It doesn't save anything in wiring costs to wire a ring main rather than a radial circuit. Quite the reverse. It's a more robust design, as you point out, but the reason it is safe, even with large loads, is because all plugs must be individually fused rather than relying on a circuit breaker. So a desk lamp would only be fused at 3A, a heater at 13A.
I wonder if this plug (which looks amazing by the way) is a charger (ie does not require a fuse) or an adapter plug (with a fuse) which supplies the charger.
Growing up in a Commonwealth country and having to deal with these, but now in the US, I had completely forgotten about what a monstrosity these things were/are.
I am not saying that the 110V stuff we get in the US is particularly aesthetic, but this plug has to be one of ugliest-as-sin consumer thingies ever created. Almost down there with marmite.
Add: No offense meant to the Brits, whom I admire greatly!
Hey, careful what you say about Marmite there!
Brilliant new folding plug design, although ouch, you do pay for the privilege.
It doesn't save anything in wiring costs to wire a ring main rather than a radial circuit. Quite the reverse. It's a more robust design, as you point out, but the reason it is safe, even with large loads, is because all plugs must be individually fused rather than relying on a circuit breaker.
Actually it's less robust in a household design. One reason is that if one point opens, the wiring is now overloaded, but still functions. In distribution systems that use rings, there's current monitoring throughout to detect this, but not in a house.
It's more economical because circuits can be made larger reducing the "dead" wiring between the point of use and the load center. For example, my bedroom is on one circuit. If they could combine the bedroom with other rooms along the way, wire costs would be reduced.
That us a super design (I recall a quote from Steve Jobs bemoaning the UK plug design as it increased packaging size and made adapters unwieldy).
Technically, the UK plug is great- dedicated earth, childproof sockets (the longer earth pin opens plastic shields protecting the live/neutral), larger surface area for contact, unique socket size prevents insertion of round things (4mm banana plugs have caused a fatality in N Europe).
There isn't a (whole) European standard anyway, so perhaps the rest of the world should adopt this technological marvel!!
Obviously, no country is going to re-do their entire outlet/plug system. There are still plenty of buildings in the U.S. that still have only 2 wires (and not the green ground line) regardless of whether or not the outlet has been replaced with a 3-prong outlet. The UK AC plug/outlet would be good, but only if they miniaturized it - it's very unwieldy and ridiculous overkill in its current form. I remember being shocked (sic) at UK AC plugs the first time I travelled to London 30 years ago. And back in the days of dial-up, we used to have to travel with a zillion different phone adapters, some of which were also absurdly large as compared to the U.S. modular plugs. Made me feel that the U.S. had finally done something right. I was really happy when I was able to dump all those phone adapters.
There are some "universal" AC plug adapters that work similarly, but instead of folding pins or blades, they're on sliders. They're not actually universal, but they handle all the major outlet types in US, UK, most of Europe and Japan. I'd like to see Apple figure out a better design for such an adapter, although Apple would charge 3x the price.
Growing up in a Commonwealth country and having to deal with these, but now in the US, I had completely forgotten about what a monstrosity these things were/are.
I am not saying that the 110V stuff we get in the US is particularly aesthetic, but this plug has to be one of ugliest-as-sin consumer thingies ever created. Almost down there with marmite.
Add: No offense meant to the Brits, whom I admire greatly!
I hate pretty much everything from my home country (UK) except the Toilets and the Plugs. The plugs are amazing compared to US plugs, in the fact that they don't just fall out of the wall socket every 5 minutes. Insert a UK wall plug and you know that thing isn't ever going to fall out.
Oh and toilets: The bowls of US toilets are too shallow, and public toilets often have little regard for privacy with massive gaps in the cubicle. Always a horrible experience!
Plus I forgot to mention the bacon. The UK has world class bacon. But for everything else the US wins
Comments
I wonder if this plug (which looks amazing by the way) is a charger (ie does not require a fuse) or an adapter plug (with a fuse) which supplies the charger.
Growing up in a Commonwealth country and having to deal with these, but now in the US, I had completely forgotten about what a monstrosity these things were/are.
I am not saying that the 110V stuff we get in the US is particularly aesthetic, but this plug has to be one of ugliest-as-sin consumer thingies ever created. Almost down there with marmite.
Add: No offense meant to the Brits, whom I admire greatly!
Hey, careful what you say about Marmite there!
Brilliant new folding plug design, although ouch, you do pay for the privilege.
Wouldn't that be an imperial boat load in the UK? Oh wait, you mean they went metric after I left?
It doesn't save anything in wiring costs to wire a ring main rather than a radial circuit. Quite the reverse. It's a more robust design, as you point out, but the reason it is safe, even with large loads, is because all plugs must be individually fused rather than relying on a circuit breaker.
Actually it's less robust in a household design. One reason is that if one point opens, the wiring is now overloaded, but still functions. In distribution systems that use rings, there's current monitoring throughout to detect this, but not in a house.
It's more economical because circuits can be made larger reducing the "dead" wiring between the point of use and the load center. For example, my bedroom is on one circuit. If they could combine the bedroom with other rooms along the way, wire costs would be reduced.
The British Plug might not be beautiful, but it's still regarded as the safest and "best plug" in the world. Numerous tests have been carried out.
Google it if you'd like.
Hope this doesn't tread on any SlimPlug patents.
http://www.slimplug.com/
That us a super design (I recall a quote from Steve Jobs bemoaning the UK plug design as it increased packaging size and made adapters unwieldy).
Technically, the UK plug is great- dedicated earth, childproof sockets (the longer earth pin opens plastic shields protecting the live/neutral), larger surface area for contact, unique socket size prevents insertion of round things (4mm banana plugs have caused a fatality in N Europe).
There isn't a (whole) European standard anyway, so perhaps the rest of the world should adopt this technological marvel!!
Obviously, no country is going to re-do their entire outlet/plug system. There are still plenty of buildings in the U.S. that still have only 2 wires (and not the green ground line) regardless of whether or not the outlet has been replaced with a 3-prong outlet. The UK AC plug/outlet would be good, but only if they miniaturized it - it's very unwieldy and ridiculous overkill in its current form. I remember being shocked (sic) at UK AC plugs the first time I travelled to London 30 years ago. And back in the days of dial-up, we used to have to travel with a zillion different phone adapters, some of which were also absurdly large as compared to the U.S. modular plugs. Made me feel that the U.S. had finally done something right. I was really happy when I was able to dump all those phone adapters.
There are some "universal" AC plug adapters that work similarly, but instead of folding pins or blades, they're on sliders. They're not actually universal, but they handle all the major outlet types in US, UK, most of Europe and Japan. I'd like to see Apple figure out a better design for such an adapter, although Apple would charge 3x the price.
Growing up in a Commonwealth country and having to deal with these, but now in the US, I had completely forgotten about what a monstrosity these things were/are.
I am not saying that the 110V stuff we get in the US is particularly aesthetic, but this plug has to be one of ugliest-as-sin consumer thingies ever created. Almost down there with marmite.
Add: No offense meant to the Brits, whom I admire greatly!
I hate pretty much everything from my home country (UK) except the Toilets and the Plugs. The plugs are amazing compared to US plugs, in the fact that they don't just fall out of the wall socket every 5 minutes. Insert a UK wall plug and you know that thing isn't ever going to fall out.
Oh and toilets: The bowls of US toilets are too shallow, and public toilets often have little regard for privacy with massive gaps in the cubicle. Always a horrible experience!
Plus I forgot to mention the bacon. The UK has world class bacon. But for everything else the US wins