Comment on The clueless people are out there among us
Technus@lemmy.zip 21 hours ago
Regardless of where you are, can we all agree that no one’s really perfected the electrical outlet yet?
NA plugs make contact without being fully seated, and can leave their live and neutral pins exposed. Worn outlets just let plugs fall out of them (I have 3 or so outlets in my apartment that are borderline unusable because of this).
British plugs are bulky and turn into caltrops when dropped on the floor.
European plugs have the same problem. And you only get like, one outlet per receptacle? Guess you’re shit out of luck if you wanna plug anything else in the same spot.
Most of the rest of the world just copied Europe or the UK.
I like Denmark’s plug though. Cute lil smiley face.
European plugs have the same problem. And you only get like, one outlet per receptacle? Guess you’re shit out of luck if you wanna plug anything else in the same spot.
The standard amount of outlets per receptacle here (Sweden) is two. Maybe in very old houses it would be only one, but that’s rare. If you run into that, therr are splitters that make one into two, you don’t need to have an extender to split it.
I don’t think it’s fair to judge plugs by how they behave when dropped on the floor (unless they’re exposing live wires). Do you often have a lot of loose plugs lying around? If you find yourself unplugging things a lot to turn them off, you may be interested to hear the switch was invented not long after the light bulb for exactly this reason.
If you find yourself unplugging things a lot to turn them off, you may be interested to hear the switch was invented not long after the light bulb for exactly this reason.
Tell me you’re clueless without telling me you’re clueless…
UK sockets have switches on the socket that disconnects it. It’s not even up for the debate, UK plug is the best. Everyone with minimum of 2 braincells knows this.
I could hear Jupiter from the Planets Suite swelling in my head as I read this post. Hurrah for tea and toasted crumpets!
AU plugs all do that too. The UK system is weird.
Either you’re unplugging it to move it somewhere else and plugging it in there, or you’re unplugging it for good, boxing it up and putting it in a shed. Neither scenario ends up with loose plugs on your floor.
i like the compactness of this triple-plug design used for Type-J, used in switzerland and lichtenstein, although it missed some other points (no insulated pins, no on-off switch, etc)
Most connectors I have use partially insulated live/neutral. Ground is optional and completely uninsulated where it’s present for safety.
Also, recessed receptacles hide the most dangerous parts.
Cables going in 3 directions? Who can live at that speed?
The on/off switch always struck me as odd. Like, in a recessed plug such as this where the male prongs have a bit of insulation to them, are they really that worried about a tiny arc that might occur when someone forgets to turn off the device? Like it would make more sense to have a limit switch built into the socket that activates on insertion and deactivates on removal. And even then, with our caveman sockets in the US, a small arc isn’t the end of the world, you just know not to have your fingers near the shiny bits.
It’s so you can turn something off without unplugging it.
Does NA not have insulated pins? Where a half inch of so of the pin nearest the plug head is insulated so when plugging in the exposed part of the pin is inside the hole before the pin makes contact with live power?
Lol, no.
Ah well, it’s been the law here for 20 years.
I’m also reading about how our NZ/Australia socket was based on an American 125v socket design, later upgraded to allow 240v.
See. That’s the kinds of things we could did if we had like… A government that worked. 20 years ago our politicians were less worried about our safety and more worried about spying on us
that’s cute. nah tho. the pins are just… out there. ready to kill you
It does not. Some devices may have that on their plugs, but it’s certainly not standard.
One night when I was 14, I tried to plug in my phone charger beside my bed in the dark and was accidentally touching one of the pins when it made contact.
Fortunately, I wasn’t completing the circuit and I was electrically isolated laying on my bed, so I didn’t actually get shocked. But I did feel a buzz in my finger like you get from those prank toys that shock the victim. That’s a sensation I will never forget.
Not defending our plugs at all.
UK plug for sure is amazing, the caltrops is just to get you ready for standing on Lego.
