Easier to wire? I'm the US you must mend the wires and crew then. I Europe the sockets have waho style connectors. Sure I the US they are more Standardized. I'm Europe every socket is wired differently.

@@okaro6595 I am from Europe by the way. No, you must not mend them in USA if you do not want to, you have the option of sticking them right in and tighten them with the screw. Obviously, if you mend them, it is so much stronger than the European system, so it is nice to have that option. Also, the copper wire is just one thread, not twenty or thirty and a mess like in Europe. Double sockets come together as a nice prewired standard in USA and no need for you to do anything and you can buy built in moisture and spike protection as well. The American system is infinitely better. I have wired in two European countries and in USA. Even the socket housing boxes are much easier to attach to the wall in USA. Unfortunately, the European system builds on the German system

@@24June91 bend. There are double sockets in Europe also. In some countries they prefer two singles side by side as the cords do not block each other. In Finland that is never done.

It's called Schuko. It is German.

It is a German design and various countries have adopted it but it really is not an European standard. 28 European countries of 40 use it. Finland adopted it in 1930. Spain adopted it in the 1980s.

@@okaro6595 But still different from the German ones in the way it is installed. The frame and the insert here are usually not taken apart, usually riveted together so you can't separate them without destroying them. And the frame is held in place by the cover that is fixed with a screw to the socket outlet. And the good socket outlets here have no screw terminals anymore, same is for the light switches. Only cheap, or special stuff, has screw terminals here. Special stuff would be a wall mounted pull switch.

In the Balkans both wires are phase and no neutral or earth is used. It's safer. Not sure why other countries do not do it.

​@@Flat_Earth_AddySo when there's an earth fault, you'll be the path to earth. No, thanks.

This is how we do it in Spain too

How?

They put the frames in TERRIBLY.

UK far superior in all sockets and switches. I am electrical engineer lived in Spain many years, so I do know

​@@johnpugh5747 That's your opinion.

How? You don't even have to bridge a UK Double socket? And being square, far easier to level! Hence why in EU you find wonky sockets everywhere!

In Sweden, it's also brown for live (positive) but now orange for switched live (after a light switch). Before orange, white was commonly used as the switched live. In France, they use red wire for the live (and blue for the neutral). In the UK, it's brown and blue - but there is no different colour for a switched live after a light switch.

@@DavidJackson-zi1he strange that this differs from country to country. In the Netherlands the old scheme was: green for positive, red for negative, how confusing and dangerous if you know nothing about it. 😂

@@ElJasperino It is very strange! But if you read about the history of wiring colours, you'll understand it was much much more confusing in the past! For fixed wiring (in buildings) the UK changed colours in 2004. Before that, the old scheme was red for positive, black for negative and green/yellow for protective (earth). In Germany and Austria, the old colour for earth was red, but in Italy it was yellow. So many years ago, a red cable could be positive (UK), negative (NL) or protective conductor/earth (DE/AT). There's a great (UK) article called "The history of colour identification of conductors" which explains how we all (half) harmonised...

Is it possible to rewire it so switches only control the ceiling lights and not the sockets? Then control lamps either manually or via smart plugs/bulbs?