This is a debate, not an argument, let’s be adults about this. [Insert political joke]
UK are safest, EU are both practical and almost as safe (as it supports a variety of plugs, both with and without grounding), and US is complete and utter garbage built for garbage voltage. Plus, the US one looks scared.
Plus, the US one looks scared.
Even our outlets are terrified of how bad the plug design is.
Try going to Japan. They took the US design, but most outlets there don’t have the grounding plug (in hotels it was practically non-existent). My travel adapter didn’t even work xP
UK are safest
Until you step on a plug…
You thought Lego was bad on bare feet? Hoo boy
At least the UK one is blunt. I’m trying, without success, to find a picture of the old style telephone (and my modem) connectors we had here in Norway. Imagine the UK power plug, but the pins are pointy. I’ve drawn blood stepping on these. I would run a marathon on Lego to avoid stepping on one of those again. Luckily they were gradually replaced by wallmounted RJ11 (or RJ45 if you had ISDN) during the 90’s.
EDIT: Found it.
Stepping on one feels like getting shanked under your foot by Poseidon and his trident.
Plugs are for beginners. I once managd to step on a Motorola 68020 processor which embedded its pins intomy foot and drew blood.
UK’s are hilariously over-engineered. Might as well have a puzzle mechanism on the back, to make sure you really meant to power that toaster.
Breakers in every socket are a neat idea, though. And power switches at the socket make a lot more sense than US homes where some wall switches control some sockets, somewhere. Good luck!
The Brits have undoubtedly the best outlets from a safety perspective, despite their size. North American outlets are garbage by basically all measures. European plugs are weirdly round, but very functional.
My two (€/100)s
I’ll just throw in one good thing for US outlets. The option of GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlets. I think it is required in bathrooms (or elsewhere 6 feet from water source), but you can probably install those anywhere you wish. It cuts off the power during a ground fault, which means that some current (more than regular leakage) is flowing to ground, perhaps through a human. It should cut off at just 5mA.
There’s something similar in Europe, called RCD (Residual Current Device). It is the same thing, it’s just that in US it’s generally called GFCI and RCD in Europe. The difference with RCD is that it’s not in the outlets, but the breaker box, and generally protects the whole home. But you can also wire GFCI to multiple outlets. The problem is, that trip ground fault current for RCD can be up to 30mA as opposed to GFCI’s 5mA. And with 10mA and above, you may not be able to “let go” of the item shocking you, which isn’t nice even if it won’t yet kill you (probably).
Why is that? Leakage current. That could very well exceed 5mA when you have stuff like a desktop PC, fridge and other stuff connected, resulting in unwanted tripping while everything functions just fine. It also means that perhaps, one day, your fridge may save you by preloading the RCD as it wouldn’t trip without it.
OK, now something negative about (some) EU plugs.
Type C:
This should only work for devices that don’t require ground due to pin thickness. But you can still get it to make a terrible contact and hold it in. But perhaps you could even force it into some. I dislike this.
Type F:
Oh well. You can probably still force in older plugs that require ground pin yet don’t have the contacts for type F sockets like modern plugs. It is also reversible which I hate. Sockets should be polarized. You shouldn’t be allowed to just plug in the device other way around. If there is a switch, it definitely should disconnect live wire, not neutral leaving the device live but not functional. That’s unsafe. I hate this.
Type E:
This is nice. I like it. It would also be cool if there was a fuse inside the plugs cough cough UK plugs.
Regarding Type F:
If you have a monopolar switch in your appliance, you dun fucked up real bad.
Reason is here in Belgium (and a bit of France apparently) and especially around Brussels, it’s very common for houses to be wired with two phases (+115/-115V). This was done post-war for copper-saving reasons, and we call this 3x230V. So any device that cuts the brown wire only will still have 115VAC to ground, which is obviously unsafe.
Also more generally there is no guarantee that the live wire is on either side. From what I understand each electrician has their preference, and as long as the wiring is consistent then it’s up to code.
So wherever there is an outlet, nothing can be safely assumed by the appliance besides that the total voltage is around 230V AC. Even assuming that there is a ground is incorrect due to old houses still having Type C (which incidentally means that even Type E also is not polarized when plugged into a Type C receptacle!).
In Italy we have our own version of the type F, the Schuko Bipasso and it’s so fucking convenient. (number 2)
You can get RCD sockets if you want in the UK (and mainland Europe too). But we generally at the minimum have sockets protected by an RCD (which is the same thing) and in more modern installations all circuits are protected by one.
Sure, but as far as I could find, even those have trip rating of 30mA. But perhaps I could find some with lower rating.
In my country the differential switch is mandatory, every circuit must be protected, be it from a main one or separate ones for each circuit. I’d be surprised if it weren’t the same all over the EU.
Regarding RCD, where I live they’re allowed to be 30mA for wires that do not include outlets, but if an outlet is connected to the switch, the switch must cut off at 3mA…
Regarding the outlets, the type C is old, I haven’t seen those installed or sold since at least the early nineties (probably even earlier). I don’t understand why it being reversible is bad. I think switches can just cut of both wires, and you’re left with the ability to plug it in any way you like. I don’t really know whether the switches actually do that or not (or, if they’re required to do that). Can this be tested somehow?
