[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":366},["ShallowReactive",2],{"home-notes":3},[4,159,255],{"id":5,"title":6,"badge":7,"body":8,"date":147,"description":148,"extension":149,"meta":150,"mood":151,"navigation":152,"path":153,"schemaOrg":154,"seo":155,"sitemap":156,"stem":157,"__hash__":158},"notes\u002Fnotes\u002Fwhy-15-plug-types.md","Why does the world have 15 plug types?","History",{"type":9,"value":10,"toc":139},"minimark",[11,15,20,32,36,39,95,99,110,114,125,131],[12,13,14],"p",{},"Humanity has agreed on many things. The metre. The second. That pineapple on pizza is worth arguing about. But when it came to the shape of the holes in our walls, we threw up our hands and said \"you do you.\"",[16,17,19],"h2",{"id":18},"it-started-in-america","It started in America",[12,21,22,23,27,28,31],{},"The first plugs weren't plugs at all. Early electric appliances screwed into ",[24,25,26],"strong",{},"light bulb sockets",", because that's where the electricity was. In 1904, an American inventor named Harvey Hubbell patented a separable plug, and soon after came the two flat blades that would become ",[24,29,30],{},"Type A",".",[16,33,35],{"id":34},"then-everyone-else-got-electricity","Then everyone else got electricity",[12,37,38],{},"Here's the problem: electrification happened country by country, over about 60 years, with no international coordination. Each country picked whatever its engineers liked, and once millions of walls had those sockets, changing them became effectively impossible.",[40,41,42,53,68,78],"ul",{},[43,44,45,48,49,52],"li",{},[24,46,47],{},"Germany"," came up with the Schuko (",[24,50,51],{},"Type F",") in the 1920s: symmetrical, grounded via side clips, and reversible.",[43,54,55,58,59,63,64,67],{},[24,56,57],{},"France"," put a ground pin ",[60,61,62],"em",{},"in the socket"," instead of the plug (",[24,65,66],{},"Type E","), because of course it did.",[43,69,70,73,74,77],{},[24,71,72],{},"Britain"," rebuilt after WWII with a new fused plug (",[24,75,76],{},"Type G","), partly because copper was scarce and ring circuits saved wire. The fuse in each plug made it safe.",[43,79,80,83,84,83,87,90,91,94],{},[24,81,82],{},"Switzerland",", ",[24,85,86],{},"Italy",[24,88,89],{},"Denmark"," and ",[24,92,93],{},"Israel"," all went their own way too.",[16,96,98],{"id":97},"the-europlug-a-peace-treaty","The Europlug: a peace treaty",[12,100,101,102,105,106,109],{},"In the 1960s, Europe noticed it had a problem and invented the ",[24,103,104],{},"Europlug"," (",[24,107,108],{},"Type C","): two thin round pins, no ground, low current. It was designed to fit almost every socket on the continent. It's the closest thing the world has to a universal plug, and it's why Plugbert's top tip for most of Europe is \"bring a Type C.\"",[16,111,113],{"id":112},"the-last-attempt","The last attempt",[12,115,116,117,120,121,124],{},"In 1986 the IEC designed a genuinely universal plug, IEC 60906-1. Literally one country adopted it: ",[24,118,119],{},"Brazil",", in 2011, as ",[24,122,123],{},"Type N",". South Africa adopted a close cousin. Everyone else said \"maybe later.\"",[12,126,127,128,130],{},"So here we are. Fifteen types. A to O. Plugbert has met all of them, and he'd like you to know that ",[24,129,76],{}," is lovely once you get to know it, but you should never, ever step on one.",[12,132,133,134,31],{},"Browse them all on the ",[135,136,138],"a",{"href":137},"\u002Fplugs","plug types page",{"title":140,"searchDepth":141,"depth":141,"links":142},"",2,[143,144,145,146],{"id":18,"depth":141,"text":19},{"id":34,"depth":141,"text":35},{"id":97,"depth":141,"text":98},{"id":112,"depth":141,"text":113},"2026-09-28","A brief, mostly true history of how humanity failed to agree on holes in walls.","md",{},"smug",true,"\u002Fnotes\u002Fwhy-15-plug-types",null,{"title":6,"description":148},{"loc":153},"notes\u002Fwhy-15-plug-types","KKexMnY5rgVNjGlCuPrk-jPtrLUxPblq5OQsNfZ_RqQ",{"id":160,"title":161,"badge":162,"body":163,"date":246,"description":247,"extension":149,"meta":248,"mood":249,"navigation":152,"path":250,"schemaOrg":154,"seo":251,"sitemap":252,"stem":253,"__hash__":254},"notes\u002Fnotes\u002Fhair-dryer-incident.md","The hair dryer incident (a tragedy in 230 volts)","Cautionary tale",{"type":9,"value":164,"toc":241},[165,168,171,177,181,184,195,198,202,205,209,212,215,228,231],[12,166,167],{},"It was a lovely hotel. Fourth floor, a little balcony, a view of a slightly different, slightly more expensive hotel.",[12,169,170],{},"Our traveller (let's call her Deb, because that was her name) had packed carefully. Passport. Comfortable shoes. A plug adapter, Type C, purchased at the airport for the price of a small car.",[12,172,173,174],{},"And her hair dryer. 1,875 watts of American muscle. ",[24,175,176],{},"120 V only.",[16,178,180],{"id":179},"_742-am","7:42 a.m.",[12,182,183],{},"Deb plugs the hair dryer into the adapter. The adapter goes into the wall. The wall, being French, delivers 230 volts with the quiet confidence of a nation that invented the croissant.",[12,185,186,187,190,191,194],{},"The hair dryer has been designed, lovingly, for 120 volts. It now receives almost twice that. Because power scales with the ",[60,188,189],{},"square"," of voltage on a simple heating element, it is suddenly trying to be a ",[24,192,193],{},"nearly 7,000-watt"," hair dryer.",[12,196,197],{},"It does not succeed.",[16,199,201],{"id":200},"_742-and-three-seconds","7:42 and three seconds",[12,203,204],{},"There is a sound. Plugbert has described it to friends as \"a duck being told bad news.