Why are so many electrical plugs designed in such a way that they cover adjacent sockets?
In: Engineering
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Does this relate specifically to US plugs? I’m from Ireland and don’t understand the question and the various responses
All the electric devices that have this issue run on different power than that which comes out of the socket. So they are build like this:
* A plug that connects to the socket
* A chunk that converts normal socket power to what the device needs
* The device itself
Take a desktop computer vs a laptop computer. The desktop simply connects to the socket with a cable. Everything else is inside the desktop itself. This is possible because the desktop is already pretty big and heavy and doesn’t need to be portable. So what you get is plug -> cable -> device (internal converter)
For a laptop on the other hand people want it to be as small and light as possible, so the converter needs to be outside the computer itself. The converter is generally too big tough to realistically fit into a blocky plug. So what you get is plug -> cable -> converter -> cable -> device
Now for a lot of smaller devices you don’t need a converter as big but the device itself is so small that you really dont want the converter inside the device either. Even considering how small a phone charger is you probably wouldn’t want it permanently attached to your phone. But the charger IS small enough that you *can* integrate it into a blocky plug. This way you get plug -> converter -> cable -> device and save yourself the thick cable. This keeps your device small, saves money on the thick cable, reduces the box size by not having to include the large cable and simplifies the design. Is it going to inconvenience your customers by blocking adjacent sockets? Yes, but everyone is doing it so you’re not standing out in a negative way. And anything you can do about it would make your device more expensive and thus less competitive.
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I always keep a stock of these at home to solve this.
The answer is that one person’s genius idea conflicts with another person’s genius idea.
This is what a “traditional” North American power strip looks like. https://images.homedepot-static.com/catalog/productImages/1000/07/075cbb2d-67f5-404b-bee7-962e0712de4e_1000.jpg
When you try to plug in a “traditional” wall wart / ac adapter – this is what happens – https://www.cableorganizer.com/images/power-strip-liberator/images/before-after-powerstrip-liberator.jpg (ignore the bottom part with the short cords).
Everyone realized that this was a problem.
So, power strip manufacturers rotated their sockets 90 degrees. This works really well. https://cdn.thingiverse.com/renders/ea/58/dd/00/b8/909a55594018529fd8a98d200a53e0b5_preview_featured.JPG
Device manufacturers also rotated their plugs like 90 degrees and made them skinny, like this. This also works well. https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.zbXpgG3Xnd6KVtfWVL0xCwHaEm%26pid%3DApi&f=1
But the two solutions are generally incompatible. If you try to put a rotated plug into a rotated power strip, you end up with the same problem all over again – with a plug covering multiple sockets. http://rasterweb.net/raster/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/powerstrip2.jpg
So now everything just sucks.
The “solutions” are to:
* make the adapters small enough to not take up more space than the socket itself (only possible with low power adapters like USB chargers)
* add a cord to the adapter instead of plugging it into the wall (increases cost and contributes to “rat’s nests” of wires)
As a consumer, you can buy short extension cords, a power strip large enough to handle both types of plugs, or multiple power strips. But all of those cost money.
The real ELI5 answer is “It just be like that sometimes.” It’s cheaper to manufacture when the rectifier (the box shaped bit) contains the blades that plug into the outlet. There are 2 coming methods of delivering electricity to your appliances. Most large appliances use the kind flowing through the wires in your wall(AC). Most electronics use the other kind(DC). Most of the small electronics have the box plugs that contain the circuitry, called a rectifier, to switch from AC to DC. Bigger electronics like PCs and TVs have the rectifier built in rather than in the box plug.
If this is a reaction to you experiencing this issue, there exists small 1 ft, 2 ft etc extension cords. Mostly they’re made for when you want to plug something in behind a piece of furniture where that plug prevents the furniture from sitting flush against the wall. They will solve your problem if you can’t fit 2 plugs into the same outlet due to size or shape.
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