This all comes from an image I saw:
https://imgur.com/a/qio204X
In: 6
Well, it’s mainly a safety thing, it would make it a whole lot easier to shock yourself or start a fire on accident. For a double sided cord, if you have one end plugged into the wall, the other end has two metal pins that are live. If you lay that cord down on a metal surface, or accidentally touch the pins when you’re picking it up, bad things happen.
But such a cord does in fact have a use though. When using some gas generators, you can use a cord like that to backfeed power into the circuit and use the generator to power outlets on the same circuit when the power is out. It is not advised, because of the safety hazard i mentioned above, but it does work.
These are extremely common around the holidays and have to do with stringing up Christmas lights. I used to work in a hardware store and we’ve had people come in looking for them.
Essentially, the idea is to combine two sets of lights that were run incorrectly and connecting them via the female (holed) sides of both strands of light. In theory, you would think it works; in practice it will either shock the hell out of you, burn your house down, or both.
Well, it’s mainly a safety thing, it would make it a whole lot easier to shock yourself or start a fire on accident. For a double sided cord, if you have one end plugged into the wall, the other end has two metal pins that are live. If you lay that cord down on a metal surface, or accidentally touch the pins when you’re picking it up, bad things happen.
But such a cord does in fact have a use though. When using some gas generators, you can use a cord like that to backfeed power into the circuit and use the generator to power outlets on the same circuit when the power is out. It is not advised, because of the safety hazard i mentioned above, but it does work.
These are extremely common around the holidays and have to do with stringing up Christmas lights. I used to work in a hardware store and we’ve had people come in looking for them.
Essentially, the idea is to combine two sets of lights that were run incorrectly and connecting them via the female (holed) sides of both strands of light. In theory, you would think it works; in practice it will either shock the hell out of you, burn your house down, or both.
Because people are stupid and will electrocute themselves or others with them. Electrical appliances and cords should be inherently safe so you don’t kill people or burn houses down. E.g. toasters don’t immediately turn on when plugged in, wires don’t have exposed energized leads for children, pets, adults to touch and get hurt from.
There are some “justified” uses for them but they are not appropriate solutions.
One use could be you ran your Christmas or fairy lights the wrong direction and you can’t connect two sets together since you now have two sockets facing each other. Plan better and take the set down and rerun it the correct way.
Second use is more dangerous since you could connect a portable generator into your house wiring during a power outage instead of unplugging your fridge/freezer and connecting it to the generator the correct way.
Because people are stupid and will electrocute themselves or others with them. Electrical appliances and cords should be inherently safe so you don’t kill people or burn houses down. E.g. toasters don’t immediately turn on when plugged in, wires don’t have exposed energized leads for children, pets, adults to touch and get hurt from.
There are some “justified” uses for them but they are not appropriate solutions.
One use could be you ran your Christmas or fairy lights the wrong direction and you can’t connect two sets together since you now have two sockets facing each other. Plan better and take the set down and rerun it the correct way.
Second use is more dangerous since you could connect a portable generator into your house wiring during a power outage instead of unplugging your fridge/freezer and connecting it to the generator the correct way.
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