It's a good thing they aren't in charge of adult toys...

Actually, they do exist; that's kind of the problem.

164

Y'see, what ya do is take yer two cords and cut the ends off. Strip the wire and tie 'em together. Then ya wrap em in electrical tape so they're water tight! Bam! Problem solved!

65
- Not enough guns.
  
  24
- You mean these?
  
  I posted these ones I found at the ski area I worked at 8 years ago. I wish they were a joke but some fucking moron had made these and used them on the trees in front of the lodge. In piles of snow too.
  
  22
- It's ace, so you can buy two plugs with terminals and make your own anyway.
  
  6

Here's a short extension cord version of one

The explanation of why they're a bad idea is valid though. Usually the kinds of people who know just enough to want this type of plug are also the type of people I wouldn't trust with one.

Edit: I'll go ahead and explain why people want plugs like this. These can be used to backfeed power from a generator into a house, letting you used different outlets/lights in the house. A knowledgeable person can actually use something like this safely, but most people who would use something like this don't know enough to do it correctly. The dangers about doing this are:

You can easily shock yourself off of the exposed pins of the cord. You can avoid getting shocked by waiting to plug into the generator until the other end is connected first.
You can backfeed power onto the electrical grid. The power going backwards through the transformers will step up the voltage to thousands of volts, and could seriously injure or kill the linemen who are trying to fix the outage. This is avoided by making sure you've opened either the house's main disconnect breaker or the breaker for the individual circuit you're plugging into.

There are some safer ways to setup this type of generator use, there are special generator power cords/outlets that won't have exposed energized prongs if plugged into a generator. There are also transfer switches or breaker interlock kits designed to prevent someone from being able to backfeed power by requiring them to disconnect commercial power before the generator can be fed into the house's distribution panel.

115

It’s pretty telling that the product page has zero reviews. I don’t think this product has any surviving users.

69
- I think it's been taken down and relisted multiple times, possibly due to reports. I've seen these plugs on amazon for years now.
  
  21
- "Is this UL certified?
  
  Their expected response.
  
  14
I trust NANCHANGZHENGFUYUANGUOJIMAOYIYOUXIANGONGSI for all my dangerously illegal electrical needs!

36
- Even funnier is if you click on the brand SCTOU to see other products, the other items from SCTOU appear to be questionable body armor and anti-bird spikes. Seller names are different as well, but they're all similar random Chinese names.
  
  2
The car community has a saying "Only when you know all the rules are you allowed to break some of them"

24
Am I crazy or is the example picture of the interlock backwards. Both sides can be turned on, but only one can be off at the same time 😅

8
- You're right, I hadn't noticed that. They have the breakers labeled backwards from how they normally are.
  
  5
I'm not well informed, but I wouldn't be surprised if in some places it wouldn't be legal to sell that kind of cords (because of being a safety hazard and such).

8
For a generator you ideally want a 220v version so that you can power all the circuits in your house. Which makes the suicide cord all the scarier.

3
Omg please everyone report that listing z

-2

It cracks me up that they'll sell chainsaws to anyone.

47

I used to know a hardware store that sold guns in the 80s. Guy bought one, walked down the block, robbed a bank with it, and died in ensuing police shootout. Store stopped selling guns after that.

12
They're educational.

1

They should put what they are called in the electrical world to help drive home the point. “Suicide cords”

46

https://xkcd.com/1406/

39

Aha! I knew there was a string adapter for my tin can so I can plug it to my audio jack!

2

But... They do exist. They're just incredibly stupid and dangerous.

33

Illegal too, according to the sign.

19
- They are ILLEGAL, DANGEROUS, and NONEXISTENT. Get it straight!
  
  2

It’s also a good thing dildos aren’t made of
metal and connected to voltage.

33

Some are and some pay extra for that...

25
- Like, a motor.... The State of Arkansas would pay you for a novel execution device though.
  
  4
Who is your dildo guy? Their selection is too limited.

16
You don't sound fun

7
Not with that attitude

6

Was at a Christmas party last night and a guy dropped a 2 foot long double ended dildo on the table.

Male to Male adapters exist, but electrically questionable.

31

What parties are you attending that:

Someone brings a dildo

You describe that someone as just "a guy"

Having a dildo is questionable enough. Not knowing the guy who has a dildo at your Christmas party is extremely questionable.
7
- Eh, a couple years ago one of my brothers gifted another brother a dildo from "Santa". I have 5 brothers, so no one knew for sure who did it. Much hilarity ensued.
  
