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  3. What is the best Power Outlet, and why?

What is the best Power Outlet, and why?

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  • C [email protected]

    For safety, the BS1363 (UK, type G) is by far the best.

    • It's fused. (Seriously why the hell aren't all plugs fused!)

    • Live and neutral can't be reversed.

    • Holes are gated (so no kids sticking spoons in).

    • High capacity, 240V at 13A gives 3kW of power.

    It's only real downside is its size.

    U This user is from outside of this forum
    U This user is from outside of this forum
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    wrote last edited by
    #144

    G is held in place only by the pins, isn't it? It'd be safer if it was nestled like Type F

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    • allnewtypeface@leminal.spaceA [email protected]

      As someone who lived in the UK, the British one is far too chunky, especially in an age where most devices don’t use the mandatory earth pin (which is mechanically necessary to open the shutters in the socket). The one place it has an advantage over Europlug is in aeroplane seat sockets and such, where it stays in more firmly.

      Having said that, the Swiss and Brazilian ones manage to get earthed connections into a slender footprint (the Swiss is compatible with unearthed Europlug, not sure about the Brazilian though it may be smaller). Apparently the Brazilian socket was proposed as an international standard by the IEC, though only Brazil adopted it.

      F This user is from outside of this forum
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      wrote last edited by
      #145

      Earth pin is a safety feature and a good one at that.

      T allnewtypeface@leminal.spaceA 2 Replies Last reply
      10
      • L [email protected]

        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.

        L This user is from outside of this forum
        L This user is from outside of this forum
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        wrote last edited by
        #146

        If the device wants the current to go in a certain direction

        That's not how AC works

        they use one with a slightly larger prong on one side,

        That's not Ground, it's Neutral. Neutral is sometimes bonded to Ground, but they are fundamentally different things

        L 1 Reply Last reply
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        • E [email protected]

          it's a bad practice to design appliance in such a way to assume that neutral will have low voltage, because in case of neutral failure in three-phase circuit you can get full voltage there,

          Who's using three phase in a setting where these types of plugs are used? In the US, at least, three phase circuits use very different receptacles and plugs.

          The fact of the matter is that the switch has to be placed somewhere. And it's safer to place the switch between the load and the live wire, rather than between the load and the neutral wire. Designing a system where the live and neutral can easily be known makes it easier to do the safer thing.

          fullsquare@awful.systemsF This user is from outside of this forum
          fullsquare@awful.systemsF This user is from outside of this forum
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          wrote last edited by [email protected]
          #147

          you don't have to have three phase circuit to be affected by floating neutral in three-phase substation upstream. in some places in us there are 208v interphase three-phase circuits, which give 120v phase to neutral, which is distributed as a pair of wires as single-phase circuit. this is also normal way to deliver single-phase power in europe, as it's most efficient use of conductor. (from 400v three-phase circuits) in case more power is needed than single-phase circuit can deliver, three-phase circuit is installed

          if there's switch on device, it's 2p1t meaning both phase and neutral are switched. if it's permanent, non-pluggable circuit, like lightning, it's okay if only phase is switched (neutral is connected permanently)

          E C 2 Replies Last reply
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          • bdonvr@thelemmy.clubB [email protected]

            Can you plug C into F?

            A This user is from outside of this forum
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            wrote last edited by
            #148

            Yeah. You cant plug f into c because f is thicker by a bit but c goes into f.

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            • S [email protected]

              It's not inset meaning that an improperly plugged in plug becomes a hazard.

              fullsquare@awful.systemsF This user is from outside of this forum
              fullsquare@awful.systemsF This user is from outside of this forum
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              wrote last edited by
              #149

              bases of pins are insulated, like in type C/E/F

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              1
              • S [email protected]

                It's not inset meaning that an improperly plugged in plug becomes a hazard.

                H This user is from outside of this forum
                H This user is from outside of this forum
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                wrote last edited by
                #150

                Not true, the pins are sleeved so if it is improperly plugged in, you still can't touch live parts.

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                5
                • fullsquare@awful.systemsF [email protected]

                  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)

                  surp@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                  surp@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
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                  wrote last edited by
                  #151

                  Type B also does this now with the shutters.

