Ask Lemmy

I defer to Technology Connections

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?

The British plug has a lot of features that are supposed to make it very, very safe. It'd be interesting to see if there's a study out there that tries to make apples-to-apples comparisons of electrical accidents in different countries. Do those features actually work out in practice?

The US plug is bad, but does that actually translate into more accidents? Hard to say. If you can do the study above, then you can start making the argument for switching to something else.

I'm biased, but Type F

Appreciating the UK's plug (type G) is the closest I get to feeling patriotic.

Type I.

ElectroBoom (Youtube) made some points about Australia's Type I. Seems it was very hard for him to electrocute himself. Lots of breakers on the outlets. I mean he did electrocute himself, but he was always going to.

I think the recessed plug face is superior. It keeps an object from falling across an improperly plugged in plug and shorting.

Brazilian Type N looks like it's not a big deal, but the shape and depth are actually extremely good - you get a fantastic connection that never wobbles but also comes out when you need it without having weird pins or moving locks that always end up failing in some other designs. It's also compact and stacks nicely.

Fun fact; even though China and Australia both use Type I plugs - they aren’t actually fully cross-compatible, due to differences in the thickness of the metal prongs.

China’s are thinner, so they hang somewhat loose in Australian outlets - and given they are less likely to have insulation around the plug ends, are a relatively common fire risk.m

On the other hand - Australian plugs don’t commonly fit into Chinese wall sockets due to their girth (giggitty), and often require the use of a power board or travel adapter in order to work.

Swiss Type J, because you can have three of them, taking up no more space than one German or French plug.

I really like the power outlets in the EU. You don't have to fart around with different sized prongs and the voltage is higher which makes things like tea kettles far more efficient.

The safest ones (design-wise) would be the ones that are inset, like types C, E, F, H, J, and K. If there is ever a chance a plug is partially pulled out or not fully inserted, the socket being inset wouldn't allow anything to touch any of the contacts.

Fuses in plugs and the orientation are relatively irrelevant to the plug style and are more a convention choice, if not regulatory requirement.

E, C and F, because they are all somewhat compatible.