3186: Truly Universal Outlet
| Truly Universal Outlet |
 Title text: Building Inspectors HATE This One Weird Trick |
Explanation
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This is one of 60 incomplete explanations: This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
This comic shows a layout for a universal outlet which would theoretically fit any mains power-plug. Throughout the world, countries and regions have their own standards for outlets, including their shape, contact amount, and voltage. When traveling, or otherwise using devices from other countries, it is often necessary to have an adapter to connect one type of plug to a different outlet.
The comic shows an outlet with fifteen sets of holes merged together, so that any of those plug types might fit. In reality, it's possible that a plug may not be held securely, and it may fall out or lose contact. For example, the hole for types D, M, and O at the top of the outlet has three distinct holes, some of which are entirely contained within others; a prong for a smaller type would not make contact with the walls (without particularly spring-loaded contacts). Different outlets can also mean different voltages, which can risk damage if devices do not account for it. Though universal plug adapters actually exist, but none of them are as 'universal' as the one shown in this comic, most likely due to aforementioned safety concerns.
Also the comic seems to misrepresent type E sockets - it seems like the creator wasn't aware of (or ignored) the fact that type E sockets has a grounding pin that protrudes out from the socket, and rather represents it as if it were a hole in the socket instead. In reality it would be difficult to make a socket that safely grounds type E plugs without being simultaneously incompatible with a large number of other plugs that aren't designed to accomodate the grounding pin, probably requiring the prominant socket-pin to be a spring that retracts far into the socket when pressed by a plug's Earth-pin.
The comic also seems to not notice the lack of grounding for full compatibility with F plugs. This leaves them in he same state as type E above. This could be fixed by adding the extra pins for grounding. Given that most plugs in E and F regions are compatible with both standards (CEE 7/7) and have the E ground conected to the F ground through a front plate bigger then the hole for the E standard, it would be theoretically possible to make a mostly universal plug, with the exception of pure CEE 7/5 Schuko and pure French-style CEE 7/6, but those are vanishingly rare, phased out by the CEE 7/7.
Transcript
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This is one of 33 incomplete transcripts: Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page! |
[A diagram of an electrical outlet is shown, merging the holes of many international outlets. Dashed lines indicate individual standards' holes, which are labeled by their corresponding letter from A to N. The entire outlet is the combined area of these holes.]
Wiring tip: to make your building friendly to international visitors, cut holes in your outlet plates to make them compatible with all fifteen IEC plug types.
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No comments yet, add the first comment! Caliban (talk) 16:25, 26 December 2025 (UTC)
I checked on the info.0.json and there doesn't seem to be a transcript for this one. I don't know whether that's normal, since I understand that most comics have one, but I wrote in a basic transcript. I might have just not looked in the right place. R128 (talk) 16:58, 26 December 2025 (UTC)
I try not to be nationalistic or jingoistic about anything, but I'm sorry—British plugs are simply the best plugs. Strong, easy to use and safe—fits snugly into the socket, can't expose live or neutral outlets without first connecting to earth, no overly sharp pins. I don't like myself for saying this, but I honestly think the rest of the world would be better off switching to our plugs.109.149.114.159 18:00, 26 December 2025 (UTC)
- I'm American, and British plugs and sockets seem huge and clunky to me. I've also heard that (some?) Brits think US plugs are alarmingly flimsy. I'm sure that a big part of the differences of opinion is what we grew up with, and I'd love to hear a physics/engineering/UI/UX-based evaluation of which one is *actually* better. -- Dtgriscom (talk) 19:38, 26 December 2025 (UTC)
- I am an American (soon to be a Gileadian after we will rename our nation to the Republic of Gilead —— ¡ChrisoFascism sucks!); so now I do not have a dog in this fight, but the | EuroPlug looks very space efficient, unlike the bulky American plus & sockets, & the ridiculously enormous UK-plugs.
Someone will probably address this, but voltage issues aside, I would guess that the USAGE of the various pins across countries is likely different in catastrophic ways. E.g. I imagine that one glob of pins is hot/live in one country but ground/earth in others so that plugging an appliance from different countries into the universal outlet would cause shocks, breaker trips, explosions, etc. I did laugh at the title text - yes, I'm sure building inspectors are constantly encountering this mess. ;) 47.248.235.170 18:39, 26 December 2025 (UTC)Pat
- Nope. The ground pin is always intentionally made special in all mains plugs existing, and it's basic potty training for electricians to never, ever trust the two others. --88.65.244.212 20:24, 26 December 2025 (UTC)
Universal/travel plug adaptors do kind of look like this. Not quite as universal though. 220.244.124.170 19:50, 26 December 2025 (UTC)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DAIOqOxI0K_I --88.65.244.212 20:24, 26 December 2025 (UTC)
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