Difference between revisions of "2589: Outlet Denier"

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This is the fifth installment in the series of [[:Category:Cursed Connectors|Cursed Connectors]] and presents Cursed Connectors #78: The Outlet Denier. It follows [[2507: USV-C]] (#280), but more than half a year has passed since the last comic with one of these connectors.
 
This is the fifth installment in the series of [[:Category:Cursed Connectors|Cursed Connectors]] and presents Cursed Connectors #78: The Outlet Denier. It follows [[2507: USV-C]] (#280), but more than half a year has passed since the last comic with one of these connectors.
  
The Outlet Denier connector in this comic is the large one to the right. It has a plug on the downward side that is supposed to go into the {{w|power strip}} on the left. The power bar is of the type with a {{w|Light_switch#Rocker|rocker switch}} that can turn the entire power bar off. This power bar has five outlets. But no matter which of those five the outlets are chosen for the Outlet Denier, the bar will cover all the other four, hence the name, and also why it is cursed. Also there is a bar from the center towards right, and a D shaped bar to the left. If the power strips sockets where turned 90 degrees, those sections would probably block most of the other sockets as well.
+
The Outlet Denier connector in this comic is the large one to the right. It has a plug on the downward side that is supposed to go into the {{w|power strip}} on the left. The power bar is of the type with a {{w|Light_switch#Rocker|rocker switch}} that can turn the entire power bar off. This power bar has five outlets. But no matter which of those five the outlets are chosen for the Outlet Denier, the bar will cover all the other four, hence the name, and also why it is cursed. Also there is a bar from the center towards right, and a D shaped bar to the left. If the power strips sockets were turned 90 degrees, those sections would probably block most of the other sockets as well.
  
 
Many appliances require transformers or other large components on their power cord. Sometimes these "power bricks" are built around the plug, and these may block access to other sockets on a power strip or wall outlet. Other plugs are deliberately designed to block the other half of a duplex outlet, preventing users from plugging anything else in that could overload the circuit. The comic depicts an extreme case of a cumbersome connector shape designed to block an entire power strip. Worse, the extreme length could prevent it from being plugged into a wall outlet too close to the floor, forcing the user to use up a power strip for it.
 
Many appliances require transformers or other large components on their power cord. Sometimes these "power bricks" are built around the plug, and these may block access to other sockets on a power strip or wall outlet. Other plugs are deliberately designed to block the other half of a duplex outlet, preventing users from plugging anything else in that could overload the circuit. The comic depicts an extreme case of a cumbersome connector shape designed to block an entire power strip. Worse, the extreme length could prevent it from being plugged into a wall outlet too close to the floor, forcing the user to use up a power strip for it.

Revision as of 19:00, 6 March 2022

Outlet Denier
There are regularly placed bumps on the underside just the right size to press the rocker switch on the power strip.
Title text: There are regularly placed bumps on the underside just the right size to press the rocker switch on the power strip.

Explanation

Ambox notice.png This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a BIG CHUNGUS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.
If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

This is the fifth installment in the series of Cursed Connectors and presents Cursed Connectors #78: The Outlet Denier. It follows 2507: USV-C (#280), but more than half a year has passed since the last comic with one of these connectors.

The Outlet Denier connector in this comic is the large one to the right. It has a plug on the downward side that is supposed to go into the power strip on the left. The power bar is of the type with a rocker switch that can turn the entire power bar off. This power bar has five outlets. But no matter which of those five the outlets are chosen for the Outlet Denier, the bar will cover all the other four, hence the name, and also why it is cursed. Also there is a bar from the center towards right, and a D shaped bar to the left. If the power strips sockets were turned 90 degrees, those sections would probably block most of the other sockets as well.

Many appliances require transformers or other large components on their power cord. Sometimes these "power bricks" are built around the plug, and these may block access to other sockets on a power strip or wall outlet. Other plugs are deliberately designed to block the other half of a duplex outlet, preventing users from plugging anything else in that could overload the circuit. The comic depicts an extreme case of a cumbersome connector shape designed to block an entire power strip. Worse, the extreme length could prevent it from being plugged into a wall outlet too close to the floor, forcing the user to use up a power strip for it.

The title text says that the Outlet Denier has bumps on the underside of the long bar that would match up with the location of the rocker switch no matter which outlet of the strip it is plugged into. It's not clear whether this will turn the power switch off or force it always on. But either way, it gets in the way of the user being able to control the power themselves.

