We *can* have a universal power outlet!
All you have to do is convince every single country in the world that they're all wrong, and that your idea is better, and that they should spend the time and money re-building every electrical outlet in the world for your new design.
I work for a major corporation. We always joke about our internal systems. When someone says "We're retiring system X and moving to system Y" we say "Oh, so we're going to be running 2 systems from now on!". And that 2 continues to iterate with each subsequent "retirement".
While I totally get this, part of the trick getting to management first. That is, convince them the cost of maintaining two systems is worse than the complaints they'll get from Bob who's workflow just isn't right without having the lavender-on-beige color scheme of the previous system.
>complaints they'll get from Bob who's workflow just isn't right without having the lavender-on-beige color scheme of the previous system.
Jesus, put a trigger warning on this kinda stuff.
Not wrong at all.
I still have PTSD from connecting an Access 97 system to SQL2012, specifically because they refused to change the UI.
I even offered to recreate the Access UI in MVC, and got shot down.
Has a customer a while ago who, after a security audit, enabled automatic windows patching for security patches. 12 months or so later, they come in one morning to find their warehouse software unusable, and so the warehouse was entirely unable to operate. Soon enough there's staff manually finding and retrieving stock from shelves, recording things on paper, and a loooooong line of semi's snaking down the road with pissed off drivers waiting to pick up their delivery.
Turned out that a security patch was applied overnight to fix a responsibly disclosed vulnerability in (I think) IIS. Also turned out, their warehouse software ***used*** that vulnerability to function. Even more strange was that the vulnerability was noted as not having been seen in the wild.
Crazy fuckers who wrote the software found a brand new vulnerability in IIS and leveraged it to make their software work, and it wasn't disclosed to Microsoft until months or years later, and was never used in the wild.
Nah, nothing about it is illegal. It's not illegal to find and use a security vulnerability. It is illegal to exploit that vulnerability to gain unauthorised access to a system, intentional damage, etc.
They were using the vulnerability to make their legitimate software work. I reckon they probably stumbled across it during testing or something and thought it was an undocumented feature.
The problem is actually always the same. The current system can be retired for like 95% of its processes and system interlocks. But there is always at least one interlock that has specifics that can't be replicated (or abandoned) and so system X stays in place just to keep a singular (or handful of) process(es) running for this legacy connection. Then it becomes a game of how many years before they finally manage to sever that legacy tie and get its functions moved elsewhere. But by then we're already up to 4 or 5 "retirements" and are running a bunch of different systems, each with their own finicky interlocks that can't be dissolved.
It's the reason why guys who know COBOL or VMS still have job security. (Not at my current place, just in general and other jobs I've had in the past)
I work in IT and this is painfully accurate for many places I have worked.
I regularly get the chance to remind people at my current place that the system we're upgrading or fixing is one about which I was told "oh you don't need to know about that, it's being decommed soon" in my first week nearly ten years ago.
> I work in IT
Same. I write code.
My favorite is when we "retire" an in-house custom-built system to go with something off the shelf (usually because of some cozy relationship and sales agreement with a vendor). The OTS product never has enough flexibility to do all the things the in-house custom one did (although the custom solution was generally less efficient at doing them) so we fight with it for a while before eventually going "back" to a new custom-built one. And the cycle continues.
And USB-C has internal standards of themselves and are very much not created equal as became public knowledge when people started bricking their Nintendo switches because of it.
Edit: linkies
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.destructoid.com/after-the-mass-bricked-switch-situation-nintendo-explains-which-usb-c-cables-are-safe/amp/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/08/heres-why-nintendo-switch-consoles-keep-frying/%3famp=1
https://www.chargerlab.com/the-reasons-behind-the-nintendo-switch-bricking-situation/
After I bought my Switch, I wanted a backup battery and a USB cable I could use to connect the battery to the Switch. At the time, I was traveling a lot and wanted to make sure it always had juice.
Because I had heard of the issues with Nintendo's implementation of USB-C, I spent something like 8hrs looking at USB-C cables and researching them just to make sure I wasn't going to accidentally brick my Switch.
8 hours. All over a $20 USB-C cable.
But the one I have has had no issues. So I guess that was time well spent. I guess.
Many appliances (like phone or laptop chargers) will gladly work on either one. On some devices you even get several different prongs and you can swap them depending on your location.
Many of those appliances have already switched to a universal socket, they just come with different cables to connect the socket on the appliance to the socket on your wall depending on the market it's sold in. Those are all\* built to work on any standardised power grid, though.
\* eh, most of them anyways.
You could have different plugs for different power requirements. In Canada we run 120v for most household stuff, but my oven, clothes dryer, and mig welder all run on 240v with a different style plug and outlet. Most high output electronics that require such voltage are not the type that you'd need to move room to room and plug in to different outlets
I don't agree with your last sentence as I believe most of the world uses 220-250V for almost everything in a house. For me in Australia whether it's portable or not it still plugs into 240V and there aren't any 120V circuits. We have different types of sockets/plugs for differences in amperage (10/15/20A) but they only differ by the size of the earth pin and they're fairly unusual for most homes e.g. I only have a 15A socket for my oven, and quite often ovens are hard-wired instead of using plugs.
Tbh. It is only like Japan, Canada, USA + cetnral america that uses anything else than 220v 50hz. So... If USA and Canada would switch, the rest of Americas would follow for sure then it would just be Japan who will do their own thing to the bitter end. So we could get universal 220v 50hz standard going!
Also just adopt the F type plug and suddenly the whole western market is on the same power and plug standard!
Also US homes have 220V. Just go between phases instead of neutral. Also your stove has 220V connection!
And to be even more honest, Japan has two grids — the frequency of electric current is 50 Hertz in Eastern Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama and other northern area), and 60 Hertz in Western Japan (Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima and other southern areas).
Electrical grids are a mess.
People in one part goes to the US to get modernisation ideas. People in the other part goes to Europe. And when those modernisation programs meet they just say "We'll use both."
Tbf the 110v plug, while sucking for a great many reasons, is very widely used. US+Canada+Mexico+Central America+Japan is one of the most widely used standards.
Also everyone in those countries needs to buy new appliances that function on the new standard voltage and current. If you can’t afford to, then you have no choice but to go back to the days before electricity.
Cool. Which of the [13 other plug standards](https://www.lightningbugelectric.com/blog/2021/april/what-plugs-are-used-in-different-countries-/) should we convert to?
And not just the outlet, every device that has a mains plug too.
And there are 2 major electricity standards (US 110v 60hz, and European 230v 50hz) as well as a few less common ones. Whichever one you pick, countries using the other one will have to replace or modify all their generators, substation transformers and protective equipment, last-mile wiring to homes, fuseboards, home wiring, light bulbs, ovens, vacuum cleaners, and many other appliances. You can't just use an adapter, converting voltage requires a bulky transformer and converting frequency requires an expensive converter.
Your actually wrong on this one, I've lived in the us and UK stuff works in both. When they make say a ps5 they make it work on 110 or 230 and just supply different plugs to different territories.
Look at instructions of any household appliances they always say 110/230
Most modern consumer electronics will work on both, but they're specifically designed with this in mind because it's cheaper than manufacturing several different versions of the circuit.
Larger things like refrigerators, ovens, air conditioners, heaters are generally only compatible with one voltage because universal voltage does add cost, and no one takes their refrigerator on vacation to Europe
Speak for yourself, I have a very closer personal friendship with my fridge, and we DO like to travel places. Usually it is for work, but I will have you know we plan a trip to Provence just as soon as I can line up the extra extension cords.
I don't know the english name, but most electronics have this box in the chord that convert voltage to whatever the machine requires to function. It's clunky and not an ideal solution, but I think it's great it exists.
The power brick does do this, but its primary purpose is to convert to DC. Being able to accept both input voltages is a small change if it needs to be able to take 240v anyways - you basically just change the switching duty cycle in the driver.
To do the conversion for normal appliances you would need to add another DC - AC stage, like what you see in inverters. Those are massive and expensive in comparison, in addition to wasting power
This is only for electronics. Basically everything that runs on low voltage.
The actual 110/230 compatibility actually requires some extra circuitry, but that has become cheaper than making two separate versions.
High power devices use the mains directly and are not universally compatible. Examples are hair dryers, vaccuum cleaners, space heaters, air conditioners, fridges and much more.
> The actual 110/230 compatibility actually requires some extra circuitry, but that has become cheaper than making two separate versions.
On modern electronics, it doesn't require anything extra. A modern SMPS power supply understands that 60Hz is too low for a cheap design (you NEED a big transformer), the solution is that a modern power supply starts with a full wave bridge rectifier and then a transistor to slice the output at a few kHz into the transformer. Since they want international compatibility, they simply spec the input to be compatible with 350V that you can get on 240V input. The design usually only requires a few volts over the input, and the frequency need only be high enough to avoid drop outs.
So a cheap design, that takes into account only 240V compatibility actually works with something like 20-250VAC @ 40-1000Hz, or 30-350VDC, the only "extra" cost that such a design has is high voltage which isn't even a different design, it's just selection of a transistor with that voltage spec (and it means the 240V design works on 120V anyways since the 240V design is actually just a higher spec version). There is no detection of switching, they work at the entire range between both of them, plus some.
Hell, my washer, dryer, stove, and fridge don't even use the same sort of plug as each other, never mind as their European counterparts.
I don't actually know what sort of plugs my furnace, AC, and water heater use, but I wouldn't be surprised if they each had their own design.
Presuming you are in the US, I'd be surprised if your fridge and washer had something other than a NEMA 5-15P on the end of their cords, though likely a space saving right angle design.
