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Comment by noobermin | Hacker News Reader

I moved from the US to Singapore which uses 230, and that coupled with the humid environment makes things a lot less unsafe. That plus old HDB electrical work isn't always the best. Getting shocked and damaging electronics because a socket is lose is very common here, and can be life threatening. I never had to worry about this (at least as much). Floating ground here on the other hand is device or even life threatening which is a real issue as most chargers especially recent GaN ones do NOT have a ground prong.

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I’m really interested to hear more details about how this is possible, because it’s scary but fascinating!

Here in Australia we have 230V, and getting shocked is not at all common - we have very strict electrical standards for both installations and devices, residual current devices (GFCI equilivalents) now required on every single circuit, everything either has a proper ground or is double-insulated (unlike the US sockets here without a ground pin are very uncommon because you can’t plug a lot of devices in to them) etc.

There was a possibility where you could pull the plug out very slightly and slide something like a knife in between the plug and socket and touch the active and neutral pins, so the standards were changed many years ago now so compliant plugs now have insulation on the live and neutral pins for the first half of their length (see an example plug here - https://au.rs-online.com/web/p/power-cords/0321168 ).

this is not an issue in Europe. what kind of plugs do you use in Singapore? the EU plug doesn't let you get shocked when pulling the cord. i am willing to bet it's because of that, not because of 220 vs 110. it has never been an issue in my life and i don't get shocked ... ever.

edit: after a quick research i thing the reason is the socket: https://www.everyworks.com/reasons-why-your-singapore-electr... we don't use this, we have a small hole inside ours and it's impossible to touch the live while the plug is connected

Apparently they use british Type G plugs. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets#/me... )

after a quick research, i think it's the socket not the plug, it's easier to touch the live wire if the socket is flat.

edit: can't reply to the child comments, maybe there's a time limit, i'll answer here. i have no experience with the british plugs, if you say it's impossible i believe you. i don't understand, though, how does this happen to the person from the top message.

Neither on British nor European Plugs can you touch a live plug when only partially inserted.

You absolutely can. I've personally be accidentally shocked twice by pulling a firmly inserted plug out of a socket, but it was my own fault. Get the plug partly pulled out then readjust your hand to get more grip around the side of the plug and in doing so accidentally touch the non-insulated section of the live prong just as it is in contact with the live terminal

If both the plug and socket are correctly made, it's physically impossible - by the time the contacts on the plug are exposed, they've disconnected from the contacts in the socket. No matter how much you prod and poke, you should only ever come into contact with an insulated sleeve or a non-energised contact. Unfortunately there are a lot of non-compliant plugs being sold by disreputable online retailers.

It is possible to get a very mild shock from the plug contacts if the input capacitors of the appliance haven't fully discharged. This shouldn't happen with properly-designed appliances, but it's very unlikely to be dangerous if it does happen.

There's a long earth pin on the top of British plugs, the socket doesn't open the holes to allow the other two pins in until that's already inserted to the appropriate depth. So you can't stick anything in to the socket and touch a live wire.

If they use UK plugs it should be impossible to touch that because there’s a shutter that covers it until the earth pin in put in

Here’s a video by Tom Scott about why UK plugs are safer: https://youtu.be/UEfP1OKKz_Q?si=f8UxqwhN4tmYxFMk

Should be the same for type G, the pins are shielded such that it shouldn't be possible for them to have exposed metal and be live at the same time.

You should not get downvoted for this. The whole world isn't as safe as Europe. I spent time in a country with 220V, and in those days there was virtually nothing preventing you from getting shocked (I know as I've been shocked). The prongs were round, and you could easily touch the metal while inserting and get a shock.

Another problem: Some of the plug/socket combinations were fairly loose. It wasn't a tight fit. So if you're ironing, it was not unusual for the plug to be partially out of the socket.

> that coupled with the humid environment makes things a lot less unsafe

Safer? Why?

When I am fly by night posting I do be using those double negatives.

I meant less safe.

Getting shocked is a symptom of faulty electrics, not of using 230V (even in a high humidity environment).

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