Re: [89attendees] Mystery Power Outlet

On Mon, Mar 3, 2014 at 10:06 AM, Ole Jacobsen <olejacobsen@me.com> wrote:
>
> Yes, this is generally described as the "old" British outlet. There
> are (at least) 3 version of this, see
> http://www.yikes.com/~ole/plugs/plugs-uk-r.jpg for a picture.
>
> The one you are talking about is on the LEFT in this picture and is
> still the official standard in India. The monster in the middle is the
> standard one used in South Africa.

Yeah. The South African plugs had a tendency to get stuck in the
sockets. This left you with 2 options:
1: Grabbing the plug, pulling as hard as you could, while wiggling it
and muttering choice SA swearwords. This would usually result in the
back of the plug coming off, leaving you looking at the pins and wires
or
2: Jamming something between the plug and the socket and trying to
lever it out (also while muttering swearwords). I discovered the hard
way why you should use something non-conductive for this purpose. 15A
at 220V will happily vaporize a knife blade, causing a monster big
bang, and the person performing this to soil himself...

W

>
> So, why would you find one in "modern" Britain? Well, usually these
> round-pin outlets are used for such thing as lights (lamps) where the
> ciruit is not designed to carry the full 13 amps of a normal outlet.
> These outlets are often switched and often hooked up to dimmer
> controls, in summary: designed to prevent you from plugging in normal
> stuff.
>
> Having said that, I always carry an adapter for this type of
> outlet, comes handy for stuff like CPAP machines etc, but do
> check that it isn't associated with a dimmer switch!
>
> Brits on this list will now chime in and tell you that I am
> wrong and that these plugs/sockets are obsolete, but that really
> is not the case. The are installed in modern buildings in Britain
> every day, but usually to prevent you from plugging your devices
> in --- airline lounges are prime examples of such torture.
>
> Ole
>
> Ole J. Jacobsen
> Editor and Publisher
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>
>
> On Mon, 3 Mar 2014, Ben Campbell wrote:
>
>> My room has one power outlet that I don't recognize. It's the only available outlet near the nightstand, where I generally like to plug my phone.  I thought it was a UK style outlet, but my adapter does not fit. On close inspection, it appears to have 3 round holes. The rectangular pins in my adapter won't fit.  It's otherwise the same layout.
>>
>> Any idea what this is?
>>
>> My euro adapters would fit, except it appears to be gated on the ground pin. (Fortunately, none of the _normal_ UK plugs in my room are gated, so I can use the euro adapters in them.)
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