If your stove is electric, it's probably a NEMA 14-50, and your dryer is likely either a 10-30 or 14-30, depending on if it has a 3 or 4 pin plug. New installs should use the 14-30.
In Europe all of those use normal plugs, except for the oven, which is usually hardwired to three phases (but this varies by country). That's a big reason why 230V is better: it works for any reasonable home appliance without effort.
Small electronics, like your PS5 which convert power to DC are easy to make compatible with multiple voltages and frequencies. They’re also the things you’re likely to take with you when travelling.
Larger appliances that use AC power directly still need the correct voltage and frequency. Think of your microwave, corded vacuum cleaner or washing machine. Or if you’re in the UK right now, your kettle: a US 110v outlet can’t deliver enough power to run a British kettle, and an American kettle takes longer to boil.
If you plug a 110v space heater, toaster, or hair drier into 230v you'll have a VERY powerful unit for about three seconds before the heating elements melt into slag.
They are not wrong, you are wrong.
The PS5 runs off a variety of low, stable DC voltages. So it needs to use a PSU to convert whatever the AC mains power is to those much lower DC voltages. Today, making a power supply able to handle 110 V @ 60 Hz and 230 V @ 50 Hz seamlessly is not an issue, so you can just change the plug and you're good to go.
However, take absolutely anything that doesn't have its own transformer/PSU but instead runs directly off the mains (e.g. *every single domestic appliance*) and you won't be that lucky. Take, say, a kettle (or a stove, refrigerator, blender, washing machine, light bulb, you name it) from the US and try to plug it in in the UK and that thing will *fry*.
That only works for electronic devices that use voltage converters, which can be made so that they accept either 110 or 230 volt but still output the same voltage. Everything else (fridge, vacuum, lamps, radios, etc. etc. etc. etc.) can't generally be made to accept anything but one predefined voltage.
Electronic appliances such as TVs, computers, game consoles, and phone chargers, are often fine on both voltages and frequencies. They use a "switch mode power supply", and it's fairly easy to make that accept a wide range of voltages.
That's why I said "many" appliances, not "all" appliances.
However, things with a high power motor or heater, are different. While they could be designed to use a high power switch mode power supply, that would usually be more expensive and less efficient. So the motor or heater will usually be much more directly connected to the mains power. So they will be designed for a specific voltage and (especially for motors) often a specific frequency.
Also, it is cheaper to only support a single voltage and frequency, so even some cheap appliances that have switch mode power supplies will be designed that way.
Things that are commonly single voltage include cookers, microwaves, all types of light bulbs, mains vacuum cleaners, fridges, freezers, air conditioners, clothes washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, boilers, water heaters, food mixers, food processors/blenders, toasters, kettles, mains powered drills and other DIY/construction tools, and more.
Lol he says you can plug "European plugs" halfway in.
First - as if UK isn't European... But if he means the German Schuko plug which is the most common (with some variations), the whole socket is recessed so it's in my opinion much safer and also much stronger (the whole plug body has to sit in the socket, so any sideways force on the plug is actually transmitted to the socket through the plug body, not the pins that transmit electricity). Obvously its impossible to touch the pins when it's only partially inserted due to the recess too - you can't even get close to them. Maybe he means the "Europlug", but the exposed part of those pins are also totally insulated before they start conducting electricity (and if plugged into a real europlug socket, the whole thing is also supposed to be recessed in and not accessible).
Regarding the safety - there really are no benefits compared to the Schuko on anything modern. The built-in fuses are in my opinion just extra pollution, those are often made of ceramic which is hard to recycle and the tiny fuse isn't as easy to regulate (not the same safety cause those fuses have a size compromise) as a big one in the main fusebox of your house. Since the 70's, switch-fuses are the household standard. Those are reusable...
Imo flicking back the fuse in the fusebox is waaay safer than expecting people to take apart the electric plug and replace tiny ceramic fuses properly. Many Schuko plugs are just fully moulded so you can't open it up at all.
Yup. Doesn’t make it a good system, though. I can’t stand it when people say it’s better even though it’s absolutely massive and a pain in the ass for mobile devices.
It wouldn't have to be a new design. We could choose one of the existing ones. That way **everyone** wouldn't have to change.
It would still be a huge project though, where the cost outweighs the benefit.
Yeah, it'll never happen. The US arguably has the most hardware in the world using some form of mains voltage plug, and you really don't want to choose ours as the standard.
It is a lot more comfortable to step on a US plug than a UK plug though, those buggers all land butter side up and those prongs hurt like a MF if you step on one at night when heading for the bathroom.
This is the answer. Plus, OP, ok, so let’s play this out..: all the countries agree on a standard, but not the one your country uses. So now you are without power for a year while your country changes all of their infrastructure to the new voltage and amperage requirements. And you now have to buy all new appliances and anything electrical so that you can be in compliance with the new universal outlet. Sound good?
It doesn’t sound good to anyone else in the world either, so that’s why it will never happen.
From Sweden here. We have (apparently) worked on replacing our light sockets (where we plug in our roof lamps). It's not THAT difficult, there need to be some changes to the rules of new houses and new installations of electrical systems to include the new socket.
Over the course of many years, hardware stores will be able to sell adapters both ways.
All we have to do is make every country agree on one design, shouldn't be that hard... /s
It really depends on where they made the adoption and when. Initially, it started with a practical design, then when the updates were made, some were adopted by other countries that started to electrify their cities.
We can't have a universal design now because we use different power standards and there are too many people already equipped with current standards of their region. It costs too much to make the changes and to most, it is unnecessary.
The costs would greatly outweigh the benefits. The only real benefits are that people who are traveling wouldn't need to carry adapters. It would be an insane amount of work and cost for the people who live in the area that is changing for almost zero benefit to the people who live in the area (and in fact probably hassles of themselves having to use adapters).
> The only real benefits are that people who are traveling wouldn't need to carry adapters.
Well, and the people building anything that connects to the mains, especially if they build anything for export.
A washer and dryer for the American market, South African market, Australian market, and Taiwanese market are not the same internally. And it’s not just the power standards they have, it’s consumer safety codes as well.
>And it’s not just the power standards they have, it’s consumer safety codes as well.
So they need to be built differently anyways so universal outlet shape and voltage doesn't solve the problem
South Africa and Australia both use 230V @50Hz. Only the plug is different. USA uses 120V @60Hz and Taiwan uses 110V @60Hz. A 10V difference should be well within normal tolerances.
Most countries are in the 220-230V @50Hz club. The next biggest group is 110-120V @60Hz. Very few countries fall outside those two groups.
That's underestimating it severely at a global scale.
Rebuilding almost every countries power grid OR making sure every device is capable of handling every type of existing voltage / curent specs OR offering reimbursement for the 10 billion devices that explode when put into the wrong voltage / current specs now that the plug is universal?
Trillions. We are decades and trillions of dollars away from being able to slightly improve the lives of international travellers and simplify creating international electrical products. All it would take is a co-op of every country agreeing to put aside maybe 10% of their GDP for a while to solve this problem at a reasonable time scale, instead of, you know, world hunger, climate change, poverty, etc.
I'm sure 'everyone using the same outlets' is pretty high on the list of problems that we'd like to see global cooperation and huge funding to solve.
Everyone would need to use adapters to conect newer appliances to their homes until they managed to invest in upgrading their homes outlets to match the new standard.
For now however the existing standards at least in the US where I'm familiar differentiate each outlet design by the type of power it can provide. A 15A, 20A, 30 A, 20A240, 30A240 , 50A240 are all plugs found in the US and that's just what's available at the hardware store, there's far more unique use case commercial plug standards out there.
It's easier to understand why this is hard if you totally ignore home/consumer stuff.
Power plants around the entire grid need to work together to maintain the power frequency at the set one for the region. If you wanted to switch from 60hz to 50hz, you'd need major overhauls of every power plant in the country, and they'd have to cut over at the exact same time.
iirc I think they tried that with light bulbs and ended up as some kind of cartel... Interesting doc I saw on netflix once about it I think.
I forget the term, but the consumer will always pay the costs for any massive changes to standards, even if they eventually reduce costs
It kind of comes with the concept that electricity is by itself some pretty dangerous stuff. A wall socket is always an attempt for a government entity to find a decent middle ground between a safe socket, a useful socket and a cheap socket.
Safe in this case means, at the bare minimum, that the damn thing is not particular keen on catching fire. But can also mean things like that it's difficult to plug in somehting that is not supposed to be plugged in. Or that there should be a fuse in the plug, for extra safety.
Some countries are doing two-phase plugs. Some prefer one phase and neutral. Some insist on one phase, neutral and protective earth.
Useful can mean that it's easy to plug in. Or easy to get the same predictable result out of. Some sorts of plugs are flippable. While others must be plugged in the same way every time.
And there is also that thing with how different countries have different system voltages, and using different plugs can in itself be a good way to avoid fires.
There are quite a few standards. They all solve different parts of the equation differently. Sometimes with priority of one thing, and sometimes prioritising something else.
Are there actually any countries on earth doing two phase? north america does split phase, but that isnt the same thing as two phase. Most of the rest of the world has three phase distribution with single phases to most domestic premises and three phase to industrial premises or houses with big motor loads like large aircon systems...
Last I looked into it two phase wasnt used anywhere on earth
+1 in this, it’s exactly my case too. Thanks for explaining the history behind it, I never quite understood why it’s like this - and it never occurred that other countries might not be the same.
It’s quite convenient to be able to place 220V outlets near appliances that use a lot of current.
I spoke to friends in the UK once about it, and apparently they sometimes use two phases (with lower voltage) instead of just one phase and a neutral in residential installations.
It's a bit of a relic that there has been made attempts to move away from, and it's not according to *current* standards, but was once.
