"Britain Has The Best Wall Sockets On Earth" - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 01:12:08 am
content: That's a good way to get a few flame wars going on YouTube...

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 02:38:09 am
content: Ahh.. endless source of both amusement and despair.

author: Mike S
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 04:10:34 am
content: Yep, I should have known better than to read some of the youtube comments.This pretty much sums up my reaction.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 09:21:57 am
content: I dunno what they were smoking when they made the Danish electrical plugsIt's basically asking for a kid to play with it.

author: 8086
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 09:43:30 am
content: I spy a hell of a lot of butthurt Americans in those comments. Makes me laugh.Some Americans just cannot stand the thought of not being the best at everything.

author: abaxas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 09:51:46 am
content: Quote from: 8086 on July 13, 2014, 09:43:30 amI would struggle to find something the americans were 'best at'. Any ideas or pointers?

author: 8086
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 09:53:49 am
content: Quote from: abaxas on July 13, 2014, 09:51:46 amSpending money on the military?edit: but seriously, I'm sure they are the best at some things. I just find it laughable when they get annoyed because some other country is better at something.

author: abaxas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 10:10:22 am
content: Found one.... fatty foods.

author: bwat
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 10:15:05 am
content: They don't have the fattiest foods on earth (the Swiss beat them with chocolate and cheese hands down) and they don't spend the most on their military budget in terms of GDP. They do however do very well in space exploration and Nobel prizes.I'm no great lover of the USA, just a realist.Edit: the UK plugisthe best in the world - end of.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 10:21:34 am
content: QuoteThey don't have anyone pretentious enough to ask the above question?

author: abaxas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 10:28:16 am
content: Found another one. Doping in sport.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 10:42:26 am
content: Putting people on the moon.Winning world wars.Spying.

author: abaxas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 10:50:13 am
content: Quote from: Stonent on July 13, 2014, 10:42:26 amThank the German's for the first two.....Spying - LOL - What about mossad?

author: IanJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 10:56:31 am
content: There's a company who does the worst job of actually making one. You see, the thing about a UK plug is the requirement for decent grips at the sides, or a lip to make it easy to pull out. Even more useful when the plug is not very tall. Never been a problem all these years........until Apple.IMHO......fail.

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 11:11:57 am
content: Quote from: Stonent on July 13, 2014, 10:42:26 amOoh, now that's highly debatable. The victory in the first world war was very much a team effort, and if any single entity was most responsible for defeating Nazi Germany it would be the Soviet Union.Dropping the atomic bombs on the Japanese, though - credit for that definitely goes to the USA.

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 11:25:46 am
content: QuoteFor WW2, Russia / USSR is probably the single most significant contributor.QuoteOn that note:1) junk food;2) Hollywood / reality tv "celebrities";3) climate "scientists";4) raper "artists";5) clueless politicians;6) self-destructive voters;7) fat-ass welfare recipients;...

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 11:27:42 am
content: The best wall plug is highly debateble. Most of Europe uses Schuko style plugs and the newer outlets all have anti-insertion protecten and the holes are recessed deeper so you can't touch the contacts when inserting a plug. Whether a fuse in a plug is better is also questionable. It just adds more failure points. And running 32A through 2.5mm wires is sheer madness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_circuit). The ring could get interrupted...

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 11:48:40 am
content: Quote from: dannyf on July 13, 2014, 11:25:46 amNot sure if 4 was a typo but I'd agree either way.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 11:50:06 am
content: Quote from: Psi on July 13, 2014, 09:21:57 amAt least in the US, the ground pin looks concerned and not happy.

author: abaxas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 11:54:49 am
content: I thought it was the general understanding that no-one 'won' the 2nd world war. Germany's poor strategy and timing on the eastern front meant they threw away their winning position.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 12:01:42 pm
content: Quote from: abaxas on July 13, 2014, 11:54:49 amIf you look at it like a sports team, having the coach commit suicide isn't usually a winning strategy.

author: sfiber
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 12:07:56 pm
content: One and a half years ago from this time,I bought a monochrome laser printer from brother and they supplied to me 3 different plug types.Theese was us uk and eu.I am living in a europe and I can easily say that ours plug is the worst because of its structure.Firstly ground pins.You can easily access to ground pins and it is not recommended.Secondly there is no direction to plugging.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 12:30:05 pm
content: Quote from: rolycat on July 13, 2014, 11:11:57 amAnd the Germans should be forever thankful that they were not left entirely in Soviet hands afterwards. A much forgotten event in history:http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-airlift

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 12:33:08 pm
content: Half of them were, along with the Poles, the Hungarians and a whole lot of others who would have preferred not to be in that position either.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 12:40:44 pm
content: Quote from: rolycat on July 13, 2014, 11:11:57 amNot entirely, you're forgetting a Kiwi that made that possible.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Rutherford

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 12:41:44 pm
content: Quote from: GK on July 13, 2014, 12:30:05 pmI won't ever forget that - my father was one of the pilots.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 12:48:22 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on July 13, 2014, 12:40:44 pmIf credit can't go to the Yanks for putting man on the moon because a rocket scientist was German, then I guess they can't get credit for the A-bomb either.As for Japanese civilian casualties in WWII, I believe far more died in the preceding firebombing raids than did in the nuclear explosions.

