Also yes I’m also going to trash the two cord pieces 🧐. The point of destroying it is to prove I won’t be keeping it, to emphasize there is no good reason to have one.
One way electricians can safely work on circuits that may become energized is by deliberately grounding/shorting them out while working on them. If someone turns it on, they will immediately blow a breaker.
Not if both power sources happens to be on the same phase when plugged in. And then not if the circuit being hy-jacked has "room to expand" amperage wise.
As somebody who used to work in a hardware store, I cannot count on both hands and both feet the number of times I was ask to make one of these cables. Every time I would explain to the customer that it was illegal for me to do so and that it was dangerous not just to themselves but to anybody working with electricity in the vicinity to have that cable in existence. At least five times I had to get my manager to kick them out of the store
@@Zyghqwyv I would always ask them why they wanted it and most of them wanted it for running their house off a generator... That was easier to deal with because I could point them to the right products to set stuff up correctly or to our installers to get it properly set up. The 5 I had to get the manager to kick out were Christmas light fiends
It's not actually illegal to have or sell the wire anywhere in the US. It's a code violation to use it to hook a generator up to the wall, but as a seller I'd just keep one with a $100 price tag on it and then lean into any potential Darwin award employees and tell them that there's a cheaper and safer way to do it if they want to save some money.
Linemen install GROUND leads when working on lines. This is because incase anyone accedentally back feeds the lines. What happens is it shorts out the backfeed to ground and causes the breaker at the feeding line transformer to blow. Then the power company will find it after they fix the lines and have a "chat" with ya.
@@unknown-ql1fk the transformer you back fed, the line fuse would be blown. So there is usually a small handful of houses on any transformer, likely go to all houses and leave a generator back feed pamphlet on your door, or they see the generator and you restarted it after the blowout killed it and your power is still out due to it. So your house is running on a generator on the transformer that was back fed. Easy enough. But if you ever have a generator running your house during an outage, make sure you run a dedicated generator outlet/inlet and a anti back feed lockout on the switching panel. If you don't have an anti lock out, at least turn off your Main breaker to prevent any back feed. Because you are sending 7200+ volts back through the mains.
True story, about 20 years ago I was an engineer working at a large corporation. My boss told me the women on the assembly line were complaining about getting shocked when they touched certain equipment. I checked it out and there were about a dozen back-to-back plugs linking all the power strips together. I asked him who had wired up the work benches and he said it was a licensed electrician. It turned out the electrician had hired a trained assistant who had done the wiring job. The electrician came out the next day and rewired all the benches for free because he knew he could lose his license over this incident. I think he also fired the assistant.
Funny story. I know somebody that back fed the grid using a cord like this and then when the grid came back on it melted his generator down..... Nobody got hurt and I think the homeowner learned their lesson...
That happens quite often during an extended power outage when people don't turn off the main breaker... POP when the power comes back. Can't say I've never done it, but I made sure in advance I have a working main breaker, and can fully disconnect my house while the power works... I am getting my electric service replaced soon, so I think I'm going to have a generator outlet installed so I don't make a mistake some day. I only use it when I have to run my well pump, i already have my fridges and stuff on off grid solar.
@@volvo09 Yes, I am involved with a local church, who are a nominated "Civil Defence Emergency Hub" for their area, and also a Radio Clubrooms, who are also a Hub-of-sorts, for times of Emergency. Both places (independently) have just recently had special Generator sockets installed, being sure to comply with all laws and isolation requirements. In the event of a major emergency, then a large construction site type generator ("as big as a small car") can be connected to the church's system. Enabling it to be a community hub, with, as well as the main church auditorium, a hall area with offices, childcare room and commercial kitchen. The Radio Club's outlet is configured to run from a smaller "single phase" generator, (as depicted at 1m10s in the video) which is arranged to run the lights, the main Radio Room, and a limited number of wall outlets (allow folks to charge laptops or phones etc). All done by licenced electricians in compliance with local laws. Next time there's a big Earthquake and the power goes out, we are all sorted mate !
I'm not surprised, there's also the issue that generators need to be outside and far enough away that the carbon monoxide doesn't find its way into the building. There's specific electronics if you want to connect a generator up to your home.
@@SmallSpoonBrigadea diesel generator while not eliminating entirely significantly reduces the carbon monoxide risk. As a bonus the fuel can be stored and handled more safely and the fuel You've stocked will last longer because of their efficiency. and if you have a oil heated house, you already have a ton of energy fuel in a pinch.
I used to paint empty apartments for my father's business. They usually had no power. He had one of these cables, a very long one. He was super, super clear with me about how to use it. In fact, each end had a label so I wouldn't forget. One end said "DON'T DIE! Plug into unpowered end FIRST!" and the "DON'T DIE!" was much bigger than the rest of it. The end said "DON'T DIE! Do what the OTHER end says FIRST!" I didn't DIE. Thanks, dad.
@@simonupton-millard The branch breakers were opened so the apartment could be powered and lit to do the work. Not supported as a safe means of doing things but instead a "work-around" for expediency.
We had the same at a warehouse. Thought ours had a big ole laminated picture book, showing the procedure for connecting the generator. Turn off main power, plug into x circuit (i assume this was a special circuit) plug into generator, verify breaker is off, start generator. As long as you use the cable correctly they are safe, its just people not knowing proper procedures that make it dangerous
@@simonupton-millard See what @pibbles-a-plenty1105 said right below your comment. Basically it allowed us to turn on the lights in the apartment so we could see to paint. It's true we could have brought in our own lights on a long extension, but this was a 1000x better and easier ... and more dangerous! XD
This is one of those items that works perfectly fine for its intended use, but it relies on its users being 100 percent competent 100 percent of the time to avoid potential catastrophic outcomes. No consumer level device should exist with that kind of safety profile.
The trouble with that is people tend to only be aware of the risks they had in mind, this is one of those situations where the false confidence a little knowledge gives can be deadly.
@@jon9103Connecting to a single closed circuit. I explained in my comment. But essentially, it would be next to a hot outlet and end at an odd location intended for an optional use. Saw them all over new build homes prewired for home theaters or even just television of a fire place. Things of that nature. Very common.
Made one of these cables at a physics class back in highschool (together with a classmate in the '80s), put a switch between the two plugs. Teacher told we could install everything but he would look up the things we made and was the only one permitted to click the switch. So he did, within a second the complete building was out of power... Learned why circuit breakers are great things (and why they are mandatory - at least in my country). Teacher said he knew what we made but relied on the circuit breaker and would use it as a story why you shouldn't craft these cables, so he did flip the switch.
I once got an old lady asking for a male/male adapter around december and immediately told her, "you need to re-hang your christmas lights" before she even got done explaining her story. She called her husband to try and explain to me, but I just told him the exact same thing. "We don't have it. No one has it. It doesn't exist. It's dangerous and illegal." Had to repeat that at least 5 times to both of them before they gave up.
Bit condescending don't you think? Like honestly what gives you that authority. You have no idea of there skill level or there use. As you said they haven't even finished. There are many reasons for these cables. Just because you don't see that does not give you the right to control what others do with this.
@@qaszim2012Did we watch the same video? There's a high chance you're going to electrocute yourself, and it's illegal. It doesn't matter what she wanted to do with it, she can't use it
@@blushchuu and who the f are you to police that. There are uses for them many stated here, you can't go policing the world solely on your beliefs and ignoring real world usesage. You watch a 10nmin RUclips video and suddenly think you are a expert. FML.
I have been told that first responders sometimes carry "suicide connectors" to power structures on an emergency basis such as energising a gas station to access the pumps. That said it is never the right way to do an installation.
Real props for actually showing the legal basis. As a lawyer, it's refreshing to see - illustrative of the often complex way legislation works to give an industry code the weight of an enforceable law.
These are not are not laws in the typical sense. If you personally use it at your home, you are most likely NOT breaking any laws. As much as us Americans like our freedom, we sure are eager to use the word "illegal" whenever we can.
I got shocked due to this insane cable. When I was teenager it was used for some equipment at a place I was doing some voluntary work. When I touched it, unaware it was connected to power, my hand immediately bounced away from it and spasmed for a couple of seconds on its own. I am lucky I was not electrocuded due to this. It probably helped that I touched it only with a single finger when it happened.
That bounce saved your life. Electricity makes the muscles contract. If that contraction makes you grab the conductor you are dead. If that contraction pushes you away you might live. Test you should NOT do but it demonstrates the principle. Touch a live wire with the front of your fingertip, the contraction will make you grab the wire. Now touch the live wire with the rear of your fingertip. The contraction will pull your finger away. If you do this while crouching this might also throw you right across the room. Again, don't try this for real on a live wire. Electricians that are lazy use this method to check if a wire is live. Experienced ones use this as their last check after having made double sure the wire is not live.
Yeah my guy you were definitely electrocuted, you were just lucky to have the connection broken right away. Happened to myself once with an extension outlet whose casing fell apart, thank God I was able to drop it
When I was a kid I split the wires from a computer F to M cord and accidentally touched the wires on an exposed PC case panel (when they were all steel). It welded to case and sparks flew, scared the hell out of me. Thankfully I unplugged it and threw it in the trash.
I once inserted a router plug into a receptacle with two fingers touching both prongs, it was late at night and the lights were off, it was one in a lifetime experience to say the least. It was in Europe, so different amperage and voltage.
Don't get that kinda thing with UK plugs @@privettoli due to the covering of the start of the 2 live wires and the fact you have to plug the Earth prong all the way into the wall for the doors on the live terminals to even open up. Amazes me how over engineered our plugs and plug sockets are.
@@privettoliwhere was that? I live in Finland and we use the German Schuko standard, it's not possible for prongs to electrocute you because you can't put your fingers there when you plug it in...
@@Mtaalas are standards enforced to existing houses or when people install receptacles themselves? Typically no but I don't know specifically about Finland. The story I described was in Ukraine but I can imagine there's a lot of countries with outdated receptacles, it's often meaningless to replace them to fancy innovations.
Ha! This made me laugh. Years ago a client of the company I worked for suffered an IT failure when the mains failed. My company was OK (broadcast TV with multiple UPSs and generator backup), but the client company wasn’t on it. Their IT guy (top bloke and very good with IT) decided to buy a UPS and install it himself; it didn’t work, so he asked if I could help him out. I looked at the only cable connected to it at that point, plugged into one of its outlets. I asked him where the other end was and he pointed to a mains outlet on the wall. I asked him to remove the wall end, and sure enough there was a male connector at each end and he’d fried the UPS by shoving mains up its output. He’d made up the cable himself, thinking it was how it was supposed to be. I reported a near miss and we issued a company-wide edict that nothing could be wired by any of our clients and plugged into the mains without it first being inspected and authorised by one of us.
Also called a widow maker. The main breaker must be shut off first and the plugs must all be attached to CFI plug BEFORE starting the generator to prevent most hazzards and potential death. Just spend the 600 to 800 bucks and get a manual switch installed.
If the main breaker isn't shut off first, all that will happen when you plug it in is that it will trip the breaker in the generator, immediately shutting it down. It really isn't nearly as scary as the media likes to make it out to be.
Actually have a story around such a cable. From a 230 volt mains country, which makes it even more dangerous. An uncle of mine had an electric lawnmower. And it was convenient to take a cable drum, replace its plug with a receptacle, and plug this receptacle into the lawnmower. And he also made one of these death cables with 2 plugs, to plug one into an outlet and the other one into the cable drum. To pretty much use the cable drum in reverse and be able to just spool up the lawnmower's cable. He was quite a smart, handy man, I totally believe he used this setup in a relatively safe manner. And as he told me (this is like 25 years ago), it was impossible to get an "inverse cable drum" with a receptacle at the cable end back then. But sadly, he passed away at the age of about 60. And his wife kept using this contraption. When I was visiting her and was helping her mow the lawn, I actually saw her putting one plug of the death cable into an outlet while holding the other plug in her hand, totally unaware of the danger she's putting herself into. I then told her to ideally not keep using this cable at all, and if she does, to ALWAYS plug one plug into the cable drum before putting the other one in the outlet, and vice versa, to make it a bit safer and never have an open plug that's powered. It's still not great, for sure. As far as I know, she never shocked herself with this. But still, when buying/making such contraptions, don't only think of yourself, also think of others who may use it one day.
not quite the same topic but many years ago [here in the uk most houses will have an electric kettle] i went into the kitchen only to find my 3 year old daughter sitting on the floor with the end of the kettle lead in her mouth while the other end was plugged into the wall socket .I yanked the lead from her mouth and all was well and i was so happy to see that my wife had switched the socket off after using the kettle . i wasted no time in having the lead shortened so it would no longer trail over the countertop
We don't often have local shutoffs for our receptacles here in NA and when I visited Scotland I was surprised to find them nearly everywhere. Your experience illustrates why having easily accessible control over the electricity supply is a good thing.
