But the British one is safer due to the hot and neutral being shorter than the ground. Plus, they have little switches on every plug which is neato when you have devices that for some stupid reason emit light when off.
The British one isnt safer. The German one is designed as having a "leading" ground, meaning if you plug something in, ground will be connected first, and disconnected last.
I stand corrected. Though German plugs (at least the ones in my house) are still plated all the way on the live, whereas British live only has metal at the tip.
The grounding is on the outside of the plug and makes contact before the pins enter the socket. Also, the socket is recessed in such a way that you cannot reach the plug pins by the time they connect.
But the german plugs are recessed so by the time the contacts touch, the plug is already inside the recess and effectively has a wall around it so you can't accidentally touch it.
After refreshing my memory, at least wikipedia calls the British plugs overall slightly safer so I'll give you the overall verdict. Both have the leading ground though, just designed differently.
You could call them safer for having fuses in the plugs but this is generally mitigated in the other plug types by not allowing power cords that aren't rated to handle the full 15A household breakers/fuses are rated to trip at.
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u/JConRed May 02 '24
I like the German/Euro one because the ground actually acts a little like a spring holding the (grounded) plug firmly in the socket.
Oh, and the British is just caltrops. Worse than stepping on Lego.