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                  3
                  • E [email protected]

                    A useful source:
                    https://worldofsockets.com

                    V This user is from outside of this forum
                    V This user is from outside of this forum
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                    wrote last edited by [email protected]
                    #152

                    As far as I know you can push 240V device to any of those holes. Not saying it will work but ex. charger will charge, just slower.

                    fullsquare@awful.systemsF 1 Reply Last reply
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                    • venus_ziegenfalle@feddit.orgV [email protected]

                      Type B is objectively inferior. This is not anti-americanism either, Technology Connections has my back here. But it's not bad enough to replace three big countries worth of plugs and outlets. The only way to have a global standard would be something like Italy's plug orgy system where you can fit multiple different types but that would kinda defy the purpose.

                      surp@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                      surp@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
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                      wrote last edited by
                      #153

                      So you say technology connections has your back but you didn't even say why it's inferior my first thought is you have no idea why. It just seems dumb posting that without any sorta proof.

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                      • E [email protected]

                        A useful source:
                        https://worldofsockets.com

                        A This user is from outside of this forum
                        A This user is from outside of this forum
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                        wrote last edited by
                        #154

                        I declare RJ45 and USB C everything! But for big boi power….. no clue.

                        T oozingpositron@feddit.clO 2 Replies Last reply
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                        • 7 This user is from outside of this forum
                          7 This user is from outside of this forum
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                          wrote last edited by
                          #155

                          These are the best anyway

                          C 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • L [email protected]

                            why would you shove things into it's mouth?

                            V This user is from outside of this forum
                            V This user is from outside of this forum
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                            wrote last edited by
                            #156

                            Because it likes it.

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                            • F [email protected]

                              Earth pin is a safety feature and a good one at that.

                              T This user is from outside of this forum
                              T This user is from outside of this forum
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                              wrote last edited by
                              #157

                              So is the shutter system. Blocking contacts unless a third is pushed in is great safety, particularly with kids.

                              allnewtypeface@leminal.spaceA F 2 Replies Last reply
                              10
                              • V [email protected]

                                F plugs are the only type I've ever seen in all of Scandinavia, Germany, Spain and The Czech Republic. Never in my life have I seen an E plug or anything resembling a variation of E+F combined in any way. Only F. I don't understand how you can say they "are not really a thing anymore".

                                You mean not a thing in the UK?

                                C This user is from outside of this forum
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                                wrote last edited by
                                #158

                                Went to Poland for a few days and encountered the type e plugs and I immediately hated them because they interfere with chargers and they weren't reversible.

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                                • A This user is from outside of this forum
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                                  wrote last edited by [email protected]
                                  #159

                                  Only if they're charged.

                                  P.S.: since battery cells need to be disposed properly, they are now an 18+ purchase.

                                  T 1 Reply Last reply
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                                  • C [email protected]

                                    Type J is superior in every aspect.

                                    • compact, you can fit 3 plugs into an outlet while Type F only fits one for example.
                                    • robust.
                                    • cannot reverse polarity.
                                    • no fuse required as the law requires proper fuses in every electric installation with law enforced periodical checks.
                                    • round pins that cannot puncture your skin if you step on them. It's hard to face the pins upwards anyway.

                                    ---------

                                    F This user is from outside of this forum
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                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #160

                                    Compact in one dimension, but it is very long.
                                    This makes it awkward in tight spaces compared to something like a UK plug.

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                                    5
                                    • L [email protected]

                                      If the device wants the current to go in a certain direction

                                      That's not how AC works

                                      they use one with a slightly larger prong on one side,

                                      That's not Ground, it's Neutral. Neutral is sometimes bonded to Ground, but they are fundamentally different things

                                      L This user is from outside of this forum
                                      L This user is from outside of this forum
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                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #161
                                      1. Yeah it's just a potential difference, not a one directional flow really
                                      2. No one said it's ground? The ground is on the third prong
                                      1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • F [email protected]

                                        Earth pin is a safety feature and a good one at that.

                                        allnewtypeface@leminal.spaceA This user is from outside of this forum
                                        allnewtypeface@leminal.spaceA This user is from outside of this forum
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                                        wrote last edited by [email protected]
                                        #162

                                        For your toaster or iron, yes. For your USB power supply, mobile charger, LED table lamp, game console, etc., which doesn’t even have an earth connection, not so much. But your power board takes up twice the space of a European one with a row of slender unearthed sockets for such devices.

                                        The British standard is still stuck in 1947, where the expected use cases were kettles, washing machines, pre-transistor radios using high-voltage thermionic valves, and the domestic labour-saving devices of the midcentury that needed to be earthed. That and the shortage of copper that led to British houses being wired with a ring main, and each plug having its own fuse, rather than separately fused circuits as elsewhere.

                                        F 1 Reply Last reply
                                        4
                                        • U [email protected]

                                          Fusing plugs is completely unnecessary. The only reason this is done in the UK is because of old janky circuits only used in the UK.

                                          F This user is from outside of this forum
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                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #163

                                          So still necessary in the UK

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