An interesting thread this is , and its `twin` over on Einstein .
I decided to look up the C19 connector on ebay uk , on just the first page ,
They do them in arrange of colours , including pink
For new one they start at £7.95 , boring black plastic
Quickly passing £530 as a middle of the range price
BUT if you are mad or have VERY special needs they top out at £14950 used , that's not a typo , that one list new price of £21000 , that is also not a typo . . . . .
I shure would like to actualy sell some of them on ebay , I could retire real soon :-)

An interesting thread this is , and its `twin` over on Einstein .
I decided to look up the C19 connector on ebay uk , on just the first page ,

I had no desire to wait a few days before I could use the power supply.

They do them in arrange of colours , including pink

Pink is the colour of semi digested food, or a ginger person trying to get a suntan.

I guess the colours are for the IT admins in complex setups. I must admit I did like colour coding the network cables. We had wireless, desktops, switches, servers, and digital phones. Different colours made it easier to find when someone wanted something added or changed. When I started there the rack had up to 5m (!) cables connecting stuff 10cm away. Made a profit from that, sold all the big cables on Ebay, along with hundreds of antique computers like Mac Classics and BBCs which had been stored rather than recycled for £20 a piece. My predecessor was an idiot, I got £50 for each of those.

For new one they start at £7.95 , boring black plastic
Quickly passing £530 as a middle of the range price
BUT if you are mad or have VERY special needs they top out at £14950 used , that's not a typo , that one list new price of £21000 , that is also not a typo . . . . .
I shure would like to actualy sell some of them on ebay , I could retire real soon :-)

They're avoiding extortionate Ebay fees. To unlist and relist costs money, so they put a stupid price on to avoid sales when out of stock. Click report item and choose from a list of reasons. I like reporting the idiots who sell things costing say £15, but the listing comes up as £0.99 to £15, and the £0.99 is a spare screw. It really annoys me when I sort by price and have to skip through all those to find ones showing the real price.

If I haven't said already, I've just bought two of 2650W(!) supplies. The HP ones are really cheap, I got them for £13 each, same price as the 1300W ones! I was sent an offer by the seller when I was discussing the first ones. Dell ones cost about £130, because they have a more sensible connector, which the miner people have made an adapter for (both to connect to PCI-E connectors, and to switch the thing on). But it's easy enough to find the pinouts or test with a meter. You short a few pins with a lump of solder and it's always on. Then try to solder lots of thick wires onto the power pins.

The 1300W ones also have no fan speed control, they are about as loud as a hairdryer each, whether you're using 1300W or 0W, utterly daft. HP server rooms must be deafening. A 5W 5 ohm resistor sorts that though. Any slower and it switches off the supply as not enough RPM. The big ones on the top take care of more airflow.

Mr P Hucker wrote:

My main gripe is the lack of power. They have I believe 16A at 120V for each outlet, which is pitiful. It's like us being limited to 8 amps on a socket! Try boiling a kettle on that! And there was someone in one of these forums kept tripping his US breaker just because he plugged two powerful PCs into one outlet!

US Standard is 15Amp outlets at 120V, lots of people have their wiring upgraded to do 20Amp outlets but still at 120Volts. As for pc's on a 15amp outlet I've had 6 running before but when I plugged in the 7th pc it would pop the circuit every time.

Mr P Hucker wrote:

My main gripe is the lack of power. They have I believe 16A at 120V for each outlet, which is pitiful. It's like us being limited to 8 amps on a socket! Try boiling a kettle on that! And there was someone in one of these forums kept tripping his US breaker just because he plugged two powerful PCs into one outlet!

US Standard is 15Amp outlets at 120V, lots of people have their wiring upgraded to do 20Amp outlets but still at 120Volts. As for pc's on a 15amp outlet I've had 6 running before but when I plugged in the 7th pc it would pop the circuit every time.

Don't you end up with different incompatible outlets? Or can you stick a 15A plug into a 20A outlet?

