U.S. Safety Agency Warns People to Stop Buying Male-to-Male Extension Cords | Hacker News Reader

U.S. Safety Agency Warns People to Stop Buying Male-to-Male Extension Cords

gizmodo.com

32 pointsindigodaddy24 comments

> [The cords] are generally used to ‘back-feed’ electricity to a residence during a power outage by connecting a generator to an outlet in the home.

Interesting idea, I suppose so long as you flip the main breaker this can work to electrify your house during an outage. Dangerous sure, but an interesting idea.

>Stop Buying Male-to-Male Extension Cords

I wasn't about to start buying them anyway.

Next time we have an extended power outage I'm going to go ahead and cut the female ends off of two extension cords again, and correctly connect them into one length using wire nuts.

Just like after hurricane Ike.

You want the generator to be a good distance away from your building, using adequate gage copper in the cord to compensate for extended length.

Ideally the building has a useful outdoor power outlet normally used for things like gardening tools, which can be correctly repurposed as an "inlet" during off-grid operation. Slight physical rewiring at the breaker box may be needed especially to account for multi-phase operation.

Power tapped from inside the building is then still protected by two circuit breakers which are expected to be properly sized for the normal service.

So about 15 or 20 Amps which is not the biggest generator.

These cords are useful in certain unusual circumstances. A family member had a cabin in the middle of the forest in Russia. Through enormous effort, he and a small group of neighbors managed to secure an electric connection, which lasted for about a year until thieves stole the power line for its copper. Rather than replace the power line, he got a portable generator and a male-to-male extension cord, and electrified the cabin that way for a couple hours a day, long enough to cool down the fridge, charge phones, and pump some water.

Of course, in an environment where a power line to a house physically exists but is temporarily out of service, a male-to-male cord and a running generator is a good way to electrocute line workers.

Using it in that example is still dangerous. The worry isn't only about line workers. It's about plugging in one end and holding the other. Exposed live contacts are never ever a good idea.

In the US, lifetime odds of dying in a car are almost 1 in 100.

I risk death by car almost everyday because I want a nicer house than I could afford if I lived within walking distance of my job.

Let people have their plugs. I doubt 1 in 100 buyers are killing themselves accidentally.

Theres multiple reasons why you should not do this, but ignoring the fire risks and the risks of death to the person doing this, the current can reach the street side, and kill or injure engineers working on the power systems.

I don't even think this would work without disconnecting from the main source via your breaker, so workers down stream are perfectly safe.

And I don't see how putting 10-15 amps through a cord, plug, and outlet that routinely handle 15 amps downstream everyday causes a fire risk. My house doesn't freak out when I operate a space heater, and I don't see why it would freak out if I push a space heaters power through that exact same setup.

The cord is dangerous, in the sense that you could get shocked by your generator. You can get shocked by the thousands of rusted, rewired, half functioning generators on Craigslist without every using a cord like this.

How many times are we going to post this?

How about we make sure to update everyone on shark attacks?

Or dynamic typing?

I've heard this referred to as the "widowmaker" by an electrician.

It's 120V with a conductor spread of 1", not very likely to kill ya. Poke your bud with it for fun ;).

Don't understand why these are legal to sell, or even make.

Wouldn't be able to buy one of these in my country, or any IEC standards based country.

Also discussed 2 days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32866188

If a product is inherently unsafe for use like this, why does Amazon continue to sell it? Or better, can the government intervene and better regulate its sale so it’s not so easy to purchase?

I mean, are chainsaws unsafe? "Hoping" the government will ban it seems like a poor solution.

Yeah, but chainsaws have a specific use and have safety protocol. The cords are "fixing" people's inability to think things through.

This is more like someone selling a "handle attachment" for the chainsaw bar, so you can use of for leverage when cutting through thick trunks.

It's "Fulfilled By Amazon", not sold by Amazon. The first one I see:

    Ships from Amazon
    Sold by Linmuns

Linmuns is some fly-by-night company registration that can just be disposed of if it gets in any trouble.

That said, even enforcement and regulation can only do so much. In the US, the big-box hardware stores (HD/Lowes) sell a large number of non-tamper-resistant outlets, despite TR being mandated in most applications by the 2008(!) NEC. The hardware stores don't care because they aren't the ones actually installing them (and there are some allowed uses of non-TR outlets, such as behind a fridge or in the ceiling), consumers don't care because it's cheaper and they aren't getting their work inspected anyway, they just want to fix the outlet their grandson broke or whatever.

Apparently in Germany they use something like this to allow small solar panels to provide power to an apartment.

I'd be surprised if they don't do it properly. The output side should be a female connection and the wall port should be male. It should really be a locking connector as well. That's the main safety mistake here.

The risk to linemen is also significant, but its a separate issue.

Ouch. Where is that "think of the children" government when it is actually needed.

Here's a shocker:

It was never actually about protecting children

This is called a "suicide cord."

Super convenient if you happen to know exactly what you’re doing and why it’s a bad idea (but necessary). Otherwise, lives up to the name.

Death cord!

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