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 12:56:24 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on July 13, 2014, 12:40:44 pmNo, I credited the Yanks for dropping it, not developing it. They had a lot of help from the British, not just from Rutherford's work (he had dual British/New Zealand citizenship) but directly in the form of people like James Chadwick - who worked with Rutherford and won a Nobel Prize for discovering the neutron - and Neils Bohr, a Dane who was part of the British mission to the Manhattan Project.After the war, of course, the Americans refused to share any of the results from the project with the British who had been instrumental in its creation.

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 01:07:41 pm
content: Quote from: rolycat on July 13, 2014, 12:56:24 pmAnd those Brits blew their bombs up in our backyard rather than their own...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_nuclear_tests_at_Maralinga#Legacy

author: abaxas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 01:11:35 pm
content: Quote from: GK on July 13, 2014, 01:07:41 pmDidn't you finally become independent in 1986?

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 01:22:31 pm
content: I wouldn't expect EE people from other countries to be so obsessed with the US. It's a repeating theme in this forum.

author: abaxas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 01:24:13 pm
content: It's european thing..... we insult/find fault with everything.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 01:26:39 pm
content: Quote from: abaxas on July 13, 2014, 09:51:46 amAn american team always wins the 'World Series' in baseball

author: abaxas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 01:30:30 pm
content: Quote from: G0HZU on July 13, 2014, 01:26:39 pm

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 01:45:27 pm
content: Quote from: abaxas on July 13, 2014, 01:24:13 pmWell, most countries in Europe are pissant economies with an embarrassingly recent history of either fascism or semi-barbarism. If noteworthy at all, then usually for little more than some contribution to cuisine or for sounding overtly funny when trying to speak English.There is just cause for a lot of insecurity there!

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 01:47:13 pm
content: Quote from: zapta on July 13, 2014, 01:22:31 pmHey, look on the bright side - it's something else the USA is best at: pissing off citizens of other nations.Non-standard American standards are a recurring source of frustration to the nearly seven billion people who don't live in North America, perhaps they affect electronics designers more than most?Besides, winding up Yanks is fun

author: abaxas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 01:53:08 pm
content: If only we could teach them manners and democracy, the world would be a better place.

author: retrolefty
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 02:05:27 pm
content: Quote from: G0HZU on July 13, 2014, 01:26:39 pmNot in 1992 and 1993?

author: GK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 02:07:07 pm
content: Quote from: abaxas on July 13, 2014, 01:11:35 pmThen again we did export Shane Warne and Rolf Harris......

author: abaxas
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 02:09:31 pm
content: Aghgh the UK is still gripped in Rolf-a-geddon.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 02:17:39 pm
content: Came here expecting discussion about wall sockets. I guess my expectations are still too high...

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 02:19:01 pm
content: Quote from: c4757p on July 13, 2014, 02:17:39 pmI prefer IEC 60309.

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 02:26:09 pm
content: Quote from: c4757p on July 13, 2014, 02:17:39 pmNot with a title like that, surely? Pretty much guaranteed to generate international flamage and general banter.Mind you, it would be interesting to know how the supposedly dangerous and inadequate ring main to which British wall sockets are attached pans out in terms of actual accidents and incidents compared with other countries.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 02:29:23 pm
content: Quote from: rolycat on July 13, 2014, 02:26:09 pmRing finals don't often have serious problems. Even if the ring gets interrupted, 2.5mm² is sufficiently underrated to not do anything more than get warm.That said, I'm not a fan of them. They lack discrimination and, IMO, require more installation effort than they can possibly be worth. 20A radials with type C MCBs are much better, at the cost of more cable to run and more MCBs to install.Sidenote: RCBOs, really, because discrimination.

author: rolycat
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 02:33:22 pm
content: Quote from: Monkeh on July 13, 2014, 02:29:23 pmSo is it just inertia and cheapness on the part of builders which keeps ring circuits popular in the UK?

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 02:36:13 pm
content: Quote from: rolycat on July 13, 2014, 02:33:22 pmPoorly educated 'electricians' (domestic installers) who do things because "this is the way we do things". "That isn't how it's done" added two joints and 30 minutes of work to a simple install because my 'electrician' didn't like the idea of joining cables inside a box.

author: zapta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 02:56:30 pm
content: >> "Britain Has The Best Wall Sockets On Earth"On the down side, they are bulky. Compare thiswith these(not that I mind what kind of wall sockets the Brits chose to use in their country).

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 03:20:36 pm
content: The US is probably the only country in the world that invented all those modern means so that people can vent their displeasure at the US.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 03:21:31 pm
content: Quote from: dannyf on July 13, 2014, 03:20:36 pm....Yeah, sure, you tell yourself that.

author: GeoffS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 13, 2014, 03:25:38 pm
content: And it's locked.