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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?

#21

Post by Scoundreller »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #3

Go 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.

Recently learned this the hard way. A Macbook will charge over any voltage over USB-C. Slowly, or maybe just increasing battery life, but it'll take anything. It'll charge from a 5V1A power bank if you like.

So when I had to make an emergency trip, I assumed my newish Dell with USB-C charging would be the same. And that assumption was false. Unless you're charging with 20V USB-C (not common outside of laptop chargers), it won't draw anything at all.

Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?

#23

Post by ghshephard »

varispeed wrote: post #13
gumby wrote: post #9

Unfortunately 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…

I am always getting anxious that I get electrocuted when I disconnect US plug. I wish the whole world adopted UK plugs and sockets for safety.

I drove all my friends crazy in Singapore (has the same switched outlet) by never, ever “switching off the socket” - whenever a housekeeper did that it would take me a long time (initially) to figure out why an appliance wasn’t working.

Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?

#24

Post by fy20 »

Italian sockets are a fun one. The plugs come in a 10A and 16A versions which are slightly different sizes. Newer sockets will usually take both plugs, but older sockets take one or the other.

The size looks very similar to European Schuko sockets, and if you jam it in, then it will just about fit (without an earth). You can get adapters all over the place, which is the way you are supposed to do it, but for older sockets they don't really hold very well so often come loose. Apparently there are sockets that will take all three, Schuko, 10A and 16A but I never saw those while living there.

It's not just to trick tourists though... When you buy electrical products, sometimes they come with an Italian plug, sometimes they come with a Schuko plug.

Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?

#25

Post by fbellag »

gumby wrote: post #9

Unfortunately 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…

Australia, and Argentina since then 90s, use the Y plug, which is not mentioned in the article.

Why Argentina used the same plug as Australia I have no idea, and it's not fully documented as far as know.

Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?

#26

Post by palijer »

varispeed wrote: post #13
gumby wrote: post #9

Unfortunately 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…

I am always getting anxious that I get electrocuted when I disconnect US plug. I wish the whole world adopted UK plugs and sockets for safety.

Install some GFCI outlets everywhere and the risk is gone. Also you are very, very, very unlikely to be electrocuted in this way even if you do touch the metal and get voltage passed through you.

Like, it is possible, if one finger in a hand is touching the live prong, and another finger on the other hand is touching the neutral/ground prong, you'd pass current across your chest.

Or if you are touching something that is grounded, like a pipe/sink...

But actually dying this way is rather unlikely.

Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?

#27

Post by alkonaut »

tzs wrote: post #20

The article seems to be mostly about voltages and plugs/sockets that the consumer will see at the outlets throughout their home. It's interesting to look a little beyond that. Most of the places that offer 230 V at their outlets seem to be distributing power in the neighborhoods using a 3 phase 230 V system. Individual houses are wired to one phase of that. In the US, distribution throughout a neighborhood is typical…

> Individual houses are wired to one phase of that.

Or all 3. I thought this was most common. 3x20A (or 16 or 25) 240V is the standard for detached houses in parts of Northern Europe at least.

Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?

#28

Post by BrandoElFollito »

evolve2k wrote: post #12

I know it’s likely highly subjective and prone to local bias, but I feel a next step would be to do user testing of alternatives and derive a best form factor plug. What’s the best plug we could all be aspiring to. Some are clearly more usable than others. One metric: easy of use in the dark/based on feel alone.

another metric: independence of the direction for ground.

French sockets (https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/...) have a male pin that forces your plug one way only. This is terrible because most (if not all) of such plugs are bent and sometimes do not physically fit.

German ones (https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/...) do not have a prong and ple plugs can be rotated 180°

Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?

#29

Post by alkonaut »

evolve2k wrote: post #12

I know it’s likely highly subjective and prone to local bias, but I feel a next step would be to do user testing of alternatives and derive a best form factor plug. What’s the best plug we could all be aspiring to. Some are clearly more usable than others. One metric: easy of use in the dark/based on feel alone.

Safety seems like a big one too. Even the shoddiest fit should never have a visible powered part.

Reliability: Fit should be good. You should be easily able to plug a heavy transformer on a downward facing socket without it falling out by gravity alone.

Lastly, compactness. The standard should be compact so fittings can be good looking and not use too much space.

The UK grounded connector fails the last criteria. The US flat-face fails the first two.

Re: Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?

#30

Post by edrxty »

palijer wrote: post #26
varispeed wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am always getting anxious that I get electrocuted when I disconnect US plug. I wish the whole world adopted UK plugs and sockets for safety.

Install some GFCI outlets everywhere and the risk is gone. Also you are very, very, very unlikely to be electrocuted in this way even if you do touch the metal and get voltage passed through you. Like, it is possible, if one finger in a hand is touching the live prong, and another finger on the other hand is touching the neutral/ground prong, you'd pass current across your chest. Or if you are touching something that…

Further, the UK has twice the voltage which means twice the current will pass through you. The US 120v system is pretty safe in general. If you do something really dumb it'll kill you but 120v isn't really that concerning compared to 230-240. The cutoff for dangerous voltages is usually considered to be around 60v.
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