I’m biased, from the UK. But it’s pretty much the order I’d do it too. UK first, the round Europe ones only very slightly behind (maybe even on par, I have just a slight issue with the fact that polarity isn’t assured).
With single phase AC there is no polarity, when you plug something in you don’t need to know which plug is live, it will work either way.
It will work either way, there is no polarity when a circuit is made.
There is polarity before a circuit is made. One wire is live, one wire is a neutral return.
For a basic heater, plugged in one way will have the heating element always live, and the other way it will only be live when it is switched on and a circuit is made.
One is definitely safer than the other.
One wire is live in that it moves between —x and +x volts in a sine wave. The neutral is often connected to earth/ground somewhere upstream and should be 0v. So if you just pop that power into a transformer and then regulate and only use the DC then it’s completely irrelevant which way you plug it in.
However there’s plenty of cheaper ways to get a lower voltage, or to power a device from mains power that when done badly can reference what is thought to be neutral (and this ground) but could easily become live and make something metallic become live either without fault, or with fault to a minor component.
The main thing that should get adopted everywhere is having fuses or breakers in the plugs themselves. That would eliminate a lot of fires caused by putting too much current through small wires.
I also like the outlets (like in the UK and probably other places) that won’t unlock the mains slots until there’s a ground pin in place.
Fuses should be required for any power strip that is not rated for 20 A (2.5mm² wires). At least where I live that’s the highest current an outlet circuit can be rated for.
The power strips that cheap out and only put in 1.55mm²/16 A are stupid. For 20 A power strips though, fuses are redundant.
Modern European plugs are already plenty safe for “accidental” insertion, you have to push into both holes at the same time for the outlet to “unlatch”.
I also like the outlets (like in the UK and probably other places) that won’t unlock the mains slots until there’s a ground pin in place.
That’s… most places. Or better, they don’t open unless you push in both prongs at the same time
Yeah that’s what I was about to say, that’s… most plugs. Except the really bad ones. Maybe OP is american. 😅 In which case, my condolensces, that plug design is positively cruel.
That would eliminate a lot of fires caused by putting too much current through small wires.
The counterpoint to this would be: Why have the fuse in the plug (where the plug necessarily becomes bulkier and hence easier to break or harm someone by stepping on it, especially because the UK plug design means the points orient upwards on average) when you can have it in the device instead?
Moreover, why go the step of putting millions and millions of fuses into millions of millions of plugs instead of much fewer fuses on lines in homes? If you got to decree a fuse to stop overcurrent on the cable in the wall, put the fuse where you’re trying to use it.
(I’m not against fuses in all plugs, I’m just saying it’s easy to make counterarguments that it’s both impractical and also the wrong solution to the problem)
The benefit of the fusebin the plug is you can have a 1A fuse for a 1A appliance with a cable rated for 1A, and plug it into a socket rated for 10A.
If the appliance faults, then the wire doesnt catch fire.
If you dont have that, then all the wires have to be rated to 10A (or whatever the rating is).
And thats based on 1-breaker-per-socket.
If you have 2 sockets close to eachother on the opposite side of the house than the breaker panel, its easier and cheaper to wire them both together on 20A cable and a single 20A breaker. The fuses in the plug protect the 10A cable to the appliance, the 20A breaker protects the 20A cable in the wall.
Yes, you could put a fuse in the appliance (a lot have this).
But that isnt convenient for lamps, where it might be bulky to include a fuse holder and ruin the aesthetic.
Or something that deals with water, like submersible pumps or kettles.
Also, some appliances have swappable cables (IEC C13 for example). So if the appliance has an internal 10A fuse but is used with an IEC cable rated to 5A then it leaves the cable unprotected and a possible fire hazard.
The plug is also a good place to put it regulatory speaking as it means no manufacturers needs to change device designs, they just need to buy different cords. And it does not mean the plug has to be huge the way it once did. Most people in the US don’t even notice that there are fuses in the christmas light plugs. And I had a desk heater once that used an automotive fuse; it mean most of the plug was fuse but it was still built into ano therwise standard NEMA 1-15 plug.
How does that work for devices you don’t necessarily want ground pins on? eg: toasters
Why would you not want a toaster to be earthed? I can think of loads of devices that would apply to but toasters contain a lot of metal and frequently have metal casings.
You can also always have an earth pin, like type G plugs and sockets, even if it isn’t wired up and is made of plastic.
If the toaster has a metal chassis, you DEFINITELY want that earthed, since any failure where the element or live hits the chassis will instantly trip the RCD/Ground protection whatever you guys call it. But, for devices that really don’t need a proper earth, we just put a plastic earth pin connected to nothing in the plug.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko
I’ve used many plugs and in my opinion, the schuko plug is the one that makes the most sense.
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Reverse Polarity (can’t use it the wrong way, and you can turn it in case some power adapted is in the way)
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also the symmetry makes it look more pleasing
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only 2 pins stick out (the ground is in the body, 2 pins are a reduced area of failure in case you drop it.
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very good and secure fit
also it looks like a cartoon plug which is fun. However, the minified version that companies make to go in these plugs is truly awful
