We might be British, but that doesn't mean we're generally swelling with national pride. After all, there's much about the UK that's simply broken and highly annoying (Hello, trains! Take a bow, Royal Mail!). We do have some things going for us though. Our health system means if we get ill, we get treated -- and our power plugs are excellent.
Yes, you read correctly. We said power plugs.
So, let's take a 100 per cent objective* look at the plugs and plug sockets of the world -- who will rise to be the global victor in this crucial battle between the power interconnects of the planet? We welcome you to a no-prongs barred fight that will eventually decide what sort of sockets they use on Mars.
*Objectivity in this sentence has a one-off, government-approved change in definition. Its meaning here, and only here, is the exact opposite of what it usually means.
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Anonymous 25 July, 2010 18:59
My word, you colonials are a thin-skinned bunch :D. Did you read the bit that said "let's take a 100 per cent objective*" at the beginning? It was put there just for trigger-fingered thickies with a patriotism complex. Also is there a Godwin's Law equiv for the number of posts after Australia is ribbed for some chippy Skippy to come along and whine about their really great beaches (which they didn't even discover, let alone invent)?
Anonymous 28 July, 2010 16:37
Reply to: Anonymous @ 4 November, 2009 21:21
USA plugs, lets clear the confusion
1) rated is 115. You should not be seeing well in excess of 120V unless you are very close to a substation or distribution transformer. You should probably see closer to 118V from outlets typically given voltage regulation rules.
2) The actual plug connections on any of these designs are not likely to fail at 20 amps, its the wiring that will go first. And yes the plug design absolutely affects the amount of current handling as you yourself mentioned since material and construction are the basis of plug design...
3) Grounding will have any effect with an open neutral. Open neutral will cause an open circuit therefore no power will flow. A FAULTED conductor will be shunted to ground if in contact with a grounded surface of a device ie. a metal chasis part.
4) What do you think the current is determined from? Voltage over impedance... Therefore higher voltage with only a person in between source and sink will result in higher current!
5) Actually AC has much higher losses over long distances due to skin effects, mutual and self inductance effects, and other issues crop up such as elevated voltages due to ferranti effect. DC has no inductive component when flowing in a steady state level which is why HVDC is used for extremely long transmission. The problem was that when Edison was around, we didn't have the electronic converters (or maybe not even the mercury valves) to transform the DC voltage up like a transformer could at the time with AC therefore no high voltage DC transmission.
You told people to get a clue. Take it from someone who actually knows about electricity and electromagnetics, you clearly have no clue what you are talking about!
Anonymous 28 July, 2010 16:52
"And one of the best things about our system is that by grinding down the size of the various pins on a 25Amp,20Amp or 15Amp appliance you can plug it into a lower rated socket outlet. A few minutes grinding down the pins will have that 6000Watt air conditioner plugged into and running of a 2400watt outlet giving an electrical power efficiency of over 200%."
...... I hope you're joking, I think you're confusing efficiency with running your circuit at 250% of its rated value. And how the hell would your protective devices (ie. fuses and breakers) not trip when you have a device drawing 25A on an apparently 10A circuit?
Let's face it if 90% of the people posting here were ever to design electrical equipment and we didn't have CSA, ESA, UL, NEMA, etc etc backing us up we'd probably be dead.
As far as who won what wars, etc etc. I'd say the UK held up pretty well considering their small size and small amount of natural resources. Likewise I'd say Germany did especially well considering how many they were able to hold off and how much they were able to expand their fronts. Also the US did quite well considering they had to transport across the globe to fight. No one wins in war except technology which usually gets a nice big kick forward.
Anonymous 19 August, 2010 00:34
It is incorrect to consider the British as minor allies of the United States in WWII. That perception is a modern one, brought about no doubt by Britain's relative military insignificance today. Britain's imperial power was on the wane when the war started but she still commanded vast resources, notably the allegiance of the soldiers of the Empire: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and India. Britain was the mainstay of the struggle against the Nazis for two years before America entered the war. America would certainly not have defeated the Nazis on her own, while Britain would most likely have eventually been forced into a treaty with Hitler if America had not supplied her with money and weapons and later entered the war.
Anonymous 9 September, 2010 02:08
I had a fire start inside a British socket, after my washing machine sprayed water over the plug.
