3 ms·
Safety seems like a big one too. Even the shoddiest fit should never have a visible powered part. Reliability: Fit should be good. You should be easily able to
by alkonaut 5y ago
Safety seems like a big one too. Even the shoddiest fit should never have a visible powered part.
Reliability: Fit should be good. You should be easily able to plug a heavy transformer on a downward facing socket without it falling out by gravity alone.
Lastly, compactness. The standard should be compact so fittings can be good looking and not use too much space.
The UK grounded connector fails the last criteria. The US flat-face fails the first two.
- HKH2 5y agoFrom memory, all the UK-style plugs I've used (in HK) have been a tight fit. I can't see how they'd fall out.
- selfhoster11 5y agoUK plugs are not compact, but they are always a tight fit. They always feel more secure than Euro style plugs, especially for chargers and lamps.
- pja 5y agoUK plugs are the best plugs. Apart from when you tread on one... (The requirement to have a fuse in every plug is a necessity for UK ring mains, but makes the things even bigger than they otherwise would be.)
- alkonaut 5y ago> UK plugs are the best plugs. Wonder if anyone ever arrived in the UK feeling the same way.. > (The requirement to have a fuse in every plug is a necessity for UK ring mains, but makes the things even bigger than they otherwise would be.) Yes. It’s much too bulky to be acceptable anywhere where people aren’t used to that size (nor would anyone accept fuses in the plugs I think. Unsure about switches at sockets).
- pja 5y agoWhy would people not accept fuses in plugs? (Apart from the size issue & in reality you could probably fit a fuse into a modern US plug without making it much bigger than it is now.)
- alkonaut 5y agoBecause it adds another point of failure for a safety improvement thats extremely marginal.
- frosted-flakes 5y agoString lights often have fuses in the US.
- pja 5y agoYup, because for those, the cable between the lights can’t take the current that the cable from the wall can deliver, so you ought to have a fuse for safety reasons - a short could cause a fire. (Whether this is legally required in the US presumably depends on local electrical code.)
- frosted-flakes 5y agoIt's because string lights use very thin wire gauge, and they are often daisy-chained. If they couldn't be daisy-chained they wouldn't have a fuse.