How-To Geek

Anyone got any lying around?

Ok, so a couple of months ago I (stupidly) bought two sets (four units) of these brand new, but I don't need them now! They are still new in their boxes, unused.

I paid £30 for each set, but I'd be happy to take a small hit on them.. say £25 each or £50 the pair. Anyone interested?

@Mods. Can the title be changed to 'For Sale'? Ta muchly.

Thanks LH. Drop me an email when it suits. :)

I forgot to mention, they fit a UK socket but I don't know of any reason why they shouldn't work on an adaptor as long as Voltage and frequencies match up.

Does polarity even matter with AC? TBH, I don't understand AC well enough to definitively say it would work, but my suspicion is it would be ok.. Lady Fitzgerald would probably know.

I don't know how it works for you on you all's side of the pond but here in the U.S. "polarity" does matter. Here, AC plugs have two fat prongs and many have a third, round prong. One of the flat prongs is smaller than the other. The smaller one is the hot side and the larger one is the neutral. When there is a third, round prong, it is the ground. If the flat prongs are parallel, the plug is rated for up to 15A. If the small flat prong is 90° to the larger flat prong, the plug is rated for use in a 20A circuit only. A 20A socket may have the slot for the small prong 90° from the larger slot or it may have a T shaped slot that will allow both kinds of plugs to be inserted. Only three prong sockets are permitted anymore. Also, standard house voltage is 120V.

Technically, it isn't polarity since AC switches direction back and forth; here, it is 60HZ or 60 times a second the current will reverse then turn back again. However, since the neutral line eventually is connected to ground, to avoid dead shorts, it is critical which side of a plug gets connected to the hot side.

I know this is an old thread, but I received an email asking for a comment from me.

@LadyFitzgerald. Thanks for chiming in. I remember you mentioned you worked on the power grid, so I figured you would know about the subject.

@LH. Sounds iffy to me. 230V AC through your LAN port might not be very good for your motherboard!

Imagine what the children would look like! (Knocking up has a slightly different meaning over here.)

Maybe it would be neater to take a UK 4 gang extension lead, attach whatever plug you need and reverse the polarity while you're at it?

I 'knocked up' a similar arrangement to connect a 4 gang to an UPS I've got. We've been having some trouble with the power lately (seems to be an unresolved fault since some stormy weather a few weeks ago. They even checked the lines by helicopter), so it's handy for powering things like the router, phone charger, etc when the power's out.