This is not a US electrical outlet, but it's one I've recently become aware of, which folks might find interesting:
Our next data center, for the HPC portion, may end up getting 480 VAC to the rack, with each outlet getting 277 VAC (one phase plus neutral and ground). If you order a generic Dell server, you'll find they now have power supply options for 277VAC.
What's the outlet? The D-Grid 400 (SDG 400). So, there's another outlet to add to the list!
Since 1996, the NEMA 10 column (10-20, 10-30) is no longer allowed in new installations.
That was, for decades, the standard dryer outlet. No ground. The frame of the dryer is grounded to the neutral! Not to protective ground.
This is idiotic by modern standards, but is still found in older houses.
(Haven't had to look at the NEMA outlet chart in years. I once had to specify a computer room back when DEC was a company. DEC used about five different connectors - some 110V, some 220V, some 3-phase, various current ratings.
Needed custom-fabricated raceways with all the correct outlets.
Plus the
electrical people at the aerospace company insisted on putting a hulking big copper busbar tied to ground on top of each raceway, and all cabinets were grounded to that.
That was to give RF noise a very low resistance path to ground. Much RF R&D took place in that building, and things which blithered all over the RF spectrum were seriously annoying to the RF engineers. Computer grounding used to be a big deal, before everybody started using differential signals for almost everything.)
>Since 1996, the NEMA 10 column (10-20, 10-30) is no longer allowed in new installations. That was, for decades, the standard dryer outlet. No ground. The frame of the dryer is grounded to the neutral! Not to protective ground. This is idiotic by modern standards, but is still found in older houses.
The way those old outlets work is you get two hots and a ground. No neutral. This is fine for simple appliances that run wholly on 220v and utilize mechanical controls (so like all old appliances) but as you start adding complexity in the appliance you start wanting to use 120v control circuitry stuff (i.e. a cost saving hack by the device manufacturer) and this opens the door for the appliance to be live at 120v if the case is bonded to the ground and your ground wire in the cord is broken. Or it opens the door for the case of the appliance to be floating and live at 120v if there's a short to it.
With appliances manufactured for global markets these days that accept all manner of input voltages and run any controls off of some DC powered circuit board this isn't really a problem anymore but with the way people worship rules like religion I'm sure in the year 3026 we'll still be reading comments like yours.
I'm typically not a big EU defender but it's one of the thing that is really oh-so-much better in the EU: every time I go to the US having to plug stuff into electrical outlet feels like I've been beamed back to the 1950s or something. Plugs don't fit properly: they simply feel loose. Or you need to use super bulky, non-sensical, plugs.
That and switches (like light switches): not only we've got way more variety in the EU but they also all feel of better quality.
Both electrical outlets and switches in the US do also look old and dated. Just like they feel when using them: old and outdated.
> I'm typically not a big EU defender but it's one of the thing that is really oh-so-much better in the EU: every time I go to the US having to plug stuff into electrical outlet feels like I've been beamed back to the 1950s or something. Plugs don't fit properly: they simply feel loose.
IIRC, the US electrified first. So a lot of its standards are kinda the first attempt, but they've stuck because the switching costs are too great. Other countries had the benefit of being able to improve on an existing system.
But I'm not sure if that really applies to plugs (IIRC British [giant] and Japanese [no grounding] ones are worse). But my understanding is the US 110v thing is kinda limiting, and 220v is way better.
> Plugs don't fit properly: they simply feel loose.
Let me guess: it was in a hotel? Hotel plugs are shit and worn out, because they get used far more heavily than pretty much anywhere else.
> Or you need to use super bulky, non-sensical, plugs.
For what? The only bulky US plugs are for weird things like dryers and electric ovens.
The US plug is uniquely bad in that you can have live contacts exposed on a partially plugged in plug
I'd call both the British and the Schuko better. But they both come with tradeoffs. The British plug is huge, in part because of the built-in fuse. The Schuko is aesthetically less clean because the outlet is not flush, and because the plug is reversible you can't design around polarity. Both excellent plugs that are huge improvements over the US plug design in most ways, but both come with their own tradeoffs
The look can be improved by using receding covers. I am sure they exist for Schuko outlets, here is one for a type E socket (CEE 7/5, usually compatible with Schuko AKA 7/3, using 7/7 plugs): https://www.domomat.com/53812-prise-de-courant-affleurante-o...
