UK Shaver Socket – Why British Shaver Sockets Use a Single Plug and Managing Multiple Appliances

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Is the only option either for everyone who needs another socket to get an adapter and charge things in their own rooms or constantly swap which appliance is plugged in? I live in a shared rental where everyone has different brands of electric toothbrush and shavers so even a single extra plug would be helpful but plugs without this shutter effect seem impossibly hard to find.

Best Answer

Those shaver sockets are actually a small transformer with 1:1 windings. That provides mains voltage in, and the same voltage out. The only difference is the output voltage is "fully floating" with absolutely no ground return or reference. You could accidentally touch the voltage and the faucet with no current flow. The only way to get a shock would be to touch both sides of the output.