ACE Hardware Is Tired Of People Asking For Double Ended Male Adapters
At the risk of allowing this post to devolve into a discussion about the morality of "double ended male" products in general — we thought we'd share this photo of a sign spotted in the window of an ACE Hardware store.
It reads:
Double ended male "adapters" are illegal, dangerous, a fire hazard, and possible [sic] immoral.
If you have need of this "adapter" you have hung a string of lights backwards.
Reader Ben, who spotted the sign says:
I didn't realize that using the wrong adapter is "possible immoral." If the sign creator thinks those adapters are sinful, I'd hate to hear what he or she thinks of a Jenna Jameson movie.
We don't have anything to say about the morality of these "adapters," but we are having fun picturing the number of times this product was requested before the manager finally threw a fit and made this sign.
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Comments:
That right there is funny...
Maybe it's for a scavenger hunt, and the next item on the list is "10 yards of shoreline."
Maybe he was refering to Landlords who are screwing around with electrical wiring in houses and put their tenants at risk?
"Is is a male plug honey?" ..."And what a male plug it is!"
Well, I guess being lazy enough that you refuse to restring christmas lights, use one of these and start a fire could be "immoral." (more likely that it's the lame gay joke, though)
I assume he's talking about Christmas lights that string together, but honestly the sign is right. A male to male electric adapter does not exist because it would be a major safety hazard. Once you've plugged this into an outlet you have charged copper just sitting there in your home and you could seriously hurt yourself... I have to agree that while the device is not immoral, selling it to a consumer would be. It's basically like telling a child to put a fork into an electric socket.
@discounteggroll: Dude, God made Adam and Eve, not Adam, two poorly-strung Christmas light runs and Steve.
How will robots be able to recreate the orgy scene from "Requiem For A Dream" without those plugs?
Now I've hung my Xmas lights backwards a time or two, but I've never been so lazy as to go to the store to buy some made up product rather than just take them down and reverse 'em.
Must be the same people who leave their lights up all year round.
A local hardware store around me has similar signage, but they also have a physical example of their "no-no" plug.
Is being hung like a string of lights a good thing or a bad thing?
@KyleOrton: I learned hardware from Willie Wilson. It ain't natural! You can't make no connection with no screw and another screw.
You would have to be a real ass-can to do this with your xmas lights. First, it is easy enough to make a double ended adaptor with a 3 inch length of chord and two male adaptors. Second, if you did this, you'd leave a live end hanging off the end of the final string of lights. That would kill you.
Are these actually for sale anywhere? Is there any other use for these besides Xmas lights screw-ups?
@sleze69: I don't think they're actually for sale, or that (m)any people actually request them. Methinks it's just a store having a bit of a sense of christmas humor
@Valhawk: WTF, anyways stupid people don't realize that the correct way to hang Christmas lights is to go male to female over and over again and they hang them backwards so they're left with two ends that don't connect so they go and pester people in hardware stores about it.
Here's a diagram. + = male end - = female end | = socket
It should go |+========-+=========-+======-
They do this |+=======- -==========+ and ask for a double male adapter to connect the two cords.
@sleze69: Yes, but if I told you, it's straight to robot hell for ya. I hear Bender is pretty cool, tho.
As someone who has worked in a hardware store around Chistmas, people have no idea how many times this comes up, it makes me crazy.
No, not with Christmas lights....with Generators when the power goes out.
You can use this king of plug to connect your generator to a house outlet and flow power to a number of electrical units. It is EXTREMELY important to shut off the connection to the outside main before doing this, and that is where a serious danger exists. If you don't disconnect the main, power can flow out onto the line a electrocute someone trying to work on it.
Very dangerous and I don't blame hardware stores for refusing to sell them. Better to have an electrician wire everything up correctly (there are switches that can be installed to prevent any danger).
What would happen if you connected one of these theoretical devices to an extension cord and plugged both ends into outlets?