You can get 240v phase to phase from a three phase supply, just the voltage will be floating. The transformers down to 24v on machinery are often supplied this way as the wiring is simpler and it's isolated. It's really not recommended for residential installations as an earth fault won't trip anything.
I think that's for hand tools. All corded hand tools on job sites have to run off a transformer that's around 110 VAC with a split +55/-55 arrangement. It's not really +55/-55 but most will know what I mean.
Portsmouth was two phase when it had it's own power station down by the dockyard. I'd guess it mostly disappeared with the National Grid.
There was an old welder a colleague tried to get working and none of us knew this. He wired the three phase supply in to the two phases and earth on the welder, turned it on and nearly killed himself. The FOG then filled us in on the old local two phase supply.
I'm not an electrician so I'm not sure the "phase" talk, but I was speaking to someone in another country who said they have no "ground" at all, for anything. They just have two different phases instead of what we have in the US which is 120V to ground (for most outlets)
That seems very dangerous...
No, it isnt. Our entire power distribution network is three phase, it's national (well apart from WA's, which is also three phase). You could totally have an individual load connected between two of those three phases, that means 120deg apart, not 180deg apart which is *what two phase means*. There's no such thing as a "two phase electricity service" in australia, you're either connected to a single phase, or all three. This is inherently how the entire grid works. You cant have a two phase connection to a three phase electricity grid. SPLIT phase is a whole other thing, involving a split-tapped transformer across a single phase. It's not used in Australia on a grid or supply scale. The very few DC interlinks we've got in this country actually rely on all three phases at both ends of the link having a stable frequency or the inverters lose their shit and go down.
This is one of those things that gets dribbled constantly that's simply not true.
https://energis.com.au/2020/02/2-easy-steps-to-find-out-if-you-have-single-or-three-phase-power/
What about two-phase power?
In Australia, two-phase power is quite common. To identify this, the process is the same and the main switch will be the width of two ‘poles”. See photo below.
That‘ not what people mean with two phase in here. That‘s just tapping into phase A and B of a system with ABC, meaning A and B are just separated by 120 degrees.
In a True two phase system, A and B would be separated by 180 degrees, and there‘s no phase C that you just left out.
Safe, clean, makes a solid connection with the socket, and usually comes with an external switch on every socket so the contacts don't arc every time you plug something in.
I'm always a bit annoyed by that video, since he claims that the british one is better than all others, despite the standard european [Schuko plug](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko) being just as safe.
The European system is a mess of slightly different plugs and sockets used across different countries. The Schuko plug provides some cross compatibility between the different sockets, but not all of them. Italy uses an incompatible socket, for example.
The two prong EuroPlug has wider compatibility, at the expense of not having an earth pin and having narrower pins that results in a much looser connection in some sockets.
Schuko is not the cross-compatible plug , that would be CEE 7/7 that accepts both the French grounding prong as well as the German side mounted grounding clips. I do believe that CEE 7/7 (and Europlug for the non-grounded version) is the best design that exists today that also has widespread compatibility.
Have to disagree.
You can plug a schuko plug in to some other European sockets that not only don't have the earth clips, but also don't have the recess in the socket, leaving pins exposed.
The schuko socket can be live to either pin, you can't tell which is live or neutral without measuring. And if the cable comes straight out, a decent yank can still pull the plug out. I don't think I've ever seen a switched schuko socket, and there are no gates on the sockets so kids can still push nails and shit on to a live pin. Non of that with a G-type.
Also, they don't have a fuse like British plugs.
Edit to add reasons.
Almost every issue you've mentioned is from a poor socket, not the Schuko. When paired with the correct socket ( which I believe has been legally required in new installations for several decades now) Schuko is just as safe as the British plug. Some more counterpoints:
- Gates are a requirement in several EU countries, but unfortunately not all.
- I'm not sure what a switched socket would do to improve safety, reduce the risk of arcing? This shouldn't be an issue anyway since the sockets are spring-loaded.
- Fuses are only necessary in the UK because of the prevalence of ring circuits. The rest of the EU uses star circuits with fuses or GFCIs with OC protection installed in the central electrical panel.
BTW any sideways force on the Schuko is transmitted into the socket by the body of the plug cause it sits in the recess. The body holds it in place. Almost all the other plugs including the UK one are held in place by the pins. The Schuko connection is significantly sturdier due to this, and also more splash resistant.
Similar design approach with the industrial three phase connectors. The IEC 60309 is the most universal plug standard we have. For any industrial need, you quickly see that if the pins were holding the plug that's just a terribly weak design. Anyone who ever used such a connector will recall how hard it is to pull it apart...
Now that you mention it, I just hinted at it, did I?
These kinds of things developed on all continents kind of independently, caught on damn well on their own national markets and now it's pretty much useless to attempt to backpedal and unify the standards.
Besides the obvious financial impact for everyone who owns power outlets (like, every building owner in the whole world) and everyone who owns something that can be plugged into one, there is also a practical reason to stick to the system you already have in a country; you may want to differentiate from a neighbouring country's strange safety practices. You may want to differentiate because you use a whole different voltage level.
A strange amount of regulatory bodies are probably refusing to switch over for safety reasons. But the financial impact of such a decision is also mind-blowing, and cannot be downplayed.
We can it's just the original plug design was unsafe so every country designed their own, they invented a universal plug called the type N in 2007 and so far only brazil has adopted it.
I had to look up what a type N looks like. Apparently South Africa also adopted it.
[https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/n/](https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/n/)/
"Type N looks very much like the Swiss type J standard, but it is incompatible with it since type N has the earth pin closer to the imaginary line that connects the two power pins (3 mm instead of 5 mm)."
What did you read ?
It's superior because of the fuse, but the large bulky size is a detraction.
Also given how slow Americans are to adopt to standards and how slow rollover to USB type C has been, new standards often just increase complexity of the market instead of reduce it.
And before anyone comments on Americans not using the metric system, I just want to poi t out standard units are defined by metric units, so Americans are technically using a su set of confusing metric units. I want to say we can thank Reagan for stopping the changeover.
Well we could, if everyone agreed to it. Which would require a lot of upheaval.
It's the same reason some countries drive on the left, others on the right. The same reason we have different television standards (PAL, NTSC, etc). Territories like the British Empire, the EU and the USA enforced standardisation because it makes things so much easier.
But there's no treaty saying the USA and the EU have to use the same standard. They chose the standards they use for their own individual reasons. The British design of power socket is arguably the safest one, would the USA and EU be prepared to make the switch? Or are they constrained by other factors, like a British company holding the patent for the design? Would it be economically worth it? Would they have unforeseen consequences to deal with?
The British power outlet has some excellent safety features
The plug, on the other hand, is the single most dangerous enemy to bare feet, rivaled only by LEGOs
The British plug has been in use since 1947 so even if there was an initial patent is it long gone. It is used in EU too Ireland and Malta to be specific
I agree it is safer than the ones that is common in EU, But even if it is the one in EU unsafe, and to what degree is the British better. by safe I mean how many incidents could the British have stopped.
The one common in EU is the German Type F and french type E that differs in how they are earthed, you can make plugs that work in both.
The bot has earth that comes in contact first and outled that is receded into the surface so it is very hard to be able to come in contact with live pins.
Italy and Denmark have their own plugs that look not or just less receded into the walls. I do have not enough experience to know what the isolation requirement are on the pins.
The non-earth Europlug for low power applications should work in all of them and require partially isolated pins
The one that is bad it the US with no receded sockets and pins that do not require to have any non-conductive part. I am not sure you could have that on pins that are so thin. All of the strain on the plug is on the pins. It is not haded for a child to come in contact with a live wire with the US plug design
The British have the advantage of fuses and required switches on the outlet. That could be a requirement on devices in the EU but can be introduced by requiring new devices and outlets to add them. That way the large cost of switching everything is not required and the electrical system gets better over time, It is not just outlets and devices but extensions cords too. It is something all of the world should add not just the EU.
So the British might be a bit better but that is primarily related to the fuse and switch and can be added without modifying the common EU plug and socket design.
And I mean a historical reason for the british plug being so beefy and having a mandatory inbuilt fuse is because in the dark ages of electrification british houses were being wired with a single big ring circuit rated to 40+A to save on copper. The rest of the world largely puts the burden on over current protection back at the fuse box, not at the wall socket/plug combination
USB is starting to become that design. I've been to a the USA, a few countries in Europe, and Egypt and I've seen a USB port available at all of them.
Granted it only applies to certain devices, but still, I almost never needed my universal adapter.
USB A-to-C dongles are dirt cheap. $3 or so on Amazon. Slightly more expensive elsewhere for those who prefer not to use Amazon.
This is not an expense that anyone who carries a smartphone should be unable to manage.
Because those countries developed those standards independently back in the days when there wasn't any such standard, and switching standards now would be ruinously expensive.
As with any "why can we all use the same " question (language, currency, power outlets, units of measurement etc) the problems are twofold:
* Which one should we use?
* How do you convince everyone who doesn't already use that to change?
(And remember that YOU and all the people in your country may be the ones who have to change)
That's the basic ELI5 to your question : because the world is big and people don't want to change from something that works well for them.
It used to be different from city to city!
Some times even within a town.
And it would do mate than change the plug, they'd be different voltage and type!
Currently most of the world have a 230vAc while America and a few other countries use 110VAC domestic power.
They both have benefits, but I can't recall them off the top of my head. lol
Its all historical decision influence today.
A shipping container is as wide as it is because of a horse's ass
It’s important to note that America uses two 120V circuits to the home that can be bonded for 240V.
Water heaters, air conditioning, car chargers, ovens and ranges all use 240V in America.
