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As a Brit living in the EU, I kinda miss the ones back home - for two reasons, the grip and the orientation. I don't know anything about relative safety of eith
by smcl 5y ago
As a Brit living in the EU, I kinda miss the ones back home - for two reasons, the grip and the orientation. I don't know anything about relative safety of either, this is purely about UX :)
The UK plugs usually have a very clear way to grip them and pull them out of the socket, and yanking them by the cable neither looks nor feels right. Whereas the Europlug ones I have mostly have a very dainty, slight place to grip with your fingers and are often very tight - often they really invite you to pull by the cable itself.
There's a little bit of ambiguity about orientation - sometimes the socket has an extra prong sticking out meaning you have to use the plug the right way up, and sometimes there's none. But it can sometimes happen that you're not sure if you're a few degrees out in aligning the prongs in the plug, or if you're just the wrong way up and the earth prong is in the way. Obviously if you can see the socket this isn't a huge issue, but if you're reaching behind a TV unit, or a desk or a counter etc you're in for a bit of fumbling.
I have a similar feeling around lightswitches - the European ones are large, delicate and a little flimsy and the UK ones are little and compact and feel solid. I think it's not allowed to have the UK switches here, which is a shame otherwise I'd fit out my flat with them :)
update: oh speaking of switches I completely forgot that power sockets generally also have an on/off switch in the UK. I guess it comes down to personal preference but I liked having the extra "off" switch for reasons that I can't quite articulate
- ponyous 5y agoEuropean living in England, I really dislike the English ones. I got shocked once because it was so hard to pull out I had to use both hands and accidentally touched both pins at the same time... I prefer both plugs and switches in Europe. Probably for the same reasons as you - I grew up with them, and they feel right.
- rxt_ian 5y agoThe live prongs are insulated to such a length you should not be able to touch any conductive part before the plug is no longer making electrical contact with the socket. It's likely you got a small zap from a filtering capacitor inside the device that had not yet discharged.
- ponyous 5y agoI am not an expert and the shock didn't feel as bad as I expected so you are probably right.
- iso1631 5y agoIf it was a genuine plug, but there are non-genuine plugs around which aren't insulated (as well as ones with an insulated Earth!). If the plug was older than 1984 it could even have been genuine, as insulation wasn't required until then.
- cjrp 5y agoThat's where the off switch on the socket should be used; another handy design feature!
- adders 5y agoYes, the Brit plugs are great until you step on them in the night Funny comparison of different plugs from a few years ago https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/plug-versus-plug/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/plug-versus-plug/
- smcl 5y agoTo be honest unexpectedly stepping on any plug that's lying around on the floor is pretty unpleasant :)
- simondotau 5y agoYes but the UK plug has a high likelihood of idling with its prongs pointing up, a characteristic not shared with most other plug designs. As painful as it is to step on the side of a plug, stepping directly on the prongs is worse.
- cameronh90 5y agoWho just leaves plugs lying around on the floor though?