20A 120V is still less than 13A 240V. We're getting 30% more power. By default. Everywhere.

ROFL, Einstein have gone all childish and started censoring things. Why are people so pathetically fragile? A bit of innuendo or something not safe enough for the bubblewrapped generation and they all start crying, it's beyond pathetic.

Mr P Hucker wrote:

My main gripe is the lack of power. They have I believe 16A at 120V for each outlet, which is pitiful. It's like us being limited to 8 amps on a socket! Try boiling a kettle on that! And there was someone in one of these forums kept tripping his US breaker just because he plugged two powerful PCs into one outlet!

US Standard is 15Amp outlets at 120V, lots of people have their wiring upgraded to do 20Amp outlets but still at 120Volts. As for pc's on a 15amp outlet I've had 6 running before but when I plugged in the 7th pc it would pop the circuit every time.

Don't you end up with different incompatible outlets? Or can you stick a 15A plug into a 20A outlet?

Yes you can plug a 15amp device into a 20amp outlet and you can also plug a 20amp device into a 15amp outlet as both are the standard 3 prong outlet with the ground above the live and the neutral
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=6bee862f522c9ba8JmltdHM9MTY4NjI2ODgwMCZpZ3VpZD0xMTFkZDRiMS0wZmI4LTYwNzItMTdkYy1kYTRlMGU5NDYxM2MmaW5zaWQ9NTY1Nw&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=111dd4b1-0fb8-6072-17dc-da4e0e94613c&u=a1L2ltYWdlcy9zZWFyY2g_cT1waWN0dXJlIG9mIGEgdXMgMyBwcm9uZyZGT1JNPUlRRlJCQSZpZD01NzRDQzU3Q0UyRENDODFGOEI0MzE0QjNBMTVGQ0U5RkQ2QTk0OUU4&ntb=1

20A 120V is still less than 13A 240V. We're getting 30% more power. By default. Everywhere..

Yes but curling irons etc will pop a 15amp standard light, pc, vacuum etc circuit breaker

ROFL, Einstein have gone all childish and started censoring things. Why are people so pathetically fragile? A bit of innuendo or something not safe enough for the bubblewrapped generation and they all start crying, it's beyond pathetic.

And I too have no idea why? It's not like it was off topic or anything

20amp device into a 15amp outlet

if it's properly wired/installed you shouldnt be able to do this (physically) and poses a risk for failure or nuisance breaker trips when it's been incorrectly wired to allow this.

a 20A device plug will (should) have the left prong horizontal instead of vertical (NEMA 5-20P)


a 15 amp receptacle will not accept that plug (NEMA 5-15R)


you can only plug the 20A plug into the 20A receptacle (NEMA 5-20R) which has the combo horizontal/vertical slot that accommodates both 15A/20A devices.

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Yes you can plug a 15amp device into a 20amp outlet and you can also plug a 20amp device into a 15amp outlet as both are the standard 3 prong outlet with the ground above the live and the neutral
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=6bee862f522c9ba8JmltdHM9MTY4NjI2ODgwMCZpZ3VpZD0xMTFkZDRiMS0wZmI4LTYwNzItMTdkYy1kYTRlMGU5NDYxM2MmaW5zaWQ9NTY1Nw&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=111dd4b1-0fb8-6072-17dc-da4e0e94613c&u=a1L2ltYWdlcy9zZWFyY2g_cT1waWN0dXJlIG9mIGEgdXMgMyBwcm9uZyZGT1JNPUlRRlJCQSZpZD01NzRDQzU3Q0UyRENDODFGOEI0MzE0QjNBMTVGQ0U5RkQ2QTk0OUU4&ntb=1

So it's an upgrade? I assume nobody fits the 15A ones anymore?

Yes but curling irons etc will pop a 15amp standard light, pc, vacuum etc circuit breaker

Not here, we have over 3kW on every outlet. No choice, every single outlet has the same, I don't have to find one powerful enough for what I'm plugging in. And I can easily plug many things into one outlet with a power strip.