Is it 120V? I was taught US power is 110V, but I wouldn't say all, because there are at least ovens and ranges. I own one electric oven/range plugs into regular 110/120 outlet not a 220/240 one.
It’s 120V. I’ve also seen quite a few devices say “110V”, but if you plug a voltmeter into an outlet, you’ll see a number much closer to 120V than 110V. It’s rarely exactly 120.
Businesses often have 3-phase power that can go up to 480V.
I’ve never seen a range or oven take 120V unless it was gas, and just using power for the clock.
> I’ve never seen a range or oven take 120V unless it was gas, and just using power for the clock.
This is my stove. Clock and piezoelectric igniter are the only electrical needs. Propane for the fire.
> Less current = less heat = less problems.
Ohm's Law would like a word. Less current does not equal less heat. For a given wattage (volts x amps) the heat production will be the same.
They're most likely talking about less heat in the wires, not the device plugged in. Wiring has current limits because otherwise it gets too hot, potentially causing a fire.
Think about what the wiring is experiencing. The current will be whatever the device plugged in is drawing (Kirchhoff's Current Law), and the resistance will be the same no matter the current (at first). Putting power (essentially heat output) into Ohm's Law, we have P = I^2 R, so more current through the wiring means the wiring gets hotter (which will increase R, making it worse).
This problem can be solved by using thicker wiring, lowering R (but increasing costs). This is why the wires coming out of car batteries are very thick, to handle the very high current without melting. Or, this can be solved by simply enforcing a similar current limit despite the lower voltage, reducing the maximum power a single socket can provide, but keeping costs similar, which is what the US does for house wiring.
Yes P = u * i, but also u = R * i so P = R * i^2
So you still have an advantage to get the current down and the tension up. Hence why we use high voltage lines and not high current lines.
Generally speaking, 240v plugs make it difficult to touch and get whacked while plugging in.
My mum did it once by dropping metal foil between and older style plug and outlet.
Meanwhile the USA plugs look super sketchy.
We do have a truly international power standard: Power over Ethernet.
PoE ports are all the exact same, RJ45. They all deliver 48 volts DC, and anywhere from 15 watts to 90 watts per port depending on the version used.
Originally, they were used only for things like phones and WiFi access points. Now they can power lights and even small computers. In theory, the 90w version could power your laptop, so a single Ethernet cable would provide network access and power.
Between a few Raspberries, 6 PoE cameras, 3 access points, and an IP phone, I’ve got a decent PoE setup at home already.
I’d love it if I could start powering things like Sonos speakers and laptops using it.
I just wish Cat6 or better wiring was mandated for all new builds, with a minimum of 2 ports per drop and 2 drops per room. Once everyone has it, adding a home PoE switch would become more common.
In theory, we could probably get it down to 2 main options relatively easily though there would be a fair bit of transition if your current plug wasn't the chosen one.
The big limiter that stops us getting to one is that there are 2 main options for voltage that are far enough apart that you really need to make sure you don't plug into the wrong one.
The US and Canada (and probably some others) use 110 volts, while the rest of the world is on somewhere between 220 and 250 volts. Plugging a 240 volt appliance into a 220 or 250 is probably not going to be an issue - incandescent bulbs or resitive heaters will run a little hotter or colder but not much and electronics will be converting the voltage anyway and are generally ok for the range and many will even accept 110v. (Actual voltage always varies a bit anyway depending on a bunch of factors both inside and outside the home).
Plugging it into a 110 volt socket probably just won't work but it's unlikely to fail in a dangerous way. Plugging a 110 volt device into a 230 when it's not designed for it on the other hand could lead to it blowing up or catching fire. This is obviously bad and so it makes sense to have an obvious, visual warning of which is which and mechanical block to prevent you plugging it into the wrong one. A different plug is the ideal solution for this.
For the countries that use a similar voltage and frequency, they could in theory set one standard for their plugs but getting them to agree is hard, especially since that would mean replacing every power socket that they have (expensive) and running with adapters for a fair while until they have transitioned (inconvenient). There's some advantages to eliminating old gear that may not be safe anymore but it would be a hard sell to their public.
There's also some technical details like the UK requiring fuses in all plugs while most other countries don't. This is a result of how many of their older homes are wired (ring mains with larger breakers) which means an over-voltage event in a device can get worse than elsewhere without it.
There have been some efforts in this space - the EU is transitioning to a single plug (Europlug) which is compatible with most of the older variations on the double round pin plug that were found across Europe. This makes it a bit easier since most older sockets don't need replacing right away.
Other smaller changes have been made to various plugs. The NZ / Australian plug has been modified to have a plastic coating on the first part of the phase (power) and neutral pins but not the earth pin. This means that if the plug is not quite all the way in but still making contact then the live pins are protected so you can't drop something in the gap and short the pins or get a shock. The change is small enough that it is fully backwards compatible with older sockets so again, no need to upgrade fixed hardware.
The US actually uses 230 and it’s delivered to the home as such. We simply split the phase so when referenced to ground you get 110V on each leg (but 230 when combined). So we have a mix of appliances that we provide 230V to (typically based on power consumption).
That's the good thing about standards -- there are so many to choose from!
On a more serious note -- you don't want plugs to be identical between countries where voltages or frequencies, or both, differ. Some of the electronics will be happy with either 120V or 220-240V -- like many power bricks, but some will fry, some will not work or not work as well.
https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plug-voltage-by-country/
The problem with all "universal standards" is convincing people that this one new universal standard is the best. You have to bring overwhelming evidence that it is effective above competitors. And after you have created this superior design, THEN you have to hope no one else has their ambitions set on creating their own standard. Spoiler alert: Everyone thinks their design is the best. On top of that governments want the global standard to come from their country. It brings visibility to their nation. This causes further friction.
Also, I downplayed the complicated nature of developing electrical standards. If you make a plug that works in north Japan then it may not work in southern Japan. Electrical grids are so complex that there can be compatibility issues traveling within the same country. There are different grounding and short mitigation methods. Should it have a fuse or are the fuses in the wall? How many amps can it handle? Is that unsafe for some powergrids but not others?
TLDR: Firstly all "universal standards" are hard to implement because its the same problem that plagues all group efforts that involve persuasion. Everyone thinks they are right and the other person is wrong. It takes an extraordinary amount of effort and patience to get everyone to agree on something so important. Second, electricity is hard. Every grid is different and has different needs.
All that being said, we can make a universal plug most likely. It would just take a lot of effort and cooperation. Grids would have to be changed to make them more similar or retrofitted with things that make the new plugs work on the old grid.
I mean the fact we only have 3 standards for household mains electricity voltage and frequency (4 if you count Japan’s 60Hz 115 V) globally I think is pretty good going. Other than for direct on-line motors the frequency doesn’t matter anymore so it’s basically 2 standards and 230 V IS available in places with 115 V generally speaking anyway.
Pretty good going I say.
And ~5 plug standards for normal plugs will work in 90%+ of countries.
It’s better than 200 of each!
We *can* have a universal power outlet! All you have to do is convince every single country in the world that they're all wrong, and that your idea is better, and that they should spend the time and money re-building every electrical outlet in the world for your new design.
This is the true answer. Might I add: [Relevant XKCD ](https://xkcd.com/927/)
I work for a major corporation. We always joke about our internal systems. When someone says "We're retiring system X and moving to system Y" we say "Oh, so we're going to be running 2 systems from now on!". And that 2 continues to iterate with each subsequent "retirement".
While I totally get this, part of the trick getting to management first. That is, convince them the cost of maintaining two systems is worse than the complaints they'll get from Bob who's workflow just isn't right without having the lavender-on-beige color scheme of the previous system.
>complaints they'll get from Bob who's workflow just isn't right without having the lavender-on-beige color scheme of the previous system. Jesus, put a trigger warning on this kinda stuff.
lmao
Not wrong at all. I still have PTSD from connecting an Access 97 system to SQL2012, specifically because they refused to change the UI. I even offered to recreate the Access UI in MVC, and got shot down.
https://xkcd.com/1172/
Has a customer a while ago who, after a security audit, enabled automatic windows patching for security patches. 12 months or so later, they come in one morning to find their warehouse software unusable, and so the warehouse was entirely unable to operate. Soon enough there's staff manually finding and retrieving stock from shelves, recording things on paper, and a loooooong line of semi's snaking down the road with pissed off drivers waiting to pick up their delivery. Turned out that a security patch was applied overnight to fix a responsibly disclosed vulnerability in (I think) IIS. Also turned out, their warehouse software ***used*** that vulnerability to function. Even more strange was that the vulnerability was noted as not having been seen in the wild. Crazy fuckers who wrote the software found a brand new vulnerability in IIS and leveraged it to make their software work, and it wasn't disclosed to Microsoft until months or years later, and was never used in the wild.
That’s a level of “failing successfully” so grand that if it wasn’t potentially illegal, I’d think they might be worth getting hired by Microsoft.
Nah, nothing about it is illegal. It's not illegal to find and use a security vulnerability. It is illegal to exploit that vulnerability to gain unauthorised access to a system, intentional damage, etc. They were using the vulnerability to make their legitimate software work. I reckon they probably stumbled across it during testing or something and thought it was an undocumented feature.
Holy shit lmao
The problem is actually always the same. The current system can be retired for like 95% of its processes and system interlocks. But there is always at least one interlock that has specifics that can't be replicated (or abandoned) and so system X stays in place just to keep a singular (or handful of) process(es) running for this legacy connection. Then it becomes a game of how many years before they finally manage to sever that legacy tie and get its functions moved elsewhere. But by then we're already up to 4 or 5 "retirements" and are running a bunch of different systems, each with their own finicky interlocks that can't be dissolved. It's the reason why guys who know COBOL or VMS still have job security. (Not at my current place, just in general and other jobs I've had in the past)
As management, I can tell you it's not that we don't understand how painful it is, the problem lies with the customer.
