechargeable shaver. It came with a standard UK 3 pin plug charger cable. My old shaver had a 2 pin plug charger cable which I plugged into the shaver socket in my bathroom, which is what I would like to continue doing.

Update…. and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.
I’ll just plug the 3 pin UK plug into a UK/European 2 pin travel adapter. This then plugs straight into the bathroom shaver socket. Bit untidy but it works fine.

 

[sor]

I know you've got the answer - but an observation. I bought a Philips shaver about 13 years ago and it came with just a simple cable from 2 pin to proprietary plug. No electronics in the cable, ie probably just a mains cable. I then bought one a few years later and that had a 2 pin cable with some kind of transformer/switching mode PS in the plug. I would assume whatever is coming out of the other end is not simple mains voltage.

I'm surprised they haven't gone USB anyway. My most recent Philips Sonicare toothbrush came with both a 2 pin mains stand charger and a "travel" case which just takes USB power. Best of both worlds, since of course it'll charge on any old mains chargers you have too.

 

[Sun Chariot]

I wet shave. The handle and blades work in every country I've taken it.

 

[Bantamzen]

I know you've got the answer - but an observation. I bought a Philips shaver about 13 years ago and it came with just a simple cable from 2 pin to proprietary plug. No electronics in the cable, ie probably just a mains cable. I then bought one a few years later and that had a 2 pin cable with some kind of transformer/switching mode PS in the plug. I would assume whatever is coming out of the other end is not simple mains voltage.

I'm surprised they haven't gone USB anyway. My most recent Philips Sonicare toothbrush came with both a 2 pin mains stand charger and a "travel" case which just takes USB power. Best of both worlds, since of course it'll charge on any old mains chargers you have too.

I bought a new one recently and that is USB-C and came with a USB C - USB A cable & 3 pin plug adaptor.

 

[dangie]

I'm surprised they haven't gone USB anyway.…

I could have bought one with USB but I’m a bit old school & Luddite(ish). Give me another 10 years and I’ll consider USB

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jun 2024 ==

I wet shave. The handle and blades work in every country I've taken it.

I knew someone would have to hijack the thread with that

 

[alxndr]

Thanks everyone. Just a bit more inconvenient but think I’ll charge it in the kitchen. Play safe.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Jun 2024 ==


Update…. and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.
I’ll just plug the 3 pin UK plug into a UK/European 2 pin travel adapter. This then plugs straight into the bathroom shaver socket. Bit untidy but it works fine.

Cut the existing plug off and wire it on to a 2 pin plug. I do the reverse for my electric toothbrush, which only comes with a 2 pin plug for which I don’t have a socket!

 

[dangie]

Cut the existing plug off and wire it on to a 2 pin plug. I do the reverse for my electric toothbrush, which only comes with a 2 pin plug for which I don’t have a socket!

For your toothbrush the voltage transformer is probably built into the toothbrush charging base. For my shaver the transformer is built into the plug. Wiring my shaver up to mains voltage is probably not a good idea

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Good grief!!! Are Phillips messing around like this with all their electric shavers?!

It was bad enough when they stopped doing the curly wires for them and introduced a straight wire that, even if left half folded how it comes, still manages to get tangled up with everything... and now they're moving the charger from the body of the shaver into the plug??? That's complete lunacy...

 

[SargeNpton]

Good grief!!! Are Phillips messing around like this with all their electric shavers?!

It was bad enough when they stopped doing the curly wires for them and introduced a straight wire that, even if left half folded how it comes, still manages to get tangled up with everything... and now they're moving the charger from the body of the shaver into the plug??? That's complete lunacy...

Perhaps an EU regulation to standardise all rechargeable devices on the USB-C format at the appliance end?

 

[AM9]

Cut the existing plug off and wire it on to a 2 pin plug. I do the reverse for my electric toothbrush, which only comes with a 2 pin plug for which I don’t have a socket!

That would probably violate the safety regulations of the product when plugged into a bathroom type shaver transformer. The moulded 2-pin lead is safe from handling with wet hands whereas a wired plug will not be effectively sealed.

 

[najaB]

It was bad enough when they stopped doing the curly wires for them and introduced a straight wire that, even if left half folded how it comes, still manages to get tangled up with everything... and now they're moving the charger from the body of the shaver into the plug??? That's complete lunacy...

It's likely so that they only have to make one mechanism regardless of if it's mains charging or a travel model that uses a USB port.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

It's likely so that they only have to make one mechanism regardless of if it's mains charging or a travel model that uses a USB port.

To be honest, I'd put getting proper curly shaver cords back as a higher priority...

 

[Blindtraveler]

I switched to wet shaving about 10 years ago as got sick of going through a series of substandard electric shavers that just didn't do the job as I wanted them to

 

[Sun Chariot]

I switched to wet shaving about 10 years ago as got sick of going through a series of substandard electric shavers that just didn't do the job as I wanted them to

Solidarity. My sentiment on post #7

 

[gswindale]

Good grief!!! Are Phillips messing around like this with all their electric shavers?!

It was bad enough when they stopped doing the curly wires for them and introduced a straight wire that, even if left half folded how it comes, still manages to get tangled up with everything... and now they're moving the charger from the body of the shaver into the plug??? That's complete lunacy...

Why is it lunacy? If I'm going away for a weekend, then not having the charger as part of the shaver makes a small weight saving does it not? To be honest, I much prefer the flat cables that shavers etc. come with these days which don't tangle rather than the curly wires (like on telephones) that always got into a huge tangle with anything else nearby.

 

[dangie]

Put any cable into a box and it'll come out tangled. In fact if there's more than one cable they'll be tangled around each other. One of life's unexplained mysteries.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Why is it lunacy? If I'm going away for a weekend, then not having the charger as part of the shaver makes a small weight saving does it not? To be honest, I much prefer the flat cables that shavers etc. come with these days which don't tangle rather than the curly wires (like on telephones) that always got into a huge tangle with anything else nearby.

Integrated chargers surely make things simpler ( in fact I didn't even realise until very recently that my shaver contained a charger as I'm only ever using it plugged in - then I accidentally pressed the button while cleaning it and it started up... ) and there's hardly any weight difference?

As for the cable - I definitely had no trouble with the old curly cables ever tangling up with anything, whereas the current ( pun intended ) cable design is constantly getting in the way of everything and tangling around everything no matter how careful I am with it. The reason curly telephone cables get tangled is people use(d) them differently; frequently turning round and all that while having their conversation; when shaving you tend to be in one direction and not swapping hands to write notes or anything.

 

[Dai Corner]

I switched to wet shaving about 10 years ago as got sick of going through a series of substandard electric shavers that just didn't do the job as I wanted them to

I switched about 25 years ago for similar reasons, but then got sick of wet shaving too so I grew a beard!