Type J
Plug Types · 5 specs
Direct Answer
Type J is Switzerland's own standard -- three round pins in a small hexagonal-bodied plug, in 10A and 16A variants. Its design directly influenced Brazil's and South Africa's later Type N standards, though reversed polarity during adaptation broke compatibility with its own descendants.
Source: SN 441011 (SEV 1011) · Last reviewed Aug 28, 2026
Specs
| Pin Count | 3 round pins in a triangle, smaller than Type D/M; hexagonal plug body |
| Rated Current | 10 or 16 A |
| Rated Voltage | 250 V |
| Grounded | Yes |
| Common Regions | Switzerland, Liechtenstein only |
An Ancestor to Brazil and South Africa's Plug -- Just Not a Compatible One
Switzerland's plug was proposed in 1937 and introduced in 1953, in two sizes: a 10A version with 4mm pins that also accepts the ungrounded Type C Europlug directly, and a larger 16A version with thicker pins, where 16A sockets accept 10A plugs but not the reverse.
The Swiss design's distinctive triangular 3-round-pin layout directly influenced the later international IEC 60906-1 standard, which Brazil and South Africa each separately adapted into their own Type N plugs decades later. But both adaptations reversed the pin polarity relative to the original Swiss layout during that process -- so despite the shared ancestry, a Swiss Type J plug is not compatible with either Brazilian or South African Type N sockets.