Male - Male extension leads

[greggn]

possible improvements.

Rather than hard-wiring the input/service side, consider using the same female socket as on the element side. That way you're not locked-in to a fixed length and your setup can be more flexible.

[greggn]

Female-Female connectors on the Box. ... someone said it's bad luck if your input has an inny.

This is the first I've heard of such a concern. Was that "someone" here and, if so, can you link to that discussion ?

[jonnys_spirit]

Female-Female connectors on the Box. ... someone said it's bad luck if your input has an inny.

This is the first I've heard of such a concern. Was that "someone" here and, if so, can you link to that discussion ?

You want any connector with power on it to be female just for safety. If male pins have power there's more of a chance to accidentally get shocked or worse...

Cheers,
jonny

[Yummyrum]

Female-Female connectors on the Box. ... someone said it's bad luck if your input has an inny.

This is the first I've heard of such a concern. Was that "someone" here and, if so, can you link to that discussion ?

You want any connector with power on it to be female just for safety. If male pins have power there's more of a chance to accidentally get shocked or worse...

Cheers,
jonny

Damn right it’s dangerous .
It’s stupid shit like that which makes DIY electrical illegal .

[tiramisu]

Female-Female connectors on the Box. ... someone said it's bad luck if your input has an inny.

This is the first I've heard of such a concern. Was that "someone" here and, if so, can you link to that discussion ?

https://www.consumerreports.org/home-ga ... 776980260/

[greggn]

Female-Female connectors on the Box. ... someone said it's bad luck if your input has an inny.

This is the first I've heard of such a concern. Was that "someone" here and, if so, can you link to that discussion ?

https://www.consumerreports.org/home-ga ... 776980260/

The Consumer Reports concern is regarding their use with home generators ...

The extension cords have three-pronged plugs on each end and are generally used to “back-feed” electricity to a residence during an outage by connecting a portable gas-powered generator to an outlet in the home.

[Yummyrum]

Rather than hard-wiring the input/service side, consider using the same female socket as on the element side.

Concider what happens when that male plug gets pulled out and your child picks it up and plays with it .

Concider what happens to your child when they accidentally drop a metal object on those pins and the metal creates an arc and showers them in molten metal.

[greggn]

Rather than hard-wiring the input/service side, consider using the same female socket as on the element side.

Concider what happens when that male plug gets pulled out and your child picks it up and plays with it .

Concider what happens to your child when they accidentally drop a metal object on those pins and the metal creates an arc and showers them in molten metal.

Valid points.

In my case, I tear down my rig after each run ... including the power controller. My personal process is to always disconnect the power from the source, before beginning that tear-down.

That and my son is 28 and left home years ago.

Alternately, placing the male connector in the power controller would eliminate the risk of exposed pins on the supply-side cable. That would also eliminate the possibility of swapping input and output cabling during set-up.

[The Baker]

greggn said, connecting a portable gas-powered generator to an outlet in the home.
Took me a few minutes to work this out.

Where we live anything gas powered uses actual gas. Butane, say, or propane.
And a generator powered by that would be unusual to say the least.

But I guess you live in USA (can't see your message as I type, for your location).
So gas to you would be short for gasoline, which we call petrol.

Geoff

[jonnys_spirit]

The extension cords have three-pronged plugs on each end and are generally used to “back-feed” electricity to a residence during an outage by connecting a portable gas-powered generator to an outlet in the home.

This is particularly dangerous for the electrician folks working on the poles/lines because the house then back-feeds to the step-up transformer which then places high voltage on the lines the they are repairing and should expect to have no voltage present.

Male to male extension cords are very dangerous for many reasons. Be safe please!

Cheers,
jonny

[6 Row Joe]

The extension cords have three-pronged plugs on each end and are generally used to “back-feed” electricity to a residence during an outage by connecting a portable gas-powered generator to an outlet in the home.

This is particularly dangerous for the electrician folks working on the poles/lines because the house then back-feeds to the step-up transformer which then places high voltage on the lines the they are repairing and should expect to have no voltage present.

Male to male extension cords are very dangerous for many reasons. Be safe please!

Cheers,
jonny

True that. Not to get off track here but you should never feed electricity into your home without a proper disconnect from the grid.