\" There is a smell, which is less funny. The hotel's breaker trips, and the entire fourth floor goes quiet, apart from a man in 412 who was mid-shave.",[16,206,208],{"id":207},"the-lesson","The lesson",[12,210,211],{},"The adapter did its job perfectly. It made the plug fit. That's all an adapter does. It does not convert voltage, it never promised to, and blaming it would be like blaming your passport for the weather.",[12,213,214],{},"What Deb needed was either:",[216,217,218,225],"ol",{},[43,219,220,221,224],{},"A ",[24,222,223],{},"dual-voltage"," travel hair dryer (look for 100–240V or a little voltage switch), or",[43,226,227],{},"The hotel's own hair dryer, which was, it turned out, in the drawer the whole time.",[12,229,230],{},"Deb is fine. The hair dryer has been laid to rest. Plugbert attended the funeral.",[12,232,233,236,237,31],{},[24,234,235],{},"Check before you go:"," ",[135,238,240],{"href":239},"\u002Fcheck\u002Funited-states\u002Ffrance","United States → France",{"title":140,"searchDepth":141,"depth":141,"links":242},[243,244,245],{"id":179,"depth":141,"text":180},{"id":200,"depth":141,"text":201},{"id":207,"depth":141,"text":208},"2026-09-20","A short story about an American hair dryer, a Parisian hotel, and the smell of regret.",{},"shocked","\u002Fnotes\u002Fhair-dryer-incident",{"title":161,"description":247},{"loc":250},"notes\u002Fhair-dryer-incident","ak1KT6-JKw9IrZp23i8692haCdbwHOj3YrQY-BD6zqQ",{"id":256,"title":257,"badge":258,"body":259,"date":357,"description":358,"extension":149,"meta":359,"mood":360,"navigation":152,"path":361,"schemaOrg":154,"seo":362,"sitemap":363,"stem":364,"__hash__":365},"notes\u002Fnotes\u002Fadapter-vs-converter.md","Adapters vs converters, explained by a plug","Essentials",{"type":9,"value":260,"toc":351},[261,264,268,278,285,289,295,302,316,320,323,327,343],[12,262,263],{},"Every year, thousands of travellers buy a plug adapter, plug in their hair dryer in a London hotel, and witness a small, smelly miracle. Plugbert would like that to stop.",[16,265,267],{"id":266},"the-adapter-a-costume","The adapter: a costume",[12,269,220,270,273,274,277],{},[24,271,272],{},"plug adapter"," is a costume for your plug. It changes the ",[60,275,276],{},"shape"," so your plug fits into a foreign wall. It does absolutely nothing to the electricity. If 230 volts comes out of the wall, 230 volts goes into your device.",[12,279,280,281,284],{},"That's fine for most things you travel with, because most modern electronics are ",[24,282,283],{},"dual voltage",". Your phone charger, laptop brick, camera charger, e-reader, and Nintendo Switch dock all happily accept anything from 100 to 240 volts.",[16,286,288],{"id":287},"the-converter-a-translator","The converter: a translator",[12,290,220,291,294],{},[24,292,293],{},"voltage converter"," (or step-down transformer) actually changes the voltage. It takes 230 V and turns it into 120 V, or vice versa. Converters are heavy, they get hot, and the cheap ones are rated for a few minutes of use at a time.",[12,296,297,298,301],{},"You only need one if you're bringing a ",[24,299,300],{},"single-voltage device"," to a country with a different voltage. In practice, that's almost always something with a heating element:",[40,303,304,307,310,313],{},[43,305,306],{},"Hair dryers",[43,308,309],{},"Curling irons and straighteners (unless they have a voltage switch)",[43,311,312],{},"Kettles, coffee makers, rice cookers",[43,314,315],{},"Older electric shavers",[16,317,319],{"id":318},"plugberts-honest-advice","Plugbert's honest advice",[12,321,322],{},"Don't buy a converter. Buy a cheap dual-voltage travel hair dryer, or use the one bolted to the hotel bathroom wall. Converters for high-wattage devices are bulky, and the travel-sized ones lie about their wattage.",[16,324,326],{"id":325},"how-to-tell-what-youve-got","How to tell what you've got",[12,328,329,330,333,334,338,339,342],{},"Flip your charger over and find the line that starts with ",[24,331,332],{},"INPUT",". If it reads ",[335,336,337],"code",{},"100-240V ~ 50\u002F60Hz",", you need an adapter and nothing else. If it reads ",[335,340,341],{},"120V ~ 60Hz"," and you're going to Europe, leave it at home.",[12,344,345,346,350],{},"Not sure? Type it into the ",[135,347,349],{"href":348},"\u002Flabel","label decoder"," and Plugbert will read it for you.",{"title":140,"searchDepth":141,"depth":141,"links":352},[353,354,355,356],{"id":266,"depth":141,"text":267},{"id":287,"depth":141,"text":288},{"id":318,"depth":141,"text":319},{"id":325,"depth":141,"text":326},"2026-09-12","One changes the shape. One changes the voltage. Mixing them up is how hair dryers die.",{},"thinking","\u002Fnotes\u002Fadapter-vs-converter",{"title":257,"description":358},{"loc":361},"notes\u002Fadapter-vs-converter","IQe1fQJEO2fYw4nE7yhSkzW7-0SkzJi5NAVF3AVyMVY",1791250393687]