What is the best Power Outlet, and why?
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https://worldofsockets.comThe type I grew up with.
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Yup. Japan also has grounded outlets, though, although they are comparatively rarer.
are house fires and electrocutions common occurrences?
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Type N might not be the best but it was like a gift from heavens here in Brazil. We had no standard before it so most outlets would take one or two unsafe options; most houses would not ground their outlets, people would yank out the ground pin from plugs to make them fit; washing machines would often come with a completely different plug that some houses would just have a different outlet for, while others would use adapters. And so many other issues.
Nowadays you don't even need to see what you're doing because you can just stick your hand into outlets to feel where it is and insert the plug blindly without any risk.
When did type N become common?
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https://worldofsockets.comwrote last edited by [email protected]This is one of those things I can't believe hasn't been standardized. Why???
As for the question, the one I grew up with type B. All others seems weird to me.
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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?
I thing it is about the cord vs the plug. The plugs are as they are in the picture, but most cords are in F+E configuration. That is, there is the ground plates on the side of the cord (F) and there is a hole in the cord with a springplate to connect to the ground thingy in thr plug (E). I have two extension cords at home of the same brand, one in E and one in F configuration, but all my cords are compatible with both. I'm a bit unsure on this, but I may have seen a plug with E+F configuration in a country which usually goes E, but definetly never in a country with F config.
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A useful source:
https://worldofsockets.comHuh, I never knew Australia shared the same power point as china, thought we were on our own. Good to know not EVERY country is suffering through inferior plugs
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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?
UK uses type G. Type E/F plug has both contact for grounding pin like in type E and two sliding ground contacts on side like in type F. Sockets are either E or F, and i've mostly seen E
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This is one of those things I can't believe hasn't been standardized. Why???
As for the question, the one I grew up with type B. All others seems weird to me.
It has been standardized, but like most standard there are competing ones.
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There is the GFCI in the switch box, but yeah, both gfci+grounded would be preferable.
A GFCI won't do squat without PE connected
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I see the left side of just slightly bigger than the right, so I expect one of those sides to be the ground
Nope, the ground is a separate wire that just dangles there and never gets connected. Over the last 25 years I don't think I've ever seen a utilised ground wire.
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UK uses type G. Type E/F plug has both contact for grounding pin like in type E and two sliding ground contacts on side like in type F. Sockets are either E or F, and i've mostly seen E
E is only common in five countries, F is more widely used.
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I've seen E in France.
Not really the point, what I'm saying is that F sockets are definitely still "a thing".
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This is one of those things I can't believe hasn't been standardized. Why???
As for the question, the one I grew up with type B. All others seems weird to me.
it's been standardized multiple times! the Italian outlets look like that to be backwards compatible with their older standard, where different amperages had different plugs.
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UK uses type G. Type E/F plug has both contact for grounding pin like in type E and two sliding ground contacts on side like in type F. Sockets are either E or F, and i've mostly seen E
Oh you mean the plugs, as opposed to the sockets? Then I misunderstood.
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Why? It doesn't make any difference with AC
The actual electrical device can be designed such that it depends on exactly which direction is live and which is neutral.
Imagine a circuit loop that, as you follow along the circuit, has an AC power source, then a switch, and then the electrical appliance, leading back to the AC source it started from.
If you design the circuit so that you know for sure that the live wire goes to the switch first before the actual load, then your design ensures that if there is a fault or a short somewhere in the appliance, it won't let the live power leak anywhere (because the whole device is only connected to the neutral line, not the hot live voltage that alternates between positive and negative voltage). It's safer, and is less likely to damage the internals of a device. Especially if someone is going to reach inside and forgets to unplug it or cut power at the circuit breaker.
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J. They look good and the plug is small
wrote last edited by [email protected]You fit three of these in the same surface of one EU type
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Not really the point, what I'm saying is that F sockets are definitely still "a thing".
Oh, yeah, absolutely. The best thing. I just wanted to say that E type plugs are also in use.
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I thing it is about the cord vs the plug. The plugs are as they are in the picture, but most cords are in F+E configuration. That is, there is the ground plates on the side of the cord (F) and there is a hole in the cord with a springplate to connect to the ground thingy in thr plug (E). I have two extension cords at home of the same brand, one in E and one in F configuration, but all my cords are compatible with both. I'm a bit unsure on this, but I may have seen a plug with E+F configuration in a country which usually goes E, but definetly never in a country with F config.
I think you mean plugs vs sockets. I was talking about sockets, but I mistakenly wrote plugs. I think I misunderstood the original comment in that regard.
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Oh, yeah, absolutely. The best thing. I just wanted to say that E type plugs are also in use.
The best thing
Yeah they are pretty great. Admittedly I am biased 
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This is one of those things I can't believe hasn't been standardized. Why???
As for the question, the one I grew up with type B. All others seems weird to me.
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.
