US Electrical Outlets Feel Like a Trip Back to the 1950s, Says European
Every US Electrical Outlet Explained [video]
A Hacker News discussion about a video explaining every US electrical outlet. One commenter says US plugs feel loose and outdated compared to EU plugs, while others note that the US electrified first, so its standards stuck due to high switching costs. The thread also debates voltage: the US uses 120V for safety, with 240V available for high-power appliances.
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.
- CaliforniaKarl
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!
- Animats
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.)
- TacticalCoder
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.
It's just all really weird, nearly anachronistic.
- Markoff
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