Comment on Why do so many UK electrical sockets have an on/off switch next to them?

• rmuk@feddit.uk ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Yeah, I can only tut and shake my head when non-Brits complain about stepping on Lego.

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• Funwayguy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  I’d like to think Australia has a nice middle ground design to their sockets/plugs without the foot destroying bulk. Still get the shutter variants for bathrooms too.

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  • gazter@aussie.zone ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I like the Australian 90 degree plugs, too. Much slimmer than the UK ones.

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• codapine@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Tom Scott has a video all about the UK power outlet plug and socket and it’s an engineering marvel. The switch is just one feature.

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  • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    The switch isn’t really a a feature of the UK plug, rather just something they seem to have started doing with their sockets.

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    • codapine@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Well, the design of the plug also implies the design of the socket. I was born in the eighties, and I’ve never seen an electrical socket without a switch, except for the appliance socket used for the cooker, which is behind where you install the appliance - the switch is higher up, above the countertop where it is accessible.

      Basic extension trailing sockets don’t, most of the time unless you buy a snazzy one. But it’s by no means a recent development.

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      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Plug and socket obviously go together but I just mean that you could have the switches for any plug, it’s not tied to the plug but just rather what socket plate (or what’s the term) design is adopted. Schuko could have those switches, I think Yanks have them in newer plug plates and so on. It’s just that the UK has adopted (in a standard or just commonly for some other reason) the switches.

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• davidagain@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Maybe, but with the switches on the sockets, I hardly ever unplug anything at all unless I’m moving it. Why would I?

  So pretty much every time something’s unplugged, it’s in my hand or away in a cupboard, never lying on the floor.

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