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

291–300 of 311 posts

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

#291

Post by everforward »

refracture wrote: post #104
elzbardico wrote: post #27

How can folks not see that using such contraption is obviously a shitty idea? That’s why we need to completely overhaul the teaching of physics in middle and high school. Every citizen should have at least a basic understanding of basic physical concepts that allow then to understand why this kind of thing is a bad idea

When I was a small child with endless un-jaded curiosity and no fear I once took a pair of cutters to a power cable plugged into a live 120v US outlet; it made an incredibly bright arc that I could see the afterimage of in my vision for several minutes and a deafeningly loud pop (In retrospect may have been the first stage of my tinnitus). For years growing up I would look at the replacement power cable for that elec…

I wish they'd just do quick, practical examples.

This is what happens when you mess with mains voltage and chuck a fork into a circuit. Maybe even a dead rat/frog. This is what happens when you put too much power into a wire, and let them watch it catch on fire.

I knew power was conceptually dangerous when I was a kid. I didn't realize how dangerous until I tried to change a light switch as a teenager, and didn't realize the house had multiple breaker boxes. Watching fairly thick copper wires melt themselves scared the hell out of me.

I won't do anything over 12v myself to this day. I'm too hasty and easily distracted for it to end well.

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

#292

Post by brnt »

Nifty3929 wrote: post #233
angrygoat wrote: post #78

I've been shocked by one of these – I was setting up some computers, asked for an extension cord, got handed a male-to-male cord. Didn't notice until I plugged one end in, and grabbed the other while fishing around for it while looking. It never occurred to me that it might be male on both ends. The shock was very painful but the RCD tripped and saved my life. I'm quite grateful to the regulators here in Australia th…

This is one nice thing about electric in the US - household voltage is mostly 110v, with special outlets for the occasional exception that requires 220v. And even in those cases, it's not 220v on one wire, it's just two wires of 110v. I've been shocked by 110v countless times (well, maybe a dozen or so), and it's just an momentary shock (in both senses) and nothing more. Not recommended! Be careful! Circumstances (wa…

As a kid (in Europe), I've shocked myself a few times with 230V. Breakers didn't save me, but what did I don't know either. One time I rember pulling a cable (and forgetting I had plugged to other end in) and being amazed at the strong buzzing when I tried to grab it (which I did repeatedly).

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

#293

Post by everforward »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #262
flyinghamster wrote: post #169

I've heard of these referred to as "Jesus cords," as in you're going to meet Him soon if you mishandle it. But really, if you're going to hook your house up to a generator, you should have a proper transfer switch installed. You don't want to risk energizing the neighborhood distribution lines by feeding power into them. Those transformers work both ways.

How is your poxy little 3 kVA portable genny going to power the local network without tripping its own breaker?

It genuinely does happen. I can't find a summary of how often, but if you Google "lineman electrocuted back-fed generator" you can see a bunch of cases.

It's not enough power for everyone in the neighborhood to have power, but it's enough that the lines have thousands of volts in them when the utility company thinks they're dead. The amps are low, but enough to be lethal.

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

#294

Post by iudqnolq »

TIPSIO wrote: post #74
kevinmchugh wrote: post #39

There's a wonderful kind of writing that pops up at hardware stores in response to annual searches for suicide cables. A couple examples here https://twitter.com/kobunheat/status/1336134415336964096 THESE ARE NOT MADE THEY SHOULD NEVER BE MADE has the kind of direct clarity of existential risk that they sought for with "This is not a place of honor. Nothing of value is here."

Really interesting... What are people doing with their lights where this would ever come up though? Edit: From reddit, a use case is found [1]: > They’re actually used my law enforcement whenever they do a raid and seize a computer. If they turn the computer off, they’ll have to try and get past a password. And if the hard drive is encrypted, they’re basically SOL. > This can be a real issue for things like drug deal…

I'm not saying law enforcement never does it, but that sounds like a very bad idea. Your power bank will be out of phase with the grid, and both will be feeding into eachother, which can cause all sorts of problems if I recall my classes properly.

There's a device for doing that properly that automatically detects the appropriate moment for changeover and does it near instantly. It's still quite dangerous. https://wiebetech.com/products/hotplug-field-kit/

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

#295

Post by guerby »

criddell wrote: post #28

I kind of hate that the notice points to a safety code (NFPA 70 in this case) but in order to see it, you have create an account in order to read it. If you want a copy of the code, you have to pay.

