I disagree, way overengineered and bulky. The fuse is only necessary due to shoddy British wiring standards.
Re:Museum of Plugs and Sockets
by BerislavLopac on Thursday November 25, 2021 @04:29AM
(#29339721)
> The fuse is only necessary due to shoddy British wiring standards
In other words, they're solving a very real problem here. And so is the rest of the plug as well.
It seems that most of the continental Europeans that have moved to the UK (myself included) are positively amazed by the details of the UK plug design.
The area around Swiss sockets are more bulky in practice because (a) wires come out at 90 degrees to the wall and (b) adapters and extensions and whatnot are required to plug in wall-warts, which are really common these days, whether it's USB power for various gadgets, cordless vacuum cleaners, video Alexa (not USB-powered), etc.
Re:Museum of Plugs and Sockets
by quietbritishjim on Thursday November 25, 2021 @07:28AM
(#29340757)
> the plugs are not bulky off the wall because of the overall angled design
Not only that, also gravity pulling on the cable naturally tends to pull European and North American plugs out of their sockets, whereas this angled design in UK plugs prevents that.
Gravity is a problem for N American plugs but not for Euro or Schucko plugs in Schucko sockets. This is what they have in Germany and the Netherlands. The plugs fit in snugly and do not move. If you don't push in enough to "lock" in then a spring (or something) pushes the plug back out. So it is very obvious when it is in correctly and basically can't be partially plugged in. Gravity has no impact on the plugs in my house whatsoever.
The Schucko plug/socket system is very robust, safe, and well designed.
The metal connectors are big, but that feels like quality, but the plugs are not bulky off the wall because of the overall angled design (European plugs actually eat up more space off the wall because they are straight although of course europlugs take much less surface area on the wall), which is good behind furnitures or where space is tight. There is only one sort of plug and it has a well designed earth connector. Plugs include a fuse and it's easily replaceable (this is partly due to the standard use of ring circuits in the UK but I find it a nice feature anyway). They have very good grip and stay in place very well (compare this to europlug...). Sockets have an integrated switch.
British plugs are a quiet success (the other one being postcodes).