8 ms·

Power plug and socket (outlet) types

24 points by Amorymeltzer 4y ago

fasteo 4y ago
Why does Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza appears as if they were countries, when they are islands belonging to Spain ? [1] Just curious [1] https://world-power-plugs.com/europe https://world-power-plugs.com/europe
- Symbiote 4y ago
  Everywhere is split out, also Scotland, Svalbard, Azores etc.
acherion 4y ago
Isn't this just the Mains Electricity by county page [1] on Wikipedia, with a filter option form slapped on top of it? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country
- throwaway294566 4y ago
  I think this is just a simple ad-/clickfarming page without any actually useful content. The content that is there is also wrong and misleading.
askvictor 4y ago
The Type I (AU/NZ) plug is different to the Type I (China) plug. For one thing, the Chinese one is upside down (or maybe the AU one is?) but the biggest difference is the AU standard requires the active and neutral conductors to have insulation over half of the conductor (presumably to prevent a kid with a butter knife or paper-clip touching the hot conductor on a half-inserted plug). The Chinese one has no such protection (also, generally seem to have holes on the pins). So while they may be inter-operable, they're not necessarily legal or safe (for example, the Argentinian Type I apparently swaps active and neutral). In the same way that a Euro (Type E) plug can fit in a UK (Type G) socket if you can push Earth door open (useful not just for travelling Europe, but also Asia, where Indonesia uses E, but Malaysia uses G. But you really shouldn't do that). I'm curious why American Samoa uses Type I (among 3 others) but on 60Hz/110V... Also, some of the voltages are wrong; AU is listed as 230V, but the situation varies between states, and between nominal and actual. In short; Wikipedia has more detail and accuracy.
- jamesbfb 4y ago
  > presumably to prevent a kid with a butter knife or paper-clip touching the hot conductor on a half-inserted plug Correct! That said, I don’t know how regulated it is since I have quite a few IEC cables without that insulation.
  - SulphurCrested 4y ago
    The standard was changed around 20 years ago to require the insulation. Before that, it wasn't required. Those IEC cables are probably just older than that. A couple of other things they also did away with are non-moulded plugs supplied with appliances new, and piggy-back plugs.
    - askvictor 4y ago
      Piggy-back is OK (you can still buy piggy-back extension leads), except for the case of a DIY piggy-back plug - this runs the risk of someone wiring two of them together, or a piggy-back plug to a male plug, resulting in danger.
  - askvictor 4y ago
    Having just read about this a bit more, it looks like it is also to prevent something falling onto a half-inserted plug and causing *sparks*. China's "upside-down" version is also a solution to this, in that something falling would fall onto the earth pin first. Not sure how that works for two-pin plugs.
vjandrea 4y ago
The color choices for the map are questionable, and rather unreadable for color-blind people.
- jamesbfb 4y ago
  I’m not colour blind and it is unreadable for me!
V__ 4y ago
Every time I read about plugs, I remember Tom Scott's video about why British plugs are the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEfP1OKKz_Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEfP1OKKz_Q
- alserio 4y ago
  I also remembered that video. But, as a non plug expert, I've always been curious how much of what he describes is really good engineering and how much is, erm, plug patriottism (?). Are there any stats or studies that back up his safety claims?
  - V__ 4y ago
    I found this thread on StackExchange [1] with an extremely thorough answer. Basically, the numbers don't differ that much. Also, different electrical systems having additional features like GFCI's make it hard to compare. [1] https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/22572/are-british-plugs-safer-than-all-other-plugs https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/22572/are-briti...
    - Amorymeltzer 4y ago
      This was an excellent read, thoroughly enjoyable!
    - ndsipa_pomu 4y ago
      The separate fuse-in-the-plug is a useful safety feature for lower powered items, as they can have a lower rated fuse (e.g. 3A) and thus blow before tripping any other fuses.
- Brajeshwar 4y ago
  Here is another where I learnt about the awesomeness of UK's plugs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=139Q61ty4C0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=139Q61ty4C0
  - hnlmorg 4y ago
kaetemi 4y ago
Philippines sockets are usually hybrid Europe/US style, either without ground or with ground for US grounded plugs only. You can also easily find the 'fully' universal wall sockets, but they get unreliable very quickly. Plugs are anything goes and you get a free adapter with every appliance you buy. Grounded EU plugs usually end up without ground. Aircon use a whole other plug with ground, but there's a good chance the electrician didn't actually wire up the ground.
dvh 4y ago
If I was an alien and I had a list of things civilization must meet before I make first contact, standard electrical plug would be on that list.
- askvictor 4y ago
  I'd settle for standard voltage and frequency.
throwaway294566 4y ago
The original article is somewhat wrong or at least misleading regarding the compatibility of Type F (Schuko, German) plugs with Type E (French) sockets: "Type [...] F plugs will also fit in type E sockets". Actually, they won't. Type E has a protruding earth prong that sticks out from the socket. To fit, the plug needs a corresponding Opening. Type F has no such opening, so you cannot physically connect. Also, French Type E has a round outline which won't fit into Type F sockets because of the non-round outline of Type F: There is a notch on the left and right side of the circle, making them incompatible, but the original article doesn't show that, the drawing of type F is simply wrong. The plug that actually fits (and is common with most new appliances) is CEE 7/7, a hybrid of types E and F: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEE_7_standard_AC_plugs_and_sockets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEE_7_standard_AC_plugs_and_so... All in all, the original article is a bad overview and you shouldn't rely on it, because it will be trouble at least in Type-E/F-land. If this is an indication of the overall data quality, avoid using this page for anything.
- the_mitsuhiko 4y ago
  Other than multiplugs I haven’t seen plugs that don’t confirm to CEE 7/7 in a long time.
- dtgriscom 4y ago
  What's "the original" article? You mean the website that's referenced in this post?
  - throwaway294566 4y ago
    Yes.
- masklinn 4y ago
  > The plug that actually fits (and is common with most new appliances) is CEE 7/7 It's not just "common with new appliances", it's essentially universal. I honestly can not remember ever seeing an actual Type E or Type F plug in the wild, only sockets.
kuon 4y ago
I'd argue that our swiss plug (N in the list) is really good, it is compact so you can have plugs with every wall switches but it is polarized. Also we had ground with differential protection (30mA) built in our homes for as long as I can remember.
- microtherion 4y ago
  Swiss plugs are J, N is Brazilian (Earth pin slightly closer to the center line).
  - kuon 4y ago
    You are right, I just looked at the general shape.
- the_mitsuhiko 4y ago
  The recessed updated sockets are good. The non recessed plugs were so bad for all kinda of reasons.
  - kuon 4y ago
    Yeah, I think they introduced the flat sockets to be compatible with older T1 swiss plugs which were not triangular. https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/CH/CH-T1_plug.jpg https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/CH/CH-T1_plug.jpg That was a bad idea because it was easy to get shocked.
kirenida 4y ago
I will leave this here, as I assumed from the title that it was this site: https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/ https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/ The collection of plugs and sockets focuses on the following two categories: 1. Plugs and sockets that are used for domestic purposes. That means 220-240 Volt / 10-16 Amp, or 100-125 Volt / 15-20 Amp devices that can be found in homes and offices, including, multi-plugs, adapter plugs, power cords that come with various types of appliance couplers. 2. Plugs and sockets for single phase heavy duty, or three- phase applications in homes and/or workshops. The three-phase section is restricted to 400 Volt / 32 Amp, or US: 250 Volt / 60 Amp, or 480 Volt / 30 Amp. Both modern and classical material is represented in the collection.

