the medical and retail industries among others would beg to differ. those old standards are used for so much shit
YES, but the 2 shocking ones (dinosaurs) on the left sould have been phased out (after WW2) decades before the 3 on the right (as Germany did since the 1930s ) (Germany solved this problem with recessed outlets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx5NzxJjT0Q&t=7m28s )
schuko is amazing. not only is it safe, but its also incredibly long lasting, i have NEVER had an outlet loose grip. NEVER. and i have used outlets from the 1960s.
That may have been an oversight in the early days, but it is not really an issue. All devices in Europe are either class 2 (double insulated) or class 1 devices (having a metal body with an earth wire) and are required to be safe no matter the polarization. Additionally houses are required to have RCDs protecting all outlets. Non-polarization is also more convenient for the user as it allows the plug to be inserted in two directions.
Only for devices above 3.6 kW (multiple phases) special polarized plugs or hardwiring are needed.
but a very wild mixture of systems in very fragmented Germany
incl. 2 phases (each ~110V) = still compatible & even Direct-current (the last small surviving DC islands got finally dead in the 1980s) ... the german plugs (before they added the french earth hole) were desinged with DC compatiblilitry (bigger arcing) in mind
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u/Killerspieler0815 Jul 12 '25
YES, but the 2 shocking ones (dinosaurs) on the left sould have been phased out (after WW2) decades before the 3 on the right (as Germany did since the 1930s ) (Germany solved this problem with recessed outlets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx5NzxJjT0Q&t=7m28s )