[Milsurplus] Definition

[David I. Emery]

On Sun, Jan 02, 2022 at 05:00:10PM -0600, Ron.K3PID wrote:
> My Dad always referred to the "cheater cord" as a suicide cord. He labeled it the most dangerous troubleshooting tool available presumably because when plugged into an outlet the clips were "hot"! Another key teaching he had was when probing a live circuit, keep one hand in your pocket and both eyes on the other hand....
> 
> Do you suppose OHSA knows about cheater cords?

	In my day (and it dates me indeed) a cheater cord was the
detached cord you plugged into the socket on the TV chassis after you
removed the fiberboard back cover which had a line cord attached to it. 
The idea here was that someone who removed the back cover and could contact
the very lethal high voltages (not just the CRT high voltage but the
high voltage B+) would not be able to turn the TV on.

	And a suicide cord was a cord with two male ends you might use
to (IMPROPERLY) interconnect an outlet on a generator to a wall socket
so you could power stuff on the circuit the wall outlet was on.

	Of course you either HAD to pull the main breaker FIRST !!!
or the branch circuit breaker... and double and triple check this
had really be done correctly.


	NEVER NEVER NEVER power the wiring in a building during a power
failure without pulling the main breaker - this can result in lethal
voltages on downed wires or even transformer primaries that can kill
electrical workers working on repairing the power lines...




-- 
  Dave Emery N1PRE/AE, die at dieconsulting.com  DIE Consulting, Weston, Mass 02493
"An empty zombie mind with a forlorn barely readable weatherbeaten
'For Rent' sign still vainly flapping outside on the weed encrusted pole - in 
celebration of what could have been, but wasn't and is not to be now either."