If it forces it off, then the Outlet Denier cannot even be used. So to at least assume someone might actually use it, it must force it on. Since there are nothing else that can go into the power strip, it is not that important it it is possible to switch it off though.

Transcript

Ambox notice.png This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.
[To the left is a power strip with a rocker switch at the top and five outlets. A wire goes from the top to the left. To the right is the connector that should go into one of the outlets. A curbed wire comes from the right into the end of the connector, which is a bit long and has the legs under neath where it ends. But instead of ending there, there is a bar orthogonal to the first part, which is at least four times as long as the normal part. And a D shaped bar going out from this long bar from one to the other side of the part with the legs. If it is plugged in, the long bar will cover all the other outlet of the power strip. Above is a title and below is a label.]
Cursed Connectors #78
The outlet denier


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Discussion

All you need is a US to UK adapter to block three outlets. It is why I bought a US to micky-mouse lead so as not to be greedy.


A missing i in "undersde" the title text While False (talk) 21:47, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

It's fixed now. I'm not sure what the policy is about updating here, I think we try to keep the original in a history page. Barmar (talk) 22:46, 4 March 2022 (UTC)
Try a Trivia? As last seen 2587:_For_the_Sake_of_Simplicity#Trivia, for reference.
(Hmmm, I wonder how many (noticed!) re-edits there are. Not all will be exactly so marked, but every Trivia section can be checked - when someone has time.) 172.70.86.64 02:46, 5 March 2022 (UTC)


The cursed connectors series is alive again! GcGYSF(asterisk)P(vertical line)e (talk) 06:05, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

Outlet deniers are a real thing that actually exists . For example, the Instant Pot air fryer attachment has one of these on its plug to discourage people from using it at the same time as the main pot (which would be bad). Photo here: https://www.adventurousway.com/images/i/fzjll58c5a77/1536w/gear-reviews/instant-pot-air-fryer-lid-review/air-fryer-lid-plug.webp

Came her to say this. But, it's also to keep anything from using the second outlet, as the air fryer lid is 1500W, and just about anything else would trip a breaker. -- Dtgriscom (talk) 18:25, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

Exept in Canada, our kitchen plugs get 15A for the top, and 15A more for the bottom. the two outlets are electrically separated from each other on the hot side, with each outlet getting a separate phase, share a neutral, and use a dual ganged breaker. EvilGeniusSkis (talk)

Separate phases? Households in the UK tend to get just one phase (semi-randomly?) from the power-grid. Very occasionally, a(n already occasional) power-cut will affect ~⅓ of the houses on a street when it's obviously a specific failure tripped at the neighbourhood transformer. Though questions by the people wanting to install SmartMeters suggests that it's possible for not just large businesses/community buildings to be tapped into multiphase supplies.
I wonder if this is due to 230V vs 110V 108.162.250.224!
I have a dedicated fuse-box slot that goes to the cooker wall-switch (it's actually gas, so just needs 'operating' power nothing current-hungry, but it would need more if I changed to all-electric) which also has a socket that I presume sits on the same circuit but may be more internally limited. You know, I haven't had to fiddle with that for around 20 years, so forgive me if I'm hazy. ;) 172.70.162.155 02:16, 8 March 2022 (UTC)


Any idea what the D shape might be? Is it to deny some specific shape of power connection I'm having trouble visualizing, or simply a handle (though I also have trouble visualizing the designers of this adding such a convenient feature). 172.70.135.78 23:32, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

