UK Folding Plug concept could flatten that bulky British adapter

[Peterkro]

Yes why? There are far more dodgy electrical things going on in the UK....

As long as it is used for appliances for which it has a suitable rating, like phone chargers and laptops etc, I have no problem with it..

After all why would you need a flat pack plug for your Toaster, or Vacuum, 42" Plasma TV?



Sort of...
- Plugs with Fuses are GOOD Things.. Would you like your £90 Laptop power supply to blow up if you damaged the cable? Or Sit and Melt? Maybe just burn the house down?

-Yes the UK is a little different in the way things have been wired compared with other parts of the world, but it is RING MAIN and RADIAL Circuits.

-The UK used to have Radial Circuits when we did not have much in the way of electrical appliances, during the war we switched to RING circuits because we could serve the same number of electrical outlets with a thinner grade cable, and less of it... saving precious copper!

RINGS and RADIAL Circuits have their own advantages, and disadvantages. And I shall stop before boring you with my day job...

Wheaty

In my old day job I've worked in NZ,Australia,Ireland,France,a major industrial site in the Pacific with U.S. standards and a U.S. military base as well as the U.K. and although I wouldn't spout the old bollocks about "the best police service in the world" etc etc I think the UK domestic electrical standards are way better than the others I've come across.

The thing that worries me about the folding plug is that it must have sliding contacts somewhere,OK for light current items but not a good idea for anything else.

 

[skunk]

The thing that worries me about the folding plug is that it must have sliding contacts somewhere,OK for light current items but not a good idea for anything else.

That is exactly my concern: you are not going to be able to stop people using these things for appliances which draw a lot of current, and you've got a sliding or spring contact on the smaller pins which will deteriorate and will be prone to arcing. With 110V that's not so much of a problem, but with 240V you can get quite a dangerous belt off it. Also you should not be able to withdraw the fuse with the thing plugged in.

 

[OllyW]

That is exactly my concern: you are not going to be able to stop people using these things for appliances which draw a lot of current...

It looks like it will be factory moulded onto the mains lead so I would think it will be up to the manufacturer to ensure it's not used on high current appliances.

 

[oblomow]

The voltage doesn't really correlate to the size of the plugs. We use 230 V in NZ and the plugs are relatively small:

Same here in the NL. And for the larger appliances in home we use 380V....

 

[Peterkro]

All of these plugs are IMHO dangerous as their have flat sockets. It always bugged me that in particular in the US, the plug can hang halfway out of the socket and the device still has juice. I will not use the little kids stick but even an adult that carelessly touches the plug to pull it out could accidentally electrocute himself. Out of all the designs I have seen, the German SchuKo design with set in sockets seems to be the safest as there is no way to touch the prongs while they are receiving power. I know that you can also insert flat 2 prong plugs in them but you can buy powerbars and adapters that have 2 prong SchuKo-Type sockets. Newer SchuKo wallplugs and power bars also have protective measures to prevent kids from easily inserting things like needles etc. into the holes for the prongs such as turn or up/down slider covers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko

Cheers,

Ahmed

We could debate the pros and cons endlessly and yes the Schuko type is not bad I still prefer the UK type. If you read the spec you'll see it has many safety features build in.The upside down plug top problem is avoided in equipment made to spec:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BS1363

 

[Wheaty]

We could debate the pros and cons endlessly and yes the Schuko type is not bad I still prefer the UK type. If you read the spec you'll see it has many safety features build in.The upside down plug top problem is avoided in equipment made to spec:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BS1363

Yeh.. this could go on a bit. And yes, I have seen some "interesting" electric's abroad as well. Fortunately not on a busman's holiday.

I must admit I like the shape & Style of the Schuko plugs a lot for some reasons, but the UK plugs do have a lot of advantages.

As for the exposed pins that have been mentioned, the "newer" UK plugs are insulated apart from the tips, so fingers are less likely to touch live parts. Also If you buy decent sockets for your house, rather than cheepies (which 75% do) you cannot open up any of the pin holes individually... ie you must stick a plug in, to use it..

Last two peneth..

Who ever said about the non removable fuse in the flat pack plug.. Good point!
--- although it looks like you may need to use a "tool" to remove it, in which case it should be fine.

Manufacturers cannot be trusted to put the correct plug on TODAY. So many times I have seen a "this plug is fitted with a 13Amp Fuse" sticker on small electrical appliances with 0.75mm gauge wire.. Shocking!

Wheaty

 

[Nermal]

As for the exposed pins that have been mentioned, the "newer" UK plugs are insulated apart from the tips

Same here.

 

[lewis82]

[...]]] but even an adult that carelessly touches the plug to pull it out could accidentally electrocute himself.[...]

Entirely true.

It happened to me when I was about 10... I was unpugging a hot glue gun from under a table at school, and accidentaly touched the connectors.

The feeling is really weird... I didn't like it, but at least I wasn't hurt.

Still, european plugs are much safer.

 

[bitty]

Great design...small niggle...

This is a great design to shrink the plug down.

One other request though - many hotel rooms etc. suffer from sockets not far enough up a wall from a bench etc. Any downward pointing stiff cables often don't fit in the limited space from the bottom of the plug itself to the shelf/desk.

Any chance of also allowing the lead coming out of the bottom to swivel upwards in the vertical to accommodate badly positioned sockets?