
Why Every Country Has a Different Plug (2009) - JacobAldridge
http://gizmodo.com/5391271/giz-explains-why-every-country-has-a-different-fing-plug
======
caio1982
I don't understand why Brazil in that map is shown as having plugs of type
either K or I (the purple one). I have never seen these here.

Now, as for the special local mess that we love, types A and B are sort of
"legacy" ones and you would find them mostly in power extensions cords and
such so people could use imported American electronics in the past. It wasn't
even unusual for people to take the ground pin out of type B plugs so they
would be compatible with other "regular" A plugs.

Pretty much everyone has used (or still uses) types C, E and F in Brazil. I
would dare to call these de facto standards here. But as the article says we
have officially adopted IEC 60906 and as such every new building, house or
whatever that has been built in the last few years have this plug everywhere.
Not everybody likes them (engineers!) but I think most of the folks in the
country simple don't give a shit.

The thing is that some places [1] mention this standard is type N, but I have
been to Switzerland and all my Brazilian IEC 60906 plugs worked 100% in every
single try across the country so I would like to know how compatibles are
types J and IEC 60906 (well, type N?). They seemed absolutely compatible in
every way to me.

PS: I have never seen type O in Thailand myself, but perhaps in touristic
areas they simply use worldwide known plugs instead or just leave some
adapters around? IIRC most of the time I would find the European types of
plugs there.

[1] [http://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-
sockets/](http://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/)

~~~
kroger
Type I used to be common in washing machines and air conditioning (in Brazil).
Now they are using the new one.

------
pdpi
Having moved to the UK a few years ago, I have to say that, bulky though they
may be, I've grown quite fond of the British plugs. Switches on the sockets,
fuses on the plugs, sockets that mechanically require the ground pin to make
contact (in theory, anyway. You can have a plastic ground pin...) before the
live pins enter the socket. There's actually a fairly large amount of security
built into them!

~~~
to3m
I don't feel safe plugging things in anywhere else. Those funny little plugs
that don't say in the sockets - I hate them.

Last time I went to America, the illusion of boundless wealth was rapidly
shattered when I went to plug something in and was confronted by a little bit
of plastic with two thing on the end, and couple of slots in the wall. I
plugged the thing in, and it fell out. There were sparks. This is how I
imagine things to be in North Korea.

~~~
hwstar
This is due to relentless cost-cutting by manufacturers supplying sockets to
the large home improvement stores. When you can buy duplex receptacles for
less than $1, this is what you get. If you invest in a Hubbell, Eagle, or
other reputable brand, the plugs will stay in the sockets.

The drawbacks to the American NEMA 5-15 plug are that it is still a shock
hazard as the pins aren't sheathed with insulating material. Also, the pins
get bent easily and are a bit undersized for 15A in my opinion.

~~~
to3m
Plugs in hotel rooms probably aren't in the best shape anyway.

This was in Las Vegas and the cheap- and flimsy-looking plug sockets just
struck me as a funny counterpoint to the unhinged level of excess that was on
display everywhere else.

~~~
yc1010
That's Vegas for you, shinny on outside, grotty on the inside

------
repsilat
It's easy enough to change over -- just

1\. Mandate that everyone in the country install universal (or dual-interface)
plugs. Fairly low-cost, and pretty safe.

2\. After 50 years, when all plug sockets will probably have been replaced,
pick a plug standard and use that.

Like user pdpi, I've fallen in love with the UK sockets since moving here,
with the Au/NZ sockets coming in a distant second place. I've never had any
trouble with either sort falling out of the socket, something I can't say
about the American or European standards.

~~~
kwhitefoot
How does a European Schuko plug fall out? The only time I can remember such a
thing happening in 30 years of living in Norway is with obsolete non-grounded
sockets. My usual problem is that there is really very little to grab hold of
on the Schuko/CEE plugs so that they can be hard to pull out.