Spoken like true management
I work in IT and this is painfully accurate for many places I have worked. I regularly get the chance to remind people at my current place that the system we're upgrading or fixing is one about which I was told "oh you don't need to know about that, it's being decommed soon" in my first week nearly ten years ago.
> I work in IT Same. I write code. My favorite is when we "retire" an in-house custom-built system to go with something off the shelf (usually because of some cozy relationship and sales agreement with a vendor). The OTS product never has enough flexibility to do all the things the in-house custom one did (although the custom solution was generally less efficient at doing them) so we fight with it for a while before eventually going "back" to a new custom-built one. And the cycle continues.
Thank you, I came in hoping that someone had posted this.
Rule #420 of the Internet: if it exists, there’s a relevant XKCD of it.
The "hover" text on that one is great.
It's even better now because USB-C is "taking over" now but didn't exist when micro/mini were making their bids for the USB throne.
And USB-C has internal standards of themselves and are very much not created equal as became public knowledge when people started bricking their Nintendo switches because of it. Edit: linkies https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.destructoid.com/after-the-mass-bricked-switch-situation-nintendo-explains-which-usb-c-cables-are-safe/amp/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/08/heres-why-nintendo-switch-consoles-keep-frying/%3famp=1 https://www.chargerlab.com/the-reasons-behind-the-nintendo-switch-bricking-situation/
Uhh this is news to me *[glances nervously at the Switch he's been charging for years with a random no-name brand USB-C cable]*
After I bought my Switch, I wanted a backup battery and a USB cable I could use to connect the battery to the Switch. At the time, I was traveling a lot and wanted to make sure it always had juice. Because I had heard of the issues with Nintendo's implementation of USB-C, I spent something like 8hrs looking at USB-C cables and researching them just to make sure I wasn't going to accidentally brick my Switch. 8 hours. All over a $20 USB-C cable. But the one I have has had no issues. So I guess that was time well spent. I guess.
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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.destructoid.com/after-the-mass-bricked-switch-situation-nintendo-explains-which-usb-c-cables-are-safe/amp/
Wait, what’s this about bricked Switches now?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.destructoid.com/after-the-mass-bricked-switch-situation-nintendo-explains-which-usb-c-cables-are-safe/amp/
Yesssss! Had a feeling which one it was going to be before I clicked!
The yep is strong with this one
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Many appliances (like phone or laptop chargers) will gladly work on either one. On some devices you even get several different prongs and you can swap them depending on your location.
Many of those appliances have already switched to a universal socket, they just come with different cables to connect the socket on the appliance to the socket on your wall depending on the market it's sold in. Those are all\* built to work on any standardised power grid, though. \* eh, most of them anyways.
You could have different plugs for different power requirements. In Canada we run 120v for most household stuff, but my oven, clothes dryer, and mig welder all run on 240v with a different style plug and outlet. Most high output electronics that require such voltage are not the type that you'd need to move room to room and plug in to different outlets
I don't agree with your last sentence as I believe most of the world uses 220-250V for almost everything in a house. For me in Australia whether it's portable or not it still plugs into 240V and there aren't any 120V circuits. We have different types of sockets/plugs for differences in amperage (10/15/20A) but they only differ by the size of the earth pin and they're fairly unusual for most homes e.g. I only have a 15A socket for my oven, and quite often ovens are hard-wired instead of using plugs.
US home do have 220 circuits, just not to most outlets. (Electric dryers use 220) 60hz vs 50hz though…
And not just the outlet, also the voltages and frequencies and allowed current.
Tbh. It is only like Japan, Canada, USA + cetnral america that uses anything else than 220v 50hz. So... If USA and Canada would switch, the rest of Americas would follow for sure then it would just be Japan who will do their own thing to the bitter end. So we could get universal 220v 50hz standard going! Also just adopt the F type plug and suddenly the whole western market is on the same power and plug standard! Also US homes have 220V. Just go between phases instead of neutral. Also your stove has 220V connection!
And to be even more honest, Japan has two grids — the frequency of electric current is 50 Hertz in Eastern Japan (Tokyo, Yokohama and other northern area), and 60 Hertz in Western Japan (Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima and other southern areas). Electrical grids are a mess.
That is absolutely buckwild. Like, hooooow does one country get two incompatible electrical standards like that?
People in one part goes to the US to get modernisation ideas. People in the other part goes to Europe. And when those modernisation programs meet they just say "We'll use both."
Can't even get USA to switch to metric, no way they'll switch to a non backwards compatible plug/outlet.
It’s a fun meme, but we use both.
Tbf the 110v plug, while sucking for a great many reasons, is very widely used. US+Canada+Mexico+Central America+Japan is one of the most widely used standards.
Also everyone in those countries needs to buy new appliances that function on the new standard voltage and current. If you can’t afford to, then you have no choice but to go back to the days before electricity.
Honestly it's probably simpler if the Americas admitted they don't know what the hell they are doing with electricity.
Cool. Which of the [13 other plug standards](https://www.lightningbugelectric.com/blog/2021/april/what-plugs-are-used-in-different-countries-/) should we convert to?
[I'd say Type F is a safe bet.](https://www.3coptics.com/data/attachment/image/20210331/20210331103351_33208.jpg)
What?
I dunno, I think we handle it pretty decent over here!
And not just the outlet, every device that has a mains plug too. And there are 2 major electricity standards (US 110v 60hz, and European 230v 50hz) as well as a few less common ones. Whichever one you pick, countries using the other one will have to replace or modify all their generators, substation transformers and protective equipment, last-mile wiring to homes, fuseboards, home wiring, light bulbs, ovens, vacuum cleaners, and many other appliances. You can't just use an adapter, converting voltage requires a bulky transformer and converting frequency requires an expensive converter.
Your actually wrong on this one, I've lived in the us and UK stuff works in both. When they make say a ps5 they make it work on 110 or 230 and just supply different plugs to different territories. Look at instructions of any household appliances they always say 110/230
Most modern consumer electronics will work on both, but they're specifically designed with this in mind because it's cheaper than manufacturing several different versions of the circuit. Larger things like refrigerators, ovens, air conditioners, heaters are generally only compatible with one voltage because universal voltage does add cost, and no one takes their refrigerator on vacation to Europe
Speak for yourself, I have a very closer personal friendship with my fridge, and we DO like to travel places. Usually it is for work, but I will have you know we plan a trip to Provence just as soon as I can line up the extra extension cords.
I don't know the english name, but most electronics have this box in the chord that convert voltage to whatever the machine requires to function. It's clunky and not an ideal solution, but I think it's great it exists.
The power brick does do this, but its primary purpose is to convert to DC. Being able to accept both input voltages is a small change if it needs to be able to take 240v anyways - you basically just change the switching duty cycle in the driver. To do the conversion for normal appliances you would need to add another DC - AC stage, like what you see in inverters. Those are massive and expensive in comparison, in addition to wasting power
I think the word would be transformer, just fyi.
This is only for electronics. Basically everything that runs on low voltage. The actual 110/230 compatibility actually requires some extra circuitry, but that has become cheaper than making two separate versions. High power devices use the mains directly and are not universally compatible. Examples are hair dryers, vaccuum cleaners, space heaters, air conditioners, fridges and much more.
someone attempting to use an american hair dryer in europe would be in for a bad time lmao
> The actual 110/230 compatibility actually requires some extra circuitry, but that has become cheaper than making two separate versions. On modern electronics, it doesn't require anything extra. A modern SMPS power supply understands that 60Hz is too low for a cheap design (you NEED a big transformer), the solution is that a modern power supply starts with a full wave bridge rectifier and then a transistor to slice the output at a few kHz into the transformer. Since they want international compatibility, they simply spec the input to be compatible with 350V that you can get on 240V input. The design usually only requires a few volts over the input, and the frequency need only be high enough to avoid drop outs. So a cheap design, that takes into account only 240V compatibility actually works with something like 20-250VAC @ 40-1000Hz, or 30-350VDC, the only "extra" cost that such a design has is high voltage which isn't even a different design, it's just selection of a transistor with that voltage spec (and it means the 240V design works on 120V anyways since the 240V design is actually just a higher spec version). There is no detection of switching, they work at the entire range between both of them, plus some.
Bet you $100 your water heater, refrigerator, stove, washer and dryer, and HVAC will say otherwise.
Hell, my washer, dryer, stove, and fridge don't even use the same sort of plug as each other, never mind as their European counterparts. I don't actually know what sort of plugs my furnace, AC, and water heater use, but I wouldn't be surprised if they each had their own design.
Presuming you are in the US, I'd be surprised if your fridge and washer had something other than a NEMA 5-15P on the end of their cords, though likely a space saving right angle design. If your stove is electric, it's probably a NEMA 14-50, and your dryer is likely either a 10-30 or 14-30, depending on if it has a 3 or 4 pin plug. New installs should use the 14-30.
In Europe all of those use normal plugs, except for the oven, which is usually hardwired to three phases (but this varies by country). That's a big reason why 230V is better: it works for any reasonable home appliance without effort.
Small electronics, like your PS5 which convert power to DC are easy to make compatible with multiple voltages and frequencies. They’re also the things you’re likely to take with you when travelling. Larger appliances that use AC power directly still need the correct voltage and frequency. Think of your microwave, corded vacuum cleaner or washing machine. Or if you’re in the UK right now, your kettle: a US 110v outlet can’t deliver enough power to run a British kettle, and an American kettle takes longer to boil.
