Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?
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Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?
#2Standardization makes life easier, but it is often impossible to introduce it to systems that have a messy evolutionary history. Electricity supply is a case in point. [IEEE Spectrum]
Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?
#3Go just about anywhere in the world and you can charge your laptop with a simple adapter - yet take a USB cable and and it's anybody's guess whether it will work - even if you can physically plug it in.
Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?
#4I could accept different standards across the world - things evolve differently. But why should a country have multiple standards? That one drives me nuts. Here in Israel fine - we use Type C... except for the completely random use of Type H. Then, main room air conditioners use Type M - but at least that's standardized...except for when it isn't.
Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?
#5I could accept different standards across the world - things evolve differently. But why should a country have multiple standards? That one drives me nuts. Here in Israel fine - we use Type C... except for the completely random use of Type H. Then, main room air conditioners use Type M - but at least that's standardized...except for when it isn't.
except, that it's not really type c. type c is bigger pins in general (so while it fits, it many times has to be forced in). I'm also a bit confused by the graphic of type-h. pretty sure type h is only used here? (which is a thing itself, why!?)
Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?
#6I could accept different standards across the world - things evolve differently. But why should a country have multiple standards? That one drives me nuts. Here in Israel fine - we use Type C... except for the completely random use of Type H. Then, main room air conditioners use Type M - but at least that's standardized...except for when it isn't.
C is no ground and H does have
But what I've been seeing these days is C style pins, but with a ground
The M used in Israel might be different than the one pictured as it is used exclusively for 3 phase lines (so an AC that doesn't need 3 phase can then have a regular plug)
Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?
#7I could accept different standards across the world - things evolve differently. But why should a country have multiple standards? That one drives me nuts. Here in Israel fine - we use Type C... except for the completely random use of Type H. Then, main room air conditioners use Type M - but at least that's standardized...except for when it isn't.
> But why should a country have multiple standards? That one drives me nuts. Here in Israel fine - we use Type C... except for the completely random use of Type H.
Type C (the "europlug") is a compatibility low-amperage plug (2.5A @ 250V) for shavers and small lamps and USB power adapters and such. It was designed to be compatible with the high-power Type C, E, F, and K popular in mainland europe, but providing a cheaper plug, and allowing for dedicated low-amperage circuits (e.g. shaver sockets which would be safer in bathrooms).
Type H (and N, which is brazilian) were then designed to be compatible with the Europlug in turn.
> Then, main room air conditioners use Type M - but at least that's standardized...except for when it isn't.
Possibly rather than Type M (which is a 15A plug) it's the 30A plug from the same over-arching BS546 standard? Or a similar-looking 3-phase plug? That's what I'd expect for high-power applications like AC. I assume the standard Type H is 15 or 16A single-phase aka the usual mains.
Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?
#8Go just about anywhere in the world and you can charge your laptop with a simple adapter - yet take a USB cable and and it's anybody's guess whether it will work - even if you can physically plug it in.
Laptop charging cables come with AC adapters. USB cables are far more versatile than laptop charging cables in my experience. I am able to use a variety of USB cables if I lose one, and they’re available everywhere for much cheaper than a laptop charging cable and associated AC adapter, which most likely is not even available for purchase in most places.
Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?
#9Unfortunately this doesn’t get to why.
For example the absurdly large UK plugs with integral fuses date to first (or was it postwar? I forget) surge of electrification which,for expediency’s sake was often point-to-point (like “party line” phones) so local devices needed protection. Nobody else went this route (well, excepting some dodgy informal systems I’ve seen in India and southern Africa) so could get away with smaller, less expensive plugs.
(And as for terminology, why do we plug the plug into the plug in Australia?)
Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?
#10This is outdated in some ways: South Africa formally adopted IEC 60906-1 (Type N) years ago as SANS 164-2 to replace its use of Type M (SANS 164-1). It was adopted as an optional local standard in 1992, the preferred standard in 2013, and mandatory for new installations in 2015.
IEC 60906-1 was developed to be the standardised global standard, with the intention of rolling it out across the EU first. However that didn't happen and so far South Africa is the only country that has chosen to adopt it.
Brazil and Switzerland have closely-related local forms of IEC 60906-1, but neither is fully compatible.