As a side note, the type E is polarized, though on occasion you can find modified 7/7 plugs that accept both orientations (I see this most commonly on PLC adapters). IEC 60906-1 was designed to replace Schuko but was not adopted.
British and Schuko are both relatively huge. Even the 2-prong europlug that small electronics use, that also can be installed in a Schuko outlet, often make the European version of things like usb-c chargers significantly larger than the US version. I live in Europe but travel a lot. For all small electronics I try to get a Japanese or US version, and then use a small adapter. For travel, a US usb-c charger plus EU adapter is smaller than an EU usb-c charger plus US adapter. British-style outlets can also be coaxed to take a europlug, not that I would advise anyone to do that.
You can get some nifty fold-flat BS1363 doodads, though. I have a USB-C charger that collapses into something about the size of a stack of 6 credit cards. Something similar is currently available as the "Galvanox Flat USB-C Charger" on Irish Amazon.
My international travel "brick" for laptop + phone is an Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim, which is flat multi-port charger with an IEC-320-C8 input. For the Continent, I plug in a "0cm cable" that's a Europlug nub. For US and UK/I, a NEMA cord with a compact BS1363 "shaver adapter" with a 1A fuse in it. Really wish I could get something flatter to be the adapter! Maybe I'll have to make one.
That is pretty nifty. I used an Anker A2669 for travel within the UK, a bit chunkier but also with folding pins.
I appreciate that they seem to put some effort into the design of their UK only products, instead of just shipping a US/Cn shaped charger with a BS1363 plug grafted on
>The US plug is uniquely bad in that you can have live contacts exposed on a partially plugged in plug
Most people in the US will go their whole lives without having an issue related to this or knowing anyone who did. This is one of those problems that mostly only exists as a post-hoc justification for an already held belief.
Japanese electrical is better in many ways than the US. We have insulated pin sleeves so kids can't touch electrified pins and whole-home GFCI instead of just one or two outlets in the kitchen/bath. The standard wall switches are also so much nicer.
Curious why you’d need/want whole home gfi. I’m assuming that means that if there’s a short on any circuit power to the entire house is cut? GFI outlets provide a very localized layer of safety and because they are localized can be extraordinarily sensitive. Like trip with a small amount of condensation on a wire.
Along those same lines, I still don't really understand why so many people call it 110v and 220v when the US hasn't been those voltages for around 100 years and it's been 120v and 240v for about 60 years (it was gradually stepped up the voltage starting in the 1930s).
> the US 110v thing is kinda limiting, and 220v is way better
More efficient with copper certainly, but 110V is safer: cf. Ohm's Law. Lower voltage penetrates skin less readily, so you're more likely to escape unscathed from a 110V zap.
In Ireland, on worksites, the corded tools are 110VAC/50Hz (115V, 120V... mains/2 on a transformer-- and 'mains' varies wildly according to my several years of data captures in a range between 214-240).
Speaking of copper efficiency, the British Isles do all kinds of silly things like running ring mains to enable the use of smaller conductors for higher loads on domestic electrical sockets, and notionally to provide a safety factor.
Being safer might've helped cut costs and speed up electrification 100yr ago. These days I think it's greatly nerf'd by all the relevant bits of industry and government being dominated by do-gooders who think you need to be triple licensed and wear a bomb squad suit to install a ceiling fan and business interests who want a pretext to sell more stuff.
> But my understanding is the US 110v thing is kinda limiting, and 220v is way better.
120V is safer (not "safe", "safer"[1]) than 240V. And for the times when 240V (or 208V) is a better fit, we have that available to us relatively easily.
> For what? The only bulky US plugs are for weird things like dryers and electric ovens.