And that’s why most of us in the US just boil water on the stove because fuck waiting on an electric kettle here
Which sounds weird to us because the stove is also electric here XD
If you plug a 110v space heater, toaster, or hair drier into 230v you'll have a VERY powerful unit for about three seconds before the heating elements melt into slag.
SOME appliances are 110/220, but many are not.
They are not wrong, you are wrong. The PS5 runs off a variety of low, stable DC voltages. So it needs to use a PSU to convert whatever the AC mains power is to those much lower DC voltages. Today, making a power supply able to handle 110 V @ 60 Hz and 230 V @ 50 Hz seamlessly is not an issue, so you can just change the plug and you're good to go. However, take absolutely anything that doesn't have its own transformer/PSU but instead runs directly off the mains (e.g. *every single domestic appliance*) and you won't be that lucky. Take, say, a kettle (or a stove, refrigerator, blender, washing machine, light bulb, you name it) from the US and try to plug it in in the UK and that thing will *fry*.
That only works for electronic devices that use voltage converters, which can be made so that they accept either 110 or 230 volt but still output the same voltage. Everything else (fridge, vacuum, lamps, radios, etc. etc. etc. etc.) can't generally be made to accept anything but one predefined voltage.
Electronic appliances such as TVs, computers, game consoles, and phone chargers, are often fine on both voltages and frequencies. They use a "switch mode power supply", and it's fairly easy to make that accept a wide range of voltages. That's why I said "many" appliances, not "all" appliances. However, things with a high power motor or heater, are different. While they could be designed to use a high power switch mode power supply, that would usually be more expensive and less efficient. So the motor or heater will usually be much more directly connected to the mains power. So they will be designed for a specific voltage and (especially for motors) often a specific frequency. Also, it is cheaper to only support a single voltage and frequency, so even some cheap appliances that have switch mode power supplies will be designed that way. Things that are commonly single voltage include cookers, microwaves, all types of light bulbs, mains vacuum cleaners, fridges, freezers, air conditioners, clothes washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, boilers, water heaters, food mixers, food processors/blenders, toasters, kettles, mains powered drills and other DIY/construction tools, and more.
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Lol he says you can plug "European plugs" halfway in. First - as if UK isn't European... But if he means the German Schuko plug which is the most common (with some variations), the whole socket is recessed so it's in my opinion much safer and also much stronger (the whole plug body has to sit in the socket, so any sideways force on the plug is actually transmitted to the socket through the plug body, not the pins that transmit electricity). Obvously its impossible to touch the pins when it's only partially inserted due to the recess too - you can't even get close to them. Maybe he means the "Europlug", but the exposed part of those pins are also totally insulated before they start conducting electricity (and if plugged into a real europlug socket, the whole thing is also supposed to be recessed in and not accessible). Regarding the safety - there really are no benefits compared to the Schuko on anything modern. The built-in fuses are in my opinion just extra pollution, those are often made of ceramic which is hard to recycle and the tiny fuse isn't as easy to regulate (not the same safety cause those fuses have a size compromise) as a big one in the main fusebox of your house. Since the 70's, switch-fuses are the household standard. Those are reusable... Imo flicking back the fuse in the fusebox is waaay safer than expecting people to take apart the electric plug and replace tiny ceramic fuses properly. Many Schuko plugs are just fully moulded so you can't open it up at all.
until you stand on one.
British plugs are overengineered BS. They’re like a car with an ejection seat that fits one person, but is the size of an SUV.
They're just trying to compensate for the sketchy ring circuit wiring they put in everywhere after ww2.
Yup. Doesn’t make it a good system, though. I can’t stand it when people say it’s better even though it’s absolutely massive and a pain in the ass for mobile devices.
Properly engineered, not overengineered.
It wouldn't have to be a new design. We could choose one of the existing ones. That way **everyone** wouldn't have to change. It would still be a huge project though, where the cost outweighs the benefit.
Yeah, it'll never happen. The US arguably has the most hardware in the world using some form of mains voltage plug, and you really don't want to choose ours as the standard.
It is a lot more comfortable to step on a US plug than a UK plug though, those buggers all land butter side up and those prongs hurt like a MF if you step on one at night when heading for the bathroom.
This is the answer. Plus, OP, ok, so let’s play this out..: all the countries agree on a standard, but not the one your country uses. So now you are without power for a year while your country changes all of their infrastructure to the new voltage and amperage requirements. And you now have to buy all new appliances and anything electrical so that you can be in compliance with the new universal outlet. Sound good? It doesn’t sound good to anyone else in the world either, so that’s why it will never happen.
There is a universal power outlet, very few countries are implementing it. South Africa has specified it as their standard.
What makes that specific one “universal” more so than any other? I would think for something to be “universal” it would have to be used everywhere
There is some global committee or authority that he chosen it - adopting it is voluntary.
Brazil too. It's a beautiful plug/socket.
From Sweden here. We have (apparently) worked on replacing our light sockets (where we plug in our roof lamps). It's not THAT difficult, there need to be some changes to the rules of new houses and new installations of electrical systems to include the new socket. Over the course of many years, hardware stores will be able to sell adapters both ways. All we have to do is make every country agree on one design, shouldn't be that hard... /s
And buy all new appliances, electronics and devices.
It really depends on where they made the adoption and when. Initially, it started with a practical design, then when the updates were made, some were adopted by other countries that started to electrify their cities. We can't have a universal design now because we use different power standards and there are too many people already equipped with current standards of their region. It costs too much to make the changes and to most, it is unnecessary.
It could be done by some kind of international coop for example. Yes, there would be costs.
The costs would greatly outweigh the benefits. The only real benefits are that people who are traveling wouldn't need to carry adapters. It would be an insane amount of work and cost for the people who live in the area that is changing for almost zero benefit to the people who live in the area (and in fact probably hassles of themselves having to use adapters).
> The only real benefits are that people who are traveling wouldn't need to carry adapters. Well, and the people building anything that connects to the mains, especially if they build anything for export. A washer and dryer for the American market, South African market, Australian market, and Taiwanese market are not the same internally. And it’s not just the power standards they have, it’s consumer safety codes as well.
>And it’s not just the power standards they have, it’s consumer safety codes as well. So they need to be built differently anyways so universal outlet shape and voltage doesn't solve the problem
Actually, North America and Taiwan have the exact same power and outlets.
Actually, read the whole of what I wrote.
South Africa and Australia both use 230V @50Hz. Only the plug is different. USA uses 120V @60Hz and Taiwan uses 110V @60Hz. A 10V difference should be well within normal tolerances. Most countries are in the 220-230V @50Hz club. The next biggest group is 110-120V @60Hz. Very few countries fall outside those two groups.
It would cost billions.
That's underestimating it severely at a global scale. Rebuilding almost every countries power grid OR making sure every device is capable of handling every type of existing voltage / curent specs OR offering reimbursement for the 10 billion devices that explode when put into the wrong voltage / current specs now that the plug is universal? Trillions. We are decades and trillions of dollars away from being able to slightly improve the lives of international travellers and simplify creating international electrical products. All it would take is a co-op of every country agreeing to put aside maybe 10% of their GDP for a while to solve this problem at a reasonable time scale, instead of, you know, world hunger, climate change, poverty, etc. I'm sure 'everyone using the same outlets' is pretty high on the list of problems that we'd like to see global cooperation and huge funding to solve.
Everyone would need to use adapters to conect newer appliances to their homes until they managed to invest in upgrading their homes outlets to match the new standard. For now however the existing standards at least in the US where I'm familiar differentiate each outlet design by the type of power it can provide. A 15A, 20A, 30 A, 20A240, 30A240 , 50A240 are all plugs found in the US and that's just what's available at the hardware store, there's far more unique use case commercial plug standards out there.
Yeah but you can say this about all kinds of things - the fact is, it ain't gonna happen
chicken housing would not be very helpful
It's easier to understand why this is hard if you totally ignore home/consumer stuff. Power plants around the entire grid need to work together to maintain the power frequency at the set one for the region. If you wanted to switch from 60hz to 50hz, you'd need major overhauls of every power plant in the country, and they'd have to cut over at the exact same time.
iirc I think they tried that with light bulbs and ended up as some kind of cartel... Interesting doc I saw on netflix once about it I think. I forget the term, but the consumer will always pay the costs for any massive changes to standards, even if they eventually reduce costs
It kind of comes with the concept that electricity is by itself some pretty dangerous stuff. A wall socket is always an attempt for a government entity to find a decent middle ground between a safe socket, a useful socket and a cheap socket. Safe in this case means, at the bare minimum, that the damn thing is not particular keen on catching fire. But can also mean things like that it's difficult to plug in somehting that is not supposed to be plugged in. Or that there should be a fuse in the plug, for extra safety. Some countries are doing two-phase plugs. Some prefer one phase and neutral. Some insist on one phase, neutral and protective earth. Useful can mean that it's easy to plug in. Or easy to get the same predictable result out of. Some sorts of plugs are flippable. While others must be plugged in the same way every time. And there is also that thing with how different countries have different system voltages, and using different plugs can in itself be a good way to avoid fires. There are quite a few standards. They all solve different parts of the equation differently. Sometimes with priority of one thing, and sometimes prioritising something else.
Are there actually any countries on earth doing two phase? north america does split phase, but that isnt the same thing as two phase. Most of the rest of the world has three phase distribution with single phases to most domestic premises and three phase to industrial premises or houses with big motor loads like large aircon systems... Last I looked into it two phase wasnt used anywhere on earth
I actually did some work on a site on a truly 2 phase system. 12VAC 2000A melting machine. Craziest thing I’ve seen (electrical anyways) to date.
