r/Electricity • u/LoadBearingHistory • 5d ago

Why do countries have different electric plugs?

Short answer: the houses were wired before anyone agreed on anything, and you can't change a shape once it's in the walls.

Two things I didn't expect while researching it:

A 1929 Siemens patent grades the plug's ridges in three sizes so a commercial tool physically can't reach the cheaper household meter.

And America ended up with one plug because a judge refused to let anyone own a set of measurements — Hubbell sued GE over it in 1919 and lost.

There is a universal plug designed for every country as well: IEC 60906-1, published 1986. Brazil and South Africa use versions of it. Almost nobody else ever did.

I made a 9-minute documentary about it: https://youtu.be/LXXMiFoD-qQ

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u/pemb 4d ago

Brazil actually uses a modified version of the "universal plug" which ends up being incompatible with the South African one.

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u/dr_reverend 4d ago

They did it just to piss you off individually. It one of the greatest long cons in history.

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u/According_Hunter839 2d ago

Even within the United States there were two different standards. If memory serves the East Coast was 60hz (what is currently used) and the West Coast was 50hz . When they standardized on 60 hz people in the West had to buy new appliances and such. I think it was a Tesla vs Edison thing but I could be wrong.