Or the locking plugs, but I think that still fits your point: These are high-voltage and/or high-current things, which aren't being unplugged/plugged too much.
feels like I've been beamed back to the 1950s or something
That might because the US was largely electrified by 1950 with the major push before The War during the 1930's via the Rural Electrification Administration.
By The War the TVA was up and running and that's where nuclear materials were manufactured for The Bomb.
I used to think this, but I've been in the US just long enough to start rethinking it. The one thing I still prefer though is that each outlet has an off switch, no need to unplug your cable. Also, three prong cables are 90 degrees offset so it's easier to fit behind furniture.
I would agree the plugs are well designed, but it’s also a space pen when you needed a pencil. Using that massive plug and 240V to charge a phone or power a light bulb is just comical.
The US system sensibly uses 110-120V for most uses and then 240V where it really matters.
Well, you don't need to use that 'massive' plug to charge your phone....usb sockets are a thing. And the lights in my house don't have any plugs on them.
I am unsure if this is a common mindset for Americans, but I personally perceived Europe as rather backward and out-of-date, technologically. I don't know why I got that idea, other than "Europe is more ancient than us" and believing that USA is the nexus and origin of all innovation.
So, when I arrived in Barcelona and Catalonia, I was pleasantly, mildly surprised that not only had Europe kept pace with us techno-mages in America, but they had some kind of parallel evolution going on, in terms of connectors, interfaces, protocols, etc.
My fiancée was sort of mystified, because my favorite subject of photography was not landmarks or her pretty face, but the circuit breaker box, the rear of her television set, the A/C unit, and any other cool, distinctly Euro-tech instances I could identify around there.
I tried helping her adjust/fix her aerial TV antenna, got zapped a few times; discovered that Catalonian TV antennas are energized with a few volts for whatever reason; decided that Euro-tech is beyond my expertise to tinker with on someone else's behalf, especially a native family.
Thankfully, I didn't have any portable electronics or appliances in my luggage that needed adapters or plugs, but the experience was truly humbling, and eye-opening, and I returned to the United States with a better calibrated worldview.
The US is innovative but can't be bothered to get the boring stuff right.
Meanwhile Europe standardized bank transfers with IBAN, killed connector type proliferation with by standardizing on USB-C, and routed 3-phase power most homes. Oh, and the metric system. And while Europe has a wide range of cultures and functionality of government, a lot of places have simpler tax forms and a more prescriptive legal system (as opposed to the precedent-dominated Common Law tradition in the US). The German-speaking countries even rewrote spelling to make it simpler.
I view a lot of this stuff as infrastructure investment. We shouldn't have to stumble over the mundane to do interesting things. As others have commented, Europe also had the advantage of adopting some technologies later, but in some cases they just seem to be more aligned with a system of constant (if sometimes frustratingly slow) improvement.
As for the TV antenna, centralized European installations tend to have really long cable runs, even more so for cable TV, and there's a wideband PA in the basement.
The US technology advantage is in software, hardware, biotech/pharma, AI, some advanced robotics (China is leading in general robotics), quantum, aerospace, military, medtech.
Competitively the US does well in energy tech and agriculture tech. The US is #2 in wind power, #2 in solar power, #1 in nuclear power, along with being the world's biggest oil & natural gas producer. The US industrial rail system is also an epic scale marvel, while its consumer rail system is pathetic.
It's definitely not elite in most infrastructure (including electrical plugs).
one of my favorite YT channels together with Technology Connections (though as was mentioned recently, the videos are a bit on the longer side, but I like the form anyway), anything else similar?
unrelated to 1st paragraph - I like as well Mustard, B1M, Wendover Productions
Our next data center, for the HPC portion, may end up getting 480 VAC to the rack, with each outlet getting 277 VAC (one phase plus neutral and ground). If you order a generic Dell server, you'll find they now have power supply options for 277VAC.
What's the outlet? The D-Grid 400 (SDG 400). So, there's another outlet to add to the list!