Any kind of misuse of connectors intended for mains power can be dangerous. This reminded me of something that happened at a small church in our area many years ago. The amplifier sat on a shelf inside the pulpit so the mic cable could be short and the minister could reach the controls when needed. They wanted to make it easy to move the pulpit out of the way when they used the platform for things like the Xmas play so someone who probably thought they were clever wired the speakers to a standard 120V receptacle mounted in the platform floor right next to the live receptacle that the amp plugged into for power, then attached a cord with a 2 prong male power plug to the amp's speaker terminals. It worked OK as long as it was re-connected by the person who set it up that way but I'm sure most people reading this have already figured out what happened when someone with no clue about how things like that work tried plugging it back in. The only damage was totally destroyed power output transistors in the amp (which I ended up replacing for them and recommended changing to standard 1/4" phone plugs & jacks before it happened again). They were very lucky; One of the amp's speaker terminals was connected to the chassis so there was a 50/50 chance that the amp's housing would be live when someone tried to turn it on.
They used a power plug for an audio signal? That’s a little clever and a lot insane. “Smart enough to know how to do something but not smart enough to know they shouldn’t” is a dangerous place.
to anyone looking to power their house: 1. always get a generator that can produce 240v (250) 2. if you have such generator, mechanical interlock kits can be had for very cheap for most electrical panels of the last 50 years, and a 50 or 30 amp inlet can be had cheaply, just get something UL listed for outdoor use (NEMA 3/4) with its respective 8/3 or 10/3 grounded cable 3. these days a 50 amp inlet would always be recomended, the cost difference is not much, so it is worth getting a step up L14-30P to L14-50R adapter if you have a smaller generator, instead of locking your house to 1 heavy appliance regardless of generator (water heater, oven/range/cooktop, HVAC, well pump, (derated) car charger, other heating) 4. always use a generator that is configured to produce proper split phase 120 and 240 (125/250v) - if it just has a single wall outlet, it should NOT be wired into your home in any way - use 12/3 extensions instead, only a true split phase unit should interface with your homes wiring in any way to begin with
My grandfather made such a cable for his lawnmower, which he built himself. He was a genius. When he repeatedly stepped on the cable and pulled the killer plug while pushing the machine, he secured it with duct tape. Fortunately, there was no accident. Used it like that for 20 years, then I grew up and threw it all away.
I use to work at an electrical supply house. Can't tell you how many times we were asked for these. Then we proceed to tell the customer why they don't exist. A few times, we had customers make one instead, since we sold cable and ends. While I couldn't refuse them the sale, I did on multiple occasions, tell a customer what they are trying to do, is dangerous.
No they always hire a guy to grab the power lines bare handed before doing any work, its required by law. There are hundreds of casualties resulting from it but its all hushed with dirty money
I like the meme that some hardware stores put by the electrical cables, saying, "These are not made. They should never be made..." As for these allowing generators to backfeed into the grid, linemen are taught to assume that the lines are energized and take appropriate precautions partly due to possibility of generators backfeeding into the lines.
It's also very likely to trip the generator's breaker or just break the generator because it isn't powerful enough to feed the whole neighbourhood. The killing lineman thing is theoretically possible but the chance of it happening is way overblown.
I stayed on a Riverboat which was powered by solar with a generator backup. They had one of these cables. I tried to tell the owners they should fit a fuse between the generator and the Solar control box as it could save them a lot of money. One day the system was refusing to accept charge from a new generator they bought as the generator didn't have a regulator or whatever it is which controls demand, so they revved the generator manually to make it start to charge. Within seconds the fuse inside the control box blew in a puff of smoke. I proceeded to tell them very quickly that they should have listened and installed a fuse, it also very clearly stated it on the input. They had to send the unit for repair as the repair required soldering. Funny thing is that the owners were apparently electricians. This wasn't the only danger in this boat, they also stored the gas canisters on top of the batteries. True stupidity of epic proportions. The fire from the batteries if one had taken place would not have struggled to burn straight through gas canister and turn a bad fire into a massive explosion! It was obvious they didn't learn either as they electrocuted themselves several times with this cable, one time moments after I has reminded him that he is holding a live cable with the pins exposed. He literally touched it to check not believing me! This highlights a really big issue with Solar power as far as I am concerned. Many people try to DIY these systems with varying levels of experience and knowledge. They think because it runs on batteries that it is relatively safe compared to mains power. The batteries, capacitors, transformers and even solar panels all contain more than enough juice to kill a human easily.
I just remembered to top it all off the whole system wasn't grounded, they thought as it was a boat that there was no way to ground it. I promptly informed them the boat is entirely surrounded by water and rod under the boat or a line to shore with a long copper peg was needed as if the generator started to overcharge the batteries or system as there was nowhere else for the power to go then it could be catastrophic and result in fire or if a defective appliance needed to ground similar results.
I keep any cables like these very well hidden in a box with lock on it. So that nobody gets to them unless I know of it. I store them for the fact that one can just put a proper connector to the other end and make a new cable easily. At my previous work, these "pig tails" were totally banned, they were thrown to cable trash immediately even if the place was full of people with electrical engineering background and knew what they were doing. It's a liability to store them.
I never knew backfeeding is a thing. There has been exactly two times I connected my generator during an outage and forgot to disconnect the circuit breakers first. Instead of energizing the whole grid, the breaker in the generator tripped in one case and the generator sputters to a halt in the other.
My grandfather in the countryside had such a homemade cable. In the past, it was often the case that one of the three phases was missing, and while each such failure prevented the equipment on the farm from working, when it hit the phase where the house was connected, it created a big problem, because these failures could last up to several days. So my grandfather's solution was to install a socket on the roofed part of the terrace, where there was an electricity meter, connected to one of the phases of a three-phase fuse, but different from the one in the house, which was normally used to power the radio with speakers in the yard. But in the event of the lack of the phase where the house was connected, my grandfather took this suicidal extension cord, only he knew where it was and only he could use it, he turned off the single-phase fuse of the house in the electrical box, connected this extension cord to the socket in the hall near the exit where the single-phase meter was originally and the wires spread throughout the house, and through the front door he connected the other end to a socket on the covered terrace. The house had power, everyone was happy, and since only two people lived there, i.e. my grandparents, no one picked on the cable or messed with it. I only remember once when he had to do it when the whole family was there, that's how I found out about it, and everyone had one rule that no one except grandpa could touch this wire, even by accident. Then grandpa drove two big screws into the wooden walls, one at each socket, and tied the ends tightly with a strong braided string, so that even if someone caught in the wire and pulled it out, the head of the wire would not move away from the wall socket any further than about 5 centimeters. Of course, in case of a long loss of all phases, the generator was also at hand so that it could be started on the exposed part of the terrace connected with this cable, but fortunately it was never needed.
Funny thing, an assembly line where I used to work, we had those "cord reels" coming down from the ceiling all over the place, so we could plug in our drills and such. There was one cord reel in the entire building that for whatever reason had a male end and was effectively always live and would shock anyone who walked past and accidentally brushed against it (a common occurrence, as we were walking in the narrow space alongside the trucks we were building). No one could ever figure out why that plug was male, as none of our tools had female ends. As long as I worked there, that plug never got fixed. Most likely, a rather silly maintenance man had at some point replaced the plug end on that cord and just put the wrong type of connector on it.
You know, it's kind of a good idea. Lets you know for certain that OSHA has not done a real inspection at your workplace and you should be extra cautious about everything.
@Kansika I think the makeshift solution was to toss the end up over the top of the reel, but every once in a while some newbie who didn't know any better would pull it down to plug in their tools, look at it for a moment, get confused, and just leave it hanging there, and everyone who was used to it being up wouldn't notice it hanging back down again (because it was in the middle of a bank of other cord reels). It was also marked out for maintenance to work on, they just... never did.
@@ShadowsofYesterday It takes 5 min max to rewire a proper socket on a cord. It would've also taken the guy in the video 5 min to make one himself instead of paying for one. If I see something like that at work I fix it before someone gets hurt.
@Kansika Oh sure, five minutes, if we had a spare socket lying around, which we didn't but maintenance did, and if we could cut power to that cord reel bank, which we line workers couldn't but maintenance could (and couldn't be done during production hours anyway because this was one of those NUMBERS NUMBERS NUMBERS places and five minutes would be like an eternity of downtime to the people in charge). Again, the quickest and easiest solution for us was to just toss the end up over the top, call maintenance and let them know about it, and mark it out for them to work on. IIrc, someone eventually did get fed up after it had been pulled back down so many times and wrapped the end of it in tape, but maintenance still never came and fixed it. We called them about it repeatedly too. That place had quite a few people placing anonymous calls to OSHA.
Slightly related - I saw a video on RUclips a few months ago about battery storage units being developed which feed power into the wall socket when discharging. In concept, you charge the battery when power is cheap (time of use tariff, or solar PV) and then discharge it later to reduce your utility bill. From the video (sorry, I don't have a link) these are in the pre-production phase so probably a year or so from being available for sale. Also being portable, you can take them with you when you move house, avoid installation costs etc. No details about safety interlocks (it was only a couple of minutes of bonus content at the end of a video on solar batteries), but presumably you would need to be 100% sure that the pins can't energise when its unplugged. Its not much different to a combined suicide lead and portable power station. PS - I'm from the UK so unfamiliar with US regulations.
These battery walls or units have an inverter that converts the DC voltage of the battery to AC voltage compatible with the mains. The safety mechanism on products with a male plug is usually that the inverter needs to get the frequency, voltage and phase of the mains signal before it starts outputting its own power, similar to most solar panel installations. So once you disconnect the plug it doesn't feed anymore and de-energizes the cable.
if you just plug it in and it charges/discharges I wouldnt trust that because it could easily backfeed. If its hardwired in there are ways to make it work safetly. One method would be an auto switching interlock that shut off grid power to the house and kicked over to battery either when dischargeing or on grid down. Other way is like how a home solar system can be setup where the house is powered off the batteries/inverter and the charge controller is being fed by solar with a grid connection as a backup. Basicly the controller wont pull power from grid unless battery drops below a set value. Could do that based off a schedule as well, charger draws power from the grid at set times or if battery level drops critical with or without solar.
The trouble is that in the USA, we are paid PENNIES on the dollar for any power we feed back into the grid. Many are furious at being conned into installing solar panels with that idea, only to get ripped off by power companies paying peanuts.
Actually.. The NEC codes are building codes--they only govern the electrical installations of buildings. So you could legally own one of these cables, but they should not be installed. Pretty sure the HotPlug used to seize a desktop computer from a Wall Outlet without powering the PC down (For the purpose of preserving evidence stored in RAM) creates a situation where you essentially have one of these during the process; Regardless of whether you are seizing using the Plug capture method or Cutting out the whole wall outlet --- There are exposed energized conductors at a point in time during the operation That then need to be manually covered or taped up before walking the UPS and the Equipment being seized out of the building.
This was a really good video. I do have one correction though. At 2:50 when you show bus 1 and bus 2, this configuration is incorrect. Every other row from top to bottom is Bus 1 or Bus 2. The two buses are woven together like when you interlock your fingers. Very informative video still ❤
Speaking of the breaker: I saw an option where you literally have a big Y-tumbler basically, that is connected to this female generator plug. In order to feed power from the plug, you forcefully disconnect the grid. Basically it sits even before the breakers so everything is still protected correctly through the breakers, but is now feeding from the generator line. I think this is the best design as it's easy to set up and actively prevents any potential disaster. If the Generator line is turned on, the Grid line is cut off by design.
Here in Australia, hardware stores used to sell a popular wire-it-yourself plug called a "piggy-back plug". The idea is that you can put it into a wall socket, but the back of the plug has another socket so you could plug something else in, too. Unfortunately, people were making their own extension cables and putting a piggy-back plug on instead of a proper line socket (which were no more difficult to buy). So the DIY piggy-back plugs got banned and cannot be purchased. Moulded ones on manufactured leads are still okay, though, and that's now the only time most people see piggy-back plugs.
You can still buy male and female plugs ends from Bunnings. Cable too. Not illegal to make your own cables or anything else which is plugged in. Illegal to do your own internal house wiring, sockets, switches or anything else permanently attached/hardwired to the grid without a license. Piggy-back plugs can be easily bought at heaps of retailers, officeworks as just one example - they can't be used in the manner you describe as they still only have 1 male plug. They are essentially just a double adapter with one of the female sockets on the end of a long cable.
