Talk:AC power plugs and sockets: British and related types

Supply of plugs with fuses.
The article currently claims.

"Plugs, when supplied separately from any appliance, must be supplied with both a 3 A and 13 A fuse."

Does anyone have a source for this? all the plugs I have ever purchased in the UK came supplied with only a single fuse. Plugwash (talk) 17:53, 16 September 2019 (UTC)

"Amp" versus "A"
I found the article a bit hard to read because it always abbreviates amp as A. This is an entirely standard abbreviation but sometimes the longer name is more readable. For example the caption of a photograph reads "5 A switched socket..." For a moment I wondered why this was photograph number 5 and where numbers 1 to 4 might be. Similarly, this sentence

"There are four ratings of plug and socket in BS 546, (2 A, 5 A, 15 A and 30 A)."

would be more readable as something like

"There are four ratings of plug and socket in BS 546 (2, 5, 15, and 30 amp)."

I didn't go in and edit because clearly somebody has gone through the article and standardized all quantities of electrical current to the style "5 A" and not "5 amp", "5 amps" or even "5A". But I think that any of those three other styles would often be more readable. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ed Avis (talk • contribs) 17:28, 7 March 2020 (UTC)

Defeating the shutter mechanism (or not).
Currently text under the Shutters section is: "However, many extension sockets will allow a plug to be inserted upside down, i.e. only the earth pin((clarification needed)), defeating the shutter mechanism"... I think I can clarify this, but not to the concise standards of a good Wiki article, and also this explains something I had not realised. Here's my longwinded description.

Taking a 3-pin plug and slotting the Earth (or Plastic Earth) pin into the Earth socket-hole but with the plug inverted, this would seem to mechanically deshutter the active socket-holes while allowing a (vaguely compatible) two-pin plug access to them. It would also allow more casual object-insertion instead (or after the 'safe' two-pin plug is yanked out) so presents dangers as per no-shutter implementations.

However, it seems this has not been unnoticed. Investigating the geometry with a spare 4-way extension (to see if there really was room 'above' the Type-G, by normal convention, to fit some theoretical 2-pin connecter that I don't actually have at hand) I found a mitigating factor. The case of the in-line 4-way extension-head has a set of 'crenalations' along it, which I probably had always assumed were for easy grip purposes, and/or some structural integrity purposes. But on placing the inverted Type-G into only the earthing-socket these bumps on the case coincide exactly with where the unused active-pins try to pass the casing edge. It may not be actually impossible to angle the plug so that the earth-pin sufficiently deshutters, but it would certainly require some force and you'd probably damage something (or it might not properly deshutter if you use such an evasive angle). I now know those bumps are pretty much for inverted-plug prevention. But probably also useful for case structure, handling, even some form of functional aestheticism as well, because it could have been done otherwise.

(If the case edge had been extended to the crenalation limit then it would also block incorrect insertion, but with small but cumulative increase of material costs to 'fill out' the profile... I'm guessing. The more slimline but 'bumpy' profile probably works better for various reasons, including manufacturing margins.)

So, those are thoughts from this particular anon-IP, though I'm sure they are better summarised. I even tried to take an illustrative picture of partly inserted plugs (one correct and one inverted), but it was hard to frame reasonably and with decent illumination. Maybe I'll try a technical diagram, although it might not do to depict/illustrate a (potentially) dangerous practice anyway. 92.19.41.151 (talk) 18:39, 24 July 2021 (UTC)
 * There is nothing in here that meets the standards of a good Wikipedia article. Drmies (talk) 00:01, 5 November 2021 (UTC)

Repeated use of "line" instead of "live"
When referring to the live pin 31.124.84.254 (talk) 06:59, 13 June 2022 (UTC)


 * From the article: “Line (commonly, but technically incorrectly, called live)” Mr Larrington (talk) 17:44, 20 June 2022 (UTC)

International Usage of BS 546-derived standards
I do not know about other countries, however Israel is listed as using the "Type M" plug and socket, a.k.a. the 15A BS 546, for things such as air conditioners, although Israel has done pretty much the same legislative change to it as India and South Africa, by extending it to 16A, rather than just 15A. This, at least, is something I have verified with my own eyes (and the enforcement here, with this specific legislation, is tight enough that you won't find any noncompliant appliances that have this plug in Israel).147.236.152.125 (talk) 16:20, 24 July 2022 (UTC)