------
mavhc
Luckily USB Power Delivery will provide up to 100W, standard across the world,
that's enough for everything that's not a heater/motor.

~~~
macavity23
This! USB is the only hope for a universal standard. It's already there for
all personal items.

------
dogma1138
Wasn't that the consensus was that many countries (especially after WW1, and
WW2) adopted different plugs to control the import of appliances? When plugs
weren't easily replaceable with kettle type cables and where you couldn't just
buy a plug in any home depot and change it yourself it seemed like it was a
very good tactic to restrict the grey/black import market.

------
greggman
Japanese and USA plugs are similar but in actual application they are somewhat
different. 3 prong plugs (for example the kind on every desktop computer and
monitor in the USA) are not very common. My computers and monitors, fridge,
oven, didn't have 3 prong plugs. The computers and monitors instead the came
with a 3rd cable you can optionally attach for ground.

[http://www.aim-ele.co.jp/products/power-
cable/images/powerca...](http://www.aim-ele.co.jp/products/power-
cable/images/powercable-big.jpg)

Most extension cords and power strips only have 2 slots (not 3).

[http://www.yodobashi.com/%E3%83%91%E3%82%BD%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B...](http://www.yodobashi.com/%E3%83%91%E3%82%BD%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3-%E9%9B%BB%E6%BA%90%E3%82%BF%E3%83%83%E3%83%97/ct/19767_500000000000000201/)

Some of them lock the plug in. You insert the plug about 30 degrees off and
then twist and the plug gets locked in which solves the fall out problem
people complain about in the USA.

[http://www.askul.co.jp/p/8430652/](http://www.askul.co.jp/p/8430652/)

I like the UK ones best

------
klagermkii
Technically South Africa has also switched to the newer IEC 60906/Type
N/Brazil plug. Going to be years and years until any sizeable number of houses
have it as standard, and since appliance makers need to target the majority of
the market (who are still on the old plug) you don't see them switch either.

~~~
robk
Plus, those darned oversized three prongs in ZA. I've only seen those in ZA
and Namibia. It's confusing since the Indian ones look the same from a
distance but the ZA ones have a fatter third prong.

------
hwstar
Don't walk barefoot in a dark room with BS1363 plugs prongs up on the floor.

------
davidw
As a computer guy, I was always a fan of the 3-in-a-row Italian ones, because
you could attach a lot of them to a power strip without too much hassle.

~~~
mixmastamyk
Interesting. I'd like something similar but more compact, like a
lightning/usbc port, can be inserted in either direction.

------
johansch
I'd love to see the EU tackle harmonizing this one. If nothing else for the
amusement value.

~~~
CrLf
It's already pretty harmonized in continental Europe. And some of the
differences are handled by the plugs/sockets themselves (eg. Type F plugs with
both ground contacts on the sides and a hole for Type E sockets).

~~~
johansch
Well, there's the UK.

And Denmark. A few years ago I was in Copenhagen and realized I had forgotten
my mac charger somewhere. Went to some mac store and bought a charger that
surprisingly had a monstrosity attached to it that resembled this:

[http://www.internationalconfig.com/prod_shot/78140-BLK.jpg](http://www.internationalconfig.com/prod_shot/78140-BLK.jpg)

~~~
dogma1138
With the exception of the UK the EU standard (2 prong) non-grounded plug
should fit any socket within the EU and the grounded ones fit pretty much all
of them with the exception of Italy/UK.

------
p_eter_p
Is there any research on the net cost of this confusion? Or is it just one of
those things where we can easily quantify the switching costs, so we don't
bother with the cost of the status quo?

It's like right hand drive cars, which seems like an easy win to get rid of,
but are so wrapped up in culture that we are pretty much stuck with them.

~~~
davidw
It's certainly a PITA if you move around the wrong places in Europe. We had to
buy a bunch of new cords when we moved between Italy and Austria.

------
gcb0
as someone who used the IEC standard in brazil: it is complete rubish.

you end up with almost 7 variations of the damn thing. it is the only country
where you need adapters in the same house!

also, it got 'adopted' without any consideration for the people. suddenly, the
standard changed. everyone was pissed, but nobody wanted to get fines in new
buildings.

and more ironically, the OLD standard, was compatible with europe and USA and
japan! it was the perfect standard for IEC to adopt, not the other way around.

------
skissane
China is striped to show them as using two different standards. Only time I've
ever been to China, was last year I spent a week in Shenzhen, and all the
plugs I saw looked like upside-down Australian. I know there are some slight
differences in pin length and so on, but my Australian laptop and phone
adapters worked fine. So if one colour is type I, what is the other colour?

~~~
gozo
The multi outlet is pretty common, at least in hotels and offices in major
cities.

[http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/60186449669_1/Saipwell_Inte...](http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/60186449669_1/Saipwell_International_Standard_China_Wholesale_White_Wall.jpg_200x200.jpg)

~~~
skissane
Yes, now I remember that in my hotel in Shenzhen. Have seen the same thing in
South Korea too.

------
GFK_of_xmaspast
When I was in Thailand I saw sockets that could take both type A/B and type
C/E/F plugs, they had holes that were cut out to allow both to fit in.

