What is the best Power Outlet, and why?
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I have a strong preference for the German and Swiss types, but I think we can all agree that Japan massively fucked up. They took the already shitty American plug and just forgot about the ground.
In fairness the Americans don't use the ground.
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I really like the power outlets in the EU. You don't have to fart around with different sized prongs and the voltage is higher which makes things like tea kettles far more efficient.
The French outlets are actually awful, for some reason you really have to force them in there because while the socket is round the plug itself is always a weird rectangle shape it just definitely doesn't want to go in there.
However much force you feel is too much force times that by 2 and use that much force. That is the correct amount of force necessary to plug something in.
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The UK plug is nice. Very robust, it connects to ground before it reaches the power line and has a switch but it's clunky.
When you unplug them, they have a habit of lying prongs upward. Standing on one naked Lego feel like a shag carpet. and to be honest the fuse isn't really necessary with modern wiring f type plugs don't have fuses in them and I've never had a problem with wires melting or anything. and with older sockets, the little flap that blocks the earth hole tends to get stuck. Apart from that they are the best.
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Type I.
ElectroBoom (Youtube) made some points about Australia's Type I. Seems it was very hard for him to electrocute himself. Lots of breakers on the outlets. I mean he did electrocute himself, but he was always going to.
The breakers aren't on the actual outlets. We just have everything on breakers in the power box. So I think the Australian system is good, but it's not inherently because of the outlets. Other types have the same safety benefits.
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A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comType-M, as I live there. Very convenient, all pins round shaped
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As a Brazilian, that makes me so sad. We used to have a type that could fit European and American plugs, but they just changed it. Never gonna let it go hahaha
As another Brazilian, good riddance to that crap. The current standard is so much better. Anything that is compatible with the American standard is automatically a mistake. Now if only we could standardise the whole country on 220V and drop the need for different 10A/20A sockets...
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I think I would like Australia's over the rest.
The recessed circles I feel like they would gather dust and grime in there if you don't use it often and be tough to clean out.
I like the angles prongs as well as the switch to turn it off and on.
I've never experienced the recessed circles collecting more dust than blowing a single deep breath would solve. And I've never even seen any grime in them. I suppose of you used it outside, but every type would get grimy that way.
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A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comAll outlets should just be replaced with IEC C13. Robust and compact.
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I think I would like Australia's over the rest.
The recessed circles I feel like they would gather dust and grime in there if you don't use it often and be tough to clean out.
I like the angles prongs as well as the switch to turn it off and on.
The angled prongs also make it easier to plug it in the dark because you can easily identify the rotation of the plug.
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A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comStill trying to figure out why Germany is listed separately from the EU.
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All outlets should just be replaced with IEC C13. Robust and compact.
And full of garbage the moment its unplugged
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In fairness the Americans don't use the ground.
Depends on the device
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A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comName a more painful thing to tread on than the British plug. Bonus points if it's incorrectly wired to be live.
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Look at the lengths the EU is going through trying to make it seem as it didn't reluctantly recognise the superiority of the Swiss plug and adopting it
I will have to agree that the swiss plugs already are very good. From what I see the only improvement of IEC 60906-1 would be that the plug generally is rated for 16A. Besides that there really isn't any improvement. The 16A rating is pretty cool for devices like 3KW electric kettles.
Because of how similar the plugs are, switzerland could migrate to IEC 60906-1 pretty easy. Since the polarity of the socket is reversed and the ground pin has a slightly different offset, you could have a dual-socket that has both the neutral and live conductor rated for 16A, and a earth conductor for old swiss plugs at the bottom and the earth plug for new plugs at the top. Because of the slightly different offset of the earth conductor but identical spacing of the neutral and live conductors, both swiss plugs and new IEC-60906-1 plugs would only fit in their correct orientation.
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All outlets should just be replaced with IEC C13. Robust and compact.
Solid choice. Good current handling, already ubiquitous for many applications.
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A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comWell the answer is obviously the UK plug some of those others are just plain bad. The question is are they all made largely obsolete by USB C ? and is that the closest we are likely to get to a universal plug and socket?
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Wait what? you don't have plugs in your bathroom?
It's to encourage extension cord use
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Solar Microinverters
why should those plug into a normal outlet regularly? wouldn't that be a measure polarity and just leave it alone device?
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That's a lamp in theory, but do you know of any actual lamps being sold where this matters?
in the US it's fairly common, so probably some American manufacturers would do it that way
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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
Bi-directional is a double-edged feature.
It means that there is no reliable way of identifying line and neutral wire, which requires more complex double switches downstream.
Also, F is unnecessarily clunky and big and hard to make a weather-proof version of because of the complex shape.
