DANGER WILL ROBINSON, DANGER!!!

[ctubbs]

I needed some receptacle the other day and, in my infinite wisdom and cheap skate fashion, decided to re-purpose an old outlet strip I had lying around. The first photo is of a similar unit. The second one is the face of the strip of receptacles removed from the case. Third is the back side where I found the problem and the next two show the same solder joint with no connection from the receptacle to the wire. Look closely and you can see where the wire just slides along the wire. You may also note looking at the back photo of the strip, there is no ground wire run. This device depended on the center screw to provide the grounding connection and provide the sole support of the receptacle, neither of which is legal.

OK, my fault partially as I did not check and verify this outlet strip was UL approved, which it very obviously, was not. Never-the-less, just PLEASE be aware that there are electrical devices on the market that will burn your house down and possibly even kill yourself and/or your loved ones.

Happy Mother's Day everyone.
Charles

 

[tim self]

Now I've gotta check mine. Never thought about it but will definately will now.

 

[alphageek]

Good share and great advise to make sure to use good ones... This is definitely not an area to cheat.

Couple other things:
1) NEVER plug one strip into another for more outlet OR for length. Its a bad idea.
2) These are NOT a good idea in the shop... If you look at the ratings on most of them, they are not designed for the juice we put through our tools.

 

[Texatdurango]

Well that's just great....... now I've got a dozen of those little suckers to check!

Good Post!