You may not like it but this is what the perfect mains plug looks like /j
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Also, when they’re lying on the floor as shown, they make walking on Lego feel like a foot massage with a happy ending.
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.
I bet they make great caltrops
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)
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.
transformers and industrial motors disagree
If you attach those huge transformers or motors with a common wall plug I’m certain you’d quickly face different problems, like a cozy fire for example.
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.
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.
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
Name 3
3
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.
Bless you for the supporr
The live and neutral ports commonly lack the shutter andthe 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!
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.
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
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…And that is why Italian plugs are the best of all, compact, robust, reversible and safe. 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹
imagine not having the full metal exposed and worryingly close to your fingers
Being big, cumbersome and annoying is what makes them special.
Rather like half the users in this thread tbh
SchuKo!it’s way superior to the rainy place thing.
Schuko lacks the fuse but other safety features are there and it’s much simpler, a bit smaller and can be plugged in in two ways. I’d go with schuko for the win
Schuko can have a fuse as safety feature (Schutzkontaktstecker mit Gerätesicherung), but you have to set the fuse below the fuse that’d be behind the socket (which means your fuse would be below 8A if you want to be safe, though because 16A fuses are more common, so a common fuse to actually be installed is 10A).
In most cases, the fuse is just in the device itself rather than the cable. Ideally then that fuse is also replaced easily.
The most important bit: SchuKo are recessed, hence they hold up the plug itself instead of having it dangle. Also this prevents funny business with the prongs.
“funny business with the prongs” is a great band name
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
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
its not, it was put into place due to copper shortages during ww2
more like papers over poor design informed by ww2 shortages
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
A fuse/breaker at the fuse box needs the current capacity for all, or at least most devices on at the same time. The individual fuses can be rated much lower.
uk fuse in fuse box can’t be sized properly because old uk installations used ring circuits in order to save copper during ww2 shortages, everybody else has this problem sorted out by now (initially by using aluminum wiring, or waiting for more copper). modern wiring is arranged in star-type topology with a few outlets per leg, and it can be fused properly, but the far out parts of circuit don’t transmit power at all times which is why it was looked down upon during shortages
example would be 16A circuit that has 5-10 16A outlets, has wires suitable to carry 16A and 16A fuse. it’s okay because you’re not expected to draw full power at all outlets at the same time, and most of the time much less than that. if you do and you know it in advance you’re expected to split it over more circuits, or make it bigger. uk ring circuit would have wires that carry only 8A in each direction, and fused 16A. it can fail in a way where one side disconnects, but the other side becomes overloaded. plug fuses are for protection of these shitty circuits from shortcircuit in appliance
Do UK ring circuits rely on a single breaker at the fusebox? I assumed that they would have a breaker for each leg of the ring (8A + 8A in your example).
That sounds really dangerous as a cut ring would be fused at double the current capacity of the wire. Would the wire in your example be rated at 8A or 16A?
I have little to no knowledge of the UK power setup but have heard that its meant to be pretty safe. What am I missing?you’re not missing anything, it’s an unhinged tradeoff that you do because you need to conserve copper for brass casings because nazis are in calais, there’s zero reason to do this today. apparently it’s still allowed in uk for some unthinkable reason but i haven’t heard of it anywhere else. yes, single fuse *per ring is used, rated at double what it would be in star/radial circuit
you don’t even need a fault, sufficient asymmetry in ring geometry or load distribution already will cause this problem
60yr old house in the UK, we have one breaker per socket circuit for example. It uses 2.5mm wire which can handle 30A, so that would be the max recommended fuse rating at the breaker. That way it’s still protected if there is a break in the circuit anywhere.
We also have a separate lighting circuit with 1.5mm wire and a lower breaker fuse rating.
It can lead to some annoying fuckery though. I recently updated a ceiling light and was frustrated at why it wouldn’t switch on after triple checking every connection. Had to get out a multimeter and investigate all over the house. Turns out at some point in the past a previous homeowner had not bothered to connect the neutral wire back to the fusebox at an entirely different ceiling light, leaving the neutral floating. It was sitting at 110V rather than zero. Somehow it was OK to do that with old lights.
appliances should be designed in such a way
Such as… putting a fuse in the appliance making repairs more difficult. A breaker box stops extreme overcurrents, but a measly 0.5 amps could still cause a fire.
Polarized live/neutral is still insane to me. All it takes is one cheap electrician or overconfident DIY to introduce a potentially lethal false sense of security.
The rest of the world has chose your own adventure plugs
