There are types A (Japan), B (US), C (EU), D (India), E (France), F (Germany), G (UK), H (Israel), I (AU) and so on: in which all have a distinct plug shape and differences in prongs. Type A plug is just two straight prongs without a ground while Type B is nearly identical to A but with a ground connection and Type F has no ground attached to the outlet while Type E does, usually this is solved with a adapter (for electronics that are dual voltage and support 50/60Hz frequency).
However, household appliances are typically region locked in the sense of being singular voltage (like electric kettles, toasters, refrigerators, washing machines) since those are intended to not be made for travel (mainly for domestic use supporting only a single plug type) unless you have both an adapter and a transformer. You can’t just plug a 120v 60Hz Toaster (B Plug) onto a 230v 50Hz outlet (Type F socket) with an adapter alone as that’ll blow the fuse.
Most modern electronics (as in laptops, game consoles and smartphones) support dual voltage and frequencies but their default plug type is region locked, so if you’ve bought a PS5 in the UK importing it into the US (the default cable is Type G that comes with the packaging when plugging into a TV) unless you swap cable for a Type B plug but it’ll work fine. Why is there no unilateral plug type that’s “region free” when discussing plug types found in appliances.
US voltages are stupid and pathetically inefficient (kinda a metaphor…)
Japan has a double-whammy of a stupidly low 100 VAC, and to make it worse, half the country is 50Hz and half is 60Hz
The UK has a good voltage and great plugs, but silly earthing arrangements. Their use of ring-circuits is also problematic
US runs on 240V, just like the UK. Pretty much every house in the US has 240V available. But we use split phase power for lower-power appliances, so most plugs in the house are wired to get only half that power – 120V.
Really, there’s only a few appliances in a house that really benefit at all from the higher voltage: electric ovens, electric clothes dryers, (sometimes) electric heaters, and water-boiling kettles.
For ovens and clothes dryers (if electric), US houses almost always have 240V outlets wired specifically for those.
Electric heaters are often wired for 240V if they’re built in to the house. (But movable, portable space heaters are almost always 120V.)
The only odd one out is the tea kettle. But tea is a lot less popular in the US anyway, so not many houses have one in the first place. And the ones who do … just kind of deal with their water taking 6 minutes to boil instead of 3 minutes. Not worth re-wiring an entire country (entire continent, really) just to boil your tea a little faster. The switchover would be chaos, would result in a lot of things being made obsolete earlier than necessary, and would suddenly require a ton of inefficient voltage step-down adapters for people who didn’t want to throw away all their existing 120V appliances.
in EU there are really only two standards. for single phase loads up to 3.8kW, regular 16A plug is sufficient. above that, 3-phase 5-pin 32A plug (most common of them) is used which can deliver up to 23kW. there are common variants of 3-phase 5-pin plugs rated up to 125A that can deliver up to 89kW, and uncommon up to 800A variants that are also part of the standard, but it delivers up to 0.57MW and it’s a bit silly
The thing is… Europe also uses split phase. You get three phase power coming in at 380V in most houses on the, 415 in the UK. The 240V is what you get on a single phase.
split phase is 2-phase system but everyone else uses 3-phase distribution. in reality americans also use 3-phase distribution, this is where 207v 3-phase comes from (it’s 120v phase to neutral)
Ah I didn’t know about 2 phase systems. In my corner of Europe you’re on either 3 phases or 1 phase. 1 phase gets you 240V, 3 phases gets you 380V + ability to have different consumers on different phases to distribute the load if your house’s wired for that.
I’ve got a few outlets in my house that take this type of plug:
Built in the 80s so grandpa got soviet plugs lol
Yeah, it makes so much sense to have many different voltages across your domestic installations…
It’s dumb as fuck, but you lot are stuck with it
I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. Lots of countries split voltages in just every single building because it’s expensive not to.
Same in Europe. 240V and 380V.
Never seen 380v in a residential setting. I know theres a circuit for it in my building for the elevator.
the entire point of three phase circuit is that you can split it into single phase circuits without using too much wire. usually block will be wired so that 1/3 of flats is connected to one phase, but if you need to power big loads like ag tools or something like concrete mixer three phase supply can be done (415V these days, there’s upward shift in voltage)
There’s a difference between the madness of 'Murica and having single phase and three-phase power in an installation
blame edison for that
He really was a dickhead
I had to google the Japan frequency thing. I had no idea!
Feel like elaborating on the UK issues/ why they’re problematic?
If the earth conductor fails, then it’s difficult to tell, and painful to repair
The Australasian system where each installation is earthed at the switchboard is far superior
With ring circuits, a broken conductor doesn’t become apparent until the remaining part of the circuit burns because it is carrying the entire load
As a Brit, I’m guessing their issues with earthing is that we make everything earthed and fused, even when it’s not needed on a device, but the longer prong that is the earth post on our 3-pin plugs is a security feature of our plug/socket and makes any item that requires earthing to be earthed before it is even powered.
Couldn’t say why they have issues with ring mains though. It became the norm in a post-war Britain when copper was still scarce.
ring-mains are the reason everything needs to be fused, because a short in one appliance could otherwise take out an entire building. they’re not used in new construction, and afaik are also being taken out of older buildings.
also schuko is the better plug because it has the same security feature as the british one but it’s reversible, recessed, and you can’t step on an upturned one in the middle of the night.
I can’t agree on Schuko because I always found them to be awkward to plug in, sometimes needing to wiggle them while applying an uncomfortable amount of force.
that’s interesting because i had the exact same reaction during my recent trip to the uk. maybe it’s just a matter of the force being applied differently than we’re used to.
I do love me a good ring main when I’m in the UK - never heard them described as problematic though.
Yeah not a problem if you just plan it correctly, I use 4mm t&e on all socket circuits, in trunking and just use a 25A or 30A MCB, that way even if there is a break in the ring it’s still within spec. Modern homes just don’t have the power draw to worry about overloading sockets, especially when I can get a 30A.