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I have universal power strips for my home PC setup as pictured. The problem is, the Schuko plugs that go into it lose their ground. So are there any universal power strips that also have the French-type grounding pin that goes into the Schuko plug ground? It also needs to be retractable because I also plug US plugs into it. I know its too specific an ask, but I couldnt find anything like that.

Sure I could just get replacement US-type power cords for whatever needs to be grounded, but Id like to learn about any workarounds and/or available products that you might happen to know about.

I dont want separate individual adapters for each plug unless theyre not bulky, but everything Ive seen was huge and cumbersome to fit into my setup, I dont think such adapters come in smaller sizes, so an entire universal power strip is preferable.

Or maybe there are power strips that are indented like the German-type CEE 7/3 plug, but Idk how they would keep their universality in that case, since the UK plug would no longer fit I guess?

Universal power strip

Schuko plug ground

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I have universal power strips for my home PC setup as pictured.

Into the trash they go.

These are cheap Chinese power strips. The CE rating on them is completely faked. Either you bought these at a "flea market" street vendor, or you bought them mail order off AliExpress, eBay or Amazon Marketplace. Don't ever buy electrical equipment there. This stuff is actively dangerous.

The direct-mail sales channel (e.g. via Amazon's free-trade-zone warehouses) bypasses the regulatory scheme which keeps goods safe in the consumer supply chain.

When you go into a respectable shop like Bauhaus or Ikea, and buy their retail stock, you will get products whose CE rating is genuine, and may have been confirmed by a 3rd party testing lab such as TUV or BSI... and the responsible manufacturer will have properly addressed the grounding issue.

Sure I could just get replacement US-type power cords for whatever needs to be grounded

Assuming the ground is even connected on these junkers. It probably isn't - Big Clive has a series of teardown videos of Chinee power strips, and they're a disaster of course.

Idk how they would keep their universality in that case,

Because universality is illegal. It cannot meet the bar for any socket standard - not BS1363, not CEE 6/3 and not NEMA anything. That is why no universal socket on earth has a proper certification from UL, CSA, BSI, TUV, or any other recognized testing laboratory.

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  • CE isn’t a testing laboratory like UL, and isn’t even audited by anyone…
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Jan 28, 2023 at 22:32
  • @JonCuster It's audited internally by the legitimate EU company who has assets inside the EU, and thus assets to seize if caught cheating. As such, they're ready to prove the veracity of their internal testing when authorities come knocking. Of course these ebay/amazon drop-shippers have no presence inside the EU, nothing to seize, and EU authorities will not waste EU citizens' tax dollars pursuing them outside the EU. Whereas private testing labs like UL and CSA certainly will defend their marks worldwide.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jan 28, 2023 at 22:40
  • Absolutely. But even in the EU, a CE mark doesn’t indicate any actual testing of the device for safety, just that they have some processes in place.
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Jan 28, 2023 at 22:51
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    @JonCuster sure, and whether that's good enough is between the union and its citizens. They always have the option to hold out for the BSI Kitemark or other NRTL. I certainly would, unless the item was from a known-reliable vendor like Siemens or Volkswa--er, wait a minute.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Commented Jan 28, 2023 at 22:56
  • @Harper-ReinstateMonica The strips are Krieger as pictured, Idk if thats a reputable brand or a made up Chinese company, but I got them from Amazon, buyer is TECHBUY, whose business address is as follows: 20423 state Rd 7 Boca Raton Florida 33498 US. I need them universal because I plug every type of connector and dont wanna mess with adapters. The ground line on them works, Ive checked with a multimeter. I think you misunderstood my OP, the ground is lost simply because there no pin from the strip to the plug exists, not because the strip is faulty in some way.
    – Aram Avagyan
    Commented Jan 29, 2023 at 6:55

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