this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2024
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[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 111 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

But you dont really care 'bout voltage, do ya?

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 63 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

It goes like this, on the the 25th. A minor shock? No. Death madeshift.

[–] elvith@feddit.org 33 points 2 months ago

The baffled men are meeting now their maker.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

[–] wiccan2@lemmy.world 102 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Also known as a "nope rope"

[–] hihellobyeoh@lemmy.world 36 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I thought that was a snake....

[–] Jtee@lemmy.world 45 points 2 months ago (3 children)
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[–] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 20 points 2 months ago

I wouldn't plug both ends of a snake into the mains either.

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 24 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

We call them a Deadman's cable up here, and sadly they're still quite frequently used in the northern rural areas because it costs almost $2,000 to have a dedicated bypass switch installed(generator hookup) so nobody does it, they just throw the Main and hope they don't put too much stress on the internal lines.

Is it legal? Hell no but they do it anyway

[–] Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca 17 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I did this.
Is it stupid? Yes. Did it work? Also yes. For the amount of time that we'd have power out, it was just way to easy to throw a breaker and connect it like this just to keep a small heater and a light running. If I had the money at the time I would have loved battery backup/ bypass but this cost $2 and an old cord.

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[–] anonymous111@lemmy.world 66 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I thought this was an anti homosexuality meme until I read the top comment.

I've got to stop using Lemmy. It is changing me...

[–] volvoxvsmarla@lemm.ee 13 points 2 months ago (14 children)

I too have developed into a very politically correct person with lemmy, I kinda miss being able to make gay jokes

[–] Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de 42 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I guess you're too straight edge for that.

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[–] merari42@lemmy.world 60 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (5 children)

I heard there was a secret cord.
you plug it in to meet the lord.
But you don't really care for safety, do ya?
It goes like this, you plug it in,
And in a flash, the lights go dim,
The power's gone,
and now it’s running through ya.

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[–] jawa21@lemmy.sdf.org 53 points 2 months ago (2 children)

They very much do exist, though. Often used sketchily with generators.

[–] superkret@feddit.org 24 points 2 months ago (9 children)

How do you non-sketchily feed a generator's power into your home?

[–] thr0w4w4y2@sh.itjust.works 47 points 2 months ago

You get a qualified tradesperson to wire it properly into your electrical distribution.

[–] SirDerpy@lemmy.world 31 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Technical details and the social contract mandate that your generator is never connected to the main power grid. The generator should be wired to an enclosed AC transfer switch. This switch will connect either the generator or the main grid to your home, but never both.

Some detail: If the generator is wired to the main grid it can prevent restoration of main grid power. While an AC transfer switch will perform the task, many jurisdictions mandate additional safety precautions (which can be quite expensive).

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 23 points 2 months ago (4 children)

It can also kill a lineman working on the power lines outside your house, thinking they’re not energized.

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[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

The proper way of doing it is using what's called a generator bypass switch, basically it's a physical switch that runs before your fuse box, and it makes it impossible to have both the main and the generator being fed at the same time, so you can either have the main on or you could have the generator on. This prevents the electricity from your generator back feeding into the line and killing a line worker trying to restore power.

Sadly, like the other comments have said people tend to use these male to male cables in order to not have to pay the $2,000 to install the switch and instead choose to just turn the main breaker off and plug that cable in. But since it's possible to have both the main and the generator on it's not legal because if you forgot to throw the Main or if you did it incorrectly you could be putting workers at risk

Even disregarding the safety risk of using such a cable, not having a dedicated switch installed also means that you're plugging your generator into usually an outside socket of the house, and those power lines aren't usually meant to have a high load so you risk creating a fire from over straining the line as well

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[–] lefixxx@lemmy.world 18 points 2 months ago

There are electrical panel accessories that automatically isolate the house

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[–] ulterno@lemmy.kde.social 52 points 2 months ago (8 children)

No problem.

I got these baddies

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[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 49 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I'm not American, Christmas lights aren't a thing here like they're in the US, can someone explain?

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 88 points 2 months ago (15 children)

Strand of exterior lights, one end male plug one female. Idiots start to mount the lights with the female end near their outlet. Get done, become confused, go to store for male to male cord to plug into female end.

The female end is for chaining multiple strands, not for supplying power (directly) from the power socket.

[–] tyler@programming.dev 64 points 2 months ago (9 children)

The power can go through the female end just fine, that’s not the problem. The problem is people plug this “suicide cable” into the wall first, thus creating a 120v taser of sorts. Like someone else in this thread said, the only problem from cables like that is people tend to try to backfeed energy into the system with a generator or solar panels. Boom.

[–] fraksken@infosec.pub 42 points 2 months ago

Also, at the end of the chain there is a male terminal exposed with live current. Could cause a fire I guess.

