This all comes from an image I saw:
https://imgur.com/a/qio204X
In: 6
The two more common scenarios I’ve seen either involve someone who realized they hung up decorative lights backwards, or they’re trying to backfeed a generator into a home.
Either way, the usage of a male-male power cord is an attempt to take the easy approach which introduces major safety hazards rather than taking the correct approach.
The basic reason that these are bad is because if one end is plugged in, then the other end will have live wall voltage on the exposed prongs. We’re not used to this, because electrical systems are designed intentionally to avoid live voltage existing on exposed metal. Think of all the times you’ve picked up the metal end of your laptop or phone charger, or grabbed any old extension cord? Well, if this thing is plugged into the wall and you grab the other end like you would with any other extension cord, that’s 120 volts into your hand. Moreover, even if you’re smart enough to avoid touching it, the live end could easily short on itself if left lying around, which could easily lead to fires.
A more advanced reason why they are bad is because the main reason people want them is to back-feed their building electrical system from a generator, for example in a blackout. These systems aren’t designed to work this way, and doing so can circumvent safety features on your house’s electrical grid, leading to problems. It can also potentially pose a risk to people working on the local grid. (There are responsible ways to power your house from a generator or other sources, but this ain’t it.)
It’s used when someone hangs up christmas lights and strings one of them the wrong way. Instead of taking it down and flipping the string, you plug in this death trap to power the lights. The problem is you’ve got the other end with 2 live prongs sticking out flapping in the wind.
The two more common scenarios I’ve seen either involve someone who realized they hung up decorative lights backwards, or they’re trying to backfeed a generator into a home.
Either way, the usage of a male-male power cord is an attempt to take the easy approach which introduces major safety hazards rather than taking the correct approach.
The basic reason that these are bad is because if one end is plugged in, then the other end will have live wall voltage on the exposed prongs. We’re not used to this, because electrical systems are designed intentionally to avoid live voltage existing on exposed metal. Think of all the times you’ve picked up the metal end of your laptop or phone charger, or grabbed any old extension cord? Well, if this thing is plugged into the wall and you grab the other end like you would with any other extension cord, that’s 120 volts into your hand. Moreover, even if you’re smart enough to avoid touching it, the live end could easily short on itself if left lying around, which could easily lead to fires.
A more advanced reason why they are bad is because the main reason people want them is to back-feed their building electrical system from a generator, for example in a blackout. These systems aren’t designed to work this way, and doing so can circumvent safety features on your house’s electrical grid, leading to problems. It can also potentially pose a risk to people working on the local grid. (There are responsible ways to power your house from a generator or other sources, but this ain’t it.)
It’s used when someone hangs up christmas lights and strings one of them the wrong way. Instead of taking it down and flipping the string, you plug in this death trap to power the lights. The problem is you’ve got the other end with 2 live prongs sticking out flapping in the wind.
The two prongs can easily touch a conductive object when they are not recessed and cause a short circuit. If the plugs are not polarized, they could both be plugged into female sockets crossed over connecting plus to minus and cause a short that way. In a jumble one could mistake the two ends for separate cables. You could carefully use alligator clips which are the same on both ends but are at least color coded.
Electricity is meant to go from one end (prongs go into the live source) to the other end (something with no power plugs into the socket end) of those electric cords.
If you have prongs on both ends you’re plugging a live power source into a live power source – that’s making a short circuit.
If you’re lucky it will cause a power surge that will be stopped by a breaker box / fuses.
If you’re not lucky you might set one or both power sources on fire (so your house goes up in flames) or melt the cable and electrocute yourself. Or both at once.
There’s no setup that is safe where you’d have the plug end on both sides of one of those cables. That’s specifically to prevent people from doing this exact thing.
Also if you plugged only one end in, if you touched the prongs on the other end you’d at least shock yourself, if not light yourself on fire, because it’s basically equivalent to sticking a butter knife in a socket but with more range.
The two prongs can easily touch a conductive object when they are not recessed and cause a short circuit. If the plugs are not polarized, they could both be plugged into female sockets crossed over connecting plus to minus and cause a short that way. In a jumble one could mistake the two ends for separate cables. You could carefully use alligator clips which are the same on both ends but are at least color coded.
Electricity is meant to go from one end (prongs go into the live source) to the other end (something with no power plugs into the socket end) of those electric cords.
If you have prongs on both ends you’re plugging a live power source into a live power source – that’s making a short circuit.
If you’re lucky it will cause a power surge that will be stopped by a breaker box / fuses.
If you’re not lucky you might set one or both power sources on fire (so your house goes up in flames) or melt the cable and electrocute yourself. Or both at once.
There’s no setup that is safe where you’d have the plug end on both sides of one of those cables. That’s specifically to prevent people from doing this exact thing.
Also if you plugged only one end in, if you touched the prongs on the other end you’d at least shock yourself, if not light yourself on fire, because it’s basically equivalent to sticking a butter knife in a socket but with more range.
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