(Haven't had to look at the NEMA outlet chart in years. I once had to specify a computer room back when DEC was a company. DEC used about five different connectors - some 110V, some 220V, some 3-phase, various current ratings. Needed custom-fabricated raceways with all the correct outlets.
Plus the electrical people at the aerospace company insisted on putting a hulking big copper busbar tied to ground on top of each raceway, and all cabinets were grounded to that. That was to give RF noise a very low resistance path to ground. Much RF R&D took place in that building, and things which blithered all over the RF spectrum were seriously annoying to the RF engineers. Computer grounding used to be a big deal, before everybody started using differential signals for almost everything.)
The way those old outlets work is you get two hots and a ground. No neutral. This is fine for simple appliances that run wholly on 220v and utilize mechanical controls (so like all old appliances) but as you start adding complexity in the appliance you start wanting to use 120v control circuitry stuff (i.e. a cost saving hack by the device manufacturer) and this opens the door for the appliance to be live at 120v if the case is bonded to the ground and your ground wire in the cord is broken. Or it opens the door for the case of the appliance to be floating and live at 120v if there's a short to it.
With appliances manufactured for global markets these days that accept all manner of input voltages and run any controls off of some DC powered circuit board this isn't really a problem anymore but with the way people worship rules like religion I'm sure in the year 3026 we'll still be reading comments like yours.
That and switches (like light switches): not only we've got way more variety in the EU but they also all feel of better quality.
Both electrical outlets and switches in the US do also look old and dated. Just like they feel when using them: old and outdated.
It's just all really weird, nearly anachronistic.
IIRC, the US electrified first. So a lot of its standards are kinda the first attempt, but they've stuck because the switching costs are too great. Other countries had the benefit of being able to improve on an existing system.
But I'm not sure if that really applies to plugs (IIRC British [giant] and Japanese [no grounding] ones are worse). But my understanding is the US 110v thing is kinda limiting, and 220v is way better.
> Plugs don't fit properly: they simply feel loose.
Let me guess: it was in a hotel? Hotel plugs are shit and worn out, because they get used far more heavily than pretty much anywhere else.
> Or you need to use super bulky, non-sensical, plugs.
For what? The only bulky US plugs are for weird things like dryers and electric ovens.
I'd call both the British and the Schuko better. But they both come with tradeoffs. The British plug is huge, in part because of the built-in fuse. The Schuko is aesthetically less clean because the outlet is not flush, and because the plug is reversible you can't design around polarity. Both excellent plugs that are huge improvements over the US plug design in most ways, but both come with their own tradeoffs
The look can be improved by using receding covers. I am sure they exist for Schuko outlets, here is one for a type E socket (CEE 7/5, usually compatible with Schuko AKA 7/3, using 7/7 plugs): https://www.domomat.com/53812-prise-de-courant-affleurante-o...
As a side note, the type E is polarized, though on occasion you can find modified 7/7 plugs that accept both orientations (I see this most commonly on PLC adapters). IEC 60906-1 was designed to replace Schuko but was not adopted.
See also: https://plugsocketmuseum.nl/GB-foldingPlug1.html
My international travel "brick" for laptop + phone is an Anker PowerPort Atom III Slim, which is flat multi-port charger with an IEC-320-C8 input. For the Continent, I plug in a "0cm cable" that's a Europlug nub. For US and UK/I, a NEMA cord with a compact BS1363 "shaver adapter" with a 1A fuse in it. Really wish I could get something flatter to be the adapter! Maybe I'll have to make one.
I appreciate that they seem to put some effort into the design of their UK only products, instead of just shipping a US/Cn shaped charger with a BS1363 plug grafted on
Most people in the US will go their whole lives without having an issue related to this or knowing anyone who did. This is one of those problems that mostly only exists as a post-hoc justification for an already held belief.
But in all seriousness they are comprehensively safer. The earthing and exposed live benefits are shared by most EU plugs, but as a bonus you've got:
- Built in fuse that can be sized to the appliance, not the socket
- Sliding gates on live and neutral that stop your 5 year old jamming a fork in there
- The gate is moved by the earth pin, ensuring it's long enough to make first contact
- An internal wiring arrangement that avoids floating the whole appliance at live if a cable is forcibly ripped out
Yes, it's a bit bigger but I can't recall this having caused even one dead child worth of inconvenience across my life.