It might be the way to block the other outlet on a wall plug. 172.70.114.253 00:01, 5 March 2022 (UTC)
Wouldn't the long bars on the top and bottom already do that? N-eh (talk) 01:12, 5 March 2022 (UTC)
I'm amused by the plug orientation. Over here, I'm used to 'horizontal spread' configuration, like this, with the occasional rare diagonally-skewed vertical assembly.
But the 'Denier' seems to be only marginally-denying (possibly the D-handle will be awkward, but not more than the straight edge is a basic trip-hazard or full preventer of using 'badly'-placed sockets because of the floor).
Of the three plugs currently in the 5-way I've got sitting flat on the bench next to me, one has the USB-charger-cable poking straight up (coaxial to the pins), one has the USB cable jutting out of the 'top' of the plug (towards me, as the strip has its Earth slots towards me) and the third is a standard pre-moulded plug (leading to a cloverleaf end plugged in a laptop power-supply module) and so the cable nuts out of the bottom (away from me) - this all being BS1363-compatible.
But although there might be tricky situations for each plug (the coax-out wouldn't plug so easily into the socket on the wall in the other room, with the sofa up against it, though the up/down-cabled ones don't have problems.
This denier (assuming UK-standard pins, but same orientation as shown) would actually plug into just one of my household wall-sockets (either of the two switched outlets it has, though it might block one of them if I choose the wrong one to plug to) because that's half way up a wall. I could probably get three of them in this 5-way 'extension strip' I mentioned, certainly two (and one other plug?). Depends upon the size of the D bit.
edit, for something other than a typo/misformat: ...the 'T-bar' would actually deny the half-up-wall-double-socket-unit's second socket, I realise, , though I may be able to put my coax-USB-plug through the D-hole. 172.70.162.147 03:29, 5 March 2022 (UTC)
But obviously there are weird things with US sockets. I've been to the states, and also know the plugs from the ones that sometimes come in boxed goods - usually supplemented with a UK version as well, by the official distributor in this country. 172.70.162.147 03:20, 5 March 2022 (UTC)

The D shape might be to even defeat something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Flexible-Protector-Outlets-Office-Travel/dp/B07T83PY3F?th=1 172.70.131.122 12:36, 5 March 2022 (UTC)


This is basically the opposite of an outlet expander. Is that worth mentioning? BunsenH (talk) 23:51, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

in the article it says "Many (most?) power strips have a rocker-style power switch at one end". this might be the case in the US but it is definitely not a global thing. whole power board switches are pretty uncommon here in Australia where most of them have switches per socket or none at all. would it make sense and be correct to edit this to say something like "It is common in the US have a rocker-style power switch at one end of a powerboard"? TomW1605 (talk)

Rocker switchs are very common all over the world with the exception of the commonwealth, where most (all?) countries require switches on the sockets. But e.g. in continental Europe, USA and all Asian and Middle Eastern countries I have visited so far, sockets with integrated switches do not exist at all. So you either have none or one on the power strips, making the latter option very common. (Though of course rockerless exist for all applications where you totally do not need a switch and want to save half a buck or 3 cm of length.)
It's not uncommon in the US to see a switch that controls an outlet. You can also get an outlet/switch combo (one of the outlets is replaced with a standard switch), which can be - but aren't necessarily - used to control the connected outlet. And then there are outlets (typically required outdoors or near taps) that have cutoff switches to prevent shorts. 108.162.238.22 19:56, 5 March 2022 (UTC)
Of Course you can always install a switch an have it control a socket. Comined panels with switches and sockets are common all over the world. I have one in half of my rooms, but the switch is always used for lighting and doing otherwise is much, much rarer and not standard at all whereever I've been so far. With exception of UK and Malta (have not been to Australia so far), where almost every socket has a switch directly integrated (and those who do not seemed pretty old). With such solutions beeing the norm on every outlet it is of course unecessary to have switches on power strips, making this type rare. But most parts of the world I know off have exactly the opposing relation: Switch on socket very rare, switch on power strips very common. Stores around here often offer 20 types of strips with switch to any 1 type without. Personally, I only buy the latter because the switches usually lit up when on and that sucks.
ok i didn't know there are so common in europe. i simply think that making a blanket statement that "Many (most?)" have the switch is wrong. simply saying "Many" would be better. TomW1605 (talk) 09:21, 6 March 2022 (UTC)
I have several without switches in my house... So I have changed to Many --Kynde (talk) 17:07, 6 March 2022 (UTC)

The title text confused me: I read it as "denier" (the thickness of thread in fabric), rather than "deny-er". I was trying to resolve the interplay between "electrical sockets" and "their strand thickness". 108.162.250.234 08:25, 7 March 2022 (UTC) (User: Gye Greene, 7 Mar 2022, 18:19 Brisbane Australia)

I've read it like that so many times! I've written a huge amount of copy for outdoor equipment websites, and referenced the denier of tent fabrics and clothing. A Lot. I've even written about the history of the denier measurement on several occasions (yeah, I really am that rock & roll). So climate-change deniers and holocaust deniers always seem a little incongruous for a few seconds before my brain translates.Yorkshire Pudding (talk) 10:09, 8 March 2022 (UTC)