Re: British (european?) kitchen counter electric outlets

On 6/11/2024 3:50 AM, Martin Brown wrote:

On 09/06/2024 02:29, Grant Taylor wrote:

On 6/8/24 19:13, john larkin wrote:

The British plugs and outlets are enormous too.

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I like the idea of a fuse in the plug end of the cord.
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I'm only aware of that for Christmas lights in the U.S.A.
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The Christmas lights show that small fuses can fit in a slightly larger plug
and not require anything nearly as large as European plugs that I've seen
pictures / video of.

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XMAS lights are fused because they can be daisy-chained; the next strand
plugged into the end of the previous strand.  As such, the strand closest
to the mains outlet sees the total load of all strands.  Expecting consumers
to observe the limit of 3 strands is wishful thinking.  So, a 5A fuse in
every plug ensures that whichever strand is "first" will open.
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Similarly, expecting consumers to consider each of the individual loads they
plug into a 99c 18AWG extension cord is wishful thinking.
>

Fuses in plugs is a UK thing. Continental 3 pin plugs are every bit as brutal
in shape as UK plugs but are unfused. Continental 2 pin is pretty similar size
to US except with round pins 230vac rather than flat ones.

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US plugs (for consumer use) tend to be really poorly made.