@@sirtra You missed my point. You can't buy piggyback plug that you wire up yourself. Those were banned because just enough people were using them wrong and spoiling it for the rest of us. I know this because my Dad was an electrician. And I remember it happening. You can indeed still buy all the other bits, and there's nothing stopping people makes leads wrong. And you can buy pre-maid leads with piggy-back plugs (I said that). You just can't buy the plugs on their own.
We call it a Deadman cord. I've made them in the past for emergency purposes only. First, if you are going to use it through an outlet, you have to turn off the main breaker to keep that backfeed from happening. Also, you'll need to turn off the breakers for any circuits you don't, want to go live and to prevent overloading the generator if it happens to be less than 1500 watts. Wiring a plug into your main panel is the smartest way to do this but without a transfer switch, you'll still need to turn off the main because you'll still generate a backfeed. The Christmas light idea is a new one on me but I guess it makes sense. I actually didn't know they were evermanufactured or sold but yes, they are generally a bad idea even if you know what you're doing.
@@ShannonBarber78 No, actually, you aren't. There have been plenty of cases where people made changes to their house that was against code and when the city inspectors found out, they were ordered to correct it. That's not to say that you go to jail, ( which is what most people think of when they hear "illegal" ), nor that it is not often a calculated risk that often works out just fine. But building codes definitely do apply to you as the homeowner.
@@wojtek-33 Sure... just saying, that's not actually going to happen. The moment you plug in your generator and try to back feed the grid, it's going to trip the breaker in the generator and immediately shut it down.
@@ShannonBarber78 Again, it doesn't matter whether you are the homeowner or a contractor. You are either grandfathered into the older code, or you aren't. This usually depends on the extent of the repairs. Once the repairs are significant enough, you have to come up to the new code.
I am here as an electrician to bestow a quirky lil fun fact on yall! You can buy two male connectors and some cable and with a Philips head screwdriver and a pocket knife, you can make these. 😂
The video with the plug on fire needs to be changed to a guy being shocked. This is *NOT* the danger with higher voltage; that's _lower_ voltage i.e. higher amps. Higher voltages require increasingly smaller and smaller wires to carry the same power. if a wire is too skinny for a given amperage, just up the volts!
Hi ThioJoe, Well, when my house was built 15 years ago, the dumb electrician put in, at my request, a generator access panel. He put a female 3 prong socket outside the house. This means, to connect to the generator, you need one of your cords, only longer. I told him that it should be a male plug, but he knew better. It's now fixed and proper ... now, I don't need your death cord.
They may be illigal, or hard to buy out of the box, but they are extremely easy to DIY, with 2 male connectors (that can be screwed in with wires freely) and a cable. All ready to buy, repair work under 10 minutes.
If they are interested in safety, they should require all AC plugs have a ridge on them so that your fingers won't slip and accidentally touch the exposed prongs as you are inserting the plug into the socket. This happened to me when I was a kid and I got some jolt up my arm. Some plugs have them but mostly the cheap plugs don't. The ridge also makes it easier to grip the plug.
Those cables are actually very easy to make at home. If someone can't make one themselves, it's probably an extra reason to not use them, because they don't know what they're messing with.
I've made quite a few cables myself. For my HiFi gear. Instead of paying the ridiculous prices they ask for the nice ones. And we used to make them at my father's body shop when I was growing up also. It is very easy to do. But not something one should play around with, unless they completely understand how, and why everything works the way it's supposed to. 120 volts at about 15 amps is no joke at all! ✌️
@@amb3cogspeaking of playing around with mains voltage you reminded me of when my father wired up a breaker blow switch. One side to live and one side to neutral - that's how switches work, right? 😂
I have high doubts they are illegal to own or use in the US, which is normally rather low on enforcing things like this and rather relies on... "natural selection"? However: - It probably cannot be sold commercially because of being not code compliant. It may be possible to get around that by labels like "novelty item, not intended for actual use", no idea. - It cannot be sold as part of a house (in particular one being plugged in sure fails home inspection, although it is easily remediated by unplugging and throwing away that thing which the inspector will recommend or even do right on the spot). - It can only be used if no backfeeding occurs. In other words, if mains are not entirely turned off at the breaker, it probably falls under reckless endangerment. - Similarly such a cable being around while visitors or children, even your own, are in the home may be reckless endangerment (similar to having a loaded gun lie around in the open). - Why even care about the law when this can easily outright kill you. So, don't. Code demands a proper outside outlet + an interlock for a reason. If you must have this, e.g. to easier attach alligator clips to mains when needed - it makes sense to store it in a gun safe. And even for that purpose better alternatives exist.
Making one would be trivial but this cable was not make by some guy in thier shed. It was pretry clearly made in a factory, most likely in China. There is a noticeable visual difference between moulded connectors fitted in a specialist factory and connectors that can be fitted in the field.
Imagine if reputable online stores sold fake items, like seeds to grow blue strawberries... oh wait, they already DO sell scam items on those sites... Buyer beware.
Arguably safely. Yes, in a pinch, you can isolate your house from the grid and power it. I'd say it's not really safe though, because one easy mistake can fry your generator (the risk of killing a line worker is greatly exaggerated). A transfer switch or breaker interlock makes it impossible to make that mistake.
Being honest though most would argue the interlocks are little more than a joke. A thin piece of metal between two breakers and you're literally back feeding on the same circuits as your household bus, and its to code. The absurd amount of videos highlighting backfeeding being so potentially dangerous is absurd. I do agree with your statement though.@@thewhitefalcon8539
If one didn't shut off the main house breaker before hooking this dangerous cable up, it would be likely to trip the breaker in the generator anyhow because it would probably throw the neighborhood's load onto the generator. So, a sustained backfeed is quite unlikely. It is safest and best -- and the only code compliant way -- to do this the right way anyhow, with a connector panel and a transfer switch and a special subpanel for the things you want the generator to keep going, like refrigerator and water pump.
5:44 - to be clear, you should not use them. However, this is code is actually for electricians and those who make electronics, not consumers. So this code doesn't say it is illegal to own/use, only to sell (or for an electrician to install) such devices - at least from my understanding. In other words, the general public isn't expected to know electrical code, but anything they use is expected to follow it, which these do not. Another note, do not cut cables open like this: 1) you are making more ends of the cable 2) if it isn't a death cable, you may have pushed a strand from one wire to another
Thank you. "Illegal" and "not legal to sell" are two very different things and it is dangerous to conflate the two. Much the same way "mandatory recall" gets misused by idiots who think it means the end user has to comply or else is breaking the law
We have different plugs where I live but because power outages are so frequent here EVERYONE runs their generator on our version of the suicide cable. Most people are very good about switching off the main though, which is why it isn't an issue, but some idiot somewhere didn't get the memo and paid the price.
just dont touch the mettle and dont turn on the generator untill its all puged in and turn off the main if you have a plug like this you know to turn off ur main on you breaker
Made one to power my generator, to use exactly the way you say not to. My family's been doing this for years. The electric company even told us how, and where to get the parts to make this cord. The only thing they asked was that we turn off the main breaker to the house before connecting the generator to avoid the backfeeding. Never had a single problem in over two decades.
Exactly, these commenters are drama queens over exaggerating a cord with a genuine purpose. We’ve used a male to male cord ourselves for generators whenever a storm rolls through.
4:45 The NEC only makes it illegal in the sense of wiring up a building/house incorrectly. It doesn't make the simple possession, or making one, illegal.
@@harley_trader You specifically included "or making one". Making one IS illegal in most US states, just as the video describes right around the timestamp you linked.
Yep, I've made my own for powering the house through the dryer outlet. Step 1 - Main Breaker Off Step 2 - All Breakers Off including Dryer Breaker Step 3 - Unplug Dryer and Plug cable in both ends. Step 4 - Start Generator Step 5 - Dryer Breaker On Step 6 - Power on only essential breakers such as freezer, fridge, lights. No 220v breakers other than the dryer breaker is on. Just 15a circuits. Coming off of Generator is the opposite. Power off all breakers, including dryer breaker. Stop Generator Unplug Backfeed Cable and Plug in Dryer Main Breaker On Finally All Circuits one at a time As long as you know what you are doing and know your main breaker works, this can be done safely. I've had to use it once the 16 years I've been in this home. It's a 6kw Generator set that produces 220v. I can run enough lights, fridge and at least one of my two gas furnaces. It won't run my AC or my electric dryer, hence they are the donor circuits to backfeed into the panel. As long as the main is off, this is no danger to anyone. But if you don't know what you are doing, yeah, don't do this.
@@dansanger5340I won't be in this home long enough to make that pay off. I"ve been here nearly 17 years. The kids are grown and out and we will soon downsize. I would cost about as much as the generator to have it done. The outlet I use is on the opposite end of the home from the breaker. I'm the only one who would do this. My wife wouldn't try to set it up. So, in my home, this is foolproof.
Of course there are ways to "safely" use one of these cables, I mean you can use a grenade as a tennis ball if you don't take the ring out, but the takeaway is that you must assume everyone is dumb and will kill themselves in the presence of something that can kill them
As an Automation Engineer, I simply can buy two male plugs and assemble them together. Have I done that? - Yes! But I wasn't paying attention when I had to create 20 cables which lead to that male-male cable. Without using it, I disassembled it and fixed it.
All good points, however I made one of these cables for my own purposes. Frankly, anyone can make these cables it's not rocket science. I bought heavy duty plugs from home depot and used some thick gauge wire to make it. Unlike your example with the generator and christmas lights - I used it for testing purposes only. I created the following two cables: A - Male to Male three prong cable B - Female to alligator clips. I designed it this way so that: 1. My part B can be used to power something via the alligator clips while plugged into part A. That's Wall-power/M/M/F/Alligator 2. My part B can be used to draw power from a live source and provide a female three prong connection (ungrounded). That's Bare-wire/Alligator/F I use these to troubleshoot two-wire devices, such as lights primarily and sometimes transformers. Hence why ground doesn't matter because it won't be used regardless. The ground prong just helps with alignment of the blades so you don't have to think about polarity. The Alligator clips are so massive and beefy it's impossible for them to come into contact with one another. So in my case, I will argue it does have a use, but no one irresponsible should be using it. This set of cables has come in clutch several times already, I keep it with the rest of my electrical testing stuff. In other words none of this is supposed to be permanent fixture, it's for testing ONLY!
I've only ever seen one of these cables once in person. I was working on an interactive show in a mall. Basically a super hero themed area for families to visit with a bunch of TVs, games and other interactive elements, all themed to a certain movie franchise. I was working there as a lighting technician, responsible for getting everything running again after it shut down for the pandemic. While I was digging in the back through bins of random cables, I pulled one of these out of the bottom. Realizing what it was I proceeded to laugh for a few minutes while sending photos to m friends about the fact that someone had been stupid enough to actually build one. Chopped the end off and threw it in the trash. Not sure what they were using it for, but that whole exhibit was a massive fire hazard anyways, with overloaded circuits everywhere, shoddy wiring and the guy before me had no idea what he was doing. I quit shortly afterwards, so never knew what happened to the place but before I did I recommended they needed to hire a certified electrician to go in there and rewire the whole place from scratch, otherwise they would immediately get shut down if an inspector saw it.
In my state, before ANY repair or maintenance on a line, electricians must short and ground all wires at the same time. This means that all the wires will be connected to each other, and each wire will also be connected to the ground by a second conductor (device). Plus, after this operation, the voltage on the conductors still has to be measured. Furthermore, normal voltage 230/400V is used, which has countless advantages (for example, we do not have "split" circuits). According to the decree, every house should have a circuit breaker near the electricity meter (the distribution company has fuses on the pole in front of it, and the circuit breaker behind the electricity meter is my property) and a main switch at the entrance to the house, only then other circuit breakers follow, so I can disconnect the house from the network without any problems in several places. I myself have such a cable that I made myself, I have it to connect the UPS to the house.
