i have a charger plug that i can easily plug into a extension cord backwards, without the earth connected. just curious about what it could do if i actually plug it in
In: Technology
The earth/ground pin is a safety feature. Typically any metal parts that are NOT meant to be carrying electricity – eg, the body of the device itself – are connected to the earth.
The idea is that if something goes wrong and internal wiring breaks, perhaps from heat cycling, it might touch metals it’s not meant to. Hopefully it touches an earth connection and this short circuit pops your circuit breakers/fuses somewhere.
Without an earth plug this doesn’t happen, and now the metal body of the device is itself charged. Electrocution risk in that particular situation. Possible internal damage and risk of fire in other situations.
Please do not compromise on safety features. They are there for you. Get a proper extension cord and confirm it’s suitable for the job you intend to use it for.
If the charger is built correctly, then nothing unusual will happen, and it will work as normal.
If the 3 pin plug is the [UK type G standard](https://www.google.com/search?q=uk+plug+type&client=firefox-b-m&sca_esv=6512afbb6cf57869&udm=2&biw=120&bih=241&ei=vxAtZq2zKOWAhbIPzpK4qAE&oq=uk+plug&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIgd1ayBwbHVnKgIIAzINEAAYgAQYsQMYQxiKBTIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgoQABiABBhDGIoFMgUQABiABEi7D1AAWABwAHgAkAEAmAFioAFiqgEBMbgBAcgBAJgCAaACbJgDAIgGAZIHAzAuMaAHqgI&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#vhid=-IxGIdZ2JVlMgM&vssid=mosaic) then the socket should have shutters over the live and nutral pins these would stop you from plugging in the plug the wrong way because the (longer) earth pin wouldn’t have opened the shutters.
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Nothing will happen. The earth ground is there in case of a short. Damage, accident, etc.
It carries the electricity back to a safe “ground” connected to every house. (Rod driven into the ground)
The breaker switches in the electrical panel will still work and shut off the power in case of a “fault”. But some electricity might flow through you instead for a few milliseconds giving you a nasty shock.
It’s safer to always use a grounded plug. But some small appliances don’t use it.
I wouldn’t use such a cord near water.
It may not even work, some electronic devices need the correct pin to be in the hot side. If it does work it’s probably not going to damage the charger, but could damage whatever you are charging with it. Or it just might work fine. However, you would be by-passing a safety device and that could be dangerous. Up to and including making the entire case of the charger “live” (probably not, but possible)
TL;DR It’s a bad idea. It could kill you. It could destroy itself. It could be fine. 1 out of 3 are bad odds.
What will happen is that the protective earth doesn’t work. If the device has a short to metallic case, you’ll get electrocuted if you touch it, instead of RCD tripping as would normally happen.
It depends. In some cases, nothing. Most devices that use a DC charger will work just fine. The ground is there to protect in case of something going wrong. That said, some devices will look for ground and may throw error messages or refuse to work without a ground.
Grounds are there for your safety too.
Now, plugging it backwards can be pretty bad. Say the device uses AC and also has a metal casing. If the casing is bonded to the neutral prong, by plugging it backwards, you just made the metal parts “live”.
If you touch the metal and for some reason you become the best path to ground, you will get one heck of a shock.
Grounds are there for a reason most of the time. It is one of those things where you do not mess with them unless you absolutely know what you’re doing.
The third pin is “optional” because it’s a safety measure. You can take a saw and cut it off, and your device will still work.
There’s three pins:
1. Hot (black wire)
2. Neutral (white wire)
3. Ground (green wire) this is the circular pin.
Electricity travels from #1, flows through the appliance/device to power it, then it flows to #2. The electricity NEEDS to travel to #2 or else a fault/short circuit will occur, and it can electrocute a person (which is dangerous). So to ensure the safety of people, there’s a safety by #3, which basically when it flows from #1 and something goes wrong and doesn’t flow to #2 as designed, it’ll automatically flow to #3 (if not, then it can flow through you, which is bad).
usually nothing. the bottom pin of a US outlet is meant to connect to the case of an appliance. that way, if something inside it breaks and accidentally connects the case to the live wires inside, the electricity will go out out that bottom pin instead of through, say, *you*
having that pin exposed wouldn’t do anything unless there was a fault. then that pin would be live and just sort of…sticking out into space? pressed up against a piece of flammable plastic like the the side of the socket?
Depends exactly what kind of three pin socket you are talking about i.e in which country? In the UK, if there is no earth pin on the plug, the two other socket holes will not open up because it needs the third pin to open the shutters protecting them. So you wont be able to plug it in .
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