3 ms·

I’ve always found the EU (and US) plugs horribly flimsy. Despite their bulk I’d pick the UK plugs over any type.

pmontra 5y ago
Yes I can understand that but by any practical purpose all the plugs I used around the world should be more or less equally safe, with unnoticeable differences. A truly dangerous plug design would have killed enough people to be discarded by now. We're using local optima and the cost to move to the global one, whichever it is, outweighs the benefit. I live in Italy and recently the number of appliances sold with a German plug increased. I guess it costs less for the manufacturer to sell the same plug everywhere. They are offloading the costs to customers because not all sockets in my home accept that plug. Some of them are not multi standard, even the high Ampere ones. Eventually manufacturers could standardize plugs much more than regulations do.
- kazen44 5y ago
  in the EU schuko/europlug seems to be slowly becoming the standard everywhere.
int_19h 5y ago
Have you seen the AU/NZ ones? They require insulation on the pins, and physical switches on the outlets.
- toomanybeersies 5y ago
  Maybe I'm biased, but I really love the AU/NZ plugs and sockets. Out of all the different standards, they're probably the least ugly looking; switched outlets are a (literal and figurative) lifesaver; and it's incredibly useful that you can put a 10 amp plug in a 15 amp socket, but not a 15A into a 10A.
  - genewitch 5y ago
    The US plugs that have a sideways T are the lower amperage compatible style, but everything over 20A has a plug that is circular in arrangement. You can put a 10A in the one with a sideways T, but not the converse, because the hot leg is rotated 90°. To be fair I've never seen that plug in the wild, but I don't go out much.
- yardstick 5y ago
  Yes, have decades of experience with them. They are better than US/EU, although I don’t like the thin pins (even with insulation) plus they still can feel a bit loose/wiggle unlike the chunky UK one. Especially the 2-pin plugs! AU/NZ power strips are nice, feel a lot safer compared to US and EU. Same with extension cables (UK does poorly there). UK also has physical switches on outlets, at least the vast majority I’ve run into. US/EU is again quite poor in that regard imo.

Yes I can understand that but by any practical purpose all the plugs I used around the world should be more or less equally safe, with unnoticeable differences. A truly dangerous plug design would have killed enough people to be discarded by now. We're using local optima and the cost to move to the global one, whichever it is, outweighs the benefit. I live in Italy and recently the number of appliances sold with a German plug increased. I guess it costs less for the manufacturer to sell the same plug everywhere. They are offloading the costs to customers because not all sockets in my home accept that plug. Some of them are not multi standard, even the high Ampere ones. Eventually manufacturers could standardize plugs much more than regulations do.

kazen44 5y ago
in the EU schuko/europlug seems to be slowly becoming the standard everywhere.

int_19h 5y ago

Have you seen the AU/NZ ones? They require insulation on the pins, and physical switches on the outlets.

toomanybeersies 5y ago
Maybe I'm biased, but I really love the AU/NZ plugs and sockets. Out of all the different standards, they're probably the least ugly looking; switched outlets are a (literal and figurative) lifesaver; and it's incredibly useful that you can put a 10 amp plug in a 15 amp socket, but not a 15A into a 10A.
- genewitch 5y ago
  The US plugs that have a sideways T are the lower amperage compatible style, but everything over 20A has a plug that is circular in arrangement. You can put a 10A in the one with a sideways T, but not the converse, because the hot leg is rotated 90°. To be fair I've never seen that plug in the wild, but I don't go out much.
yardstick 5y ago
Yes, have decades of experience with them. They are better than US/EU, although I don’t like the thin pins (even with insulation) plus they still can feel a bit loose/wiggle unlike the chunky UK one. Especially the 2-pin plugs! AU/NZ power strips are nice, feel a lot safer compared to US and EU. Same with extension cables (UK does poorly there). UK also has physical switches on outlets, at least the vast majority I’ve run into. US/EU is again quite poor in that regard imo.