This cable is perfect for my selective use scenario! I'm going to make one if I cannot buy one this week. Off-Grid Solar power is routed through an inverter to power my AC panel to all the outlets. Right now I've routed the "shore power" cord and outlet to the inverter feeding the main breaker. Now that I'm ready to add a backup generator to selectively charge the batteries and power the outlets, I need a quick, convenient, and economic way to switch between the inverter and generator, if there's no "sine wave" issues from anything connected to the outlets when using the generator to power them. First of all, I live in an large RV trailer so it runs off a single plug-in cord by design. My batteries and 2,000 watt PSW inverter are near the heavy duty water heater AC outlet running to a dedicated breaker. I plan to put the "shore power" cord back outside and connect it to the generator. There's no reasonable way to hardwire into the 120v inverter for a connection and hardwiring into the RV's outlet would leave the male plug energized when "shore" powered. One, probably much better with two, of these from the female inverter outlet to the RV's plugged in with the main breaker turned off (going to the generator) for the majority of the time. Then when wanting/needing the generator, pull those "Satanic" cords out completely, setting them aside, and/or turn off the water heater breaker (if not needing that outlet). However, I could hard wire into the outlet and just turn off the water heater breaker to de-energize the male cable(s) going to the inverter outlet(s). However, I actually like the idea of the double safety and physical re-arrangement in case I forget to randomly switch the breaker off. What do you think, have I found an actual real-world, safe use for this type of device? I think I'd be safer using one than not in my specific use and life-style.
By the way, my water heater runs off propane for the foreseeable future and will also be relocated soon, adding to the perfection of how everything adds up to getting or making one or two of these for selective energizing of my AC outlets more reasonable than anything else I can conservatively think of right now.
You can't do that without specialized equipment designed to store any excess power being generated in batteries and shut down the generator and/or solar inverter when the batteries are full, such as the Schneider Electric XW hybrid inverter charger.
@@phillipsusi1791 Plenty of things can be powered from zero-storage solar installations, even without batteries or inverters. I have a 330-volt DC, 10-series solar array that will power nearly any switching power supply set on the "230V" input mode. Battery chargers, computers, and any DC-tolerant load that draws less than the array can supply will run perfectly. Excess power not utilized by the load just becomes heat in the solar cells, in the same way it would if the panels were just laying out with nothing connected.
@@DielectricVideos Sure, you can do without batteries if you 1) don't want to be also connected to the grid and 2) just waste the excess power the panels can generate but that you aren't using right now. The OP wanted to be able to be connected to the grid, and use a backup generator when the solar wasn't enough and the grid was down.
I would advise using duct tape flags and a Sharpie to make signs on both ends saying "DO NOT TOUCH - THIS CABLE WILL KILL YOU" to ensure that it does not get misused by someone else
Been using to power up the bus rail for many years when testing power in foreclosures, but I'm also an electrician and do it properly so as not to back feed beyond the house...Not at all saying people should do this, but it can safely be done with proper protocol...
Years ago I made up one of these when Hydro shut off my Ex's power for not paying her bill. She lived in a duplex which had exterior outlets at the rear so I plugged one end into the neighbours and the other into hers. The lights did come on but they were really dim, possibly because the hot water tank was still in circuit and drawing most of the power.
We use cables like these operating tow ski lifts. They run in the path of the lift cable and if someone or something accidentally approaches the top or bottom of the lift at the return wheel they'll pull the male-male cable out and trips the circuit and stops the lift to prevent problems.
There is no law that makes having a cable like that illegal. It can't be sold because it's a non-compliant product. Any ban on its use is directly related to running your house off of it when you need a transfer switch to protect lineworkers.
In theory a back-fed generator to the grid connexion will energise the local section of grid to dangerous voltages, but I would suspect in practice what would happen is that you would simply overload your generator, best case tripping the AC breaker. Worst case popping the whole genny! Think about it. If you forget to turn off your main supply isolator the power will flow onto the grid and attempt to run all your neighbour's loads as well. And if if it hits a transformer backwards, that secondary winding, which is now operating as the primary is going to pull one hell of a magnetising current. Effectively you're running your genny's output into something close to a dead short.
Great video. Just so you know, the two phases on an american electrical panel is not actually split left and right, its actually split in rows up and down and it changes every row. This is why those two pole breakers that take up two vertical slots are actually getting power from each phase. Plugging this cable into a generator and then into a random outlet in your house will only liven up one phase of your house, unless that random outlet happens to be 240v which is very rare and for special ACs or other machinery. It will still bring that power to the street unless you have the main power disconnect switch shut off. Since it only would liven up one phase, only half of your breakers would work. Any two pole breakers that only get one phase live could potentially mess up your machines, such as an oven or dryer.
Just to be specific, literally in the text that you showed on screen, near the bottom... Who does that Texas law apply to? Essentially electricians, appliance installers, etc etc but not homeowners. It's perfectly legal for me to own that. It's perfectly legal for me to possess it. And it's perfectly legal for me to use it in a really unsafe way in the house as long as I'm not backfeeding to the power grid. So it's not illegal for them to sell it It's not illegal for people to use it. It's dumb. It violates that third party code there that the state adopted to be applied to electricians but if you look at how it applied it doesn't apply to everyone. It's not law.
Perfectly legal is not necessary how I'd phrase it. The state is limited to what's happening at your house unless it harms other people/community. If it wasn't, we'd have seen NEC applied to repairs performed by owners.
@@privettoli So based off what you literally just said, it's not law. It doesn't apply to homeowners. And you're basically liable for damage you do just like anything else in this world.
One thing I also see this useful is maybe you have to power something in a flat that is currently vacant, thus doest not have an electricity contract active, and this thing is hardwired (e.g. a gas boiler because you have to service it before the new tennant comes in), and you make one of these cords to power a socket circuit from a communal service. But yes, not a great solution, would be better to make a temporary connection at the main electric panel with a cord with a plug on the other side. I've seen time to time this cable made a lot of times tough, most of the time for uses that were really stupid (e.g. a homemade electric appliance that for convenience of having a removable cord used a standard socket to feed power into it, instead of the correct solution that is an IEC socket. But you know, who built it probably had an old socket laying around and did that).
PA leaves building code enforcement up to local municipalities - so it's even trickier to know how the law is going to be applied on these things here. Anyways, you can buy and sell the cable - even use it if whatever you are using it with is not permenantly incorporated into a building in any way. You can even intend to use it, as long as you haven't yet you won't be arrested for one of those thought crimes the state and federal government enjoys throwing at people.
The vast majority of the US uses the NEC within 3 or so revisions - even down to municipalities like FL. PA is under NEC 2017 for new construction. Like with most wiring issues in a construction, the result of getting caught it generally not that you are arrested, but that you will not be able to get insurance or sell the property. If a licensed electrician runs into one of these issues, there is an obligation to remedy the situation by bringing it up to code, or to not touch any wiring at all. Obviously, if you do your own wiring, you can burn your house down whenever you want - as long as you don't care about insurance.
I've heard these referred to in the UK as a 'widowmaker' cable and that's coming from a country that has switched sockets so you could have such a thing plugged in and *not* live. Unlike the US where switched receptacles are either very rare or non-existent.
I made something like this with two different standards (EU/chinese) BUT only the ground (earth) was connected inside; the goal was of course to transmit the ground from a chinese outlet to EU power strips. It looked extremely sketchy but was in fact safer to have.
While working at an electronics factory years ago, I came across a power plug to male IEC C14 socket in the cables bin (this is the connector used on servers, laptop power supplies, & desktops. Although the prongs were recessed, it could still be fatal for anyone who accidentally touched it if it was plugged in. The lab techs didn't know what it was used for, and so I had it destroyed (the plug head & sockets were tested & reused as spares)
They still aren't illegal in the sense you're implying. There's no jail time or fine for having/using one. It's "illegal" in electrical code, you'll fail inspection for using one. So yes they are "illegal" but only if you are a state-licensed electrical contractor.
I use them with portable power stations with short on / off extension cables to add another layer of safety and with the power stations ac outlets off. *shrugs*
For my hurricane ready home in Fl. I have moved away from generators and use battery inverters inside. Same results only safer and easier to strategically employ during a storm, plus nobody can steal them like during the year of hurricanes (2004-2005) thieves would steal gas too!
With a generator you are supposed to have a cutoff/change switch that separates the house/line power from the generator power. This so that you can't operate line electricity with generator electricity at the same time. Not too expensive to implement this switch and in most places its probably code.
And to those who scream, "It's not the volts that kill you, it's the amps!". That is an urban myth and dangerously misleading. Voltage dictate how many amps are ABLE to flow through your body.
Also yes I’m also going to trash the two cord pieces 🧐. The point of destroying it is to prove I won’t be keeping it, to emphasize there is no good reason to have one.
Good
I mean THOSE you can buy at the hardware store and have an actual use, though a little short to be practical.
Well done
Hahahaha!
I mean you can make stupid gestures that mean nothing, but its still a stupid gesture that means nothing.
One way electricians can safely work on circuits that may become energized is by deliberately grounding/shorting them out while working on them. If someone turns it on, they will immediately blow a breaker.
If it is being used for this purpose, it should at least have a high power switch in the middle of the cable that can be turned off then on.
@@xcheesyxbaconxIt is not being used to keep circuits deenergized. It's sold to people who want to run their home on a portable generator.
@@pootispiker2866I believe ruin was a typo, but for all the lawsuits that you will likely get for using such a cable, you're not exactly wrong
@@the_undead Ruin was a typo, but it's not entirely incorrect.
Not if both power sources happens to be on the same phase when plugged in. And then not if the circuit being hy-jacked has "room to expand" amperage wise.
As somebody who used to work in a hardware store, I cannot count on both hands and both feet the number of times I was ask to make one of these cables. Every time I would explain to the customer that it was illegal for me to do so and that it was dangerous not just to themselves but to anybody working with electricity in the vicinity to have that cable in existence.
At least five times I had to get my manager to kick them out of the store
The weird part is it does not cost that much more to do it correctly
some customer thew the lights up into a tree but didnt realize they threw the male end into the tree until it was too late. They wanted the plug...
@@Zyghqwyv I would always ask them why they wanted it and most of them wanted it for running their house off a generator... That was easier to deal with because I could point them to the right products to set stuff up correctly or to our installers to get it properly set up.
The 5 I had to get the manager to kick out were Christmas light fiends
It's not actually illegal to have or sell the wire anywhere in the US.
It's a code violation to use it to hook a generator up to the wall, but as a seller I'd just keep one with a $100 price tag on it and then lean into any potential Darwin award employees and tell them that there's a cheaper and safer way to do it if they want to save some money.
@@TheGrinningViking it's quicker and easier to get people to stop asking for it if you just tell them it's illegal to make it.
Linemen install GROUND leads when working on lines. This is because incase anyone accedentally back feeds the lines. What happens is it shorts out the backfeed to ground and causes the breaker at the feeding line transformer to blow. Then the power company will find it after they fix the lines and have a "chat" with ya.
Interesting 🧐 I figured they’d use some kind of protections
Hahahaha!
And how would they find you? Unless they watched you do this?
@@unknown-ql1fk the transformer you back fed, the line fuse would be blown. So there is usually a small handful of houses on any transformer, likely go to all houses and leave a generator back feed pamphlet on your door, or they see the generator and you restarted it after the blowout killed it and your power is still out due to it. So your house is running on a generator on the transformer that was back fed. Easy enough. But if you ever have a generator running your house during an outage, make sure you run a dedicated generator outlet/inlet and a anti back feed lockout on the switching panel. If you don't have an anti lock out, at least turn off your Main breaker to prevent any back feed. Because you are sending 7200+ volts back through the mains.
@@unknown-ql1fk Big brother is always watching 😀😁😀😁😀
True story, about 20 years ago I was an engineer working at a large corporation. My boss told me the women on the assembly line were complaining about getting shocked when they touched certain equipment. I checked it out and there were about a dozen back-to-back plugs linking all the power strips together. I asked him who had wired up the work benches and he said it was a licensed electrician. It turned out the electrician had hired a trained assistant who had done the wiring job. The electrician came out the next day and rewired all the benches for free because he knew he could lose his license over this incident. I think he also fired the assistant.
Holy crap
AMPERAGE LIMITS FFS
@@bobblacka918 how would that cause people to get shocked?
@@JohnRunyon : He had reversed the hot and neutral leads on every other power strip. Some equipment was only 2 wire so the chassis was hot.
Funny story. I know somebody that back fed the grid using a cord like this and then when the grid came back on it melted his generator down..... Nobody got hurt and I think the homeowner learned their lesson...
That happens quite often during an extended power outage when people don't turn off the main breaker... POP when the power comes back.
Can't say I've never done it, but I made sure in advance I have a working main breaker, and can fully disconnect my house while the power works...
I am getting my electric service replaced soon, so I think I'm going to have a generator outlet installed so I don't make a mistake some day. I only use it when I have to run my well pump, i already have my fridges and stuff on off grid solar.
