this post was submitted on 26 May 2025
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[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 5 points 7 hours ago

"this time of year" is 100% christmas.

from people putting up lights, probably trying to run remote power to a box with an extension cord, or because they installed half their lights backward and need this to bridge between the two sets because they rather embrace the danger than redo all the work.

[–] RaptorBenn@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Take it down, darwin demands sacrifice, lest we be riddled with stupidity.

[–] Sir_Simon_Spamalot@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

Except that sometimes, those idiots could take people down with them. That electrical fire might spread to another house, and the person getting electrocuted might not be the idiot.

[–] RaptorBenn@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

Imagine I'm making the most exasperated, annoyed, disapponted noise possible.

[–] dickalan@lemmy.world -3 points 5 hours ago

So you’re telling me it could take out their whole family line and any idiots that choose to engage with this idiot, this all sounds an absolute win

[–] h3mlocke@lemm.ee 3 points 9 hours ago

I sell so many of these around Xmas time, I just make them myself with scissors and electric tape.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 5 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Why not have the meters detect and control a disconnect. with all the solar generation around, someone's gotta have a bad transfer switch somewhere.

[–] MajorasMaskForever@lemmy.world 4 points 10 hours ago

Reaction time

In the US, using a cord like this will either be harmless or create effectively a dead short. Typical breakers will catch the latter but it will take tenths of a second for a breaker to react in which time the electricity could kill someone.

Depending on circuit conditions a GFCI might intervene as well, they're typically faster at reacting (needing a few milliseconds) but for a cable designed to handle full residential power, it's still enough to kill a person in that small window of time

[–] AeonFelis@lemmy.world 24 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

What if I yell "no homo!" when I plug it in?

[–] guyoverthere123@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

where are you plugging it in?

[–] Burninator05@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

I mean, there's only one place for double-headed items to be safely used and it isn't in the workshop.

[–] ximtor@lemm.ee 30 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

No idea how and why but my dad once had a cable like that in his workshop.

Short story: we were having a party, bit drunk and wanted power for the bigger speakers, needed an extension, rummaged around and found this one. Of course didn't check the ends, plugged it in and then thought "oh what a weird male adapter there, lets take it...bzzzzt".

Have a tiny burn scar on my hand now, luckily nothing else happened. The cable got dismantled afterwards, but I still don't know why it was there in the first place, he is a pretty good handyman normally.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 13 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

If you lose power, you can use one of these cables to power your house (or at least, the part of your house on that phase).

This is not how you should do this, but it can work. It is not a good idea (possibly illegal?).

[–] kassiopaea@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

In my jurisdiction, backfeeding your house from a receptacle is very illegal. Transfer switches and interlock kits exist for a reason.

For anyone wondering exactly why it's a bad idea: Power from your generator can, if your house isn't isolated from the grid, travel back into the utility lines and backward through the big transformer at the utility pole (so now it's a few thousand volts again) and give an unsuspecting linesman a nasty surprise. People have died from this. It is a bad idea.

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 4 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

This is also why solar inverters in most countries MUST be able to 'island' (logically disconnect from grid) in order to run a battery.

We don't have a battery yet, so our inverter shuts down on grid loss. Frustrating as hell when there's an outage on a sunny day, but i get it.

[–] MothmanLives@lemdro.id 4 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Seems like the power companies should be responsible for either checking there is no back feeding or provide those things for everyone then. (I'm still not advocating for you back feeding your home)

[–] InputZero@lemmy.world 12 points 10 hours ago

You'd have to constantly test. Just because a lines worker tested that the line is dead five seconds ago doesn't mean some idiot just plugged one of these in.

They can work, you just need to disconnect your house first then use it. It's also a good way to burn your house down. If something on the same circuit as the generator pulls more current than the wires in the walls are designed to take, because there's no breaker in the way anymore it can catch fire.

[–] Sludgeyy@lemmy.world 15 points 13 hours ago

You can't check for back feeding.

Cable coming from house to pole has no power. Electrician goes to hook up wire. Homeowner puts on generator. Electrician gets electrocuted.

Yes the testing and hooking up could be a small window of time but a fraction of a second after testing is all it takes.

[–] rektstarsceosu@lemmy.zip 144 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 10 points 18 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 7 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

The gay cords are extra powerful in Europe with a spicy 230v

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

1 European gay is equivalent to 1.91 american gays

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 8 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

It's OK - I'm only going to use the suicide cord for my fractal wood-burning project.

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[–] n3cr0@lemmy.world 31 points 23 hours ago

My granpa once assigned a master electrician to make an extension cord after he accidently cut the cable of his hedge trimmer. The electrician built him a male2male cord with the female part on the machine. My granpa almost got electrocuted. 🤦‍♂️

[–] wjrii@lemmy.world 81 points 1 day ago (18 children)

I have heard there are ways to use these to back feed power from a generator into a house’s system, at least on one breaker, but by definition that bypasses the breaker panel, and the only safe way to use your generator for your house is with a proper cutover installed by an electrician. I can think of literally no other use for one of these cords, except maybe fixing your fuck up if you install Christmas lights backwards.

So yeah, dumb, dumb idea.

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[–] tias@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 23 hours ago (6 children)

What would they even be used for except to short a circuit?

[–] muse@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

I saw an electrician use one for troubleshooting. Half the outlets in the house were in serial on the same circuit, and there was a problem in the wall somewhere. He disconnected the wires from the breaker and backfed power from a live circuit to an outlet to see if there were any more breaks further away.

[–] CoopaLoopa@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 12 hours ago

Connecting this to two plugs on the same circuit won't short anything unless one of the outlets is wired incorrectly.

They're used to backfeed power to your house from a generator during power outages. Technically not legal to use, but most people aren't going to pay $1k for a proper transfer switch. They come with the caveat of 'not to be operated by fuckwits' since you can kill a linesman if you don't flip your main breaker before using them.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 17 points 19 hours ago

Some genius won't pay attention to the orientation of a christmas light display while he's putting them up, he'll go to plug them in, and they'll be the wrong way, so he'll want an "adapter."

[–] HereIAm@lemmy.world 14 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I will just regurgitate what I've heard. I think they are used in case power goes out and you have a generator. You need to disconnect from the power grid first, but it should then allow you to power tour house with the generator. It sounds more like a US thing.

[–] jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works 12 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Yes, this would technically work. Although, it would only power the hot leg the outlet is connected to which only feeds part of the house.

It's very dangerous for a variety of reasons. Especially if you forget to shut off the mains breaker. The transformer can backfeed power down the line at line voltages, creating a shock hazard for lineman or anyone else who might have contact with the line.

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[–] ddash@lemmy.dbzer0.com 35 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Sorry, what is "this time of the year"? Suicide September?

[–] DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca 44 points 1 day ago (8 children)

People use them to make their generators power their homes, by adding power into an outlet.

So, whatever time of year power outages are likely to happen in this area.

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