The future of the Electrical Items Collection
In late 2020 I became interested in the world of electrical installations. A combination of discovering some old Italian extension leads from the 60s, the then-recent Technology Connections explainer on US split-phase power and especially Oof Oud's wondeful Digital Museum of Plugs and Sockets all lead me to start my own tiny collection, with pictures and a short explainer on my personal site - this one.
Looking back it could very much have ended up as just another temporary hobby, a short-lived hyperfixation just like any other. 2020 was just the right time for that sort of thing, after all. But that was certainly not the case.
As I type this it's now May 2025, almost five years have passed (somehow) and in the meanwhile what started as a few plugs and sockets stored in a box has grown into a much larger collection spanning over 40 pages... digitally, and several IKEA boxes, physically. It's by far my biggest project, privately but especially publicly. To the point of even being featured in a Hackaday article and in the "Links" page of Oof Oud's own site. People seem to actually like my work, something that I'm still struggling to internalise myself.
Truth be told, I've always been conflicted about my site. The very first version was even placed in a subdirectory of the "other things" page, almost as if I wanted to hide it. I think part of it was a sort of impostor syndrome, like I shouldn't be discussing electrical installations as a hobbyist with very limited practical experience. On the other hand, as with anyone else creating... things, I've never been properly satisfied with my work, since I'm acutely aware of what's missing (for example, a breaker panels section): what's currently publicly available is just the tip of the iceberg. But, looking at it objectively, I have to recognise that this is not only my biggest project, but also something others have found useful.
Therefore, given the signfificance this project has taken and how much it has grown, the time has finally come to turn it into more than just a random section of my own personal website and separate it into its own thing: my other hobbies will continue to remain here, while the electrical section has been moved to electricsarchive.eu, with its own domain name and hosting and a brand new look.
Huge thanks to those who've browsed my site so far and my friends, who've given emotional and technical support throughout the years. I'm looking forward to improving it over time, and I hope you'll continue to enjoy the Electrics Archive at its new location.
Samuele C. / samuele963