24 points by Amorymeltzer 4y ago

Why does Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza appears as if they were countries, when they are islands belonging to Spain ? [1] Just curious [1] https://world-power-plugs.com/europe https://world-power-plugs.com/europe

Symbiote 4y ago
Everywhere is split out, also Scotland, Svalbard, Azores etc.

acherion 4y ago

Isn't this just the Mains Electricity by county page [1] on Wikipedia, with a filter option form slapped on top of it? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country

throwaway294566 4y ago
I think this is just a simple ad-/clickfarming page without any actually useful content. The content that is there is also wrong and misleading.

askvictor 4y ago

The Type I (AU/NZ) plug is different to the Type I (China) plug. For one thing, the Chinese one is upside down (or maybe the AU one is?) but the biggest difference is the AU standard requires the active and neutral conductors to have insulation over half of the conductor (presumably to prevent a kid with a butter knife or paper-clip touching the hot conductor on a half-inserted plug). The Chinese one has no such protection (also, generally seem to have holes on the pins). So while they may be inter-operable, they're not necessarily legal or safe (for example, the Argentinian Type I apparently swaps active and neutral). In the same way that a Euro (Type E) plug can fit in a UK (Type G) socket if you can push Earth door open (useful not just for travelling Europe, but also Asia, where Indonesia uses E, but Malaysia uses G. But you really shouldn't do that). I'm curious why American Samoa uses Type I (among 3 others) but on 60Hz/110V... Also, some of the voltages are wrong; AU is listed as 230V, but the situation varies between states, and between nominal and actual. In short; Wikipedia has more detail and accuracy.

jamesbfb 4y ago
> presumably to prevent a kid with a butter knife or paper-clip touching the hot conductor on a half-inserted plug Correct! That said, I don’t know how regulated it is since I have quite a few IEC cables without that insulation.
- SulphurCrested 4y ago
  The standard was changed around 20 years ago to require the insulation. Before that, it wasn't required. Those IEC cables are probably just older than that. A couple of other things they also did away with are non-moulded plugs supplied with appliances new, and piggy-back plugs.
  - askvictor 4y ago
    Piggy-back is OK (you can still buy piggy-back extension leads), except for the case of a DIY piggy-back plug - this runs the risk of someone wiring two of them together, or a piggy-back plug to a male plug, resulting in danger.
- askvictor 4y ago
  Having just read about this a bit more, it looks like it is also to prevent something falling onto a half-inserted plug and causing *sparks*. China's "upside-down" version is also a solution to this, in that something falling would fall onto the earth pin first. Not sure how that works for two-pin plugs.

vjandrea 4y ago

The color choices for the map are questionable, and rather unreadable for color-blind people.

jamesbfb 4y ago
I’m not colour blind and it is unreadable for me!