  12
- Furry parties have more then double ended dildo
  
  3
- I attended both a Halloween and Christmas party where the hosts had invited someone selling sex toys. Much hilarity and shenanigans ensued. They were both great parties.
  
  2
- Really fun ones.
  
  The guy in question is a firefighter.
  
  1
ASS TO ASS! ASS TO ASS! ASS TO ASS!

6

I hate that we live in a world where this is a popular enough question that a sign had to be made about it.

The fuck is wrong with people? Just rehang the lights! It takes less time and effort than getting in the car and going to Ace to ask for a deathdapter!

27

I bet they were on the ladder stringing them along the eaves of the house and realized they had the line backwards

5
- It literally takes 10 minutes to fix. I know, cause I made that very mistake this year. Frustrated yeah, but I sucked it up and redid it and fixed it. Lot less time, effort, and stress, than getting shit together to go to Ace, begging for a deathdapter, getting frustrated, and having to come home just to fix it anyway.
  
  3

The electrical ones don't exist because it would mean you have exposed metal that is carrying current when a human touches it. However, for some odd reason you can buy it for control panels.

22

They could've just said, "If you want a double-ended male plug, go check out the Adam and Eve store webpage."

21

"And don't forget the code Ship2 to get 50% off your order!"

7
- Hmmm not sure what I would do with TWO double male plugs. I don't have that many people in my bed at once. : / Ummmm you should probably ignore that whole sentence.....
  
  3

YOU CANT HIDE THE TRUTH

21

I have had this conversation multiple times, about multiple cable types, while in electronics sales.

16

What’s the best analogy or wording you’ve found for conveying the nature of the problem to people?

4
- It prevents you from connecting two live wires and dying.
  
  2
- I'm not sure there is one, I usually just highlight that they're one-directional, and you would technically need another nontrivial piece of hardware in the middle.
  
  Then we figured out what their problem actually was.
  
  1

I don’t understand this.

Do your Christmas light end with a female electrical socket?

11

Yep! That way you can daisy chain several in a row.

10
- Could you not just run an extension cord from the male end to the socket though?
  
  EDIT: Never mind…says exactly that in the picture.
  
  6

What even is this? I never saw one in my life, so the sign must be telling the truth.

10

People hanging Christmas lights do the whole house and when they go to plug it in, they realize they have the female end by the outlet, not the male end. "Fuck, I'm not gonna redo the entire process" the idiot thinks to himself, I'll just get a male/male adapter.

It's not sold because as soon as you plug in the side to the house, the other ends become live, and touching them means "big ouch".

"That's okay, I'll just plug the end into the lights, and then into the house, problem solved" the idiot thinks.

Except the far end of the lights has a male adapter and that end is still live. Plus, anyone who doesn't know about your deadly modification is in danger of hurting themselves because they don't realize the hazard.

There are exceedingly niche applications where these cords are used, but those applications only come up for trained electricians who know how to make one of these cords, and use them responsibly. If you're asking the minimum wage guy in the blue vest, this sign is for you.

17
- I'd be tempted to just cut the ends off , strip the wires, and connect them. Then again, I will never put up Xmas lights on my house like that.
  
  4
- why would Christmas lights have a female end in the first place?
  
  3
- deleted
  
  2

Ace Hardware has Dremels, solder, epoxy, and 600 grit sandpaper, and if you stare at this sign for no less than 40 seconds an employee will saunter up and you can ask them where to find all that stuff.

10

Now I really want one.

8

I'm sure you can find one on AliExpress.

8

I think i have we might have one of these but in eu type somewhere in the shed. Does have about 15cm of cable between the 2 plugs tho.

1

Pretty sad that it needs to be explained why these are generally a terrible idea

8

How else are we supposed to learn/know if not being explained? Omniscience?

17
- Common knowledge that touching electricity = ouch?
  
  7
Every day there are thousands of people who hear about this for the first time. I'd link the relevant xkcd but I'm too lazy right now

14
- Here you go: https://xkcd.com/1053/
  
  24

I think thou dost protest too much. Perhaps not so much ace as you claim.

7

Right below the sign they probably have the bits you need to craft one (two repair plugs and a bit of wire).

1

We had one of these bad boys powering my Dad's shop when I was younger. The look on my Dad's face when I was troubleshooting why the power to the shop went out was priceless. Communication saves lives, kids. It certainly did mine. Reasonable electrical wiring will do that in place of communication.

6