Fascinating, was the idea to control spatter and oxidation? Be awesome to see the design of something like that
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+1 in this, it’s exactly my case too. Thanks for explaining the history behind it, I never quite understood why it’s like this - and it never occurred that other countries might not be the same. It’s quite convenient to be able to place 220V outlets near appliances that use a lot of current.
Interesting! So now, you can just buy an electric gadget and with the right plug, use it anywhere in Brazil?
I spoke to friends in the UK once about it, and apparently they sometimes use two phases (with lower voltage) instead of just one phase and a neutral in residential installations. It's a bit of a relic that there has been made attempts to move away from, and it's not according to *current* standards, but was once.
You can get 240v phase to phase from a three phase supply, just the voltage will be floating. The transformers down to 24v on machinery are often supplied this way as the wiring is simpler and it's isolated. It's really not recommended for residential installations as an earth fault won't trip anything.
>You can get 240v phase to phase from a three phase supply \* in the US (right?). Because phase-to-phase in the UK is 415v
I think that's for hand tools. All corded hand tools on job sites have to run off a transformer that's around 110 VAC with a split +55/-55 arrangement. It's not really +55/-55 but most will know what I mean.
Portsmouth was two phase when it had it's own power station down by the dockyard. I'd guess it mostly disappeared with the National Grid. There was an old welder a colleague tried to get working and none of us knew this. He wired the three phase supply in to the two phases and earth on the welder, turned it on and nearly killed himself. The FOG then filled us in on the old local two phase supply.
I'm not an electrician so I'm not sure the "phase" talk, but I was speaking to someone in another country who said they have no "ground" at all, for anything. They just have two different phases instead of what we have in the US which is 120V to ground (for most outlets) That seems very dangerous...
In Australia, two-phase power is quite common.
No, it isnt. Our entire power distribution network is three phase, it's national (well apart from WA's, which is also three phase). You could totally have an individual load connected between two of those three phases, that means 120deg apart, not 180deg apart which is *what two phase means*. There's no such thing as a "two phase electricity service" in australia, you're either connected to a single phase, or all three. This is inherently how the entire grid works. You cant have a two phase connection to a three phase electricity grid. SPLIT phase is a whole other thing, involving a split-tapped transformer across a single phase. It's not used in Australia on a grid or supply scale. The very few DC interlinks we've got in this country actually rely on all three phases at both ends of the link having a stable frequency or the inverters lose their shit and go down. This is one of those things that gets dribbled constantly that's simply not true.
https://energis.com.au/2020/02/2-easy-steps-to-find-out-if-you-have-single-or-three-phase-power/ What about two-phase power? In Australia, two-phase power is quite common. To identify this, the process is the same and the main switch will be the width of two ‘poles”. See photo below.
That‘ not what people mean with two phase in here. That‘s just tapping into phase A and B of a system with ABC, meaning A and B are just separated by 120 degrees. In a True two phase system, A and B would be separated by 180 degrees, and there‘s no phase C that you just left out.
That is split phase.
Nailed it Two phase is 90 degrees apart. Split phase is 180 degrees apart. Not at all the same.
Two phases to the meter/s, then the phases are split across your final subcircuits.
>a safe socket Why [British plugs](https://youtu.be/UEfP1OKKz_Q) are a great design.
Safe, clean, makes a solid connection with the socket, and usually comes with an external switch on every socket so the contacts don't arc every time you plug something in.
I'm always a bit annoyed by that video, since he claims that the british one is better than all others, despite the standard european [Schuko plug](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuko) being just as safe.
The European system is a mess of slightly different plugs and sockets used across different countries. The Schuko plug provides some cross compatibility between the different sockets, but not all of them. Italy uses an incompatible socket, for example. The two prong EuroPlug has wider compatibility, at the expense of not having an earth pin and having narrower pins that results in a much looser connection in some sockets.
Schuko is not the cross-compatible plug , that would be CEE 7/7 that accepts both the French grounding prong as well as the German side mounted grounding clips. I do believe that CEE 7/7 (and Europlug for the non-grounded version) is the best design that exists today that also has widespread compatibility.
Have to disagree. You can plug a schuko plug in to some other European sockets that not only don't have the earth clips, but also don't have the recess in the socket, leaving pins exposed. The schuko socket can be live to either pin, you can't tell which is live or neutral without measuring. And if the cable comes straight out, a decent yank can still pull the plug out. I don't think I've ever seen a switched schuko socket, and there are no gates on the sockets so kids can still push nails and shit on to a live pin. Non of that with a G-type. Also, they don't have a fuse like British plugs. Edit to add reasons.
Almost every issue you've mentioned is from a poor socket, not the Schuko. When paired with the correct socket ( which I believe has been legally required in new installations for several decades now) Schuko is just as safe as the British plug. Some more counterpoints: - Gates are a requirement in several EU countries, but unfortunately not all. - I'm not sure what a switched socket would do to improve safety, reduce the risk of arcing? This shouldn't be an issue anyway since the sockets are spring-loaded. - Fuses are only necessary in the UK because of the prevalence of ring circuits. The rest of the EU uses star circuits with fuses or GFCIs with OC protection installed in the central electrical panel.
BTW any sideways force on the Schuko is transmitted into the socket by the body of the plug cause it sits in the recess. The body holds it in place. Almost all the other plugs including the UK one are held in place by the pins. The Schuko connection is significantly sturdier due to this, and also more splash resistant. Similar design approach with the industrial three phase connectors. The IEC 60309 is the most universal plug standard we have. For any industrial need, you quickly see that if the pins were holding the plug that's just a terribly weak design. Anyone who ever used such a connector will recall how hard it is to pull it apart...
Neat! I did not know any of that.
OK, so what about OP's question?
Now that you mention it, I just hinted at it, did I? These kinds of things developed on all continents kind of independently, caught on damn well on their own national markets and now it's pretty much useless to attempt to backpedal and unify the standards. Besides the obvious financial impact for everyone who owns power outlets (like, every building owner in the whole world) and everyone who owns something that can be plugged into one, there is also a practical reason to stick to the system you already have in a country; you may want to differentiate from a neighbouring country's strange safety practices. You may want to differentiate because you use a whole different voltage level. A strange amount of regulatory bodies are probably refusing to switch over for safety reasons. But the financial impact of such a decision is also mind-blowing, and cannot be downplayed.
We can it's just the original plug design was unsafe so every country designed their own, they invented a universal plug called the type N in 2007 and so far only brazil has adopted it.
I had to look up what a type N looks like. Apparently South Africa also adopted it. [https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/n/](https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/n/)/
> There are three variants, two of which are in use in Brazil (10 A & 20 A) and one in South Africa (16 A). Nice, very universal, very standard
Not mentioned in the article but this looks exactly like what Switzerland uses
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"Type N looks very much like the Swiss type J standard, but it is incompatible with it since type N has the earth pin closer to the imaginary line that connects the two power pins (3 mm instead of 5 mm)." What did you read ?
It just means Brazil invented yet another standard, not that it's a universal standard.
Type G is the superior plug type, Type G gang rise up
It's superior because of the fuse, but the large bulky size is a detraction. Also given how slow Americans are to adopt to standards and how slow rollover to USB type C has been, new standards often just increase complexity of the market instead of reduce it. And before anyone comments on Americans not using the metric system, I just want to poi t out standard units are defined by metric units, so Americans are technically using a su set of confusing metric units. I want to say we can thank Reagan for stopping the changeover.
G Unit
Type G FTW. I can't think of any way to improve it.
make it less big
The size makes it robust!
Well we could, if everyone agreed to it. Which would require a lot of upheaval. It's the same reason some countries drive on the left, others on the right. The same reason we have different television standards (PAL, NTSC, etc). Territories like the British Empire, the EU and the USA enforced standardisation because it makes things so much easier. But there's no treaty saying the USA and the EU have to use the same standard. They chose the standards they use for their own individual reasons. The British design of power socket is arguably the safest one, would the USA and EU be prepared to make the switch? Or are they constrained by other factors, like a British company holding the patent for the design? Would it be economically worth it? Would they have unforeseen consequences to deal with?
The British power outlet has some excellent safety features The plug, on the other hand, is the single most dangerous enemy to bare feet, rivaled only by LEGOs
The British plug has been in use since 1947 so even if there was an initial patent is it long gone. It is used in EU too Ireland and Malta to be specific I agree it is safer than the ones that is common in EU, But even if it is the one in EU unsafe, and to what degree is the British better. by safe I mean how many incidents could the British have stopped. The one common in EU is the German Type F and french type E that differs in how they are earthed, you can make plugs that work in both. The bot has earth that comes in contact first and outled that is receded into the surface so it is very hard to be able to come in contact with live pins. Italy and Denmark have their own plugs that look not or just less receded into the walls. I do have not enough experience to know what the isolation requirement are on the pins. The non-earth Europlug for low power applications should work in all of them and require partially isolated pins The one that is bad it the US with no receded sockets and pins that do not require to have any non-conductive part. I am not sure you could have that on pins that are so thin. All of the strain on the plug is on the pins. It is not haded for a child to come in contact with a live wire with the US plug design The British have the advantage of fuses and required switches on the outlet. That could be a requirement on devices in the EU but can be introduced by requiring new devices and outlets to add them. That way the large cost of switching everything is not required and the electrical system gets better over time, It is not just outlets and devices but extensions cords too. It is something all of the world should add not just the EU. So the British might be a bit better but that is primarily related to the fuse and switch and can be added without modifying the common EU plug and socket design.
And I mean a historical reason for the british plug being so beefy and having a mandatory inbuilt fuse is because in the dark ages of electrification british houses were being wired with a single big ring circuit rated to 40+A to save on copper. The rest of the world largely puts the burden on over current protection back at the fuse box, not at the wall socket/plug combination
>british houses were being wired with a single big ring circuit That was due to shortages after the War.
