Plugs around the world

derekleffew

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A few notes: This is meant to be a visual guide, as many similar outlets have different voltages. Just because a plug fits doesn't mean it will work. Always double check before you blow up your cell phone/hair dryer/discount lightsaber.

The outlet widely-used in continental Europe is known as the Schuko and varies between countries; G
https://i.chzbgr.com/full/5522771712/h20E8C203/

Great, but now I gotta learn all of the countries' flags too.
(And looks like Italy almost uses the stage pin connector !)
 
Denmark has the happiest receptacle! Ours looks a little too stern or downright angry.
 
Egad! How do you even wire this? There are screws everywhere!View attachment 16181
Looks like someone at Hubble was on a bad acid trip. So I take it that those tabs that look like tabs for crimp connectors are actually the snap-offs. Looks like any wires coming off those screws have to make a sharp 90
 
Same number of screws on that Hubble thing as on a standard receptacle. It even has stab in holes!
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I spent a month in Japan without any adapters. Everything (personal) I had was multi-voltage multi-frequency, even my shaver!
 
If only the fourplex weren't so expensive, they would sell quite a few. I wind up making a lot of them with a 4S cover and a pair of duplex receptacles. In fact, I've never seen a fourplex in the wild. $30 for a device I can make for $12 (commercial grade parts) plus ten minutes of labor does not compute.
 
Because THIS makes a lot of sense... :doh::think:

Because that outlet is installed upside down!!!

I used to work for an electrician, and we were taught the ground pin always goes down...the outlets in my house were certainly installed that way (when vertical).

What you got is one that someone thought they were know what they were doing! If I was buying a new house it's an obvious sign to be weary that there's home-owner electrical work done, and they don't know what they were doing!
 
And in each area there could be variations. For instance in North America in an older house you can still have two-pin polarized and non-polarized outlets (my place was built in 1932, and it still had older two-pin outlets):

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And I know in my grandmother's house in Germany also had two-pin outlets, what is typically called a "Europlug" (I remember being able to plug in the vacuum that had a grounded edge connector into a non-grounded outlet:
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BTW, if you do live in North America and have older two prong outlets, while fully updating the wiring is best, you can get ground protection using a GFCI outlet with the two conductor cable (ensuring you wire hot and neutral properly). If there's any leakage to ground (i.e. a water pipe), the GFCI will trip even though there's no ground conductor connected.
 
Because that outlet is installed upside down!!!

I used to work for an electrician, and we were taught the ground pin always goes down...the outlets in my house were certainly installed that way (when vertical).

What you got is one that someone thought they were know what they were doing! If I was buying a new house it's an obvious sign to be weary that there's home-owner electrical work done, and they don't know what they were doing!

Opinion on up or down is pretty evenly divided. https://www.archtoolbox.com/materials-systems/electrical/groundorientation.html

I just rewired my kitchen and GFCI reads correct with ground in. I googled nema 5-20r - overwhelming ground up in photos.

Check out NEMA charts - ground up.

The one I liked was the electrician that did pin down except for switched outlets - which doesn't work in theatres but at home, at least useful. I'm sure it would offend my electrician friend who aligns all of the slotted screws the same.

I always do ground up on plug strips and boxes because I've seen the safety cable fall into that gap albeit, it's the neutral.
 
...The one I liked was the electrician that did pin down except for switched outlets - which doesn't work in theatres but at home, at least useful.
But what did he do upon encountering the much more common situation when one of the duplex outlets was switched and the other constant? There's a similar argument as to whether the switched outlet goes on top or bottom. Using a Sharpie, I draw a dot in the center of the outlet, forming a "nose" if you will, to indicate a switched outlet.


And then there's this.
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NSFW.
 
Ground up/ground down is one famous sparky arguement, but the real fire-starter is the debate over using the backstab holes. Many people see them as the easy way to burn down a house.
 
Oh my goodness gracious, as Jed Clampett would say:
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