this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2024
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[–] [email protected] 105 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (3 children)

What makes it better over a type e? Personally i prefer type e, i dont trust the springs of type f :')

[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You can rotate F 180 degrees and plug it in.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

What about polarity, I'm actually curious about that

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

It's AC. Polarity doesn't generally matter.

Bridge rectifiers are also not polarized to convert AC to DC.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

In terms of physics, AC doesn't have polarities. Treat both the live and the neutral wire as if it were live. You don't know what kind of psychopath wired the building.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You can plug it in upside down?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Thats a fair argument that people have had issues with actually! Sometimes that is annoying but ive never had to much issues with it tbh

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

What's great is that it's also "backwards-compatible" with type E. Male type E plugs will usually also have ground connections for a type F, so you can plug it into female E and F sockets.

Edit: In fact, looking back at the picture, that's exactly the kind of male plug shown for both type E and F. It works with both types. It has the hole for an earth prong, but it also has a contact on the bottom side if you look closely.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I will say the comparability is amazing and a really good thing! The type f plugs are amazing. Nothing bad about more ground connections!
Just wished the type f sockets had a solid piece of metal, instead of the springs. Then they'd be perfect! :D

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Type F plugs also works with the type E sockets. Superior.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago (1 children)

BS. Type F/Schuko is the USB-C of power sockets/plugs.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (2 children)

No fuse, no way

Why would I want a whole circuit to be cut because of a single device fault, and then have to spend time figuring out which device on that circuit actually has the fault.

Plus if a device only needs 3A it shouldn't be able to draw more

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Why would I want a whole circuit to be cut because of a single device fault

Dunno, if I have a fault in my home, I want it to be spectacular.

A couple of years ago I literally had massive blood pressure and walked like 2 km to go buy a box of fuses.

Burning two fuses, I figured out one of the extension strips was bad.

If I plug something in and half of my apartment goes black, TWICE, and needs a fuse replacement each time, maybe that thing needs to be tossed anuway. I'm no electrician, I can't troubleshoot a power strip. It has served its years. Bye.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

and then have to spend time figuring out which device on that circuit actually has the fault.

Usually that happens just when you plug it in so...

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago

Type G only exists because the British skimped on wiring after WW2 and needed to put a fuse in each plug for safety, hence the chonkiness.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Can’t rotate type G 180°. And since type F sockets are recessed, it’s just as unlikely to get shocked as with type G. Ground even connects first. And it’s directly compatible with type C and most type E plugs (since E&F usually share the same plug design, just the socket is a little different). What advantage would type G have to F?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

That’s neat. I can remember maybe one or two instances in my life, where that could have been useful. The rest of the time, I much prefer smaller plugs that I can plug in upside down and a home electrical network with good wiring.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Go watch any video comparing plugs and I bet the majority say Type G. It has so many safety features it’s unreal.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Which are only necessary because British houses are wired with a ring main. It’s a false economy.

Also, when it was created, most appliances were earthed. Nowadays, most things one plugs in are small electronic devices which don’t need an earth. Type G/BS1363 has no 2-pin variant, and even mandates a mechanical shutter to prevent a plug without an earth pin from being used. Which was great in 1947, but not so much now, when Europeans, Americans, Japanese, Australians and such have slender 2-pin plugs and economical sockets to put them in, while the Brits/Irish/HK/UAE are stuck with their enormous clownshoe of a plug.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I would have thought two pin plugs are easily to break. I’ve not broken a British plug in 40 years of life.

Anyway I’m not trying to debate this. There are plenty of resources online where electricians discuss the different plug types and the order is typically UK, Germany, and Australia.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

What I'd like to see is apples-to-apples comparison of home and office safety between the different plug types. The data is sorta out there, but it's not normalized in a way that's convenient for comparison between countries.

On paper, yes, the North American plug is pretty bad, but will that show up in actual practice? There may be a case for changing it, but that needs a comprehensive study before going to all the effort to transition to a better design. Even if we had that study right in front of us, I can already hear conservatives complaining about Marxists electrical plugs.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

That plug is only useful for a device that pays respects and nothing else.