You may not like it but this is what the perfect mains plug looks like /j
I come from the land of suicide showers (good ol' Lorenzetti, iykyk) and I find the UK plugs overengineered to the max. But I like them, they make me feel safer. I would like some place inside the bathroom to plug my hairdryer, though.
Also, when they're lying on the floor as shown, they make walking on Lego feel like a foot massage with a happy ending.
I bet they make great caltrops
Like the Lego scenario, it's a lesson in putting toys away after use. Just a lot less merciful...
I've done it twice and I have both occasions etched indelibly into my memory.
This is why going back to stone age good idea. Grug no stab self with amber spark. Grug instead touch sharp stone and die. Much easier.
imagine not having the full metal exposed and worryingly close to your fingers
Not being able to plug them in the other way around would drive me nuts. I prefer Schuko.
I think while the British plug is good, there's lots of great design globally.
Arguably time to adopt all of them for a global standard that rocks
Well yes, but also no. I think the plug designs should be unified, but based on the network's power and frequency. We all know that with truly unified plugs things would blow up constantly because people plug 115V devices in 230V outlets, or are pissy on social media due to 230V 50hz not being the same as 230V 60hz. "But the plug is the same!!" (angry electronic fizzling in the background)
Also who the fuck would want to go around replacing all of the sockets in their house with a new standard
The EU introduced a standardised light plug a few years ago. It's not being installed retroactively in old houses but is required in new houses. I would expect any changes to power plugs would work the same way.
You mean the euro plug? Guess it was simple due to being compatible with most existing plugs by default, unfortunately meaning no earth pins.
If any new full plug is designed it will be a decade-long project for sure. In the end they can also do stuff like reduce taxes on adapters to 0% or even subsidize them so you could get a 10-pack for 3€ or something. It's just an annoying political thing as it takes way longer than one legislature.
I mean. That should be a given for different voltages. But for frequency... most things can be made to adapt to either or. Japan for example uses both depending on the region.
Even voltages, most things these days are just SMPSs driving low voltage electronics. They DGAF about the voltage, they just adjust the duty cycle until the output is at 5V.
Just like everything British, their colonies have done it better. Aus plugs are just UK plugs but better.
But Aus plugs suck compared to Euro, especially German where it's like Usb micro to USBC comparison.
UK with USB B.
Aus plugs are not requierd to have a fuse in them however
Step on one and you quickly change your mind.
Fun story.
I stepped two steps off a ladder whilst decorating right onto one of these tuckers.
That was the icing on the cake of an already shitty day (I don't like decorating)
Please accept my upvote as a supportive act, and not in any way as laughing my tits off.
It is a very good design from an electrical and safety point of view.
Sadly it's also larger than a lot of appliances it provides power to in 2025.
Here is a multi socket plug, you can plug 3 things, its 3m long
~~The live and neutral ports commonly lack the shutter and~~ the fuse is not always present (edit: on low power devices). Some devices for whatever reason also feature a plastic earth prong which serves only to release the shutters to allow a connection. ~~And if the earth is not present or is broken then the plug will sit loose in the socket.~~ Another "feature" of these plugs is that they lay flat on a surface and hurt to step on.
Otherwise they serve their purpose really well.
The plastic prong is on devices that don’t get their protection from having an earthed case but by having double insulation. They should have a square with a square inside symbol.
If an item has exposed metal that might become live then they connect it to earth to prevent this.
If an item has no exposed metal, what would you connect the earth to?
The live and neutral ports commonly lack the shutter
Do you have a source for this? Because I have never once seen such an abomination.
Turns out I was wrong on that one. My bad. Some of them don't really look like they have shutters but apparently they all do and it's enforced too. I guess that makes even more sense why there are those plastic earth connectors on some plugs then.
Well it turns out I don't know what I'm talking about at all despite using these sockets every day. They're a lot more technical than I realised. Shows what we take for granted I guess.
Also internally, there is extra slack on the lead connecting to the earth pin. So if you pull too hard on the cable, the live wire will break before the ground wire.
That is standard for all rewirable connectors though.
Yes, also its rewireable!
Being big, cumbersome and annoying is what makes them special.
Rather like half the users in this thread tbh
It's not bad. SchuKo also has its merrits, though.
And all other systems are basically crap compared to these two.
The Swiss standard, which is basically Europlug with a staggered earth pin, seems a step up from Schuko. You can fit three of them in the space of one Schuko socket.
There’s a newer standard which is meant to be international, and which is like a slightly smaller version of the Swiss plug, but only Brazil has fully adopted it (IIRC, South Africa is in the process of moving to it)
Not sure about the step up thing.
I see several tradeoffs being made to gain a size benefit, which is lost again the moment you realize you can't have reversable angled plugs any more...
It’s great in a world of electrical appliances which need to be earthed for safety, but the mandatory earth pin and extra-chunky dimensions take up much more space than required for unearthed devices (such as most modern electronics). There should be a Europlug-style 2-pin variant.
Also square pins make better contact than round ones
From all I read so far, the UK plugs are indeed superior to EU and most other plugs. Still I feel like I'd miss the option to plug things upside down.
Live and neutral are typically not interchangeable. fuses should be on the live cables so that over current is stopped on the way in. Plugging in the wrong way means that a blown fuse might stop current, but the device could still be at live voltages and be dangerous.
that's why you put fuses in central fuse box, not in the plug. appliances should be designed in such a way that it shouldn't be a problem. nobody else does this because it's not necessary if your installation is sanely built
The central fuse boxes only protect the house wiring. You need a lower rated fuse for individual devices. That 30A central fuse ain't gonna protect the wiring inside your 6A lamp.
yeah that's what separate fuses for separate branches of circuit are for, all in one central box because where else are these supposed to be. if your lamp is wired with 6A-rated wire then that branch should be fused with 6A fuse, which on its own is unhinged because usually much thicker wires are used anyway
This is the reason why uk home electrical wiring has fuses everywhere. It is a safety measure that mitigates other problems like poor design and bad installation practices
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