3 ms·
> 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 regulat
by 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 agoThe 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 agoPiggy-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 agoHaving 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.