Perhaps the weakest link in the US electrical system

What people said

Recommends ficklepickle · 2021-06 · Hacker News · on “Why does the world harbor so many different voltages, plugs, and sockets?”

> If you plug a 16A cord to a 20A circuit and draw 20A from it, the fuse will be perfectly happy (everything's fine as far as it's concerned) but the cord can catch on fire. Technology Connections recently made a video about this. [this video]

Recommends acidbaseextract · 2021-11 · Hacker News · on “Corded headphones are making an unexpected return”

For those who are into this kind of thing, here's a 25 minute mini-documentary of the US electrical system's history and problems. It's more focused on wiring, but has a lot to say on plugs: [this video]

Recommends _whiteCaps_ · 2023-01 · Hacker News · on “We need a lot more electricians if we’re going to electrify everything”

Extension cords are a bad idea. Especially since you can buy 10A rated cords that can be plugged into 15A sockets. [LINK] There's a really good explanation in this video: [this video]

Recommends rinron · 2024-04 · Hacker News · on “Is it okay to daisy chain a UPS?”

probably because it Depends, If you dont know its safer not to. long answer (keep in mind i live in canada, im not a professional, this is just what i learned and trust, keep in mind above) - As long as no wire/bar exceeds its max Amp your safe no matter how many things are plugged in or how long of a daisy chain, the max amp is usually listed. - all devices should list the max amp they use, add up the amp's of all the devices connected to that wire and if its below your safe. - if your breaker is 15 amp, virtually all normal extensions/power bars are rated for at least 15 amps which means doesnt matter what you do the breaker should* flip before any damage is done - if breaker is above 15 a

Cites Bimpelrekkie · 2021-07 · Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange · on “KitchenAid: Do not use an extension cord”

The problem in the US is that you can easily buy extension cords that are under rated for the current that such a device consumes. So the manufacturer wants to cover their #ss by simply stating "no extension cords!". So if something melts, it will not be the manufacturer's fault. Also see this video: [this video] I would say that **if** you use a **properly rated there should be no issue.

Cites Harper - Reinstate Monica · 2022-03 · Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange · on “Why do Americans use fuses and not differentials and breakers like Europeans do?”

@MisterMystère I don't think it's opinion based, it's a valid question with valid answers of how Americans went to great lengths to make the system safe, or abjectly failed to [this video] . (and how we have been dragged down by legacy standards which we set quite early, such as split-phase which goes clear back to Edison).

Cites eru · 2022-08 · Hacker News · on “A looming copper crunch and why recycling can’t fix it”

Yes, both of those would also work. It's just that the American plugs are really the worst. See also [this video] for other badness.

Cites JYelton · 2023-08 · Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange · on “How Does Electricity Work Voltage/Amperage?”

If you review some of the posts I linked in comments, it should clear up many of your questions. Power is energy being consumed, or a rate of work being done. A power rating on a power supply is its potential to do work. "How much power can this supply provide?" A rating on an extension outlet or splitter is meant to be a convenient way to know the maximum combined power of attached loads the extension is designed to safely handle. Although current is what really matters, it's often shown as power because appliances do the same. "How much current can I safely draw through this splitter?" A power specification on an appliance represents its maximum power consumption. "How much power will this

Cites jchw · 2025-07 · Hacker News · on “There is no memory safety without thread safety”

This comes up now and again, somewhat akin to the Rust soundness hole issue. To be fair, it is a legitimate issue, and you could definitely cause it by accident, which is more than I can say about the Rust soundness hole(s?), which as far as I know are basically incomprehensible and about as likely to come across naturally as guessing someone's private key. That said in many years of using Go in production I don't think I've ever come across a situation where the exact requirements to cause this bug have occurred. Uber has talked a lot about bugs in Go code. This article is useful to understand some of the practical problems facing Go developers actually wind up being, particularly the table