Condensed Consolidating Financial Statements Condensed Consolidating Statements of Cash Flows (Details) (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Condensed Consolidating Statements of Cash Flows [Line Items]
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities	$ 2,285	$ 1,664	$ 1,248
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	(614)	(593)	(568)
Cash paid for acquisitions of businesses, net of cash acquired	(9)	(6,936)	(325)
(Purchases) sales of short-term investments - net	(288)	603	103
Loans to affiliates	0	0	0
Repayments of loans from affiliates	0	0	0
Proceeds from the sales of businesses	777	3	15
Other - net	(68)	(49)	(25)
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities	(202)	(6,972)	(800)
Proceeds from borrowings	9	7,156	381
Payments on borrowings	(1,096)	(1,324)	(78)
Payments of financing costs	0	(117)	(3)
Proceeds from borrowings from affiliates	0	0	0
Payments on borrowings from affiliates	0	0	0
Other intercompany financing activities	0	0	0
Cash dividends paid	(796)	(512)	(462)
Cash dividends paid to affiliates	0	0	0
Exercise of employee stock options	121	95	71
Issuance (repurchase) of shares	0	159	(343)
Excess tax benefit from equity-based compensation	32	21	57
Other - net	(6)	2	(4)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	(1,736)	5,480	(381)
Effect of currency on cash	(9)	20	(15)
Total increase (decrease) in cash	338	192	52
Cash at the beginning of the period	577	385	333
Cash at the end of the period	915	577	385
Eaton Corporation plc [Member]
Condensed Consolidating Statements of Cash Flows [Line Items]
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities	104	(35)
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	0	0
Cash paid for acquisitions of businesses, net of cash acquired	0	(6,542)
(Purchases) sales of short-term investments - net	0	0
Loans to affiliates	0	0
Repayments of loans from affiliates	0	0
Proceeds from the sales of businesses	0	0
Other - net	0	0
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities	0	(6,542)
Proceeds from borrowings	0	0
Payments on borrowings	0	0
Payments of financing costs		0
Proceeds from borrowings from affiliates	0	5
Payments on borrowings from affiliates	0	(5)
Other intercompany financing activities	688
Cash dividends paid	(796)	0
Cash dividends paid to affiliates	0	0
Exercise of employee stock options	0	0
Issuance (repurchase) of shares		6,584
Excess tax benefit from equity-based compensation	0	0
Other - net	0	0
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	(108)	6,584
Effect of currency on cash	0	0
Total increase (decrease) in cash	(4)	7
Cash at the beginning of the period	7
Cash at the end of the period	3	7
Eaton Corporation [Member]
Condensed Consolidating Statements of Cash Flows [Line Items]
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities	739	1,012	613
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	(171)	(291)	(249)
Cash paid for acquisitions of businesses, net of cash acquired	0	0	(24)
(Purchases) sales of short-term investments - net	25	175	27
Loans to affiliates	(535)	(6,693)	(149)
Repayments of loans from affiliates	36	268	100
Proceeds from the sales of businesses	0	2	1
Other - net	(41)	(28)	(24)
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities	(686)	(6,567)	(318)
Proceeds from borrowings	0	7,156	379
Payments on borrowings	(1,048)	(1,306)	(70)
Payments of financing costs		(117)	(3)
Proceeds from borrowings from affiliates	2,395	8,054	5,855
Payments on borrowings from affiliates	(2,921)	(8,175)	(5,650)
Other intercompany financing activities	1,365	273	(42)
Cash dividends paid	0	(512)	(462)
Cash dividends paid to affiliates	0	0	0
Exercise of employee stock options	121	95	71
Issuance (repurchase) of shares		0	(343)
Excess tax benefit from equity-based compensation	32	21	57
Other - net	0	0	0
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	(56)	5,489	(208)
Effect of currency on cash	0	0	0
Total increase (decrease) in cash	(3)	(66)	87
Cash at the beginning of the period	54	120	33