@@volvo09 Yes, I am involved with a local church, who are a nominated "Civil Defence Emergency Hub" for their area, and also a Radio Clubrooms, who are also a Hub-of-sorts, for times of Emergency. Both places (independently) have just recently had special Generator sockets installed, being sure to comply with all laws and isolation requirements. In the event of a major emergency, then a large construction site type generator ("as big as a small car") can be connected to the church's system. Enabling it to be a community hub, with, as well as the main church auditorium, a hall area with offices, childcare room and commercial kitchen. The Radio Club's outlet is configured to run from a smaller "single phase" generator, (as depicted at 1m10s in the video) which is arranged to run the lights, the main Radio Room, and a limited number of wall outlets (allow folks to charge laptops or phones etc). All done by licenced electricians in compliance with local laws. Next time there's a big Earthquake and the power goes out, we are all sorted mate !
I'm not surprised, there's also the issue that generators need to be outside and far enough away that the carbon monoxide doesn't find its way into the building. There's specific electronics if you want to connect a generator up to your home.
@@SmallSpoonBrigadea diesel generator while not eliminating entirely significantly reduces the carbon monoxide risk.
As a bonus the fuel can be stored and handled more safely and the fuel You've stocked will last longer because of their efficiency. and if you have a oil heated house, you already have a ton of energy fuel in a pinch.
A thousand dollar generator doesn’t have a $5 fancy diode to protect it from the most likely source of damage ?
I used to paint empty apartments for my father's business. They usually had no power. He had one of these cables, a very long one. He was super, super clear with me about how to use it. In fact, each end had a label so I wouldn't forget. One end said "DON'T DIE! Plug into unpowered end FIRST!" and the "DON'T DIE!" was much bigger than the rest of it. The end said "DON'T DIE! Do what the OTHER end says FIRST!"
I didn't DIE. Thanks, dad.
Why not just a long extension lead
@@simonupton-millard The branch breakers were opened so the apartment could be powered and lit to do the work. Not supported as a safe means of doing things but instead a "work-around" for expediency.
We had the same at a warehouse. Thought ours had a big ole laminated picture book, showing the procedure for connecting the generator. Turn off main power, plug into x circuit (i assume this was a special circuit) plug into generator, verify breaker is off, start generator. As long as you use the cable correctly they are safe, its just people not knowing proper procedures that make it dangerous
@@pibbles-a-plenty1105 Yup, exactly!
@@simonupton-millard See what @pibbles-a-plenty1105 said right below your comment. Basically it allowed us to turn on the lights in the apartment so we could see to paint. It's true we could have brought in our own lights on a long extension, but this was a 1000x better and easier ... and more dangerous! XD
This is one of those items that works perfectly fine for its intended use, but it relies on its users being 100 percent competent 100 percent of the time to avoid potential catastrophic outcomes. No consumer level device should exist with that kind of safety profile.
The trouble with that is people tend to only be aware of the risks they had in mind, this is one of those situations where the false confidence a little knowledge gives can be deadly.
By the way, what is the intended use?
@@jon9103Connecting to a single closed circuit. I explained in my comment. But essentially, it would be next to a hot outlet and end at an odd location intended for an optional use. Saw them all over new build homes prewired for home theaters or even just television of a fire place. Things of that nature. Very common.
@@jbeck116hv wrong. Please don't spread stuff you just make up off the top of your head here
Kind of like fractal woodburning
Made one of these cables at a physics class back in highschool (together with a classmate in the '80s), put a switch between the two plugs. Teacher told we could install everything but he would look up the things we made and was the only one permitted to click the switch. So he did, within a second the complete building was out of power... Learned why circuit breakers are great things (and why they are mandatory - at least in my country).
Teacher said he knew what we made but relied on the circuit breaker and would use it as a story why you shouldn't craft these cables, so he did flip the switch.
Yeah, he definitely knew....
/S
If you use such a cable on Christmas lights you will end up with an energized plug at a random place. Some kid might find it.
I think that's the real problem. Also can cause fire especially with rain or snow that covers the exposed contacts
plug it into unwire outlet
Second degree manslaughter, very illegal.
Owning the cable, still not illegal. But ya know. Seems like a bad idea.
gotta tape up both ends and connections between too
Good the kid will learn the same lesson as me
I once got an old lady asking for a male/male adapter around december and immediately told her, "you need to re-hang your christmas lights" before she even got done explaining her story. She called her husband to try and explain to me, but I just told him the exact same thing.
"We don't have it. No one has it. It doesn't exist. It's dangerous and illegal."
Had to repeat that at least 5 times to both of them before they gave up.
I always roll my lights so the male end is at the start and always go from the bottom up.
Bit condescending don't you think? Like honestly what gives you that authority. You have no idea of there skill level or there use. As you said they haven't even finished.
There are many reasons for these cables. Just because you don't see that does not give you the right to control what others do with this.
@@qaszim2012Did we watch the same video? There's a high chance you're going to electrocute yourself, and it's illegal. It doesn't matter what she wanted to do with it, she can't use it
@@blushchuu and who the f are you to police that. There are uses for them many stated here, you can't go policing the world solely on your beliefs and ignoring real world usesage. You watch a 10nmin RUclips video and suddenly think you are a expert. FML.
Somebody needs to plug one of these into a hot dog and see what happens. Maybe then people would wise up.
I have been told that first responders sometimes carry "suicide connectors" to power structures on an emergency basis such as energising a gas station to access the pumps. That said it is never the right way to do an installation.
Its the perfectly right way for temporary power solutions
Real props for actually showing the legal basis. As a lawyer, it's refreshing to see - illustrative of the often complex way legislation works to give an industry code the weight of an enforceable law.
It's a civil thing, right? You're not going to jail for making and using one of these... unless you kill someone, which you might so don't
The laws presented apply to professional use and carry civil liability, but they DON'T criminalize recreational use of this cord. 😎👌
These are not are not laws in the typical sense. If you personally use it at your home, you are most likely NOT breaking any laws. As much as us Americans like our freedom, we sure are eager to use the word "illegal" whenever we can.
I got shocked due to this insane cable. When I was teenager it was used for some equipment at a place I was doing some voluntary work. When I touched it, unaware it was connected to power, my hand immediately bounced away from it and spasmed for a couple of seconds on its own. I am lucky I was not electrocuded due to this. It probably helped that I touched it only with a single finger when it happened.
That bounce saved your life. Electricity makes the muscles contract. If that contraction makes you grab the conductor you are dead. If that contraction pushes you away you might live. Test you should NOT do but it demonstrates the principle. Touch a live wire with the front of your fingertip, the contraction will make you grab the wire. Now touch the live wire with the rear of your fingertip. The contraction will pull your finger away. If you do this while crouching this might also throw you right across the room. Again, don't try this for real on a live wire.
Electricians that are lazy use this method to check if a wire is live. Experienced ones use this as their last check after having made double sure the wire is not live.
I want to feel it.
So that's why electrical attacks cause paralysis in RPGs...
@@duzaliteraf7373don't let the intrusive thoughts win
Yeah my guy you were definitely electrocuted, you were just lucky to have the connection broken right away. Happened to myself once with an extension outlet whose casing fell apart, thank God I was able to drop it
When I was a kid I split the wires from a computer F to M cord and accidentally touched the wires on an exposed PC case panel (when they were all steel). It welded to case and sparks flew, scared the hell out of me. Thankfully I unplugged it and threw it in the trash.
I once inserted a router plug into a receptacle with two fingers touching both prongs, it was late at night and the lights were off, it was one in a lifetime experience to say the least. It was in Europe, so different amperage and voltage.
Don't get that kinda thing with UK plugs @@privettoli due to the covering of the start of the 2 live wires and the fact you have to plug the Earth prong all the way into the wall for the doors on the live terminals to even open up. Amazes me how over engineered our plugs and plug sockets are.
@@privettoliwhere was that? I live in Finland and we use the German Schuko standard, it's not possible for prongs to electrocute you because you can't put your fingers there when you plug it in...
@@Mtaalas are standards enforced to existing houses or when people install receptacles themselves? Typically no but I don't know specifically about Finland. The story I described was in Ukraine but I can imagine there's a lot of countries with outdated receptacles, it's often meaningless to replace them to fancy innovations.
It could if you plug one end of a suicide cord into live and then touched the other end's tip. @@Mtaalas
Ha! This made me laugh.
Years ago a client of the company I worked for suffered an IT failure when the mains failed.
My company was OK (broadcast TV with multiple UPSs and generator backup), but the client company wasn’t on it.
Their IT guy (top bloke and very good with IT) decided to buy a UPS and install it himself; it didn’t work, so he asked if I could help him out.
I looked at the only cable connected to it at that point, plugged into one of its outlets. I asked him where the other end was and he pointed to a mains outlet on the wall. I asked him to remove the wall end, and sure enough there was a male connector at each end and he’d fried the UPS by shoving mains up its output. He’d made up the cable himself, thinking it was how it was supposed to be.
I reported a near miss and we issued a company-wide edict that nothing could be wired by any of our clients and plugged into the mains without it first being inspected and authorised by one of us.
Also called a widow maker. The main breaker must be shut off first and the plugs must all be attached to CFI plug BEFORE starting the generator to prevent most hazzards and potential death. Just spend the 600 to 800 bucks and get a manual switch installed.
If the main breaker isn't shut off first, all that will happen when you plug it in is that it will trip the breaker in the generator, immediately shutting it down. It really isn't nearly as scary as the media likes to make it out to be.
@@phillipsusi1791 Shhh....it's good for their RUclips "clicks", though.
I am glad you are not retired with NO spare money. 800 bucks is a month's income for my wife and i. Good for you it's nothing.
@@englishrupe01 It's a one time install, not per month.
@@wadewilson6628 Yes, EVs are not really for rentals. I mean, they could be eventually, but that certainly has not been the point thus far.
Actually have a story around such a cable. From a 230 volt mains country, which makes it even more dangerous.
An uncle of mine had an electric lawnmower. And it was convenient to take a cable drum, replace its plug with a receptacle, and plug this receptacle into the lawnmower. And he also made one of these death cables with 2 plugs, to plug one into an outlet and the other one into the cable drum. To pretty much use the cable drum in reverse and be able to just spool up the lawnmower's cable. He was quite a smart, handy man, I totally believe he used this setup in a relatively safe manner. And as he told me (this is like 25 years ago), it was impossible to get an "inverse cable drum" with a receptacle at the cable end back then.
But sadly, he passed away at the age of about 60. And his wife kept using this contraption. When I was visiting her and was helping her mow the lawn, I actually saw her putting one plug of the death cable into an outlet while holding the other plug in her hand, totally unaware of the danger she's putting herself into.
I then told her to ideally not keep using this cable at all, and if she does, to ALWAYS plug one plug into the cable drum before putting the other one in the outlet, and vice versa, to make it a bit safer and never have an open plug that's powered. It's still not great, for sure.
As far as I know, she never shocked herself with this. But still, when buying/making such contraptions, don't only think of yourself, also think of others who may use it one day.
Electrical codes are idiot proofing for if an idiot comes along.
So this is the gay cord?
Yes, I guess female to female (or like a usb plug to usb plug) could be referred to as a lesbian cord
😂😂classic
You beat me to it 😂😂😂
Kind of...?
he just like me fr 😂😂
not quite the same topic but many years ago [here in the uk most houses will have an electric kettle] i went into the kitchen only to find my 3 year old daughter sitting on the floor with the end of the kettle lead in her mouth while the other end was plugged into the wall socket .I yanked the lead from her mouth and all was well and i was so happy to see that my wife had switched the socket off after using the kettle . i wasted no time in having the lead shortened so it would no longer trail over the countertop
We don't often have local shutoffs for our receptacles here in NA and when I visited Scotland I was surprised to find them nearly everywhere. Your experience illustrates why having easily accessible control over the electricity supply is a good thing.
Any kind of misuse of connectors intended for mains power can be dangerous. This reminded me of something that happened at a small church in our area many years ago. The amplifier sat on a shelf inside the pulpit so the mic cable could be short and the minister could reach the controls when needed. They wanted to make it easy to move the pulpit out of the way when they used the platform for things like the Xmas play so someone who probably thought they were clever wired the speakers to a standard 120V receptacle mounted in the platform floor right next to the live receptacle that the amp plugged into for power, then attached a cord with a 2 prong male power plug to the amp's speaker terminals. It worked OK as long as it was re-connected by the person who set it up that way but I'm sure most people reading this have already figured out what happened when someone with no clue about how things like that work tried plugging it back in.
The only damage was totally destroyed power output transistors in the amp (which I ended up replacing for them and recommended changing to standard 1/4" phone plugs & jacks before it happened again).
They were very lucky; One of the amp's speaker terminals was connected to the chassis so there was a 50/50 chance that the amp's housing would be live when someone tried to turn it on.