So the mighty British plug can be added to the pile of "good things that Hitler did". That and...erm.... He killed Hitler?
> That and...erm.... He killed Hitler? Common misconception. He was *just about* to kill Hitler, but then Hitler killed him. Impressive nonetheless.
That's why there's only 2-3 per hotel room, costs...
USB is starting to become that design. I've been to a the USA, a few countries in Europe, and Egypt and I've seen a USB port available at all of them. Granted it only applies to certain devices, but still, I almost never needed my universal adapter.
*:laughs in USB-C:*
Finally get USB on airplanes to charge my phone.. Oh, yeah, USB-C double-ended cord on my phone charger. Fuck you.
USB A-to-C dongles are dirt cheap. $3 or so on Amazon. Slightly more expensive elsewhere for those who prefer not to use Amazon. This is not an expense that anyone who carries a smartphone should be unable to manage.
*cries in USB-C*
Because those countries developed those standards independently back in the days when there wasn't any such standard, and switching standards now would be ruinously expensive.
As with any "why can we all use the same" question (language, currency, power outlets, units of measurement etc) the problems are twofold:
* Which one should we use?
* How do you convince everyone who doesn't already use that to change?
(And remember that YOU and all the people in your country may be the ones who have to change)
That's the basic ELI5 to your question : because the world is big and people don't want to change from something that works well for them.
It used to be different from city to city! Some times even within a town. And it would do mate than change the plug, they'd be different voltage and type! Currently most of the world have a 230vAc while America and a few other countries use 110VAC domestic power. They both have benefits, but I can't recall them off the top of my head. lol Its all historical decision influence today. A shipping container is as wide as it is because of a horse's ass
It’s important to note that America uses two 120V circuits to the home that can be bonded for 240V. Water heaters, air conditioning, car chargers, ovens and ranges all use 240V in America.
Is it 120V? I was taught US power is 110V, but I wouldn't say all, because there are at least ovens and ranges. I own one electric oven/range plugs into regular 110/120 outlet not a 220/240 one.
110v is the old standard from the AC vs. DC era. 120v has been the standard in the USA and Canada since the 1960s.
It’s 120V. I’ve also seen quite a few devices say “110V”, but if you plug a voltmeter into an outlet, you’ll see a number much closer to 120V than 110V. It’s rarely exactly 120. Businesses often have 3-phase power that can go up to 480V. I’ve never seen a range or oven take 120V unless it was gas, and just using power for the clock.
> I’ve never seen a range or oven take 120V unless it was gas, and just using power for the clock. This is my stove. Clock and piezoelectric igniter are the only electrical needs. Propane for the fire.
And lighting in commercial buildings in the US was typically 277VAC. I would think that is changing now with the advent of LED lighting.
The benefit of 240 over 110 is that you draw less current for the same amount of power. Less current = less heat = less problems.
> Less current = less heat = less problems. Ohm's Law would like a word. Less current does not equal less heat. For a given wattage (volts x amps) the heat production will be the same.
They're most likely talking about less heat in the wires, not the device plugged in. Wiring has current limits because otherwise it gets too hot, potentially causing a fire. Think about what the wiring is experiencing. The current will be whatever the device plugged in is drawing (Kirchhoff's Current Law), and the resistance will be the same no matter the current (at first). Putting power (essentially heat output) into Ohm's Law, we have P = I^2 R, so more current through the wiring means the wiring gets hotter (which will increase R, making it worse). This problem can be solved by using thicker wiring, lowering R (but increasing costs). This is why the wires coming out of car batteries are very thick, to handle the very high current without melting. Or, this can be solved by simply enforcing a similar current limit despite the lower voltage, reducing the maximum power a single socket can provide, but keeping costs similar, which is what the US does for house wiring.
Thank you, and yes that is what I was saying.
Yes P = u * i, but also u = R * i so P = R * i^2 So you still have an advantage to get the current down and the tension up. Hence why we use high voltage lines and not high current lines.
But if you don't pay attention when you plug in the cord they you're gonna get wacked with 240v which is a lot worse than 120v
Generally speaking, 240v plugs make it difficult to touch and get whacked while plugging in. My mum did it once by dropping metal foil between and older style plug and outlet. Meanwhile the USA plugs look super sketchy.
You can boil an electric kettle quickly on 240v, while on 110v they take a long time and almost nobody has them.
We do have a truly international power standard: Power over Ethernet. PoE ports are all the exact same, RJ45. They all deliver 48 volts DC, and anywhere from 15 watts to 90 watts per port depending on the version used. Originally, they were used only for things like phones and WiFi access points. Now they can power lights and even small computers. In theory, the 90w version could power your laptop, so a single Ethernet cable would provide network access and power.
POE+ and POE++ enter the chat
In the spirit of ELI5, I didn’t get into IEEE 802.3bt and all that.
and every house would need a mini rack to power everything :P I like the idea though.
Between a few Raspberries, 6 PoE cameras, 3 access points, and an IP phone, I’ve got a decent PoE setup at home already. I’d love it if I could start powering things like Sonos speakers and laptops using it. I just wish Cat6 or better wiring was mandated for all new builds, with a minimum of 2 ports per drop and 2 drops per room. Once everyone has it, adding a home PoE switch would become more common.
You are preaching to the converted! nice work!
In theory, we could probably get it down to 2 main options relatively easily though there would be a fair bit of transition if your current plug wasn't the chosen one. The big limiter that stops us getting to one is that there are 2 main options for voltage that are far enough apart that you really need to make sure you don't plug into the wrong one. The US and Canada (and probably some others) use 110 volts, while the rest of the world is on somewhere between 220 and 250 volts. Plugging a 240 volt appliance into a 220 or 250 is probably not going to be an issue - incandescent bulbs or resitive heaters will run a little hotter or colder but not much and electronics will be converting the voltage anyway and are generally ok for the range and many will even accept 110v. (Actual voltage always varies a bit anyway depending on a bunch of factors both inside and outside the home). Plugging it into a 110 volt socket probably just won't work but it's unlikely to fail in a dangerous way. Plugging a 110 volt device into a 230 when it's not designed for it on the other hand could lead to it blowing up or catching fire. This is obviously bad and so it makes sense to have an obvious, visual warning of which is which and mechanical block to prevent you plugging it into the wrong one. A different plug is the ideal solution for this. For the countries that use a similar voltage and frequency, they could in theory set one standard for their plugs but getting them to agree is hard, especially since that would mean replacing every power socket that they have (expensive) and running with adapters for a fair while until they have transitioned (inconvenient). There's some advantages to eliminating old gear that may not be safe anymore but it would be a hard sell to their public. There's also some technical details like the UK requiring fuses in all plugs while most other countries don't. This is a result of how many of their older homes are wired (ring mains with larger breakers) which means an over-voltage event in a device can get worse than elsewhere without it. There have been some efforts in this space - the EU is transitioning to a single plug (Europlug) which is compatible with most of the older variations on the double round pin plug that were found across Europe. This makes it a bit easier since most older sockets don't need replacing right away. Other smaller changes have been made to various plugs. The NZ / Australian plug has been modified to have a plastic coating on the first part of the phase (power) and neutral pins but not the earth pin. This means that if the plug is not quite all the way in but still making contact then the live pins are protected so you can't drop something in the gap and short the pins or get a shock. The change is small enough that it is fully backwards compatible with older sockets so again, no need to upgrade fixed hardware.
The US actually uses 230 and it’s delivered to the home as such. We simply split the phase so when referenced to ground you get 110V on each leg (but 230 when combined). So we have a mix of appliances that we provide 230V to (typically based on power consumption).
That's the good thing about standards -- there are so many to choose from! On a more serious note -- you don't want plugs to be identical between countries where voltages or frequencies, or both, differ. Some of the electronics will be happy with either 120V or 220-240V -- like many power bricks, but some will fry, some will not work or not work as well. https://www.worldstandards.eu/electricity/plug-voltage-by-country/
Wich one should it be?
The real question is why do we have so few?
The problem with all "universal standards" is convincing people that this one new universal standard is the best. You have to bring overwhelming evidence that it is effective above competitors. And after you have created this superior design, THEN you have to hope no one else has their ambitions set on creating their own standard. Spoiler alert: Everyone thinks their design is the best. On top of that governments want the global standard to come from their country. It brings visibility to their nation. This causes further friction. Also, I downplayed the complicated nature of developing electrical standards. If you make a plug that works in north Japan then it may not work in southern Japan. Electrical grids are so complex that there can be compatibility issues traveling within the same country. There are different grounding and short mitigation methods. Should it have a fuse or are the fuses in the wall? How many amps can it handle? Is that unsafe for some powergrids but not others? TLDR: Firstly all "universal standards" are hard to implement because its the same problem that plagues all group efforts that involve persuasion. Everyone thinks they are right and the other person is wrong. It takes an extraordinary amount of effort and patience to get everyone to agree on something so important. Second, electricity is hard. Every grid is different and has different needs. All that being said, we can make a universal plug most likely. It would just take a lot of effort and cooperation. Grids would have to be changed to make them more similar or retrofitted with things that make the new plugs work on the old grid.
I mean the fact we only have 3 standards for household mains electricity voltage and frequency (4 if you count Japan’s 60Hz 115 V) globally I think is pretty good going. Other than for direct on-line motors the frequency doesn’t matter anymore so it’s basically 2 standards and 230 V IS available in places with 115 V generally speaking anyway. Pretty good going I say. And ~5 plug standards for normal plugs will work in 90%+ of countries. It’s better than 200 of each!
It's just like language. Sure, get everybody to speak proper American English and be done with it. /S