Here’s a short extension cord version of one
The explanation of why they’re a bad idea is valid though. Usually the kinds of people who know just enough to want this type of plug are also the type of people I wouldn’t trust with one.
Edit: I’ll go ahead and explain why people want plugs like this. These can be used to backfeed power from a generator into a house, letting you used different outlets/lights in the house. A knowledgeable person can actually use something like this safely, but most people who would use something like this don’t know enough to do it correctly. The dangers about doing this are:
- You can easily shock yourself off of the exposed pins of the cord. You can avoid getting shocked by waiting to plug into the generator until the other end is connected first.
- You can backfeed power onto the electrical grid. The power going backwards through the transformers will step up the voltage to thousands of volts, and could seriously injure or kill the linemen who are trying to fix the outage. This is avoided by making sure you’ve opened either the house’s main disconnect breaker or the breaker for the individual circuit you’re plugging into.
There are some safer ways to setup this type of generator use, there are special generator power cords/outlets that won’t have exposed energized prongs if plugged into a generator. There are also transfer switches or breaker interlock kits designed to prevent someone from being able to backfeed power by requiring them to disconnect commercial power before the generator can be fed into the house’s distribution panel.
I trust NANCHANGZHENGFUYUANGUOJIMAOYIYOUXIANGONGSI for all my dangerously illegal electrical needs!
Even funnier is if you click on the brand SCTOU to see other products, the other items from SCTOU appear to be questionable body armor and anti-bird spikes. Seller names are different as well, but they’re all similar random Chinese names.
Am I crazy or is the example picture of the interlock backwards. Both sides can be turned on, but only one can be off at the same time 😅
You’re right, I hadn’t noticed that. They have the breakers labeled backwards from how they normally are.
Yea I had to scroll down to the review pictures, I seriously thought I was going crazy over what is a super simple thing lol
I have had this conversation multiple times, about multiple cable types, while in electronics sales.
What’s the best analogy or wording you’ve found for conveying the nature of the problem to people?
I’m not sure there is one, I usually just highlight that they’re one-directional, and you would technically need another nontrivial piece of hardware in the middle.
Then we figured out what their problem actually was.
It prevents you from connecting two live wires and dying.
I don’t understand this.
Do your Christmas light end with a female electrical socket?
Yep! That way you can daisy chain several in a row.
Could you not just run an extension cord from the male end to the socket though?
EDIT: Never mind…says exactly that in the picture.
The idea is that the string of lights has a male end and a female end. That way you can have several daisy chained and just plug the one with the male end into the outlet. But if you plan it wrong then you may end up with the wrong end in the wrong place, in which case yeah, use an extension cord or hang the lights all over again.
Oh and it’s actually relatively safe this way… Each string of lights normally has a fuse in it, so it prevents the cords from carrying more current than they are designed for.
Thank you, I noticed that was a suggested solution in the picture after asking.
It cracks me up that they’ll sell chainsaws to anyone.
They should put what they are called in the electrical world to help drive home the point. “Suicide cords”
Sales go up
Was at a Christmas party last night and a guy dropped a 2 foot long double ended dildo on the table.
Male to Male adapters exist, but electrically questionable.
We had one of these bad boys powering my Dad’s shop when I was younger. The look on my Dad’s face when I was troubleshooting why the power to the shop went out was priceless. Communication saves lives, kids. It certainly did mine. Reasonable electrical wiring will do that in place of communication.
But… They do exist. They’re just incredibly stupid and dangerous.
It’s also a good thing dildos aren’t made of
metal and connected to voltage.Some are and some pay extra for that…
Like, a motor… The State of Arkansas would pay you for a novel execution device though.
They could’ve just said, “If you want a double-ended male plug, go check out the Adam and Eve store webpage.”
Pretty sad that it needs to be explained why these are generally a terrible idea
Every day there are thousands of people who hear about this for the first time. I’d link the relevant xkcd but I’m too lazy right now
Here you go: https://xkcd.com/1053/
“And don’t forget the code Ship2 to get 50% off your order!”
Anything exists if you’re skilled enough with flatware and snips
You have conjured an image that is both more effort and more dangerous than OP.
americans…
Oh, bug off.