I like Denmark’s plug though. Cute lil smiley face.
Don’t let that fool you, it hides a dark secret
England perfected it
AU outlets sound pretty good by comparison. I’m sure there are improvements to be made, but I never have any of those issues.
UK plugs seem to have a few good design details.
My only problem is it’s difficult to plug them in blind because not all power boards and outlets have the ground pin depression to feel for
The Brazilian plug has none of those problems…
Also, what European plug are you talking about? There are quite a few models there.
re: european outlets number: we usually just get an extender with multiple ports, i have 5 of those in my small flat
So do we. But we don’t need as many of them, usually just for areas with a lot of electronics like entertainment centers or computer desks.
US electric code requires an outlet like every 6-8 feet (~2m) along a wall so you shouldn’t need to string extension cords everywhere. For the most part, it works pretty well. I have 5 outlets alone in my 12x12ft (~3.6x3.6m) bedroom.
Compared to the US, EU extension cords are actually reliable and not death traps. It’s not a big deal if you need one.
But as I said in another comment, one outlet per receptacle is not the standard, at least not here. We have two.
Brazil’s “new” plug (two decades maybe) is pretty good. Doesn’t have any of the problems you mentioned. It’s similar to one used by a few other countries around Europe.
LordWiggle@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
Euro plugs are perfect. They connect well, have no live metal exposed, power strips are safe, it can handle 230V Without a problem. They are being copied everywhere because they are well designed.
Jesus_666@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
I think the Swiss have the best Europlug-based system. Their three-conductor plugs have the same footprint as basic Europlugs, which makes for very dense plug arrangements. Unlike e.g. the German Schuko plug they only fit in one orientation so you get no polarity issues.
It’s pretty neat.
PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Not an issue, you can swap line and neutral freely. It becomes an issue if you want to use three phases and a three phase motor (because the order of phases is important) but that is covered by other sockets. Plain old Schuko is one phase, LNG.
bricked@feddit.org 13 hours ago
What do you mean by polarity issues? AFAIK alternating currents don’t have a polarity.
Jesus_666@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
That’s quite how AC outlets work. Line and neutral can intentionally have different potentials relative to ground depending on how the house’s electrical system is designed. This can become relevant in certain situations like very simple devices (think “lamp socket with a power plug”).
A plug that can’t be inverted makes this a non-issue.
Fenderfreek@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
Orientation of hot vs neutral
bampop@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
Those 3 way plug outlets are pretty cool
filcuk@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
I do prefer English plugs. Euro can wear out or just not hold in as well if they’re cheaply made. Never ever had that issue with English ones.
LordWiggle@lemmy.world 28 minutes ago
Never had that issue with euro plugs. Downside of UK plugs is there’s only one orientation you can plug them in. And those plugs are really chunky. I have many synths, with many power plugs, I wouldn’t know how to plug them all in at the same time. I would need maaaany power strips.
Pilferjinx@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
Couldn’t they’ve made it in a smaller form factor?
bollybing@lemmynsfw.com 14 hours ago
Europlugs are small, similar to us plugs. But the bulky schuko is very common in Europe. Europlugs are compatible with schuko sockets and many others.
You can fit two or three europlug sockets in the same amount of space as one schuko or British socket.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europlug
bampop@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
Put a schuko adaptor on a UK plug and you have a device for fucking up schuko sockets
k0e3@lemmy.ca 14 hours ago
Ooh, I don’t think I saw those in my trip to Europe over a decade ago. They’re nice; they look so much more compact.
LordWiggle@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
Not safely with 240V. The smaller US plugs can only take 120V. The benifit of the larger plugs is they are more rigit, don’t come out easily and provide proper insulation. Thin EU plugs exist, but aren’t sufficient for heavy users. Lamps and phone chargers have the narrow plugs because they don’t pull as much power but a heavy device needs a bigger safer plug. Like a microwave, a PC or a table saw.