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[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 37 points 2 months ago (2 children)

A strand of christmas lights resembles an extension cord, but they tend to be made of smaller gauge wire and obviously have little sockets for tiny light bulbs spaced along them. They typically have 2-prong male plug on one end, often with a 2-prong female pass through on the back so you could plug more than one strand into the same receptacle, and they usually end in a female plug so they can be daisy chained.

Sometimes, when installing them on a house or something, the person installing them may not pay attention to which direction is which, and end up installing them so that the female-only end is near where they intended to plug them in. So instead of pulling them down, or running a long extension cord, they go to the hardware store looking for a male-to-male plug adapter.

Power plugs and sockets are gendered for a very good reason; the female receptacle keeps the energized contacts protected inside, and the male plug's contacts should only be energized when plugged in and their outer shells protect them. A male-to-male cable when one end is plugged in and the other is free now has exposed mains current just waving around in the open air ready to kill someone. And, on a smaller note with christmas lights, they usually have a fuse built into the plug, and plugging them in backwards bypasses this for at least the first strand, so it's technically 102.7% unsafe to do this.

The other thing a male-to-male adapter or cable is sometimes used for is to attach a portable generator to your home's electrical system by just plugging it into an outlet, especially during a power failure. They do make what are essentially special male receptacles I think mainly for the RV industry for attaching generators like that, most houses won't have these. Plugging it into a normal wall socket will actually work, but 1. you have bypassed the breaker panel, so the breakers no longer provide over-current protection. You could overheat the wires in the walls and burn down the house. 2. there's a possibility that you're feeding electricity to the entire house through the breaker box and even out to the transformer, which means the lines could be energized for linemen working on them. Throwing the main breaker might prevent that? They make switching gear designed for buildings with their own backup generators that can either manually or automatically sever their connection to the grid when on internal power, but again a doofus trying to make one of these cables probably doesn't have one of those.

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[–] youRFate@feddit.org 21 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Their lights usually have a plug on one end and a socket on the other. Ppl put them around the exterior of their hoses, then realise they did it the wrong way, and the socket end is near the outlet they wanted to plug them in.

Or they mounted two strands of lights, and where they meet up it’s either 2 plugs or two sockets accidentally.

[–] chetradley@lemmy.world 40 points 2 months ago (1 children)

/But hardware stores don't want to sell it tooooo youuu..../

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[–] kamen@lemmy.world 30 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Practical IQ test with binary result ("pass"/"fail").

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[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 25 points 2 months ago (10 children)

as someone who has strung a ton of lights the wrong way around on more than one occasion... I can understand the desire for some magic solution that doesnt require undoing and redoing your work..

but fuck, You don't mess around with electricity.

People also make these stupid suicide cables to plug generators into houses during disasters, often backfeeding power into the lines that may be down and can cause serious injury to workers trying to restore power.

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[–] FilthyShrooms@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago

Just use 2 paper clips and some duct tape, problem solved!

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 24 points 2 months ago (4 children)

I've used a suicide cord before in some rare instances. When I was finished I immediately took it apart.

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[–] rugburn@lemmynsfw.com 19 points 2 months ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-4mvK2FW78

Plugging the cord in the same outlet isn't dangerous itself, but the prongs will be live on the end that's not plugged in, I'd suggest not touching them. Where it IS dangerous is when people try to use them with a generator to back feed their panel. Don't do that.

[–] Davidchan@lemmynsfw.com 18 points 2 months ago (3 children)

On the one hand, there are legitimate uses for double ended male cords. On the other, absolutely none of those legit uses invovle christmas lights

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[–] roguetrick@lemmy.world 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You gotta lick it after you plug it in so you know it's working.

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[–] qbus@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago

It's also good to backfeed a generator into an outlet

[–] yesman@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago (8 children)

I don't really get it. Sure, the exposed prongs would be energized once you plugged one side in, but if you plugged the other side into a second outlet (assuming you didn't cross live/neutral), nothing would happen. (those two outlets were likely tied together anyway)

[–] mipadaitu@lemmy.world 28 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You don't work around dangerous things assuming you'll never make a mistake, you work around dangerous things assuming you'll never make three mistakes at the same time.

You are not immune to making one (or more) mistakes, no matter how careful you think you are.

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[–] Foofighter@discuss.tchncs.de 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Well, maybe it's because you may die if you accidentally touched touched the prongs? The purpose of female plugs is among other reasons to prevent accidentally touching them.

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[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 months ago

In addition to the exposed prongs, it also means you are passing current into a circuit of unknown capacity without using a safety breaker. You may also be back feeding into your neighborhood power grid and can kill people in the street/other houses that were not expecting the lines to be energized.

[–] Metype@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The problem really is the super exposed hot prong you now have once you plug one end in

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

50-50 chance whether those two outlets are on the same phase or opposite phases; if it's the latter, congrats, that's a 240V short.

Besides, if there's an outlet at the far end of your string of lights, you don't need this, you just plug it in there

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