ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades A world standard plug system???

Hutch,
Your international socket looks like an Australian skirting socket with the earth pin facing up, am I right?
I agree with a lot of what you said in your 1st post, and I would like to add the following requirements for any new system:
1) 16A Rating
2) 3 Pin plug & socket for all applications, with the socket shutters requiring all 3 pins to operate, thus preventing a class 1 appliance with broken earth pin to be inserted. This would also solve the polarity problem if the round pin (IEC 60906) type were adopted.
3) No recesses on sockets, they must be dirt traps which encourage cleaning with damp cloths etc.
4) Any new system must not be dangerously interchangable with existing systems.

I would also add that there is little point in introducing another plug & socket standard unless ALL major industrialised countries agree to adopt it.
As Ranger said, another standard would be an excuse for more adapters & bodged extension leads.

Hutch,
I really can't be sure when these plug configurations were introduced, but one thing, I can tell you is, it must have been a fair while ago, because I've never seen anything else used, apart from a few suspect,old round pin sockets used for clocks.
And the odd BS1363 plug installed for people from the UK, who wanted to use thier own appliances, when they moved here.

I wonder why it only seems to be British-influenced countries that are obsessed (OK, maybe that's a bit strong!) with having a switch for each receptacle? Nowhere else in the world seems to consider it necessary.

That "inverted Australian" picture looks from the markings as though you've arranged the switches down for on. For a worldwide standard, should we adopt down=on or up=on for those switches?

Hutch:
Way to go! I think you can come out of the bomb shelter. Just look out for that Austrian guy...

Your suggestion looks just like a Chinese socket, and considering the fact that China is a quarter of the world it has a good chance of becoming the world's most common plug

David:
I think I can solve the polarity problem with two round pins. Make the plug body and the socket recess assymetric. This would allow ungrounded IEC60906 plugs to work in all present European sockets, although without polarization. In the UK only the new sockets would accept these plugs and the plug would therefore be polarized in the UK.

I have never seen a plug pin break. Perhaps the British plugs with it's long earth pin offset are sensitive to this?

The recess isn't as bad a dirt trap as one would think, but there is a dirt build up on the top of any socket that sticks out of the wall. We should keep any recess as shallow as possible and get the sockets to be entirely flush mounted.


I agree. There is no point in introducing a European only plug. It must be a world-wide standard, otherwise we are better of with the present situation.

Paul:
Switches on sockets are instead of recess or insulating sleeves on live pins.


[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 12-23-2002).]

OK, no one needs to watch out, calmed down my first reaction.
I've seen NEMA plugs with badly bent prongs, I'm sure they'll eventually break. Also seen Euro plugs with bent prongs (the sleeving makes them weak) after they've been squeezed behind a closet or something else, however they probably won't break. They just stick out of the receptacle at a weird angle.
Why switches instead of recess or sleeving? I'd think that every user-operatable part is a weak link. Do you really think that Joe Average will switch off the receptacle each time he uses it?
I have to say, swiss type, recessed and/or with sleeved pins (best recessed with Schuko-like grooves on the sides for stabilization of Euro plugs and the suggested swiss type), rated 16A is my favourite. With decent Edison base lampholders I can't see any need for polarization.

Ranger: The switch, just like the insulated pins are ad hoc solutions. Originally, plugs were simple and "dangerous", like the US 15 plug. Different solutions were worked out in different countries. These include:

1.) Improved plug grip to prevent the hand from slipping.
2.) Switching
3.) Insulated pins
4.) Recessed sockets

The switch offers the additional benefit of eliminating the arcing when you insert or remove a plug under load. For this reason the large (63A and 125A) IEC 309 plugs have a pilot pin that switches the socket off when there plug is removed. A similar result could have been achieved by using insulated tips on live pins.

Here comes my suggestion for ECN #1



Insulated tips and sleeves. 16 mm high. Can be combined with Shucko, French, Italian, Danish and Swiss sockets.

If the ground pin is removed the assymetry of the body makes it possible to insert into French grounded sockets, but only one way


[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 12-01-2005).]

CH:

I don't for the life of me know why the Swiss never sleeved their earthed plugs. I know the Italians do, so why couldn't the Swiss. It's a big hole in their logic. Weird.

While we're on the subject of sleeved plugs, a friend and fellow radio collector from the UK sent me three old British 13-amp plugs with unsleeved pins along with two radios he gave me.

Since I have a couple of brand-new 13-amp plugs at home already, I asked him why he sent them to me.

"Oh we're not supposed to use them since they're unsleeved."

"Right, so you give them to me so I can go electrocute myself. Gee, thanks Paul!"



------------------
P.S.: Japan uses NEMA plugs. One company making cordsets for the Japanese market is making a sleeved NEMA 1-15 (two pin plug) cordset!!

Here is the picture of the two-pin plug:



They call it anti-tracking. I wonder if it's because of the potential of carbon tracks forming on the rubber/plastic housing between the pins and shortcircuiting? I've never heard of that phenomenon.


[This message has been edited by SvenNYC (edited 12-23-2002).]

I don't see arcing at a receptacle (a regular domestic type, that is) to be that much of a problem. High-power equipment such as heaters generally has its own built-in switch which can be used before removing the plug. For low-power equipment it doesn't really matter.

By the way, IEE Regs. here don't require switched receptacles, although they are by far the most usual type in domestic installations.

Sven,
Re the sleeved BS1363 pins, what happened is that the Trading Standards Dept. mandated that the new sleeved plugs must be fitted to all electrical equipment sold in a commercial environment, even second-hand equipment sold in a junk shop.

C-H,
Excellently doctored picture! What is the purpose of sleeving the tips of the prongs.



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 12-23-2002).]

Sleeved NEMA plugs???????? The prongs must sure be made of some stronger material than the usual ones! Even the unsleeved ones bent when you just look at them (I have a plug with an s-shaped prong), and the sleeved prongs are even thinner. How's that supposed to work?
My dad just said that as far as he remembers swiss plugs are a rather loosely fitting thing and don't feel too trustworthy. On the other hand i just nearly broke my hand when trying to plug a laser printer into the computer recep. behind my desk.
I've had some impressing arcs with plug-in power supplies for cell phone chargers and stuff. You get used to them!