@Valhawk: I concur. I used to work the electricla section at Home Depot and people would ask for this non-stop. Not just at christmas, either. I'd just tell them, "It doesn't matter what you're doing, somethings wrong!" to which they'd reply, "I bet they sell them at Lowes!"
Definitely immoral to sell it.
@The_Vector: Huh? People seriously contemplate plugging a generator directly into an unfused wall socket?
I've done a fair amount of electrical work in my day, and have never even contemplated such a thing. I'm also not a fan of being the subject of a Darwin Award someday.
As an engineer I can say a device such as this would never be approved for use by the general public. It would have to be tested by UL (Underwriters Laboratories) to be sold at most if not all retail outlets and UL would never approve it due to the safety and liability concerns mentioned.
@nytmare: If you had the polarity correct, absolutely nothing. If you had it reversed, you'd probably get a nice blue flash followed by the circuit breaker in the mains panel blowing.
Hmmm... illegal, possibly immoral.... are they fattening as well?
@nytmare: Back into the same outlet (out of one and into the other)? Without any load in between, nothing. You're just making a closed loop. Add a device in between (such a set of lights) and then you would have a voltage divider.
@nytmare: If you got the polarity right, nothing... it would just create a parallel circuit. If you got the polarity wrong, you'd trip the breaker, blow the fuse, or burn through the smaller of the house wiring or the extension cord.
@Rectilinear Propagation: Rent the movie. It's one of Jennifer Connoly's scenes. It's not quite an orgy, but it's an example of what some people will do for their drugs.
They call it a suicide plug for a reason and as noted above they are most commonly used for back feeding power from a generator into your home service panel. I have seen this done between receptacles to do things like power a shed with an extension cord instead of wiring everything correctly. It's a very dangerous shortcut to say the least.
Embarrassing confession time: I went into a Radio Shack on Saturday looking for a male to male adapter. My bf said he needed it so he could plug his iPod into his car. The guy just told me they were out of them, so I left with my dignity intact, at least.
@IrvCrapper: chord? I didn't know you could play music with Romex/BX. ;-)
and no, it wouldn't kill you...but it sure would tickle!
Possibly immoral as I can use it to steal power from the neighbor (hint hide the cord under the snow not like my neighbor did)
@mavrick67:
That's the thing that amazes me - unless you live next door to the hardware store I would think it would take longer to go there and buy an adapter. I would just fix my error.
@savvy9999: It's done all the time. When the power goes out, turn off the breaker to your furnace and plug your generator into a wall socket on the same circuit as your furnace blower. Then, fire up the generator and your furnace blower will work again. It works, but it's rather unsafe and rather easy to goof up. I'm not surprised that they don't like to sell them at the hardware store, but I am surprised to hear that they're illegal.
@nytmare: If you're lucky you just trip a breaker or blow a fuse. If you end up connecting the hot to the neutral, the consequences could be really nasty.
They probably justify "immoral" by the likelyhood that some innocent person (i.e. someone's child) might get a hold of a hot end on one of these and electrocute themselves.
And ACE is right. These are unnessesary and dangerous. Rehang your lights for chrissakes!
@Crabby Cakes wants some Dance Biscuits.: Well thats different.
I think thats how I explained the first one that I got to the guy at best buy. Short of being a silly way to explain it they know what you're talking about.
@nytmare: What would happen is the same thing that happens every time you cross the streams:
Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!
The second plug looks like some weird Escher drawing.
@tande04: You might also tell your bf that instead of a 3.5 to 3.5 adapter you can get a 3.5 to ipod dock adapter off amazon which cleans up the noise a bit. You also don't have to worry about having changing the volume on the iPod since its a dock adapter it always keeps a level sound which saves your ear drums when you put in the ear buds and forget to move the volume back down (which I've done many a time).
@kidnextdoor: You should probably consult your doctor about your condition. Especially if they start flashing.
@Crabby Cakes wants some Dance Biscuits.: Male-Male music adapters are different, and are fine. It's male-male outlet plugs that are dangerous.
Jenna Jameson comment, For The Funn-ay Win
I don't get it...