Hello Brian, 1) You are mostly correct. In North America, the C13/C14 can be rated up to 15 A. However, I have seen some manufacturers who only have obtained UL/CSA approval up to 10 A. The maximum rating for Europe is 10 A.
2) The connectors do not need to be tested up to 20 A in North America. If you are using the branch circuit breaker/fuse as the overcurrent protection for your device, the connector and device need to handle the fault current from a 20 A circuit. As Mr. Woodgate noted, the fault current from a circuit can be far greater than the rated current. However, that fault current only needs to be withstood until the branch overcurrent protector opens. A C13/C14 can handle a 1000 A for a few hundred milliseconds and will tolerate a short circuit on a 20 A circuit. In some installations, the fault current available may be over 10 kA. You can put a NEMA 1-15 plug on a 18 AWG (0.75 mm2) cord with an IEC-60320-C3 connector rated 2.5 A. That connector and cord will still be subject to fault testing off of a 20 A circuit for the United States if there is no current limiting in the load device. 3) As noted in item 2, the fault current will be far higher than the rated current of the circuit. The analogous situation would be having a cord with a CEE 7/16 plug and 0.75 mm2 cable. It would be rated for only 2.5 A, but it could be plugged into a 16 A outlet. The device either needs to have integrated current limiting or it needs to be able to handle the fault current from a 16 A circuit until that circuit's overcurrent protection opens. My description of how faults must be handled is very simplified, but it gives the general idea of what is expected. As a side note, Canada does not allow 15 A outlets on a 20 A circuit. They now allow the combination 15/20 A "T-Slot" type outlets on a 20 A circuit, but they are not common. The issue of 15 A outlets on 20 A circuits is typically primarily in United States commercial installations. Regards, Ted Eckert Compliance Engineer Microsoft Corporation ted.eck...@microsoft.com The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. -----Original Message----- From: Kunde, Brian [mailto:brian_ku...@lecotc.com] Sent: Monday, November 19, 2012 11:21 AM To: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG Subject: IEC 60320 C13/C14 Connector 10A vs 15A This email is regarding the proper and/or allowed use of the IEC 60320 C13/C14 connector (typical Inlet connector used on PCs and IT equipment). 1. If I am understanding the rating correctly, it appears as if this connector is rated 15 amps in North America (NA) (UL/CSA) but only 10 amps in Europe (EU). Is that correct? 2. In NA a standard 115VAC receptacle is rated 15 amps, however, the Electric Code allows a 15 amps receptacle to sit on a 20 amp circuit. Also, a 15 amp plug will plug into a 20 amp receptacle. So I assume that the IEC Connector can handle 20 amps or protection of the IEC connector is assumed to be downstream by the Overcurrent Protection Device (OPD) inside the device. Is that correct? 3. In EU a standard 230VAC receptacle is rated 16 amps yet the IEC connector is rated only 10 amps. So can the IEC connector handle 16 amps (fault current from a 16 amp circuit) or is it assumed the downstream overcurrent protection device inside the device will protect the IEC connector? Hypothetical Case: A device that draws a max 15 amps at 115VAC and 8 amps at 230VAC, can this IEC connector be used when the only OPD inside the EUT is rated 15 amps. (lets assume this is the max stead state current and the average current is only a few amps). I know the IEC 60320 C19/C20 connector is rated 16A/20A but I would have the same questions on a device that draws between 16A and 20A. I hope I explained this well enough. 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