Snug Plug - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: xrunner
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 12:55:12 pm
content: Offered up for your opinions -Quote

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 01:03:13 pm
content: IDK i think its bad because if the outlet needs it its looseisent that contact a C-shape? So you are getting rid of 1/2 of the contact area? I get the triple wipe things (and pay triple) personally

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 01:21:21 pm
content: Wow, It's the first time I've seen the inside of one of those US residential grade sockets, a truly dreadful design! I'm surprised they pass any sort of approval at 16A.If it was my house I would be replacing them all with industrial grade ones immediately. The fact that therearetwo grades for visibly identical (to the casual eye) seems highly suspect.I certainly wouldn't be bodging then with push-in plastic shims, luminous or not. Any solution that uses a bit of plastic to spread the plug blades to press against one side of the socket contacts is, at best, a fire waiting to happen.Edit: I finally understand what people mean by 'stab back' sockets now!

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 01:23:20 pm
content: well its like $3 vs $20 in the hardware store. you need to care to buy itbut low quality scam housing is pretty popular here. lots of glue, etcHard to accept with modern technology that the thickness and shape of little bits of brass is important and expensive... it makes people stomachs churn to have to buy quality interconnects lol

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 01:30:23 pm
content: So.. uhm.. the idea is to stuff something metallic in a mains outlet?

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 01:37:55 pm
content: 'fix' loose sockets by jamming the pins against the plastic face.. yeah, that's insane. Products like this should be banned from the market as fire hazards.Quote from: Ice-Tea on April 03, 2025, 01:30:23 pmNo, they're plastic..

author: Ice-Tea
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 01:40:01 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on April 03, 2025, 01:37:55 pmStill dumbass idea. The simple rule should always be don't stuffanythingin a socket except for a well-maintained up-to-code plug.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 01:51:50 pm
content: Bad or loose contacts are a fire hazard. In that case the socket needs to be replaced.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 02:50:04 pm
content: wonder if those behind the snug plug are the same brains that decided the uk needed a plug in cover for our sockets

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 02:56:04 pm
content: I have never had a problem with a US plug falling out of a wall socket.I often have the opposite problem of the plug requiring a high insertion force.These sockets are standard "construction-grade" 3-prong 120 V wall sockets.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 04:42:53 pm
content: Don't Google 'snug plug' ...

author: D.Burnette
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2025, 07:34:35 pm
content: I wanna see the UL/NRTL listing for SnugPlug

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2025, 07:51:01 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on April 03, 2025, 02:56:04 pmI have.I ended up replacing those sockets. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen."Snug plugs" seem like a really iffy solution to the problem.How hard is it to replace the damn socket?If you aren't qualified or confident enough to do it yourself, get your handy neighbor to do it for you.(Assuming they know what they're doing.)

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2025, 07:51:55 pm
content: Quote from: Gyro on April 03, 2025, 01:21:21 pmThe term most often used is "backstabbed".Those things are pure shit.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2025, 10:49:51 pm
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on April 07, 2025, 07:51:55 pmNow if only people could stop confusing those with real connectors.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2025, 11:28:56 pm
content: Terrible idea, but they seem to be rated highly and sell well on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Snug-Plug-Loose-Outlet-Clear/dp/B08288SLYRThey even show a hairdryer being used in the examples.Semi related video (garbage harbor freight power bars):

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2025, 10:01:32 pm
content: Quote from: thm_w on April 07, 2025, 11:28:56 pmClearly rated for 15 Chinese Amps, and earth in a bucket!With the developing tariffs situation, it might be the ideal time to start importing decent UK plugs and sockets (just kidding)I would have thought a decent lab solution would be IEC connector server rack power strips. Obviously this would involve some chopping of plugs and fitting of rewireable IEC plugs, and of course wouldn't provide the full 15A capacity (not that those Harbor Freight strips have a hope in hell of supporting 15A).Purchasing Male-Female IEC cables would probably end up falling down yet another a rat-hole of fake steel stranded cable!

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2025, 10:09:55 pm
content: Quote from: Gyro on April 08, 2025, 10:01:32 pmDon't worry, the yanks uprate them to 15A anyway. Warm connectors to help heat the house..Supply of quality IEC cables is plentiful. They're actually standard in datacentres.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2025, 10:15:21 pm
content: Quote from: Gyro on April 08, 2025, 10:01:32 pmIts definitely a good option, though he probably wanted plugs spaced further apart.You can get rack mount nema5-15R as well:https://www.rackmountsolutions.net/1582h6a1bkra-19-rack-mount-90-deg-recep/but probably most of the cheaper surplus stuff would be IEC as you note.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2025, 08:41:32 am
content: Quote from: thm_w on April 07, 2025, 11:28:56 pmI noticed something with consumer goods, they are really exploiting tactile feel to fool people of quality now. The other biggest offender is very high viscosity damping greases on poor fit parts for 'hood' luxury, and making parts softer/weaker to dampen 'ringing' (a trend I see on new versions of previous high quality folding knives, i.e. SOG, which started getting limp plastic parts and less stiff construction so it 'feels' dampened when you open it). Maybe its a trend that started with fidget spinners and stress relief 'tactile tool toys for men'. I.e. shitty door knobs that are made with extremely sticky silicone grease.. this only used to be for ultra precision optics adjustment screws and maybe mechanical keyboardssomething that 'feels' to fit right gets great reviews no matter how it functions because it seems to activate some portion of the pleasure region of the brain.I feel like its being smeared with pooit aint your daddys bolt action mouser anymoreand how about those silicone grip handles that slide off the tool?A few years back I started hearing the word "satisfying' in different reviews, like in extraordinary proportions, which I start to take as a red flag now. I don't think they made extraordinary strides in lock-hinge and snap-thing and other similar technologies that suddenly made everything of quality into a tactile toy. I will buy a cup of slime putty to satisfy whatever urge that is instead of looking for it in a tool.Like, reward yourself for working, you don't always have to have the reward be work. I think that's getting crazy, the way they start to describe/make these tools is that the tool is rewarding you with tactile pleasure? Its a spring loaded reward tool? IMO that is overreachAnd the other reason it gets good reviews is because you know the real situation, someones wife stops nagging them every time she plugs in the blender. The real function is acoustic noise preventor .And some more real analysis on the electronic issues:when you plug in a device with half the contacts blocked you have increased current density in whats left, particularly interesting when devices have a inrush when you plug them in. What is that increased plasma intensity and density doing to that poor surface. The steady state issue is just heat concentration.

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2025, 10:03:37 am
content: Another example: metal weights in cheap SMPSU wallwarts to improve the user experience

author: ConKbot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2025, 05:56:24 pm
content: Replacement outlet costs $0.87 at home Depot, this is the equivalent of somebody US flagged on here buying 100 opamps for a dollar off of Amazon, the coming on here and griping that they were counterfeit, because they didn't want to pay $0.1 each from Mouser. Sure, it's 10x as expensive, but have at least SOME value to your own time.