Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon

cpsc.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 311 posts

Re: CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon

#271

Post by kube-system »

xani_ wrote: post #241
kube-system wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it was done as a result of incidents during wildfires. People lost power, couldn't open their garage door, and died in their home. It does make sense for accessibility reasons.

I'm not sure that's cheaper than putting extra door in... certainly more after battery dies and needs to be replaced.

It's much cheaper than just the material for exterior door, let alone installation. They just use cheap SLA batteries. They're about $50 more than openers without a backup.

Re: CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon

#272

Post by vel0city »

gwbas1c wrote: post #245
xani_ wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USB-C is not gender-less, it just allows to connect it when flipped

It's turning into a universal power cable, and either end can send or receive power. That's genderless.

The gender of a cable isn't the thing which determines the flow, that's only convention after. The fact a USB-C cable with a male tip can either be a source or a load isn't a statement about its gender.

A genderless cable allows any cable to also double as an extension cable of the same type. I can't take a USB-C to USB-C male-to-male cable and use it as an extension with another USB-C male-to-male cable. I can't take a USB-C female device and directly connect it to a USB-C female device without getting some male-male cable. The gender of the cable matters, and without properly getting the right gender of cable and port I cannot connect things together.

See the Anderson Powerpole connector.[0] It is an example of a genderless connector. Any cable can double as an extension cable. The connectors are entirely fungible, there is no concept of a male or female connector.

USB-C is not genderless. That term has a specific meaning, and USB-C does not meet it.

[0] https://www.andersonpower.com/us/en/resources/PowerPoleResou...

Re: CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon

#273

Post by xani_ »

ghaff wrote: post #256
xani_ wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would you think that most people would just know it’s a terrible idea? I dunno, statistic about deaths from electrocution?

And why would they connect overall statistics about deaths from electrocution to that particular thing? Lots of ways to get electrocuted.

Sure but they're pretty much overall, so adding "coz he used a suicide power cord" would show even less people actually affected"

Re: CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon

#274

Post by TOGoS »

leeter wrote: post #38
TOGoS wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NEMA power inlets are weirdly expensive and therefore hard to come by. So if you want to have a wall-powered device with a detachable cord, using an outlet as an inlet and a male-to-male cord is a simple solution. (And yes, I'm aware of other solutions, like using IEC inlets, but it just feels a little wrong to use one of those on e.g. a power strip with NEMA outlets.)

They are? https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-Available-515CR-Outlet-Ground...

Sure, but that's more of an inline-style connector. I want something panel-mounted. With enough epoxy something like what you linked to could be adapted, but my time has value also. What I want is something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/265239624399 but note the 15$ price tag, and compare to that of IEC inlets, which are an order of magnitude less expensive.

Re: CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon

#275

Post by 14 »

toast0 wrote: post #244
14 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can still plug a 2 prong cord into a grounded cord.

Three prong males won't always fit into two prong females. It would depend on the molding on the christmas lights.

my bad I am now realizing the scenario we are talking about. Disregard my no sleep reply.

Re: CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon

#276

Post by TOGoS »

josephcsible wrote: post #31
TOGoS wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NEMA power inlets are weirdly expensive and therefore hard to come by. So if you want to have a wall-powered device with a detachable cord, using an outlet as an inlet and a male-to-male cord is a simple solution. (And yes, I'm aware of other solutions, like using IEC inlets, but it just feels a little wrong to use one of those on e.g. a power strip with NEMA outlets.)

It's a simple solution alright, just like using a lighter to look inside of a gas tank because you don't have a flashlight handy is.

Except that flashlights are easy to find in any gas station, and NEMA inlets are not.

Yeah, it's dangerous because some kid might take that double-male cord and plug it in somewhere problematic, but given the lack of obvious alternatives, I can understand why someone would do this. If we want to discourage it, we should make the correct solution more obvious and widely available.

Re: CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon

#277

Post by josephcsible »

TOGoS wrote: post #276
josephcsible wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a simple solution alright, just like using a lighter to look inside of a gas tank because you don't have a flashlight handy is.

Except that flashlights are easy to find in any gas station, and NEMA inlets are not. Yeah, it's dangerous because some kid might take that double-male cord and plug it in somewhere problematic, but given the lack of obvious alternatives, I can understand why someone would do this. If we want to discourage it, we should make the correct solution more obvious and widely available.

How are they not widely available? Home Depot and Lowe's both sell them.

Re: CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon

#278

Post by mindslight »

xani_ wrote: post #257
mindslight wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used fluid analogies for intuition, even working as a professional design engineer. It's much easier to feel flow, pressure, momentum, etc than try to develop an independent intuition based solely on equations. I'm actually starting to learn hydraulics at the moment and it's a head trip. I know these schematic symbols must have some kind of method to them, but what . Also all of these components are just created…

Yeah but it's only similar from a very far away. Like just simple resistor, in electronics flow increases linearly with voltage, in hydraulics it doesn't. Or how in some hydraulics system it's not really the flow that's the motivator for action, like in simple hydraulic brakes it's not the flow of the fluid in a circle that powers anything, it's just that the push on fluid on one side pushes the brake pad on the othe…

> simple resistor, in electronics flow increases linearly with voltage, in hydraulics it doesn't

Sure. I'm not advocating substituting electronics components with a similar seeming hydraulic one and then taking it literally, but rather guiding your basic intuition. The linear resistor is actually much nicer than the nonlinear orifice when it comes time to calculate. And some times the fluid model even does a better job encouraging one to pay attention to things like parasitics, which are too easy to ignore when looking at a circuit diagram without them.

> in some hydraulics system it's not really the flow that's the motivator for action, ... it's just that the push on fluid on one side pushes the brake pad on the other

Like the gate of a common FET.

Re: CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon

#279

Post by vel0city »

NotYourLawyer wrote: post #81

I bought one of these on Amazon last year for a specific use case, and I’m knowledgeable enough to use it safely. IIRC Amazon pulled the listing a few months later and gave me a refund because it’s obviously a dangerous product.

Unless you're sealing it in a block of concrete, its not using it safely. The cable could easily get unplugged, which would then result in a very unsafe situation especially if someone isn't aware of the non-standard usage of the connector.

Re: CPSC warns consumers to stop using male-to-male extension cords sold on Amazon

#280

Post by NotYourLawyer »

vel0city wrote: post #279
NotYourLawyer wrote: post #81

I bought one of these on Amazon last year for a specific use case, and I’m knowledgeable enough to use it safely. IIRC Amazon pulled the listing a few months later and gave me a refund because it’s obviously a dangerous product.

Unless you're sealing it in a block of concrete, its not using it safely. The cable could easily get unplugged, which would then result in a very unsafe situation especially if someone isn't aware of the non-standard usage of the connector.

Ok fine. Reasonably safely. A safety level that I am comfortable with, in a situation where no one else is going to be involved.
Post reply on HN