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Amateur is right – How did they even get those keys in the socket without electrocuting themselves?
they probbably didn’t – lol
Wow – I vote this most likely to cause a Darwin Award!
Excellent electrical work! 10 for creativity, 0 for safety!
@BioRocks
But hey, they even cared with that bit of plastic between the keys! Who needs more safety than that?
No surprise that there’s an Ing-er-land football (soccer) keyring attached to the whole sorry mess…
Oi! Oi1 Oi!
HONEYY.. Where are my keys..?
Never mind found them
I don’t get it?
I would just love to know what electrical appliance was so critical, that life and limb was risked to plug it in?
Given the old “Granada” logo (mostly used on TVs in the 70s and 80s for non – British fans) the 3 lions keyring (soccer supporter) I am going for some dodgy foreign satelite box.
Any other suggestions?
England football team keyring, natch.
I just want to know who got the job of jamming the keys into the outlet.
“Hey Dave! I can make it work! I just need you to stick these in the outlet!”
Sheesh. Fitting a UK plug is THE most basic of household DIY jobs, but it’s still too much for some, I guess.
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my guess its a shaver or personal applicance, going by the american plug
uk normally has standard uk plus for most large electrical appliances
Does that even work?
Why does it say this page has 12 comments, when I only see 3?
Agree strongly with BioRocks: Pretty brilliant that the entire solution to the problem was accomplished with one item- a set of keys. The icing on the cake was using the plastic keyfob as an insulator to keep the two sides from touching. However, I also agree with Billy- this would be a lot more brilliant if it were used, say, on Apollo 13 to get back to Earth rather than to watch a soccer game on the telly.
It’d be even funnier to find out it’s an extension cord.
Good work. But once again, What was so important that they risked electrocuting themselves to plug it in?
@mew4ever23
a computer, obviously, so they can come to thereifixedit.com! duh!
if i saw this in someones house i would run for my life. actually it looks like something that i would try.
@TheCat: I don’t know. Let me just plug this light in and… BRRZZZZTT!!!
What happened to idiot-proofing? Oh, right, the idiots bypassed it.
Candidate for the Darwin Awards?
They had to put the keys somewhere so they would be able to find ‘em, right?
reminds me of when i convinced my little brother that if he stuck a knife into the socket, candy would come out of it.
Alright, alright it’s me. I desperately needed to plug in my computer so I could dial up //thereifixedit.com
Bt the way, when is the next support group meeting for thereifixedit-oholics? Dono, will you be my sponsor?
Badgirl: Of course. And now a word from your sponsor…
This makes Ben Franklin’s experiments look like childsplay.
such an idiotic stuff!! should not take even for fun.. very unsafe thing.. I hate this entry.
Note that this is an American plug being connected to a British socket. The keys serve as drop-down transformers from 220v to 110v !
I facepalmed, this is just wrong on so many levels. Not least the fact it WON’T ACTUALLY WORK. Without a third peg in the top hole the built-in insulation within the wall mounting itself will remain closed, thus no power.
@Neil
Those outlets have a visible dedicated switch next to each of them, allowing you to turn off that outlet. So it would be easy to insert the keys without getting shocked while the switch was turned off.
The 240VAC vs 120VAC difference is another issue that would come into play, but presumably the appliance being plugged in is dual voltage capable.
It’s not that bad. UK plugs have that handy little switch so you can turn off the power while sticking metal objects into the receptacles!
There is no little risk of getting electrocuted if you do it right. There is a switch for each outlet so you switch in ON AFTER you get the whole rig set and turn it OFF BEFORE adjusting or removing it
Shocking!
But wait … they forgot to connect the ground. Isn’t that a but unsafe?
(bit)
If the device only has two prongs, then you can’t connect to ground.
Hahahaha! Only in EngER-Land
If that’s a US plug, it’s the screwiest looking US plug I’ve ever seen. Some retro 70s thing?
@Lord Squish, the protective shutters in these sockets typically just prevent you from poking anything into the two bottom holes, they don’t shut off the power supply to the pins. Clearly they have bypassed this protection, probably by poking a screwdriver into the earth pin while inserting the keys.
Is it bad that I just can’t see any problem with this? It seems like a perfectly good solution to the problem to me. It must have been done by somebody who knew enough about British sockets to shift the earth safety out of the way so that they could get the keys into the socket, they must have known enough to put both keys in at once and they have quite effectively insulated the whole thing. If the US plug comes detached it will fail safe(ish) as far as shorting goes since both the rings will swing away from one another.
Having said all that, the socket seems to be missing both of its wall connecting screws so they may as well have just pulled it out a bit and wired it directly into the back.