They used a power plug for an audio signal? That’s a little clever and a lot insane. “Smart enough to know how to do something but not smart enough to know they shouldn’t” is a dangerous place.
so typical of so many churches and clubs. And I bet they wanted you to fix it for free.
@@jefforgeron5249 The transistors weren't expensive and we were attending that church so I didn't ask them to pay for the work.
“You heard there was a secret cord
That you could use to meet the Lord
Cause you don't care about power safety, do you?”
👏 kudos. That comment made my day.
It's at 69 likes so I have to give you this instead 👑
Hallelujah, Hallelujah.....
to anyone looking to power their house:
1. always get a generator that can produce 240v (250)
2. if you have such generator, mechanical interlock kits can be had for very cheap for most electrical panels of the last 50 years, and a 50 or 30 amp inlet can be had cheaply, just get something UL listed for outdoor use (NEMA 3/4) with its respective 8/3 or 10/3 grounded cable
3. these days a 50 amp inlet would always be recomended, the cost difference is not much, so it is worth getting a step up L14-30P to L14-50R adapter if you have a smaller generator, instead of locking your house to 1 heavy appliance regardless of generator (water heater, oven/range/cooktop, HVAC, well pump, (derated) car charger, other heating)
4. always use a generator that is configured to produce proper split phase 120 and 240 (125/250v) - if it just has a single wall outlet, it should NOT be wired into your home in any way - use 12/3 extensions instead, only a true split phase unit should interface with your homes wiring in any way to begin with
My grandfather made such a cable for his lawnmower, which he built himself. He was a genius. When he repeatedly stepped on the cable and pulled the killer plug while pushing the machine, he secured it with duct tape. Fortunately, there was no accident. Used it like that for 20 years, then I grew up and threw it all away.
If he were a real genius, he'd have put the male prongs on the lawnmower itself!
I use to work at an electrical supply house. Can't tell you how many times we were asked for these. Then we proceed to tell the customer why they don't exist. A few times, we had customers make one instead, since we sold cable and ends. While I couldn't refuse them the sale, I did on multiple occasions, tell a customer what they are trying to do, is dangerous.
Hey Ferb, I know what- My lawyer has advised me to not finish this joke.
Mom!! Phineas and Ferb are making a banned cable!
dont get it
@@zeenxdownz"-we're gonna do today", once per episode catchphrase of Phineas and Ferb
"Electricians assuming that the lines are not powered" That's not a thing. That was never a thing.
So how do they get shocked to death?
When someone fucks up
No they always hire a guy to grab the power lines bare handed before doing any work, its required by law. There are hundreds of casualties resulting from it but its all hushed with dirty money
It was and still is a thing. Very common.
I like the meme that some hardware stores put by the electrical cables, saying, "These are not made. They should never be made..."
As for these allowing generators to backfeed into the grid, linemen are taught to assume that the lines are energized and take appropriate precautions partly due to possibility of generators backfeeding into the lines.
It's also very likely to trip the generator's breaker or just break the generator because it isn't powerful enough to feed the whole neighbourhood. The killing lineman thing is theoretically possible but the chance of it happening is way overblown.
How about you hold onto the power lines while they connect a generator to them and see how you like it @@thewhitefalcon8539
plot twist, he only cut it so he could extend it with speaker wire
and insulate it using office tape
🤣
Speaker wire is to much, cat 5 is good enough 😂
I stayed on a Riverboat which was powered by solar with a generator backup. They had one of these cables. I tried to tell the owners they should fit a fuse between the generator and the Solar control box as it could save them a lot of money. One day the system was refusing to accept charge from a new generator they bought as the generator didn't have a regulator or whatever it is which controls demand, so they revved the generator manually to make it start to charge. Within seconds the fuse inside the control box blew in a puff of smoke. I proceeded to tell them very quickly that they should have listened and installed a fuse, it also very clearly stated it on the input. They had to send the unit for repair as the repair required soldering.
Funny thing is that the owners were apparently electricians. This wasn't the only danger in this boat, they also stored the gas canisters on top of the batteries. True stupidity of epic proportions. The fire from the batteries if one had taken place would not have struggled to burn straight through gas canister and turn a bad fire into a massive explosion! It was obvious they didn't learn either as they electrocuted themselves several times with this cable, one time moments after I has reminded him that he is holding a live cable with the pins exposed. He literally touched it to check not believing me!
This highlights a really big issue with Solar power as far as I am concerned. Many people try to DIY these systems with varying levels of experience and knowledge. They think because it runs on batteries that it is relatively safe compared to mains power. The batteries, capacitors, transformers and even solar panels all contain more than enough juice to kill a human easily.
I just remembered to top it all off the whole system wasn't grounded, they thought as it was a boat that there was no way to ground it. I promptly informed them the boat is entirely surrounded by water and rod under the boat or a line to shore with a long copper peg was needed as if the generator started to overcharge the batteries or system as there was nowhere else for the power to go then it could be catastrophic and result in fire or if a defective appliance needed to ground similar results.
As a 14 year old who has never done electrical work, I'd probably be able to do it safer than these "electricians"
I’ve got 2 of those, I was advised to keep them at least 12 feet apart as any closer would cause the earth to stop rotating.😂
Haha - You were lied to Mate, everyone knows the Earth is a Flat Stationary Plane.
Now you have 2 dangerous cables! 😂
That's what I was thinking! haha
I keep any cables like these very well hidden in a box with lock on it. So that nobody gets to them unless I know of it. I store them for the fact that one can just put a proper connector to the other end and make a new cable easily.
At my previous work, these "pig tails" were totally banned, they were thrown to cable trash immediately even if the place was full of people with electrical engineering background and knew what they were doing.
It's a liability to store them.
I never knew backfeeding is a thing. There has been exactly two times I connected my generator during an outage and forgot to disconnect the circuit breakers first. Instead of energizing the whole grid, the breaker in the generator tripped in one case and the generator sputters to a halt in the other.
The generator stopped because you were trying to power all your neighbors -- all their refrigerators and air conditioners.
My grandfather in the countryside had such a homemade cable. In the past, it was often the case that one of the three phases was missing, and while each such failure prevented the equipment on the farm from working, when it hit the phase where the house was connected, it created a big problem, because these failures could last up to several days. So my grandfather's solution was to install a socket on the roofed part of the terrace, where there was an electricity meter, connected to one of the phases of a three-phase fuse, but different from the one in the house, which was normally used to power the radio with speakers in the yard. But in the event of the lack of the phase where the house was connected, my grandfather took this suicidal extension cord, only he knew where it was and only he could use it, he turned off the single-phase fuse of the house in the electrical box, connected this extension cord to the socket in the hall near the exit where the single-phase meter was originally and the wires spread throughout the house, and through the front door he connected the other end to a socket on the covered terrace. The house had power, everyone was happy, and since only two people lived there, i.e. my grandparents, no one picked on the cable or messed with it. I only remember once when he had to do it when the whole family was there, that's how I found out about it, and everyone had one rule that no one except grandpa could touch this wire, even by accident. Then grandpa drove two big screws into the wooden walls, one at each socket, and tied the ends tightly with a strong braided string, so that even if someone caught in the wire and pulled it out, the head of the wire would not move away from the wall socket any further than about 5 centimeters. Of course, in case of a long loss of all phases, the generator was also at hand so that it could be started on the exposed part of the terrace connected with this cable, but fortunately it was never needed.
Funny thing, an assembly line where I used to work, we had those "cord reels" coming down from the ceiling all over the place, so we could plug in our drills and such. There was one cord reel in the entire building that for whatever reason had a male end and was effectively always live and would shock anyone who walked past and accidentally brushed against it (a common occurrence, as we were walking in the narrow space alongside the trucks we were building). No one could ever figure out why that plug was male, as none of our tools had female ends. As long as I worked there, that plug never got fixed. Most likely, a rather silly maintenance man had at some point replaced the plug end on that cord and just put the wrong type of connector on it.
You know, it's kind of a good idea. Lets you know for certain that OSHA has not done a real inspection at your workplace and you should be extra cautious about everything.
You just walked by it and people regularly got shocked? How lazy or dumb do you have to be not to even wrap some tape or any plastic over it? Geez...
@Kansika I think the makeshift solution was to toss the end up over the top of the reel, but every once in a while some newbie who didn't know any better would pull it down to plug in their tools, look at it for a moment, get confused, and just leave it hanging there, and everyone who was used to it being up wouldn't notice it hanging back down again (because it was in the middle of a bank of other cord reels). It was also marked out for maintenance to work on, they just... never did.
@@ShadowsofYesterday It takes 5 min max to rewire a proper socket on a cord. It would've also taken the guy in the video 5 min to make one himself instead of paying for one.
If I see something like that at work I fix it before someone gets hurt.
@Kansika Oh sure, five minutes, if we had a spare socket lying around, which we didn't but maintenance did, and if we could cut power to that cord reel bank, which we line workers couldn't but maintenance could (and couldn't be done during production hours anyway because this was one of those
NUMBERS NUMBERS NUMBERS places and five minutes would be like an eternity of downtime to the people in charge). Again, the quickest and easiest solution for us was to just toss the end up over the top, call maintenance and let them know about it, and mark it out for them to work on. IIrc, someone eventually did get fed up after it had been pulled back down so many times and wrapped the end of it in tape, but maintenance still never came and fixed it. We called them about it repeatedly too. That place had quite a few people placing anonymous calls to OSHA.
Slightly related - I saw a video on RUclips a few months ago about battery storage units being developed which feed power into the wall socket when discharging. In concept, you charge the battery when power is cheap (time of use tariff, or solar PV) and then discharge it later to reduce your utility bill. From the video (sorry, I don't have a link) these are in the pre-production phase so probably a year or so from being available for sale. Also being portable, you can take them with you when you move house, avoid installation costs etc.
No details about safety interlocks (it was only a couple of minutes of bonus content at the end of a video on solar batteries), but presumably you would need to be 100% sure that the pins can't energise when its unplugged. Its not much different to a combined suicide lead and portable power station.
PS - I'm from the UK so unfamiliar with US regulations.
If it is cost-rate adaptive, it will have a timed breaker circuit - similar to Economy 7
These battery walls or units have an inverter that converts the DC voltage of the battery to AC voltage compatible with the mains. The safety mechanism on products with a male plug is usually that the inverter needs to get the frequency, voltage and phase of the mains signal before it starts outputting its own power, similar to most solar panel installations. So once you disconnect the plug it doesn't feed anymore and de-energizes the cable.
if you just plug it in and it charges/discharges I wouldnt trust that because it could easily backfeed. If its hardwired in there are ways to make it work safetly. One method would be an auto switching interlock that shut off grid power to the house and kicked over to battery either when dischargeing or on grid down.
Other way is like how a home solar system can be setup where the house is powered off the batteries/inverter and the charge controller is being fed by solar with a grid connection as a backup. Basicly the controller wont pull power from grid unless battery drops below a set value. Could do that based off a schedule as well, charger draws power from the grid at set times or if battery level drops critical with or without solar.
The trouble is that in the USA, we are paid PENNIES on the dollar for any power we feed back into the grid. Many are furious at being conned into installing solar panels with that idea, only to get ripped off by power companies paying peanuts.
They'll have electronic interlocks that will stop supplying power if they don't detect grid power already present.
Actually.. The NEC codes are building codes--they only govern the electrical installations of buildings. So you could legally own one of these cables, but they should not be installed.
Pretty sure the HotPlug used to seize a desktop computer from a Wall Outlet without powering the PC down (For the purpose of preserving evidence stored in RAM) creates a situation where you essentially have one of these during the process; Regardless of whether you are seizing using the Plug capture method or Cutting out the whole wall outlet --- There are exposed energized conductors at a point in time during the operation That then need to be manually covered or taped up before walking the UPS and the Equipment being seized out of the building.
0:11 strikes anyway ~🎶
This was a really good video. I do have one correction though. At 2:50 when you show bus 1 and bus 2, this configuration is incorrect. Every other row from top to bottom is Bus 1 or Bus 2. The two buses are woven together like when you interlock your fingers. Very informative video still ❤
Yeah, otherwise a double breaker (not really sure the correct term here) wouldn't give the expected 240Vac in a US residential breaker box.
@@Sembazuru Double pole breaker
@@TheNoXbeta Thanx. I just missed one word. 🤔
Speaking of the breaker: I saw an option where you literally have a big Y-tumbler basically, that is connected to this female generator plug. In order to feed power from the plug, you forcefully disconnect the grid. Basically it sits even before the breakers so everything is still protected correctly through the breakers, but is now feeding from the generator line. I think this is the best design as it's easy to set up and actively prevents any potential disaster. If the Generator line is turned on, the Grid line is cut off by design.
