You may not like it but this is what the perfect mains plug looks like /j
Being big, cumbersome and annoying is what makes them special.
this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2025
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Step on one and you quickly change your mind.
Fun story.
I stepped two steps off a ladder whilst decorating right onto one of these tuckers.
That was the icing on the cake of an already shitty day (I don't like decorating)
Please accept my upvote as a supportive act, and not in any way as laughing my tits off.
Bless you for the supporr
Also, when they're lying on the floor as shown, they make walking on Lego feel like a foot massage with a happy ending.
Like the Lego scenario, it's a lesson in putting toys away after use. Just a lot less merciful...
I've done it twice and I have both occasions etched indelibly into my memory.
This is why going back to stone age good idea. Grug no stab self with amber spark. Grug instead touch sharp stone and die. Much easier.
Not being able to plug them in the other way around would drive me nuts. I prefer Schuko.
I think while the British plug is good, there's lots of great design globally.
Arguably time to adopt all of them for a global standard that rocks
Well yes, but also no. I think the plug designs should be unified, but based on the network's power and frequency. We all know that with truly unified plugs things would blow up constantly because people plug 115V devices in 230V outlets, or are pissy on social media due to 230V 50hz not being the same as 230V 60hz. "But the plug is the same!!" (angry electronic fizzling in the background)
I mean. That should be a given for different voltages. But for frequency... most things can be made to adapt to either or. Japan for example uses both depending on the region.
Even voltages, most things these days are just SMPSs driving low voltage electronics. They DGAF about the voltage, they just adjust the duty cycle until the output is at 5V.
transformers and industrial motors disagree
If you attach those huge transformers or motors with a common wall plug I'm certain you'd quickly face different problems, like a cozy fire for example.
It is a very good design from an electrical and safety point of view.
Sadly it's also larger than a lot of appliances it provides power to in 2025.
Here is a multi socket plug, you can plug 3 things, its 3m long
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Also internally, there is extra slack on the lead connecting to the earth pin. So if you pull too hard on the cable, the live wire will break before the ground wire.
That is standard for all rewirable connectors though.
Yes, also its rewireable!
The live and neutral ports commonly lack the shutter and the fuse is not always present. A lot of devices not designed for UK sockets or for whatever other reason also feature a plastic earth prong which serves only to release the shutters to allow a connection. And if the earth is not present or is broken then the plug will sit loose in the socket. Another "feature" of these plugs is that they lay flat on a surface and hurt to step on.
Otherwise they serve their purpose really well.
It's not bad. SchuKo also has its merrits, though.
And all other systems are basically crap compared to these two.
The Swiss standard, which is basically Europlug with a staggered earth pin, seems a step up from Schuko. You can fit three of them in the space of one Schuko socket.
There’s a newer standard which is meant to be international, and which is like a slightly smaller version of the Swiss plug, but only Brazil has fully adopted it (IIRC, South Africa is in the process of moving to it)
Not sure about the step up thing.
I see several tradeoffs being made to gain a size benefit, which is lost again the moment you realize you can't have reversable angled plugs any more...
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SchuKo!it's way superior to the rainy place thing.
Schuko lacks the fuse but other safety features are there and it's much simpler, a bit smaller and can be plugged in in two ways. I'd go with schuko for the win
The most important bit: SchuKo are recessed, hence they hold up the plug itself instead of having it dangle. Also this prevents funny business with the prongs.
It’s great in a world of electrical appliances which need to be earthed for safety, but the mandatory earth pin and extra-chunky dimensions take up much more space than required for unearthed devices (such as most modern electronics). There should be a Europlug-style 2-pin variant.
Also square pins make better contact than round ones
Has British electronics gotten better then? Used to be rubbish to the point it was a running joke in movies.
I must have missed this, I don't even think we have electronics if you mean like consumer electronic equipment, just stuff made in the far East with a brand slapped on it
I know we still make the Henry Hoover but I can't for the life of me name an electronics brand with a factory here.
I mean... pretty much anything british made. I don't know how an island known for rain makes cars that easily take on water (land rover IIRC)
Dyson and Raspberry Pi. Just to name a couple British companies
James Dyson campaigned for the vote leave campaign citing the ability to create (UK) jobs without EU interference.
He then promptly moved his main factory and head office to Singapore and recently cut 1,000 UK jobs.
Fuck that guy and his over priced vacuums.
Uhh... is this drax propaganda? Seems like this "meme" was made by the UK’s single largest carbon emitter....
No, it's a plug propaganda infographic that was made by the UK's single largest source of deforestation
From all I read so far, the UK plugs are indeed superior to EU and most other plugs. Still I feel like I'd miss the option to plug things upside down.
Live and neutral are typically not interchangeable. fuses should be on the live cables so that over current is stopped on the way in. Plugging in the wrong way means that a blown fuse might stop current, but the device could still be at live voltages and be dangerous.
that's why you put fuses in central fuse box, not in the plug. appliances should be designed in such a way that it shouldn't be a problem. nobody else does this because it's not necessary if your installation is sanely built
This is the reason why uk home electrical wiring has fuses everywhere. It is a safety measure that mitigates other problems like poor design and bad installation practices
its not, it was put into place due to copper shortages during ww2
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appliances should be designed in such a way
Such as... putting a fuse in the appliance making repairs more difficult. A breaker box stops extreme overcurrents, but a measly 0.5 amps could still cause a fire.
A fuse/breaker at the fuse box needs the current capacity for all, or at least most devices on at the same time. The individual fuses can be rated much lower.
uk fuse in fuse box can't be sized properly because old uk installations used ring circuits in order to save copper during ww2 shortages, everybody else has this problem sorted out by now (initially by using aluminum wiring, or waiting for more copper). modern wiring is arranged in star-type topology with a few outlets per leg, and it can be fused properly, but the far out parts of circuit don't transmit power at all times which is why it was looked down upon during shortages
example would be 16A circuit that has 5-10 16A outlets, has wires suitable to carry 16A and 16A fuse. it's okay because you're not expected to draw full power at all outlets at the same time, and most of the time much less than that. if you do and you know it in advance you're expected to split it over more circuits, or make it bigger. uk ring circuit would have wires that carry only 8A in each direction, and fused 16A. it can fail in a way where one side disconnects, but the other side becomes overloaded. plug fuses are for protection of these shitty circuits from shortcircuit in appliance
Do UK ring circuits rely on a single breaker at the fusebox? I assumed that they would have a breaker for each leg of the ring (8A + 8A in your example).
That sounds really dangerous as a cut ring would be fused at double the current capacity of the wire. Would the wire in your example be rated at 8A or 16A?
I have little to no knowledge of the UK power setup but have heard that its meant to be pretty safe. What am I missing?
Polarized live/neutral is still insane to me. All it takes is one cheap electrician or overconfident DIY to introduce a potentially lethal false sense of security.
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