@Michael Z. Williamson
Yeah, I don’t think that is an American plug. I’m an electrician’s helper (American) and it looks quite unfamiliar to me. Usually the flat pins are parallel to direction of the cord not perpendicular. Let’s blame some other country for once.
it looks like a german power cord, stuck to a us converter (need holes in the prong for keyring) and THEN rigged to a UK outlet. But the US converter would step up the voltage..?
If it works, its pretty genius as far as im concerned
@Michael
Agreed. If done right, and keep people away, this is perfectly acceptable, albeit ugly and scary looking. I hope those keys are jammed in there well.
also european (round) plugs can be plugged straight into the the two power holes on UK sockets once you use a screwdriver to bypass the earth pin activated protection.
OK granted, I know that over here, in good Olde Worlde England we do have have the switches to supposedly isolate the socket, but does anyone else in the UK actually trust them? Especially if it looks like the the socket itself has been tampered with?
this is a standard converter. use all the time
“Nothing is idiot proof to a sufficiently motivated idiot” says it all I believe.
For those who don’t get the whole picture…. That is a standard British wall outlet; 220V, and the power slots are covered until the longer ground plug is inserted. Obviously someone knew enough to insert something in the ground long enough to get the keys in. The switch that allows the keys to be inserted safely is clearly visible. The next item with the translucent case is a voltage converter with a standard USA style plug. We can assume that the black item plugged into it also has a standard USA style plug. So the whole kluge with the keys is to get around the fact that the voltage converter was missing the adapter to let it fit the outlet.
As a side point for those living in the USA, in the past at least (not sure about today) small appliances in the UK came without plugs on the end of the cords. Yes, seriously, no plug. That is why everyone in the UK knows how to wire a plug! I recall an advertising poster in the London Underground (or maybe just a train station) proudly proclaiming that THIS brand of toaster CAME WITH A PLUG already attached. My own explanation for this situation, just a guess, was that there was more than one style of electrical outlet. The house I was living in had a mist of new (as in the picture) and old (two round holes) at any rate.
I don’t suppose they used rubber gloves…
The one time it’s okay to pull by the cord…
I think the person who did that remembers this public information film from the 1970′s
Whilst it highlights the dangers it also shows you how to open the slots so you can get the wires in!
Banzai!!!
I hope your life was good
Apparently Chuck Norris was stuck in the UK with only a set of keys and an electric razor from the US. Damn right he made it work….
the strange thing is. . . it works!
let’s hope you don’t turn it on (turns on) BOOM!
@Neil
im assuming they turned off the breaker first…
funny
very funny
@RH in CT
No, everything comes with a moulded plug nowadays. Typical Eurocrats, sticking their noses in, trying to stop us killing ourselves. I mean, it’s not like anyone’s stupid enough to… oh.
I have a question nobody’s raised yet: doesn’t England use 50Hz power, and wouldn’t that be a problem for most appliances with US plugs? (Other than incandescent lamps and similar plain resistive loads, of course.)
Hey, I’ve actually done this!
I’ve traveled a lot and there’s always the issue of charging my camera’s battery!
I didn’t use keys, though, just a couple paperclips. You don’t really have to turn off the breaker if you’re careful and you do it in the right order. (Attach paperclips to plug, then position plug so that wires go in socket.
I’ve also done it with just a couple strips of insulated wire, which is even easier: You wrap the exposed end of the wire around your prong, and then just stick the other exposed end into the socket.
@Jonadab:
Something an AC electric motor might have problems, but most other appliances (pretty much anything you would be able to take with you to another country work with 50-60hz)
Normally, someone desperate enough to do this is probably plugging in a battery charger or a laptop. These are usually pretty nonrestrictive as far as what voltage and AC frequency you can feed them. If you look at all the little writing on the adaptor, usually they say something like 110-240 VAC, 50-60 HZ.
this just seems ott…. if the stuck a key in the earth hole to open the shutters on phase and neutral then the yankie plug would fit in fine with a small amount of persuasion
whom keys are that? and does he know that?
At least they always know where their keys are. NO way can they lose them like that.
I used to play that prank on my roommates.
Temae: You mean MacGuyver?
I’ve seen that in Iraq. XD
It looks like one 220V 50Hz plug type going to a UK 220V 50Hz outlet.
wouldnt voltage screw everything up
and as a joke, someone rmoved the devider
That ought to help the gene pool out a little bit.
@Neil
They put them in before they switched it on.
@Neil
easy, uk sovkets have an on off switch on them!
This fills me with fear.
wouldn’t it be easier to go in the corner and play with knives?
By the way, that key ring bears the University of Cambridge logo… That telle us, someone really smart must have been at work here!