Here in Australia, hardware stores used to sell a popular wire-it-yourself plug called a "piggy-back plug". The idea is that you can put it into a wall socket, but the back of the plug has another socket so you could plug something else in, too.
Unfortunately, people were making their own extension cables and putting a piggy-back plug on instead of a proper line socket (which were no more difficult to buy). So the DIY piggy-back plugs got banned and cannot be purchased. Moulded ones on manufactured leads are still okay, though, and that's now the only time most people see piggy-back plugs.
That doesn't make sense. What stops people from buying two male plugs instead?
@@naanabsoj Nothing, but people generally want a conventional extension cable much more often than a backfeed cable.
You can still buy male and female plugs ends from Bunnings. Cable too.
Not illegal to make your own cables or anything else which is plugged in.
Illegal to do your own internal house wiring, sockets, switches or anything else permanently attached/hardwired to the grid without a license.
Piggy-back plugs can be easily bought at heaps of retailers, officeworks as just one example - they can't be used in the manner you describe as they still only have 1 male plug. They are essentially just a double adapter with one of the female sockets on the end of a long cable.
@@sirtra You missed my point. You can't buy piggyback plug that you wire up yourself. Those were banned because just enough people were using them wrong and spoiling it for the rest of us.
I know this because my Dad was an electrician. And I remember it happening. You can indeed still buy all the other bits, and there's nothing stopping people makes leads wrong. And you can buy pre-maid leads with piggy-back plugs (I said that). You just can't buy the plugs on their own.
@@static-san PDL 10A Standard Tapon (Piggy Back) Plug PDL 940
$17.93 - $18.38 INC GST AUD
Yeah i can.
We call it a Deadman cord. I've made them in the past for emergency purposes only.
First, if you are going to use it through an outlet, you have to turn off the main breaker to keep that backfeed from happening. Also, you'll need to turn off the breakers for any circuits you don't, want to go live and to prevent overloading the generator if it happens to be less than 1500 watts. Wiring a plug into your main panel is the smartest way to do this but without a transfer switch, you'll still need to turn off the main because you'll still generate a backfeed. The Christmas light idea is a new one on me but I guess it makes sense. I actually didn't know they were evermanufactured or sold but yes, they are generally a bad idea even if you know what you're doing.
They are a Code violation but not illegal. No criminal charge can be brought for having/using them.
@@wojtek-33You can own them. Using them is where the code violation occurs.
@@wojtek-33 code violation != criminal ( or even civil ) offense.
@@ShannonBarber78 No, actually, you aren't. There have been plenty of cases where people made changes to their house that was against code and when the city inspectors found out, they were ordered to correct it. That's not to say that you go to jail, ( which is what most people think of when they hear "illegal" ), nor that it is not often a calculated risk that often works out just fine. But building codes definitely do apply to you as the homeowner.
@@wojtek-33 Sure... just saying, that's not actually going to happen. The moment you plug in your generator and try to back feed the grid, it's going to trip the breaker in the generator and immediately shut it down.
@@ShannonBarber78 Again, it doesn't matter whether you are the homeowner or a contractor. You are either grandfathered into the older code, or you aren't. This usually depends on the extent of the repairs. Once the repairs are significant enough, you have to come up to the new code.
I am here as an electrician to bestow a quirky lil fun fact on yall!
You can buy two male connectors and some cable and with a Philips head screwdriver and a pocket knife, you can make these. 😂
The video with the plug on fire needs to be changed to a guy being shocked. This is *NOT* the danger with higher voltage; that's _lower_ voltage i.e. higher amps. Higher voltages require increasingly smaller and smaller wires to carry the same power. if a wire is too skinny for a given amperage, just up the volts!
Hi ThioJoe, Well, when my house was built 15 years ago, the dumb electrician put in, at my request, a generator access panel. He put a female 3 prong socket outside the house. This means, to connect to the generator, you need one of your cords, only longer. I told him that it should be a male plug, but he knew better. It's now fixed and proper ... now, I don't need your death cord.
They may be illigal, or hard to buy out of the box, but they are extremely easy to DIY, with 2 male connectors (that can be screwed in with wires freely) and a cable. All ready to buy, repair work under 10 minutes.
If they are interested in safety, they should require all AC plugs have a ridge on them so that your fingers won't slip and accidentally touch the exposed prongs as you are inserting the plug into the socket. This happened to me when I was a kid and I got some jolt up my arm. Some plugs have them but mostly the cheap plugs don't. The ridge also makes it easier to grip the plug.
Those cables are actually very easy to make at home. If someone can't make one themselves, it's probably an extra reason to not use them, because they don't know what they're messing with.
I've made quite a few cables myself. For my HiFi gear. Instead of paying the ridiculous prices they ask for the nice ones. And we used to make them at my father's body shop when I was growing up also.
It is very easy to do. But not something one should play around with, unless they completely understand how, and why everything works the way it's supposed to. 120 volts at about 15 amps is no joke at all! ✌️
@@amb3cogspeaking of playing around with mains voltage you reminded me of when my father wired up a breaker blow switch. One side to live and one side to neutral - that's how switches work, right? 😂
I have high doubts they are illegal to own or use in the US, which is normally rather low on enforcing things like this and rather relies on... "natural selection"?
However:
- It probably cannot be sold commercially because of being not code compliant. It may be possible to get around that by labels like "novelty item, not intended for actual use", no idea.
- It cannot be sold as part of a house (in particular one being plugged in sure fails home inspection, although it is easily remediated by unplugging and throwing away that thing which the inspector will recommend or even do right on the spot).
- It can only be used if no backfeeding occurs. In other words, if mains are not entirely turned off at the breaker, it probably falls under reckless endangerment.
- Similarly such a cable being around while visitors or children, even your own, are in the home may be reckless endangerment (similar to having a loaded gun lie around in the open).
- Why even care about the law when this can easily outright kill you.
So, don't. Code demands a proper outside outlet + an interlock for a reason. If you must have this, e.g. to easier attach alligator clips to mains when needed - it makes sense to store it in a gun safe. And even for that purpose better alternatives exist.
I'm surprised you were able to order one. I assumed you just made it yourself, since making one would be trivial.
Chinese would make anything, if you offer them money.
Making one would be trivial but this cable was not make by some guy in thier shed. It was pretry clearly made in a factory, most likely in China.
There is a noticeable visual difference between moulded connectors fitted in a specialist factory and connectors that can be fitted in the field.
I'm much more concerned with the plethora of 15 amp extension cords on the market that are only rated to carry 12 amps without melting.
That's one way to test my grounds while working on a supposed dead powerline. I've heard of a few guys who were seriously injured from backfeed.
Imagine if reputable online stores sold fake items, like seeds to grow blue strawberries... oh wait, they already DO sell scam items on those sites...
Buyer beware.
Powering the house from an outlet can be done safely, depends on the installation (turning off the grid connection)
Arguably safely. Yes, in a pinch, you can isolate your house from the grid and power it. I'd say it's not really safe though, because one easy mistake can fry your generator (the risk of killing a line worker is greatly exaggerated). A transfer switch or breaker interlock makes it impossible to make that mistake.
Being honest though most would argue the interlocks are little more than a joke. A thin piece of metal between two breakers and you're literally back feeding on the same circuits as your household bus, and its to code. The absurd amount of videos highlighting backfeeding being so potentially dangerous is absurd. I do agree with your statement though.@@thewhitefalcon8539
If one didn't shut off the main house breaker before hooking this dangerous cable up, it would be likely to trip the breaker in the generator anyhow because it would probably throw the neighborhood's load onto the generator. So, a sustained backfeed is quite unlikely. It is safest and best -- and the only code compliant way -- to do this the right way anyhow, with a connector panel and a transfer switch and a special subpanel for the things you want the generator to keep going, like refrigerator and water pump.
5:44 - to be clear, you should not use them. However, this is code is actually for electricians and those who make electronics, not consumers. So this code doesn't say it is illegal to own/use, only to sell (or for an electrician to install) such devices - at least from my understanding.
In other words, the general public isn't expected to know electrical code, but anything they use is expected to follow it, which these do not.
Another note, do not cut cables open like this:
1) you are making more ends of the cable
2) if it isn't a death cable, you may have pushed a strand from one wire to another
Thank you. "Illegal" and "not legal to sell" are two very different things and it is dangerous to conflate the two. Much the same way "mandatory recall" gets misused by idiots who think it means the end user has to comply or else is breaking the law
right him cutting it in half like 'ok it's legal now!' like my guy someone could fix that in minutes
We have different plugs where I live but because power outages are so frequent here EVERYONE runs their generator on our version of the suicide cable. Most people are very good about switching off the main though, which is why it isn't an issue, but some idiot somewhere didn't get the memo and paid the price.
just dont touch the mettle and dont turn on the generator untill its all puged in and turn off the main if you have a plug like this you know to turn off ur main on you breaker
Made one to power my generator, to use exactly the way you say not to. My family's been doing this for years. The electric company even told us how, and where to get the parts to make this cord. The only thing they asked was that we turn off the main breaker to the house before connecting the generator to avoid the backfeeding. Never had a single problem in over two decades.
That's fine if you're the only one touching it. I'd still label both ends with permanent plastic warning tags.
Exactly, these commenters are drama queens over exaggerating a cord with a genuine purpose. We’ve used a male to male cord ourselves for generators whenever a storm rolls through.
The busses actually alternate on each row rather than having one side for each. This allows double pole breakers to supply 240v.
I made my own double male plug. You can buy all the hardware to make your own easily. I use it to run my camper.
why would you not use a 2$ cable to backfeed using your generator? just remember to close the main breaker before plugging in the generator
Indeed. Electroboom even did that with his inverter video
People can't be trusted to remember is the problem.
Actually, you would make sure to open the main breaker (that’s what it’s called when you turn the breaker handle to the off position)
4:45 The NEC only makes it illegal in the sense of wiring up a building/house incorrectly. It doesn't make the simple possession, or making one, illegal.
This is the correct comment.
@@harley_trader obviously.
It LITERALLY states that constructing a cable like this is illegal. Please edit your comment and stop perpetuating dangerous misinformation.
@Winsane What I said is factually accurate, while "suicide cords" are dangerous, and should never be used, they are not illegal to possess.
@@harley_trader You specifically included "or making one". Making one IS illegal in most US states, just as the video describes right around the timestamp you linked.
You are missing the legitimate use for these cables. They are the proper way to connect a 127 to 220, 220 to 127 transformer as it only have outlets.
Yep, I've made my own for powering the house through the dryer outlet.
Step 1 - Main Breaker Off
Step 2 - All Breakers Off including Dryer Breaker
Step 3 - Unplug Dryer and Plug cable in both ends.
Step 4 - Start Generator
Step 5 - Dryer Breaker On
Step 6 - Power on only essential breakers such as freezer, fridge, lights. No 220v breakers other than the dryer breaker is on. Just 15a circuits.
Coming off of Generator is the opposite.
Power off all breakers, including dryer breaker.
Stop Generator
Unplug Backfeed Cable and Plug in Dryer
Main Breaker On
Finally All Circuits one at a time
As long as you know what you are doing and know your main breaker works, this can be done safely.
I've had to use it once the 16 years I've been in this home. It's a 6kw Generator set that produces 220v. I can run enough lights, fridge and at least one of my two gas furnaces.
It won't run my AC or my electric dryer, hence they are the donor circuits to backfeed into the panel.
As long as the main is off, this is no danger to anyone.
But if you don't know what you are doing, yeah, don't do this.
That is the proper procedure.
It wouldn't be that difficult or expensive to install the proper equipment to make it foolproof.
@@dansanger5340I won't be in this home long enough to make that pay off. I"ve been here nearly 17 years. The kids are grown and out and we will soon downsize.
I would cost about as much as the generator to have it done. The outlet I use is on the opposite end of the home from the breaker.
I'm the only one who would do this. My wife wouldn't try to set it up.
So, in my home, this is foolproof.
Of course there are ways to "safely" use one of these cables, I mean you can use a grenade as a tennis ball if you don't take the ring out, but the takeaway is that you must assume everyone is dumb and will kill themselves in the presence of something that can kill them
@@servissop151that's why I'm the only one who knows where the cord is :)
This is one of the best videos you have ever posted.
Okay, but why do people make them?
As an Automation Engineer, I simply can buy two male plugs and assemble them together.
Have I done that? - Yes! But I wasn't paying attention when I had to create 20 cables which lead to that male-male cable. Without using it, I disassembled it and fixed it.
