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xkcd #3186: Truly Universal Outlet
Title text:
Building Inspectors HATE This One Weird Trick
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3186/
The only truly universal solution
From schuko to shocko
It might be a final solution too if you're not careful...
I think Randal would enjoy my plug adapter
Ugh, what a shameless plug
You try spending your whole life getting penetrated by various foreign objects and not feeling shame
This also makes me wonder why the xkcd one was laid out like that. Is the xkcd one better/safer, or was it done that way to look more insane.
On yours, the Canada/US and UK layouts overlap, while in the xkcd one they're opposite to each other.
or was it done that way to look more insane.
Yeah I think that's it lol
I think it's because mine doesn't have Schuko (type f) support ... probably because it's real? And maybe because his adaptation uses "Euro"/A combination, wheras mine uses vertical axes for the "euro" plug.
I'm not sure I fully get the joke, considering the literal existence of outlets like this. Did Randall not know they exist?
Randall isn't suggesting a universal wall plug, he's suggesting you cut holes in your existing plates to make them "compatible". (At least that's how it reads to me)
Typical wall outlet in china. Any plug will hang loosely in there and work. Dangerously
Only if the socket is worn out and you are using a plug without inherent safety mechanisms.
I'm guessing seeing one of these was the starting point for this cartoon.
Also wouldn't surprise me if he threw in 1-2 types that don't exist.
These were all over Vietnam when I travelled there. Didn't even need an adapter.
As an engineer, thinking of designing the metal connectors needed for this, this gives me nightmares.
Simple, just use a metal mesh in each hole. Make sure it’s a really thin mesh too, like practically steel wool. Pushing 1500 watts through steel wool has never caused anyone any problems ever.
thisisfine.gif
Good news, you can just buy them from China at pennies :D
Im not an electrician in any way shape or form, so I dont know if my slightly panicky sweaty-behind-the-knees reaction to this is appropriate, but it scares me
Seems to be incompatible with some plugs, after all:
For some reason the image doesn't seem to work for me, so here's the link to it, too
There are more in this series... They are used in Denmark FYI. This one is for hospitals so the cleaning lady does not plug the vacume cleaner into the same power lines as the life saving critical equipment but its compatible in the other direction if needed. The one you posted is the same idea but for IT equipment. EDB is the Danish equivalent to IT
The embed looks fine for me using Voyager through sh.itjust.works with a ‘muricuh IP.
/stares in unibrow
https://media.tenor.com/re5TT3M0cAkAAAAC/electro-boom-eyebrows.gif
Psh tp-p-p Psh tp-p Psh-Psh
Psh tp-p-p Psh tp-p Psh-Psh
Psh tp-p-p Psh tp-p-p Psh tp-p
biblicaly accurate outlet
I actually have a really annoying problem in that I cannot find any universal adapter that has a real ground pin.
All of them only have prongs for the hot and neutral wires, and sometimes a dummy plastic ground to grip the socket better.
I understand that 99% of the time, modern electronics don't need a ground cable and its only there for safety, but it would still be a lot more comforting knowing the ground is actually connected.
I even considered modifying an adapter with a ground cable I can manually insert into the socket.
Ground is always there just for safety. It is supposed to be connected to any metal bits on the outside of any device, so that if a live wire touches the outside it just shorts and some fuse blows or circuit breaker trips, rather than providing an unpleasant surprise to anyone who touches it.
Most modern electronics is "double-insulated", meaning there are at least two layers of reinforced insulating material between any mains-carrying conductors and the user. This is deemed to be safe enough so that those devices don't need to be grounded, and if the case is plastic then they will almost never be. So if you're only connecting plastic-cased electronics to the socket, a ground would be superfluous in almost all cases. There might be some exceptions, like power supplies connecting one of the low-voltage pins to ground, but it is quite rare to see.
That lowkey looks like christmas tree
What about the voltages and the hz?
I have faith that we will eventually standardize plugs internationally. Assuming we avert the apocalypse, that is.
We can't agree which one is best. When Tom Scott proclaimed his home plug to be the best I scoffed. I thought my own home plug is better. But in reality I think they all suck in their own way, every single one of them.
I think a new more research driven approach like the USB-C design would be better, something that protects your fingers, is easier to locate when behind furniture or in the dark, works in more than a single position, is not going to stab you if you leave it on the floor, does not get stuck in the socket, I think it might even be possible to add a fuse without making it larger than a typical phone charger, but to be honest, the smaller the better. One can only dream.
Randall himself already solved this problem
For up to 480W of fun!
Perhaps the most successful attempt at convergence so far has been the Europlug, but only because it's a weird compromise. Did you know the europlug prongs aren't actually parallel? They angle inwards slightly and have a little flex, so they can be accepted in multiple European countries' sockets that actually have slightly different dimensions! It's a cool design, but you wouldn't intentionally design it that way if you had the opportunity to standardise the world from scratch.
That's generally the thing with decisions that don't matter much. If one option is much better, there is no discussion.
But if the benefits of either option are marginal at best, you get tons of discussion and no decision.
For example, the EU decided almost a decade ago that they would get rid of daylight saving time, and everyone quickly agreed that DST sucks, mostly because changing the clocks sucks.
Since then, the whole EU has been arguing about whether to keep summer time or winter time, even though that matters so little that we have been using both of them for decades. A week after switching DST, nobody even notices the time shift.
That's why at work if a discussion goes on for too long I usually point out that that's the case because all options are almost equally as good and thus we should just pick a random one instead of continuing to waste time discussing in circles.
We can’t agree which one is best. When Tom Scott proclaimed his home plug to be the best I scoffed. I thought my own home plug is better.
The UK G type is the only one which is insulated, fused, grounded and polarized by default:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_power_plugs_and_sockets#Comparison_of_standard_types
This is great for electrical safety, though it's a very bulky plug.
Exactly. It's best technically but worst for the end user. I am an end user and I would hate to be stuck with that monster of a uniderectional plug. I don't care that it washes my dishes for me if it doesn't fit in my bag and kills me in the night when I step on it.
Why the hell would I want the plugs to be polarized? Brits really stockholmed themselves into thinking that being unable to turn the plug around is a good feature. This is fine and dandy by Brits' standards.
Same country that convinced itself that you should have one hot and one cold tap, and if you want to get proper temperatured water just fill the basin.. instead of just combining them like the rest of the civilized world.
There really is an xkcd for everything.
Electricians hate this one weird trick
