Ask Lemmy

Type F.

SCHUKO PLUG SUPREMACY FOREVER!

Oh, a list of things each identified by a different letter, better put them in a completely random order.

Easy. Type G. For safety. If you're worried about night-time attacks from ninja you can leave a few plugs by your bedroom door and windows with the pins upward. They will rue the day they entered that room in the dark!

Type E and F plugs are not really a thing anymore, today it's more common to find combined Type E/F plugs.

Fuses in british plugs are a mistake and only a requirement because of sketchy practices allowed in british electrical code immediately after WW2. Nobody else does that because nowhere else electric code is built in such a way that it is necessary. Switch seems to be mildly useful tho

I really think we should give japan more shit for this. Type A is terrible on it's own merits, they don't even polarize it. But then they have the gall to use two different frequencies with the divide in the middle of Honshu (the big island with the major cities). And unlike reasonable people they don't do a "50 hz gets this plug, but 60 gets a non compatible one". No, both use the plug that North America phased out over safety concerns.

But to answer the question, type B is nice and homey, but types I and N feel a fun mix of weird and foreign but close enough to be interesting. Most of the rest just feel like various "yeah it's a circle with two circular prongs all right"

It's obviously the one in the country I live in. All the others that I have had zero experience with are from Satan.

does type A just have no ground?

I would argue that neither of the plugs shown in the picture nor those mentioned by others are the best.

Ignoring current adoption, I think that IEC 60906-1 is the best plug. It is very similar to the Swiss plug and was intended to, at least in the EU, replace other plugs. It has quite a few advantages over the other plugs. It is rated at 16 A, has a compact form factor, is polarised, and has almost all the common protections except fuses (which are pretty much useless anyway). Currently it only is used in South Africa without major changes to the plug.

Compared to the Schuko (Type F):

• Much smaller. You can fit three plugs in the same space as a single Schuko plug (similar to Swiss triple outlets).
• It takes less force to plug in. Above 2.5A, Schuko plugs require a lot of force to plug in and pull out. To some extent, this is actually good for safety, but I would argue that, in the case of Schuko plugs at least, it's too much
• It is also easier to plug in without seeing the plug since it isn't round. Everyone who has tried to plug in a Schuko plug without seeing the holes knows how difficult it is
• It's polarised/directional. In some very specific cases, there is a security advantage to using a polarised plug, but I think it's also a hassle to only be able to plug in a plug one direction. It also fits Europlugs (the thin, small plugs with only two pins that are very common in Europe, e.g. on phone chargers)

Compared to (Typ G)):

• Wayyy smaller
• Not a stepping hazard
• Rated for 16A (instead of 13 A)

• No Fuse (Again, pretty unecessary)

Regarding three-phase power, I would argue that Swiss type 15 (10A) and type 25 (16A) plugs are the best. These are really cool because while beeing the same size as Schuko (Typ F) plugs, they can transfer three-phase power (so 11 kW; 230 V / 16A on all three phases). They also fit standard Swiss single-phase and Euro plugs. This makes plugging in large appliances like electric stoves much easier than in other countries.

I would find it quite cool if most countries switched to one common plug, and I think IEC 60906-1 would be best for that. It would also be possible to build hybrid sockets for many common plugs during the transition phase.

As someone who lived in the UK, the British one is far too chunky, especially in an age where most devices don’t use the mandatory earth pin (which is mechanically necessary to open the shutters in the socket). The one place it has an advantage over Europlug is in aeroplane seat sockets and such, where it stays in more firmly.

Having said that, the Swiss and Brazilian ones manage to get earthed connections into a slender footprint (the Swiss is compatible with unearthed Europlug, not sure about the Brazilian though it may be smaller). Apparently the Brazilian socket was proposed as an international standard by the IEC, though only Brazil adopted it.

For safety, the BS1363 (UK, type G) is by far the best.

• It's fused. (Seriously why the hell aren't all plugs fused!)

• Live and neutral can't be reversed.

• Holes are gated (so no kids sticking spoons in).

• High capacity, 240V at 13A gives 3kW of power.

It's only real downside is its size.

G.

The plugs are shuttered, so they're protected from being stabby-stabbed. The plug's prongs are sheathed so live metal is never exposed, negating the need for recessed sockets. Compared to recessed plugs, it takes less force to insert/remove them, but the oversized prongs and their triangular arrangement means it can safely withstand more lateral stress than any other plugs. Every plug has a fuse appropriate to the appliance so every device has appropriate protection while also allowing any device to be used on any outlet - no need for dedicated outlets for tumble dryers. And the plugs are traditionally right-angled, so once they're plugged in they only protrude about a centimeter, making it easy to plug things in behind furniture.

The whole 'every plug has a switch' thing is bullshit, though. That's just weird.

The type I grew up with.

Europlug Compatibility

The Europlug is designed to be compatible with [Types C, E, F, and K]

Type J is superior in every aspect. -compact, you can fit 3 plugs into an outlet while Type F only fits one for example. -robust. -cannot reverse polarity. -no fuse required as the law requires proper fuses in every electric installation with law enforced periodical checks. -round pins that cannot puncture your skin if you step on them. It's hard to face the pins upwards anyway.

fuck's happenin in italy

I defer to Technology Connections

This diagram doesn’t do the utter goofiness of type M justice.

Here are a few styles you will come across.

As an American, it's obviously Type-B, since you don't need an adapter to plug things in.

/s

They're all functional, but the UK's Type G plug is the best of all plugs out there IMHO. I'm a Yankee and our plugs are fine, but the shutter design and built in fused plugs of the Type G are just.......chef's kiss.

Type N might not be the best but it was like a gift from heavens here in Brazil. We had no standard before it so most outlets would take one or two unsafe options; most houses would not ground their outlets, people would yank out the ground pin from plugs to make them fit; washing machines would often come with a completely different plug that some houses would just have a different outlet for, while others would use adapters. And so many other issues.

Nowadays you don't even need to see what you're doing because you can just stick your hand into outlets to feel where it is and insert the plug blindly without any risk.

any of the ones with a ground, i'd say

I'm quite the Type F fan:

• The plug is recessed, so half-plugged plugs have their pins inaccessible.
• Most modern Type F plugs are Type E compatible, as well as Europlug compatible, which means that if the plug doesn't need to be bulky, it won't be.
• Most modern installations have shutters in the pin holes, which both need to be pushed aside, making it impossible to plug in a foreign object. This unlike the Type G, where you only need to plug in the ground pin to reveal the live & neutral.
• The plug is symmetrical, making it easier to plug in a device in a way that makes the cable work for the user. Besides, having live & neutral plugged into specific sides of a device is not that important for daily use by the average Joe, and if it is, you can just flip the plug.
• The plug is inclined to land on its side, so if you drop one and then step on it, while it still won't be comfortable, it at least won't be as painful as stepping onto a Type G.

There was two different ways you could have ordered this alphabetically, and you failed to do either.

This is the most definitive argument that type J is superior to all others:

Image showing an arrangement of 3 swiss plugs in the same footprint as one french one

How does the type-A (Japan) ground?

I'm biased, but Type F