is third transformer hole an earth?

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#128

From: john downie2
Date: Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:20

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my brother wishes wishes to take an Acer Aspire One mini-notebook to japan,
from London, u.k. .

He already has in his house a lead with a japanese type mains plug on one
end and the normal type two pin femail type plug (the same as often goes
into radios, etc) that will go into the computer transformer.

But we see that the Aspire One has an additional *third* hole alongside the
usual two hole plug that goes into the computer transformer. The three holes
forming a triangle shape.

Is it alright to use our existing two hole Japanese type lead and then only
use *two* out of the three pins coming from the aspire transformer, please?

My guess is that the third hole is only an *earth* connection. although this
might be an additional safety feature, our main concern is whether it might
do any damage to use the two pin only lead?

I have emailed the technical services department and the spares department,
but neither will answer the question, only want to sell me one of their
three hole leads. Thanks for your advice.

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From: "john downie2" <bluestar@mail.invalid>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.repair,24hoursupport.helpdesk
Subject: is third transformer hole an earth?
Date: Sat, 8 Nov 2008 13:20:54 -0000
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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