Cash at the end of the period	51	54	120
Guarantors [Member]
Condensed Consolidating Statements of Cash Flows [Line Items]
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities	428	217	171
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	(119)	(73)	(39)
Cash paid for acquisitions of businesses, net of cash acquired	0	11	(2)
(Purchases) sales of short-term investments - net	(95)	210	0
Loans to affiliates	(545)	0	0
Repayments of loans from affiliates	626	0	0
Proceeds from the sales of businesses	0	0	14
Other - net	(12)	2	(9)
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities	(145)	150	(36)
Proceeds from borrowings	0	0	0
Payments on borrowings	(43)	(16)	0
Payments of financing costs		0	0
Proceeds from borrowings from affiliates	4,260	6,425	0
Payments on borrowings from affiliates	(2,874)	0	0
Other intercompany financing activities	(1,630)	(340)	(106)
Cash dividends paid	0	0	0
Cash dividends paid to affiliates	0	0	(32)
Exercise of employee stock options	0	0	0
Issuance (repurchase) of shares		(6,425)	0
Excess tax benefit from equity-based compensation	0	0	0
Other - net	0	0	0
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	(287)	(356)	(138)
Effect of currency on cash	0	0	0
Total increase (decrease) in cash	(4)	11	(3)
Cash at the beginning of the period	14	3	6
Cash at the end of the period	10	14	3
Other Subsidiaries [Member]
Condensed Consolidating Statements of Cash Flows [Line Items]
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities	1,067	487	1,017
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	(324)	(229)	(280)
Cash paid for acquisitions of businesses, net of cash acquired	(9)	(405)	(299)
(Purchases) sales of short-term investments - net	(218)	218	76
Loans to affiliates	(6,215)	(8,054)	(5,855)
Repayments of loans from affiliates	5,795	8,175	5,650
Proceeds from the sales of businesses	777	1	0
Other - net	(15)	(23)	8
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities	(209)	(317)	(700)
Proceeds from borrowings	9	0	2
Payments on borrowings	(5)	(2)	(8)
Payments of financing costs		0	0
Proceeds from borrowings from affiliates	640	263	149
Payments on borrowings from affiliates	(662)	(263)	(100)
Other intercompany financing activities	(423)	67	148
Cash dividends paid	0	0	0
Cash dividends paid to affiliates	(53)	(17)	(521)
Exercise of employee stock options	0	0	0
Issuance (repurchase) of shares		0	0
Excess tax benefit from equity-based compensation	0	0	0
Other - net	(6)	2	(4)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	(500)	50	(334)
Effect of currency on cash	(9)	20	(15)
Total increase (decrease) in cash	349	240	(32)
Cash at the beginning of the period	502	262	294
Cash at the end of the period	851	502	262
Consolidating Adjustments [Member]
Condensed Consolidating Statements of Cash Flows [Line Items]
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities	(53)	(17)	(553)
Capital expenditures for property, plant and equipment	0	0	0
Cash paid for acquisitions of businesses, net of cash acquired	0	0	0
(Purchases) sales of short-term investments - net	0	0	0
Loans to affiliates	7,295	14,747	6,004
Repayments of loans from affiliates	(6,457)	(8,443)	(5,750)
Proceeds from the sales of businesses	0	0	0
Other - net	0	0	0
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities	838	6,304	254
Proceeds from borrowings	0	0	0
Payments on borrowings	0	0	0
Payments of financing costs		0	0
Proceeds from borrowings from affiliates	(7,295)	(14,747)	(6,004)
Payments on borrowings from affiliates	6,457	8,443	5,750
Other intercompany financing activities	0	0	0
Cash dividends paid	0	0	0
Cash dividends paid to affiliates	53	17	553
Exercise of employee stock options	0	0	0
Issuance (repurchase) of shares		0	0
Excess tax benefit from equity-based compensation	0	0	0
Other - net	0	0	0
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities	(785)	(6,287)	299
Effect of currency on cash	0	0	0
Total increase (decrease) in cash	0	0	0
Cash at the beginning of the period	0	0	0
Cash at the end of the period	$ 0	$ 0	$ 0