On Sat, 30 Jun 2007 13:35:18 -0500, Wolfi wrote:

The lack of appropriate machanical stress handling is my biggest rejection of
the American type 130V power plug system, in addition to extremely poor design
of those flat contact receptacles, which wear out very easily, giving poor
contact with all bad things to follow..


Sleeves and pins... blades and wipers. They both sport similar life
spans and contact mating particulars, and neither is a clear winner, and
BOTH are used in higher power commercial scenarios. They are both proven
winners for the industry.

As far as our "130V" (120V actually) 2 and 3 prong plugs and
receptacles not having strain relief... they don't need it. If one
remains within the specs for their use, the outlet/plug combo never sees
any particularly high mechanical stresses placed on it. The bladed type
actually fights mechanical stress in one plane far better than pins do
without harming contact mating integrity over tens of thousands of stress
cycles.