They are however, even worse than Lego to step on in the night. I'll concede that as their one true weakness
More efficient with copper certainly, but 110V is safer: cf. Ohm's Law. Lower voltage penetrates skin less readily, so you're more likely to escape unscathed from a 110V zap.
In Ireland, on worksites, the corded tools are 110VAC/50Hz (115V, 120V... mains/2 on a transformer-- and 'mains' varies wildly according to my several years of data captures in a range between 214-240).
Speaking of copper efficiency, the British Isles do all kinds of silly things like running ring mains to enable the use of smaller conductors for higher loads on domestic electrical sockets, and notionally to provide a safety factor.
120V is safer (not "safe", "safer"[1]) than 240V. And for the times when 240V (or 208V) is a better fit, we have that available to us relatively easily.
> For what? The only bulky US plugs are for weird things like dryers and electric ovens.
Or the locking plugs, but I think that still fits your point: These are high-voltage and/or high-current things, which aren't being unplugged/plugged too much.
[1]: https://youtu.be/jMmUoZh3Hq4?si=JyZIge5lQXda4D0E&t=811
But those are the situations where we then use 3-phase 400V
That might because the US was largely electrified by 1950 with the major push before The War during the 1930's via the Rural Electrification Administration. By The War the TVA was up and running and that's where nuclear materials were manufactured for The Bomb.
Did anyone say Schuko?
The US system sensibly uses 110-120V for most uses and then 240V where it really matters.
And... the plug really isn't that big at all.
E.g. [1] is a "Max 10A" power strip, so the cable would heat and potentially melt if a 15-16A load is connected.
[1] https://www.silvan.dk/produkt/stikdaase-m-ledning-4-udtag-u_...
So, when I arrived in Barcelona and Catalonia, I was pleasantly, mildly surprised that not only had Europe kept pace with us techno-mages in America, but they had some kind of parallel evolution going on, in terms of connectors, interfaces, protocols, etc.
My fiancée was sort of mystified, because my favorite subject of photography was not landmarks or her pretty face, but the circuit breaker box, the rear of her television set, the A/C unit, and any other cool, distinctly Euro-tech instances I could identify around there.
I tried helping her adjust/fix her aerial TV antenna, got zapped a few times; discovered that Catalonian TV antennas are energized with a few volts for whatever reason; decided that Euro-tech is beyond my expertise to tinker with on someone else's behalf, especially a native family.
Thankfully, I didn't have any portable electronics or appliances in my luggage that needed adapters or plugs, but the experience was truly humbling, and eye-opening, and I returned to the United States with a better calibrated worldview.
Meanwhile Europe standardized bank transfers with IBAN, killed connector type proliferation with by standardizing on USB-C, and routed 3-phase power most homes. Oh, and the metric system. And while Europe has a wide range of cultures and functionality of government, a lot of places have simpler tax forms and a more prescriptive legal system (as opposed to the precedent-dominated Common Law tradition in the US). The German-speaking countries even rewrote spelling to make it simpler.
I view a lot of this stuff as infrastructure investment. We shouldn't have to stumble over the mundane to do interesting things. As others have commented, Europe also had the advantage of adopting some technologies later, but in some cases they just seem to be more aligned with a system of constant (if sometimes frustratingly slow) improvement.
Competitively the US does well in energy tech and agriculture tech. The US is #2 in wind power, #2 in solar power, #1 in nuclear power, along with being the world's biggest oil & natural gas producer. The US industrial rail system is also an epic scale marvel, while its consumer rail system is pathetic.
It's definitely not elite in most infrastructure (including electrical plugs).
If you were than combined figures put USA behind places like Germany and Spain.
And bringing nuclear into it you get France absolutely trouncing.
So your argument is that “america is a big country”.
unrelated to 1st paragraph - I like as well Mustard, B1M, Wendover Productions