Comments by "John Burns" (@johnburns4017) on "In Defense of the Switched Outlet" video.

  1. Thanks. This vid gives me a warm feeling that we in the UK do not have an electrical system like the USA.
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  2. In the UK we have 3-pin power plugs with fuses in them - he world's best, a design classic. If you plug a lamp into a power outlet, you fit a 1A fuse in the plug, then the thin lamp flex is protected from overheating and bursting into flames, and also the lamp itself. But we also have 2A and 5A small round pin fuse-less plugs and sockets only for lighting. These can be off a lighting circuit - it is illegal to have them on a power circuit. I have a lighting circuit which is protected by a 3A RCBO at the main panel - an RCBO is: over-current, fault and earth leakage all in one breaker. In the living room I have a dimmer lighting switch at the door which feeds three 5A round 3-pin lighting sockets/plugs at skirting board height around the room. I plug in three table lamps. The dimmer switches the three lamps on and off and dims them as well. All safe sound and sensible. The USA and European way of plugging a lamp with a fuse-less plug into a 16A or 20A power outlet is just plain irresponsible. The flex on the lamp will overheat and catch fire if 16 or 20A is run thru it. Unlike the UK the lamp has no over-current protection.
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