In France if the law references a norm and makes it mandatory then the norm must be publically accessible for free.

Here is the list of all the norms that must be available for free to the public in France:

https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/contenu/menu/autour-de-la-loi...

Electrical code for residential building is called "NFC 15-100" in France.

Vendors will usually publish short and well made documents referencing the essential stuff from NFC 15-100 when installing electrical hardware.

Example of Schneider:

https://www.se.com/fr/fr/work/support/local/reglementation/n...

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

#296

Post by freedude »

varispeed wrote: post #242
hedora wrote: post #145

The correct solution here is for the courts to treat Amazon like a retailer. If your local hardware store sells you one of these, then they (assuming the manufacturer cannot be found) assume liability for whatever damage it does.

ToO bIg toO fAiL As politicians would say, Amazon is too big and if we had to close it down, there would be too many job losses, that would be a political suicide. In my opinion that is one of the problems of late stage capitalism - corporations are allowed to grow out of control like cancer.

It is not capitalism then. It is a bastardized state sponsored social-fascism. The Society that owns it is small and not benefiting the entire population but it is still state sponsored and state encouraged.

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

#297

Post by rascul »

riffic wrote: post #268
birdman3131 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Suicide cords are not that dangerous when used by a professional. But when used by somebody not respectful and knowledgeable they become quite dangerous. The catch is that 95% of professionals would find another way to do it. As far as the police example that can be safer than you think. The power supply can be set to not apply power to the plug end until it senses power or you manually hit a switch. But you still ha…

the 5 percent of professionals who insist on doing things the bad way deserve the consequences and subsequent removal of previously applied "professional" status.

I repair homes for a living and the amount of stuff I've found that's wrong which has presumably been done by a professional is staggering.

The house I'm currently working at, I'm replacing all the flooring, most of the sub floor, some of the walls, and more. I'll have an electrician come in soon and do some work to fix the electrical. It's a metal roof and they did a real good job installing it except they apparently ran out of the proper screws and used incorrect screws to finish the job. The proper screws to attach a metal roof have a gasket so that water can't get in through the screw hole.

Do not use deck screws to attach a metal roof or you'll be paying someone like me a lot of money later on.

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

#298

Post by moistly »

oliveshell wrote: post #218
a2tech wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats why I made one. I've upgraded now to a proper panel setup for my generator, but it was a quick and simple solution in the moment.

For anyone who doesn’t see why this is a bad idea: If you plug your generator in like this, you can backfeed the step-down transformers in your neighborhood, which then step up the voltage from your generator and energize your local utility lines with potentially several thousand volts. This can be a nasty surprise for utility workers trying to restore power to what they think are de-energized wires.

It gets worse: in BC, the local lines lead back to a substation, and from there to the switching yard, by which point tens of millions of volts backfeed into the grid that connects to the WAC Bennett or Revelstoke dams, causing them to run backward, sucking all the water upriver and absolutely decimating the salmon population.

So just don’t use the cheater cords. Save the fish, save the planet, save your fingers.

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

#299

Post by kwhitefoot »

everforward wrote: post #293
kwhitefoot wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is your poxy little 3 kVA portable genny going to power the local network without tripping its own breaker?

It genuinely does happen. I can't find a summary of how often, but if you Google "lineman electrocuted back-fed generator" you can see a bunch of cases. It's not enough power for everyone in the neighborhood to have power, but it's enough that the lines have thousands of volts in them when the utility company thinks they're dead. The amps are low, but enough to be lethal.

Surely the lineman should have isolated the line before working on it.

But of course the person connecting the generator is very much at fault for not isolating their house from the network.

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

#300

Post by justsomehnguy »

NotYourLawyer wrote: post #214
justsomehnguy wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> To reduce the risk of electrocution, RCDs should operate within 25–40 milliseconds Now divide 1000ms to 50Hz.

20 millisecond-seconds.

Or 16.6 for 60Hz networks. Do you remember what it's sine wave when you on AC? You will be applied to the current for up to 2-2.5 cycles, so it's up to amount of current what you will get.

@londons_explore pretty summed it up and gave a link to a very good graph.

Post reply on HN