Quite a large part of the wall behind the washing machine was burnt out. The British sockets are not 100 percent safe.
thatguy 10 September, 2010 12:38
American plugs are cool. I like the feeling of being millimetres from death on a daily basis, especially when I'm toasting my bagels in the bathtub. British plugs reflect the nanny state we live in, are impractical and waste brass, seeing as every plug has to have a huge great big earth pin, but most appliances don't need to be earthed anyway. Also, we don't have 30 amp plugs for dryers, cookers e.t.c. like the Americans have, so you have to be a contortionist, clambering down behind large appliances to disconnect the hard wiring. Fuses in plugs are also pointless for modern systems, as any fault or overload would trip out the main circuit breaker in a fraction of a millisecond. And as for the British 'ring main', now isn't that just an excuse to plug as many things as possible into a single 30 amp fuse and melt your fuse panel???
Did I mention the 'electrical' aisle in walmart? The Americans have an adaptor for just about everything. I love those adaptors that screw into light fittings and instantly give you 2 plug outlets. Feel like surfing the web, charging 3 toothbrushes and drying your hair whilst hanging upside down from a string of christmas tree lights? No problem.
Anonymous 3 November, 2010 07:43
My psp has the american two pin thingy? TWO PINS, not three.
Im a brit though, so i need a huge brick to plug in to my wall, which sucks :(
but one thing the uk sockets are good for is permanent residence in a socket behind a desk for example, because it is almost flat up against the wall, and so can fit in tight spaces.
Just my two cents.
Anonymous 24 November, 2010 03:49
NOTE TO ALL AMERICANS AND APPARENTLY AUSTRALIANS (thought you guys would be better than this). Satire and irony are wonderful things
Anonymous 24 November, 2010 03:51
i take it no-one knows what the opposite of objective is either? poor stupid colonies
Anonymous 24 November, 2010 03:53
i take it no-one understood what the opposite of objective is. Poor stupid colonies
Anonymous 24 November, 2010 03:54
who cares if you saved us in WW1 and 2, we all know you're going to cause WW3
anonymous 20 October, 2011 22:06
@all you POMS who are having a go at the idiot Aussie's taking it seriously - didn't you know Australia has evolved from Whinging Pom to Semi-Patriotic American. We can't take online jokes like this, because it hurts our pride, and our grasp of the English language is about on par with the average American - hence our inability to appreciate that an article such as this was clearly written in jest. That said, I'm surprised the Italians got an 8 and the Danes a 9 compared to our 2 (although the smiley Danish plug is quite cool) - and our sockets look angry or upset rather than surprised (when I was younger, I thought they might have been modelled on a certain race of people who flocked to Australia in droves during the Gold-Rushes....)
anonymous 2 November, 2011 15:38
if you live in the uk, and are fed up with big nanny state brick plugs, just open the shutters with a paperclip and jam a europlug in it, works fine.
anonymous 3 November, 2011 19:35
Did anyone notice the Danish socket/plug look like a lego man's head? Is this satire or is it for real? I feel the slight pull t my leg all right :)
anonymous 3 November, 2011 19:40
http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/denmar1/f/eloutletdenmark.htm
I rest my case, even if N=1
anonymous 3 November, 2011 20:50
Then again: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:107-2-D1_-_Danish_electrical_plugs_-_Studio_2011.jpg
anonymous 30 January, 2012 00:33
In Argentina, we have the Australian plugs and sockets, also used in mainland China with minor variations.
anonymous 26 March, 2012 04:51
Even though the subway is horrible, the seats are really comfortable. I don't think any UK person would sit on the Boston subway seats.
anonymous 20 September, 2012 23:08
These days the vast majority of American plugs are grounded (three-pronged).
The older sockets are a friggin' nightmare. They don't grip the plug hard enough because they used cheap metal that fatigues almost immediately, so the plugs fall out constantly, or worse they short out because the plug is dangling in them. Modern sockets tend to use much better materials that grip the plug much more tightly and last a lot longer.
anonymous 20 October, 2012 12:49
The article says: "Americans think a 5-litre V8 engine is necessary in a commuter car", and that is exactly the point! They want amperes! Lots of amperes and thick cabling.
Wheres in EU we seldom need more than 16A per conductor with 400V 3-phase, Americans customarily go up to 50A.