XPost: uk.tech.broadcast, uk.tech.digital-tv, uk.rec.audio   
   XPost: sci.electronics.repair   
   From: G6JPG@soft255.demon.co.uk   
      
   In message , Geoffrey S.   
   Mendelson  writes:   
   []   
   >Shucko plugs have grounding problems. They rely on the plug being all the   
   >way in (ground is connected AFTER the mains) and an easily bent spring in   
   >the outlet.   
      
   Hmm, I don't remember seeing the spring ever bent (it's quite a   
   substantial piece of metal), though I can see it _could_ happen,   
   especially with abuse.   
      
   As for which connects first, I can't say for sure, but I used to find   
   the sockets - in which the whole socket is recessed - far more   
   reassuring than the British flush ones, in which one could touch the   
   pins; OK, the British one was redesigned such that the pins have to be   
   shrouded, but that happened much later, and I can certainly remember   
   when unshrouded was the norm (sometime in the 1970s?). [The shrouding   
   must reduce the cross-sectional area, too, though (a) see earlier   
   comments about the ratings being far more than required for most   
   appliances anyway, (b) I was once told that it is the contact area   
   rather than the cross-sectional which is likely to be a problem.   
   (Thinking about the wire attached, that's probably true.)]   
   >   
   >Much better is a 230 volt version of the US 3 prong plug, two round pins   
   >like the standard EU ungrounded plug, with a slightly longer ground pin   
   >in the center and below them like  this:   
   >   
   >       O     O   
   >          O   
   >   
   >The advantage is that unless you work at it, the ground pin makes contact   
   >first.   
   []   
   I was quite impressed the first time I saw what I think of as the   
   "Dutch" design: a bit like the Schuko, but the earth is actually a   
   socket in the plug, and a pin in the socket! Thus if you try to plug in   
   a plug that doesn't have the socket, it won't go in!   
   --   
   J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf   
      
   "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than going to a garage   
   makes you a car." - Laurence J. Peter   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)