V__ 4y ago

Every time I read about plugs, I remember Tom Scott's video about why British plugs are the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEfP1OKKz_Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEfP1OKKz_Q

alserio 4y ago
I also remembered that video. But, as a non plug expert, I've always been curious how much of what he describes is really good engineering and how much is, erm, plug patriottism (?). Are there any stats or studies that back up his safety claims?
- V__ 4y ago
  I found this thread on StackExchange [1] with an extremely thorough answer. Basically, the numbers don't differ that much. Also, different electrical systems having additional features like GFCI's make it hard to compare. [1] https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/22572/are-british-plugs-safer-than-all-other-plugs https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/22572/are-briti...
  - Amorymeltzer 4y ago
    This was an excellent read, thoroughly enjoyable!
  - ndsipa_pomu 4y ago
    The separate fuse-in-the-plug is a useful safety feature for lower powered items, as they can have a lower rated fuse (e.g. 3A) and thus blow before tripping any other fuses.
Brajeshwar 4y ago
Here is another where I learnt about the awesomeness of UK's plugs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=139Q61ty4C0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=139Q61ty4C0
- hnlmorg 4y ago

kaetemi 4y ago

Philippines sockets are usually hybrid Europe/US style, either without ground or with ground for US grounded plugs only. You can also easily find the 'fully' universal wall sockets, but they get unreliable very quickly. Plugs are anything goes and you get a free adapter with every appliance you buy. Grounded EU plugs usually end up without ground. Aircon use a whole other plug with ground, but there's a good chance the electrician didn't actually wire up the ground.

dvh 4y ago

If I was an alien and I had a list of things civilization must meet before I make first contact, standard electrical plug would be on that list.

askvictor 4y ago
I'd settle for standard voltage and frequency.

throwaway294566 4y ago

The original article is somewhat wrong or at least misleading regarding the compatibility of Type F (Schuko, German) plugs with Type E (French) sockets: "Type [...] F plugs will also fit in type E sockets". Actually, they won't. Type E has a protruding earth prong that sticks out from the socket. To fit, the plug needs a corresponding Opening. Type F has no such opening, so you cannot physically connect. Also, French Type E has a round outline which won't fit into Type F sockets because of the non-round outline of Type F: There is a notch on the left and right side of the circle, making them incompatible, but the original article doesn't show that, the drawing of type F is simply wrong. The plug that actually fits (and is common with most new appliances) is CEE 7/7, a hybrid of types E and F: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEE_7_standard_AC_plugs_and_sockets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEE_7_standard_AC_plugs_and_so... All in all, the original article is a bad overview and you shouldn't rely on it, because it will be trouble at least in Type-E/F-land. If this is an indication of the overall data quality, avoid using this page for anything.

the_mitsuhiko 4y ago
Other than multiplugs I haven’t seen plugs that don’t confirm to CEE 7/7 in a long time.
dtgriscom 4y ago
What's "the original" article? You mean the website that's referenced in this post?
- throwaway294566 4y ago
  Yes.
masklinn 4y ago
> The plug that actually fits (and is common with most new appliances) is CEE 7/7 It's not just "common with new appliances", it's essentially universal. I honestly can not remember ever seeing an actual Type E or Type F plug in the wild, only sockets.

kuon 4y ago

I'd argue that our swiss plug (N in the list) is really good, it is compact so you can have plugs with every wall switches but it is polarized. Also we had ground with differential protection (30mA) built in our homes for as long as I can remember.

microtherion 4y ago
Swiss plugs are J, N is Brazilian (Earth pin slightly closer to the center line).
- kuon 4y ago
  You are right, I just looked at the general shape.
the_mitsuhiko 4y ago
The recessed updated sockets are good. The non recessed plugs were so bad for all kinda of reasons.
- kuon 4y ago
  Yeah, I think they introduced the flat sockets to be compatible with older T1 swiss plugs which were not triangular. https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/CH/CH-T1_plug.jpg https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/CH/CH-T1_plug.jpg That was a bad idea because it was easy to get shocked.

kirenida 4y ago

I will leave this here, as I assumed from the title that it was this site: https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/ https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/ The collection of plugs and sockets focuses on the following two categories: 1. Plugs and sockets that are used for domestic purposes. That means 220-240 Volt / 10-16 Amp, or 100-125 Volt / 15-20 Amp devices that can be found in homes and offices, including, multi-plugs, adapter plugs, power cords that come with various types of appliance couplers. 2. Plugs and sockets for single phase heavy duty, or three- phase applications in homes and/or workshops. The three-phase section is restricted to 400 Volt / 32 Amp, or US: 250 Volt / 60 Amp, or 480 Volt / 30 Amp. Both modern and classical material is represented in the collection.