[greggn]

The extension cords have three-pronged plugs on each end and are generally used to “back-feed” electricity to a residence during an outage by connecting a portable gas-powered generator to an outlet in the home.

This is particularly dangerous for the electrician folks working on the poles/lines because the house then back-feeds to the step-up transformer which then places high voltage on the lines the they are repairing and should expect to have no voltage present.

Male to male extension cords are very dangerous for many reasons. Be safe please!

Cheers,
jonny

Just to be clear, that "quote" about back-feeding was from the link to Consumer Reports that was provided by tiramisu. The danger in the practice cited is why those extension cords are being pulled from sale by Amazon. That is not a practice I'm suggesting. Me, I have a proper manual transfer switch.

[tiramisu]

I think the important point here is that this is a great way to kill yourself.
220 amp, two little live prongs with liquids and alcohol.

You can be certain at some point you are going to electrocute yourself.
The question is only when.

[Wildcats]

+1 I can't imagine anything good happening with one of these cords.

[Salt Must Flow]

My controllers ALWAYS have a male plug for 'power in'. My controller's 'power out' is ALWAYS female. Receptacles should always be female.

All of my elements have a pigtail cord with a male plug for 'power in'. Some Dernord elements have male plugs protruding from them. Personally I'd like some plug protectors if I owned elements like that.

If you want an extension cord between the receptacle and the controller or from the controller to the element then you just need to make a proper extension cord. Male on one end and female on the other.

[tombombadil]

Male extension?
I've heard commercials for pills for that...

[shadylane]

Male - Male Extension leads should be avoided.
Just a thought.

If you miss wire a table saw and someone gets hurt it a tragedy.
When distilling, If you miss wire something and someone gets hurt, it's a felony.
Stay safe my friend.

[NZChris]

A mate of mine did this. He damned near killed himself the first time he used it, which was only a few minutes after he wired it.

[harold01]

Sounds like the only time your mate was really bright was when his great idea lit him up

[EricTheRed]

quite frankly, this is a stupid thing to do.
And i don't really care for those that have their excuses (they call it a reason) - it is just plain f'n stupid.

You are playing with a flammable liquid and vapour, with enough voltage and amperage to create wonderful sparks which make for nice fires and booms

I think this practice needs to go into the rules we live by, as in, don't do it.
It isn't safe and there is absolutely no reason on earth (or moon or mars) to do such a dangerous thing.

[Yummyrum]

Alternately, placing the male connector in the power controller would eliminate the risk of exposed pins on the supply-side cable. That would also eliminate the possibility of swapping input and output cabling during set-up.

Absolutely greggn

I’m pleased you figured that out . That is the correct approach .
The input connector elbono linked to in this post is the way to go . viewtopic.php?p=7760575#p7760575

Incidentally , I did not split this topic to make you personally look bad , but rather to highlight a serious potential hazard. ( and it was derailing tiramisu’s topic )
If one person is doing it ,then it’s very likely many more are too .So in a way , Thankyou for bringing this to the table as it potentially could save lives .

[greggn]

Incidentally , I did not split this topic to make you personally look bad , but rather to highlight a serious potential hazard.

To quote my favorite Demotivational poster ...

[Black Bull]

A mate of mine did this. He damned near killed himself the first time he used it, which was only a few minutes after he wired it.

Sad to say, but I've done this
Rental house with no way to properly hook up a generator, we had flooding and power was gunna be out for days
Quickly made up said dodgy lead hooked it up and away we went.
Problem was that we had 3 phase supply to the house, and the kitchen was on a different phase.
Popped back down to shed to swap phases, pulled out the plug and gave myself a damned good zap.
Thank god there was a RCD on the genset

Needless to say, my new house has a proper input and a changeover switch

[Steve Broady]

My controllers ALWAYS have a male plug for 'power in'. My controller's 'power out' is ALWAYS female. Receptacles should always be female.

Same here. If you have the skill to build a controller and wire it yourself, then you have the skill to do it correctly. If you have the skill to use this forum, then you have the skill to research the correct parts and how to use them. If you have the skill to run a still, then you have the skill to do so safely.

I don’t see that there’s any excuse not to, outside of a post-apocalyptic world where you use what you can get your hands on. But we don’t live in that world, and I hope we never do.