Finally, an usecase for USB irons!
this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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I've had a similar experience as a child. I live in Germany and found this voltage switch on a hair dryer. My thoughts were like: Switching it to less couldn't possibly hurt, could it? Well it could. It was super efficient though but only for a few seconds before it self destructed.
Hey. If it works, it works.
Any port in a storm right?
Why plug and unplug? Doesn't the wall outlet have a switch?
I have actually never met a wall outlet with a switch.
Really? Where are you for that? I don't have a wall outlet without a switch, and I've never seen one because why would it just be live all the time?
I'm in Australia for reference.
We're the exception, most places don't have switches on their outlets.
Germany. It's just live all the time, because why wouldn't it? If you plug something in, you want it to work. If you don't want it to work, you either plug it out (which works just as well as a switch, with the same convenience), OR you use the switch at the appliance because why would you try to reach the hypothetical switch at the wall outlet if the wall outlet is behind a drawer, under a table, or whatever inconvenient place? I use my remote control to turn the TV on or off, I don't physically walk to the wall power outlet.
I can't turn my tv entirely off without cutting power to it because of the standby light. Same thing for my laptop. The switch is typically not hidden behind things because that is really annoying. Power switch in my room that I use is right next to my bed, can turn the light off without leaving bed.
Things that don't get moved don't get unplugged because why bother when you hit the switch and it's entirely off, and actually entirely off unlike what most of my devices do when 'off' but powered
Keep in mind modern TVs have very low standby drain, and if it's an OLED then unplugging it or turning off the outlet instead of letting it stay in standby will actually slowly break your panel
Looks like it's mostly a UK, Australia, and New Zealand thing.
I also have switches indoors for balcony/outside outlets. Finland.
India as well!
Wow I never knew this, I just thought it was normal to have a switch.
In Canada and the US its considered a light fixture for the purposes of light for an area to have a switched outlet. You are supposed to plug a stand lamp in, in that area that can be controled by the switch. That's how you can have a living room or hallway in a house with no light fixtures and dark as all hell.
That's still a wall switch that's wired to an outlet. Some countries have switches on every outlet just built into them.
there's the STEM bell curve. XKCD shows the axes as 'how well your computer works' vs 'how well you know computers'. that is accurate.
but if you've ever known serious engineers who didn't just live boring white collar work-home-work-and-some-marvel-shit lives, you'll have seen things that make this look mild.
edit: and it gets really crazy when you're talking about a civil engineer. closest thing you'll ever find to an eldritch location.
xkcd.com/1785
I think there's another one, where the right side references operating systems, and another without the graph that's along similar lines. long runners sometimes return to the same wells, I guess.
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I hope this is a bs story for clout, you can buy universal power converters at airports.
Universal power adaptors change pin configuration but not voltage.
Don't those just make the plugs fit? Isn't that the point of the story?
Should have just left it in, and been able to get the soldering done twice as fast.
New manufacturing hack unlocked: Install 240v outlets at workstations and fire half of the workforce. Golden parachute and douchey, hand-wavey TED Talk, please!
Elon knows more about manufacturing than any other person on earth, he said
Shoudn't it be 25%?
Current is not controlled here, resistance (aka the soldering iron) and voltage are.
Power = Voltage ^ 2 / Resistance. Double the voltage, that quadruples the power. So you only want to plug in 25% of the time to get the equivalent power of 120V.
But it might not melt at double power? Maybe the extra heat helps, I can't find a resistance/temperature curve for a soldering iron...
Source: EE dropout.
nnnNNEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRd!
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Reminds me of the time when I helped install some 120 VAC ceiling fans and the electrician* wired them to the 220 VAC line. They spun like a helicopter trying to take off.
*Worked for the local electric utility, we trusted him, foolishly.
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