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Comment by archivator | Hacker News Reader

I've had a plug disintegrate inside the socket. (the metal prongs somehow detached from the plug). So, don't do this!

I'd argue that the really good thing about the UK plug is 1) the switches in the sockets and 2) that the devices are all well-grounded. The EU one is usually just 2 contacts, with an optional 3rd one for ground. That's bad, anyway I look at it.

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I'd argue that the really good thing about the UK plug is 1) the switches in the sockets and 2) that the devices are all well-grounded

There are quite a lot of safety features built in to UK plugs. Other ones I'm aware of are the holes being shuttered until a plug is inserted, and the internal design meaning that if you pull hard enough on the external wire, pulling it out, the internal wires will disconnect in a safe order.

If only the safety features went as far as making them less horrendous to stand on.

At an old workplace, we had a piece of equipment with a European plug that we regularly had to shoehorn into a UK socket. It was a case of shoving a screwdriver or a pencil into the earth hole on the socket to simulate that pin being inserted and unlock the others, then fumble the EU plug into the live and neutral holes. (All while the socket was powered down, of course.)

Not particularly safe, and the result of someone who found you could buy equipment cheaper from Germany!

Would a travel plug not be easier?

Why didn't you just buy a converter? One side is the UK plug, other side allows you to plug in a variety of different plugs (including the continental one) and they are very cheap.

You could have used an adaptor?

Also the base of the pins is often insulated so that you can't even wrap a finger around the plug and touch a pin while shoving it clumsily into a socket.

Isn't it easier to just stick the bare wires into the socket with matches?

There used to be a 1970s government training film showing you how.

I think something like a flat blade 3 pins in a row italian style plug would be the ideal. Flat and square plugs tend to stay in place compared to round plugs and the 3 pins in a row would be space compact, while still providing grounding.

The reason for the UK triangle is that the orientation is set, so you know which of the supply wires is live and which is neutral - and if the plug is half removed the top exposed pin is ground so if anything fell down onto the socket it wouldn't touch a hot pin

Extreme I know - whoever designed the UK plug was obviously paranoid.

That would be solved by the 'polarlized' flat pins that the USA has, making the pins covered for part of the rod and making the grounding pin longer.

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