@Neil
detaching the fuse! dude come on…
@Jonadab
while it may cause some problems in sophisticated electronic devices most appliances will function normally. there are a few old alarm clocks still running around that ‘tell time’ using the frequency of the a.c. to determine the length of a second and they will run 16.66% slow. but most modern clocks use quartz and so will be fine. your razor, hair dryer, chargers, etc. will all be o.k.
i done learnt that stuff in skool.
@foomooboo
… that key ring bears the University of Cambridge logo.
Erm, not that I can see. All I can see is the English FA (Football Association to our brothers across the water
) logo.
Ok, scary enough… the switch is ON! (for US readers: British switches are always down=on).
The earth (ground) pin of a UK plug is enough to open the built-in shutters if you push it in upside down… don’t ask me why I know that *veg*
Good point about the electronic stepdown transformer! As these work with a real high (kilohertz range) frequency internally, it might very well convert the output to 60 Hz. However, today you don’t get that many things that depend on frequency any more. Synchronous motors like on old record players maybe. And some cheaply made 60Hz transformers might run hot on 50Hz (the lower the frequency the heavier a traditional iron core transformer needs to be built due to physical reasons).
Umm, “sophisticated” electronic devices such as TVs, computers, cellphone chargers all use switched-mode power supplies that internally run off high-voltage DC. If you look into a power supply of say a PC, you will find that the incoming line voltage is rectified first, to produce DC voltage, which then is chopped, goes through a transfomer running in 25kHz up to 1MHz frequency range (depends on design/application), and the final low voltage is again filtered, rectified, regulated and made available to the guts of the device.
Heck, those power supplies will run just fine if you feed them from say 150V DC. A friend of mine didn’t believe me, so we went to a store back in Poland, got a approx 120 AA (R6) batteries, connected them all in series and the PC booted up just fine.
Some of those rectified switching supplies are designed so that they can take up to 400Hz AC, which is the aviation standard. On some jets you will see outlets marked “120VAC 400Hz”, last time I saw it somewhere on a Quantas jet.
Some spiffy so-called PFC power supplies (power factor correcting) use a clever rectifier (really a step-up converter) that makes the current follow the voltage as if it was a resistive load. This too will work just fine whether it’s fed with 50 or 60Hz. Most PFCs will happily take DC inputs.
@Jonadab
Yes, England uses 3 phase 50khz. It also uses 240v. The US uses 2 phase and 110v. This can only end in tears… and the mortuary.
That reminded me of trying to jam laptop cord in a lamb only socket ,in a hotel in Malaysia at 2 AM , I tripped the whole floor , when the electricians came , they where angry and said are you alone , I guess other guests where busy with ladies and I missed up their adventure, next day someone called at 12AM and asked if I wanted a woman . They wanted to keep me busy .
That plugtop logo is in fact Granada tv rentals.
Honey! Where are the room keys?
Funny thing is if they just switched the plug with the plug beside it they wouldn’t have HAD to do that in the first place.
@Kaon
Dunno where you got that idea from, but Switch-Mode Power supplies (SMPs) don’t work like that.
SMPs rectify the input then chop and (hopefully) smooth the output to produce an output with sufficiently low ripple.
There is nowhere inside an SMP that has a higher potential than the peak incoming voltage.
As previously mentioned, UK appliances used to be supplied without a plug. As a kid, I remember several instances in which my dad would simply bare the wires and place them over the holes. Using the earth pin of the plug of another appliance to open the shutters insert the wires into holes. Then, insert plug into socket alongside wires with enough brute force to compensate for the close fitting nature of plug and socket. Voila! added safety feature is that the plug holds the wires tight enough to prevent the wires working loose unlike the rank amateur with the matchsticks ( I remember laughing scornfully at that film )with the bonus of 2 connections for the price of one! Alternatively, just wire 2 cords into one plug although this approach admittedly requires a lesser degree of laziness. NB, my dad was an electrical engineer.
@Neil
Hey, There’s this thing called a circuit breaker.
Regarding the thing about appliances being sold without plugs in the UK, my parents moved into a place recently that has two electrical systems running through the house. One is a standard UK 3-pin, the other is 3-pin again, but uses round plugs with round pins about 1/3 of the size of a standard plug. We’ve no idea if there’s still a supply to the circuit, or where you’d find plugs to fit into it, but yeah, it must have been an alternative standard at some point. If anyone knows what it was I’d be interested.
The cool part is that the uneducated fear this, but those of us that know this is very simple and without risk, although I will say that if there are kids or otherwise (fill in your own at risk individuals here) this is a very bad idea. Personally I would have used insulated wires.
good way to prevent drunk driving:)
It took me a couple minutes of staring to figure out WTF I was looking at, and then, “OH DEAR GOD!!”