3:04 In America, 240 Volts are "twice as dangerous". In severe Russia, 230 Volts are running normally, and 380 Volts are between phases.
All good points, however I made one of these cables for my own purposes. Frankly, anyone can make these cables it's not rocket science. I bought heavy duty plugs from home depot and used some thick gauge wire to make it. Unlike your example with the generator and christmas lights - I used it for testing purposes only. I created the following two cables:
A - Male to Male three prong cable
B - Female to alligator clips.
I designed it this way so that:
1. My part B can be used to power something via the alligator clips while plugged into part A. That's Wall-power/M/M/F/Alligator
2. My part B can be used to draw power from a live source and provide a female three prong connection (ungrounded). That's Bare-wire/Alligator/F
I use these to troubleshoot two-wire devices, such as lights primarily and sometimes transformers. Hence why ground doesn't matter because it won't be used regardless. The ground prong just helps with alignment of the blades so you don't have to think about polarity. The Alligator clips are so massive and beefy it's impossible for them to come into contact with one another.
So in my case, I will argue it does have a use, but no one irresponsible should be using it. This set of cables has come in clutch several times already, I keep it with the rest of my electrical testing stuff. In other words none of this is supposed to be permanent fixture, it's for testing ONLY!
I've only ever seen one of these cables once in person.
I was working on an interactive show in a mall. Basically a super hero themed area for families to visit with a bunch of TVs, games and other interactive elements, all themed to a certain movie franchise. I was working there as a lighting technician, responsible for getting everything running again after it shut down for the pandemic.
While I was digging in the back through bins of random cables, I pulled one of these out of the bottom. Realizing what it was I proceeded to laugh for a few minutes while sending photos to m friends about the fact that someone had been stupid enough to actually build one. Chopped the end off and threw it in the trash.
Not sure what they were using it for, but that whole exhibit was a massive fire hazard anyways, with overloaded circuits everywhere, shoddy wiring and the guy before me had no idea what he was doing. I quit shortly afterwards, so never knew what happened to the place but before I did I recommended they needed to hire a certified electrician to go in there and rewire the whole place from scratch, otherwise they would immediately get shut down if an inspector saw it.
In my state, before ANY repair or maintenance on a line, electricians must short and ground all wires at the same time. This means that all the wires will be connected to each other, and each wire will also be connected to the ground by a second conductor (device). Plus, after this operation, the voltage on the conductors still has to be measured. Furthermore, normal voltage 230/400V is used, which has countless advantages (for example, we do not have "split" circuits). According to the decree, every house should have a circuit breaker near the electricity meter (the distribution company has fuses on the pole in front of it, and the circuit breaker behind the electricity meter is my property) and a main switch at the entrance to the house, only then other circuit breakers follow, so I can disconnect the house from the network without any problems in several places. I myself have such a cable that I made myself, I have it to connect the UPS to the house.
Nothing wrong with the cable. just dont be an idiot about it
What I'd also love to know is, why does it even exist? Does it have ANY applications for circuits?
This cable is perfect for my selective use scenario! I'm going to make one if I cannot buy one this week. Off-Grid Solar power is routed through an inverter to power my AC panel to all the outlets. Right now I've routed the "shore power" cord and outlet to the inverter feeding the main breaker. Now that I'm ready to add a backup generator to selectively charge the batteries and power the outlets, I need a quick, convenient, and economic way to switch between the inverter and generator, if there's no "sine wave" issues from anything connected to the outlets when using the generator to power them.
First of all, I live in an large RV trailer so it runs off a single plug-in cord by design. My batteries and 2,000 watt PSW inverter are near the heavy duty water heater AC outlet running to a dedicated breaker. I plan to put the "shore power" cord back outside and connect it to the generator. There's no reasonable way to hardwire into the 120v inverter for a connection and hardwiring into the RV's outlet would leave the male plug energized when "shore" powered. One, probably much better with two, of these from the female inverter outlet to the RV's plugged in with the main breaker turned off (going to the generator) for the majority of the time. Then when wanting/needing the generator, pull those "Satanic" cords out completely, setting them aside, and/or turn off the water heater breaker (if not needing that outlet). However, I could hard wire into the outlet and just turn off the water heater breaker to de-energize the male cable(s) going to the inverter outlet(s). However, I actually like the idea of the double safety and physical re-arrangement in case I forget to randomly switch the breaker off.
What do you think, have I found an actual real-world, safe use for this type of device? I think I'd be safer using one than not in my specific use and life-style.
By the way, my water heater runs off propane for the foreseeable future and will also be relocated soon, adding to the perfection of how everything adds up to getting or making one or two of these for selective energizing of my AC outlets more reasonable than anything else I can conservatively think of right now.
You can't do that without specialized equipment designed to store any excess power being generated in batteries and shut down the generator and/or solar inverter when the batteries are full, such as the Schneider Electric XW hybrid inverter charger.
@@phillipsusi1791 Plenty of things can be powered from zero-storage solar installations, even without batteries or inverters. I have a 330-volt DC, 10-series solar array that will power nearly any switching power supply set on the "230V" input mode. Battery chargers, computers, and any DC-tolerant load that draws less than the array can supply will run perfectly. Excess power not utilized by the load just becomes heat in the solar cells, in the same way it would if the panels were just laying out with nothing connected.
@@DielectricVideos Sure, you can do without batteries if you 1) don't want to be also connected to the grid and 2) just waste the excess power the panels can generate but that you aren't using right now. The OP wanted to be able to be connected to the grid, and use a backup generator when the solar wasn't enough and the grid was down.
I would advise using duct tape flags and a Sharpie to make signs on both ends saying "DO NOT TOUCH - THIS CABLE WILL KILL YOU" to ensure that it does not get misused by someone else
Been using to power up the bus rail for many years when testing power in foreclosures, but I'm also an electrician and do it properly so as not to back feed beyond the house...Not at all saying people should do this, but it can safely be done with proper protocol...
Years ago I made up one of these when Hydro shut off my Ex's power for not paying her bill. She lived in a duplex which had exterior outlets at the rear so I plugged one end into the neighbours and the other into hers. The lights did come on but they were really dim, possibly because the hot water tank was still in circuit and drawing most of the power.
We use cables like these operating tow ski lifts. They run in the path of the lift cable and if someone or something accidentally approaches the top or bottom of the lift at the return wheel they'll pull the male-male cable out and trips the circuit and stops the lift to prevent problems.
There is no law that makes having a cable like that illegal.
It can't be sold because it's a non-compliant product. Any ban on its use is directly related to running your house off of it when you need a transfer switch to protect lineworkers.
Yeah it would be a ban on what you actually do with the cord.
In theory a back-fed generator to the grid connexion will energise the local section of grid to dangerous voltages, but I would suspect in practice what would happen is that you would simply overload your generator, best case tripping the AC breaker. Worst case popping the whole genny!
Think about it. If you forget to turn off your main supply isolator the power will flow onto the grid and attempt to run all your neighbour's loads as well. And if if it hits a transformer backwards, that secondary winding, which is now operating as the primary is going to pull one hell of a magnetising current. Effectively you're running your genny's output into something close to a dead short.
Should have just sent it to Electroboom when you were done with it :)
yup fr lol
Mehdi will love it.
You can just make one pretty easily, no need to ship it anywhere
It’s not illegal, big energy just doesn’t want you back feeding a generator into your house cause they can’t charge you
"Destroying"
Then theres someone getting it out your bin and soldering the wires back together lol
Great video. Just so you know, the two phases on an american electrical panel is not actually split left and right, its actually split in rows up and down and it changes every row. This is why those two pole breakers that take up two vertical slots are actually getting power from each phase.
Plugging this cable into a generator and then into a random outlet in your house will only liven up one phase of your house, unless that random outlet happens to be 240v which is very rare and for special ACs or other machinery. It will still bring that power to the street unless you have the main power disconnect switch shut off. Since it only would liven up one phase, only half of your breakers would work. Any two pole breakers that only get one phase live could potentially mess up your machines, such as an oven or dryer.
Just to be specific, literally in the text that you showed on screen, near the bottom... Who does that Texas law apply to? Essentially electricians, appliance installers, etc etc but not homeowners.
It's perfectly legal for me to own that. It's perfectly legal for me to possess it. And it's perfectly legal for me to use it in a really unsafe way in the house as long as I'm not backfeeding to the power grid.
So it's not illegal for them to sell it It's not illegal for people to use it. It's dumb. It violates that third party code there that the state adopted to be applied to electricians but if you look at how it applied it doesn't apply to everyone. It's not law.
Precisely. Thank you for detailing it.
Perfectly legal is not necessary how I'd phrase it. The state is limited to what's happening at your house unless it harms other people/community. If it wasn't, we'd have seen NEC applied to repairs performed by owners.
@@privettoli So based off what you literally just said, it's not law. It doesn't apply to homeowners. And you're basically liable for damage you do just like anything else in this world.
One thing I also see this useful is maybe you have to power something in a flat that is currently vacant, thus doest not have an electricity contract active, and this thing is hardwired (e.g. a gas boiler because you have to service it before the new tennant comes in), and you make one of these cords to power a socket circuit from a communal service. But yes, not a great solution, would be better to make a temporary connection at the main electric panel with a cord with a plug on the other side.
I've seen time to time this cable made a lot of times tough, most of the time for uses that were really stupid (e.g. a homemade electric appliance that for convenience of having a removable cord used a standard socket to feed power into it, instead of the correct solution that is an IEC socket. But you know, who built it probably had an old socket laying around and did that).
That is a fire hazard because it bypasses the breaker
PA leaves building code enforcement up to local municipalities - so it's even trickier to know how the law is going to be applied on these things here.
Anyways, you can buy and sell the cable - even use it if whatever you are using it with is not permenantly incorporated into a building in any way. You can even intend to use it, as long as you haven't yet you won't be arrested for one of those thought crimes the state and federal government enjoys throwing at people.
Exactly. Not to code doesn’t mean illegal.
Yes, this video is ridiculous.
The vast majority of the US uses the NEC within 3 or so revisions - even down to municipalities like FL. PA is under NEC 2017 for new construction. Like with most wiring issues in a construction, the result of getting caught it generally not that you are arrested, but that you will not be able to get insurance or sell the property. If a licensed electrician runs into one of these issues, there is an obligation to remedy the situation by bringing it up to code, or to not touch any wiring at all. Obviously, if you do your own wiring, you can burn your house down whenever you want - as long as you don't care about insurance.
I've heard these referred to in the UK as a 'widowmaker' cable and that's coming from a country that has switched sockets so you could have such a thing plugged in and *not* live. Unlike the US where switched receptacles are either very rare or non-existent.
I made something like this with two different standards (EU/chinese) BUT only the ground (earth) was connected inside; the goal was of course to transmit the ground from a chinese outlet to EU power strips. It looked extremely sketchy but was in fact safer to have.
That should be safe enough
While working at an electronics factory years ago, I came across a power plug to male IEC C14 socket in the cables bin (this is the connector used on servers, laptop power supplies, & desktops. Although the prongs were recessed, it could still be fatal for anyone who accidentally touched it if it was plugged in. The lab techs didn't know what it was used for, and so I had it destroyed (the plug head & sockets were tested & reused as spares)
meanwhille in India sometimes we do not even have plugs, we just shove the wire into wall socket and push it with a matchstick😂😂
@@CSAbhiOnline
Sounds like India alright but I don't know if that's something to be boasting about tho.
They still aren't illegal in the sense you're implying. There's no jail time or fine for having/using one. It's "illegal" in electrical code, you'll fail inspection for using one. So yes they are "illegal" but only if you are a state-licensed electrical contractor.
imagine thinking all law is about criminal law lmao so stupid
I use them with portable power stations with short on / off extension cables to add another layer of safety and with the power stations ac outlets off. *shrugs*
"Educational purposes only". Yeah right!
You labeled the busses in the breaker panel wrong. They alternate as you go down the panel, not by sides.
Very well said for a non licensed electrician. You must have a relative in the trade
For my hurricane ready home in Fl. I have moved away from generators and use battery inverters inside. Same results only safer and easier to strategically employ during a storm, plus nobody can steal them like during the year of hurricanes (2004-2005) thieves would steal gas too!
Of course do not buy! You can easily make this yourself.
With a generator you are supposed to have a cutoff/change switch that separates the house/line power from the generator power. This so that you can't operate line electricity with generator electricity at the same time. Not too expensive to implement this switch and in most places its probably code.
And to those who scream, "It's not the volts that kill you, it's the amps!". That is an urban myth and dangerously misleading. Voltage dictate how many amps are ABLE to flow through your body.