What is the best Power Outlet, and why?
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In my opinion it's Type-F
Because:
- It's bi-directional
- It's grounded and ungrounded plugs use the same socket
- It's already widespread (50+ countries) source
- Your fingers can't touch the live wire as you're plugging in a wire
- It's recessed
- Low footprint
- Accepts Type-C
Accepts Type-C
It took me a few seconds to realize you werent talking about shoving a USB Type C plug into there.
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Why? It doesn't make any difference with AC
It doesn't matter depending on whether both are live. In plenty of places, only one side is live. Switching live with neutral can be very bad depending on the appliance, as described already elsewhere.
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Some people say it does with certain devices but I've never had anything I've run into. The American outlets have been used as bi-directional in most instances. (With 2 prong). If they had a ground then you can only go in one way. But that said... Obviously a cord without a ground can still plug into an outlet that has the ground set up. If the device wants the current to go in a certain direction they use one with a slightly larger prong on one side, but if you pick up any phone charger in America, you can plug it into any outlet any direction.
Phone chargers are definitely not the appliance that's going to have an issue switching things out. That's going to be stuff that directly uses the AC power. Some older appliances or shittily designed ones can even become an electrocution hazard when switching live with neutral.
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A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comwrote last edited by [email protected]How does the type-A (Japan) ground?
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My toys are wireless...
You'll need a broadcasting licence for that, mate.
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I've been shocked with both. I can confirm 230V hurts more. Neither is likely to result in a medically significant injury with this kind of shock though - just momentary discomfort.
Ehhh that depends entirely on the manner of the shock. Both are more than capable of stopping your heart or going in to afib if the path gets too near your heart.
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Its important you don't allow them access so you need to keep them on your person in a place thats very hard to access. So hard.
Your last sentence is a double entendre?
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A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comFor safety, the BS1363 (UK, type G) is by far the best.
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It's fused. (Seriously why the hell aren't all plugs fused!)
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Live and neutral can't be reversed.
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Holes are gated (so no kids sticking spoons in).
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High capacity, 240V at 13A gives 3kW of power.
It's only real downside is its size.
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A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comG, you have to try really quite hard to electrocute yourself
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The criticisms of type B are so minor, it reaches so hard.
All of them work as they should, or they would have been replaced a long time ago.
But there definitely are differences, and one is better than the rest.
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Type E and F plugs are not really a thing anymore, today it's more common to find combined Type E/F plugs.
Fuses in british plugs are a mistake and only a requirement because of sketchy practices allowed in british electrical code immediately after WW2. Nobody else does that because nowhere else electric code is built in such a way that it is necessary. Switch seems to be mildly useful tho
Fuses mean protection is localised. If the socket is good for 13A, but the cable is only safe to 5A, you can fuse at 3A or 5A, and know it's safe.
This is partially useful for extension leads. We don't have to worry about overloading a multiway extension. If we do, it will pop a 10p fuse, rather than cause a house fire.
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How does the type-A (Japan) ground?
It doesn't, Japanese homes don't have that by default. Sometimes there are special options for grounding specific items.
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How does the type-A (Japan) ground?
wrote last edited by [email protected]IIRC most of the world relies on ground fault protection to protect against failure which is why we use ground pins, in Japan they detect short circuits which is roughly equivalent in safety.
I'm not sure why or how, but I remember from when I looked it up when I was out there last year that was the explanation I found
Edit: I'd love to be corrected by whoever downvoted
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How does the type-A (Japan) ground?
Japan uses weaker voltage and many things don't require a ground or can rely on an alternative method. That said, they'll have a good ol' three prong for appliances and newer buildings will have a few three prongs in select locations.
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Why would you step on them?
You can just turn them off at the socket. And if you need extra sockets, just buy an extension.
Literally zero reason to leave a plug lying on the ground.
Do you not live in a world where sometimes non-zero time elapses between realizing you need a thing and procuring that thing?
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Fuses mean protection is localised. If the socket is good for 13A, but the cable is only safe to 5A, you can fuse at 3A or 5A, and know it's safe.
This is partially useful for extension leads. We don't have to worry about overloading a multiway extension. If we do, it will pop a 10p fuse, rather than cause a house fire.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Or you could just use thicker wires like everyone else, or drop the use of ring mains, which is the actual reason why fuses in plugs were introduced. The reason why this was done was post-WW2 copper shortage. In other countries you'll see more likely star type circuit
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Ehhh that depends entirely on the manner of the shock. Both are more than capable of stopping your heart or going in to afib if the path gets too near your heart.
These shocks are almost always to a single finger.
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USB. Most things don’t need AC power. We can get rid of wall warts and create a universal standard by including USB C ports on AC plugs.
Yeah it's not like USB standard changes every few years or anything.
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All of them work as they should, or they would have been replaced a long time ago.
But there definitely are differences, and one is better than the rest.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I don't think that's a real argument. There are plenty of things that suck and the reason they don't change is because of inertia, not because it works well. See Qwerty, Azerty, Qwertz.
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For safety, the BS1363 (UK, type G) is by far the best.
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It's fused. (Seriously why the hell aren't all plugs fused!)
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Live and neutral can't be reversed.
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Holes are gated (so no kids sticking spoons in).
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High capacity, 240V at 13A gives 3kW of power.
It's only real downside is its size.
Type E/F carries 16A/230V, and nowadays there are shutters included which only allow two pins to be inserted at once, not one but not the other. There's no standard as of which pin should be L1 and neutral anyway, nor it should matter, and fuses in british plugs are to accommodate ring circuits, which were introduced as a result of copper shortages (ie decades of tech debt)
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