And I too have no idea why? It's not like it was off topic or anything

Power hungry admins, it's pathetic. Perhaps the word anus made them panic. Just aswell we never talked about nylock nuts and c nuts.

if it's properly wired/installed you shouldnt be able to do this (physically) and poses a risk for failure or nuisance breaker trips when it's been incorrectly wired to allow this.
[snip images]

Is it true there are actually 73 different NEMA plug standards? In the UK we have one, just one. Or two if you count the outdoor waterproof ones.

20amp device into a 15amp outlet

if it's properly wired/installed you shouldnt be able to do this (physically) and poses a risk for failure or nuisance breaker trips when it's been incorrectly wired to allow this.

a 20A device plug will (should) have the left prong horizontal instead of vertical (NEMA 5-20P)


a 15 amp receptacle will not accept that plug (NEMA 5-15R)


you can only plug the 20A plug into the 20A receptacle (NEMA 5-20R) which has the combo horizontal/vertical slot that accommodates both 15A/20A devices.

They make $7 adapters that work very well if needed, and as you can easily see you can plug a 15amp plug into a 20amp circuit

There's no wonder you guys like 120V. You're STILL using unsleeved pins! Try plugging something in and let your fingers stray round the sides to live and neutral. Oops, circuit breaker won't help there. Oops, no switches on your sockets?! So you're plugging things live, and if under load wearing out the connector surface with arcs.

But you said yourself that being shocked from 240V is no problem. Then by extension 120 should be safer still. So yeah. It’s no problem. Plus no one with any sense is grabbing plugs in a way to slip their fingers behind the plug to touch the contacts, you’d pretty much have to do it intentionally.

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They make $7 adapters that work very well if needed, and as you can easily see you can plug a 15amp plug into a 20amp circuit

But those adapters are an example of incorrect use. The receptacle itself is not rated for 20A and will likely fail with extended use under >15A loads, the internal contacts aren’t rated for it, will generate excess heat, and most likely start to melt. Same thing that happens when you have too much stuff on a single 15A receptacle on a 12GA/20A circuit (which is allowed when multiple receptacles are on the same circuit, but not allowed for a single receptacle circuit)

I never disputed that you could plug a 15A plug into a 20A receptacle. Only the opposite.

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But you said yourself that being shocked from 240V is no problem. Then by extension 120 should be safer still. So yeah. It’s no problem. Plus no one with any sense is grabbing plugs in a way to slip their fingers behind the plug to touch the contacts, you’d pretty much have to do it intentionally.

And if you do do it you only do it once as the shock is not pleasant, but at least it won't kill you. Most harry homeowners, ie the generic homeowner, who does their own electrical work have been zapped at least once but then try very hard to assure it doesn't happen again. Older electrical panels are very poorly or not marked at all as to which circuit goes to which breaker, new codes require new homes to have the panel properly labeled making it much easier to know which breaker to turn off when working on a circuit.

They make $7 adapters that work very well if needed, and as you can easily see you can plug a 15amp plug into a 20amp circuit

But those adapters are an example of incorrect use. The receptacle itself is not rated for 20A and will likely fail with extended use under >15A loads, the internal contacts aren’t rated for it, will generate excess heat, and most likely start to melt. Same thing that happens when you have too much stuff on a single 15A receptacle on a 12GA/20A circuit (which is allowed when multiple receptacles are on the same circuit, but not allowed for a single receptacle circuit)

I never disputed that you could plug a 15A plug into a 20A receptacle. Only the opposite.

I totally agree that using an adapter is notoriously hazardous and dangerous but also know that sometimes you have to 'make do' until you can make things right.

But you said yourself that being shocked from 240V is no problem.

Indeed, but that's not the opinion of the people making the standards. Because you have exposed pins, they make them "safer".

Then by extension 120 should be safer still. So yeah. It’s no problem. Plus no one with any sense is grabbing plugs in a way to slip their fingers behind the plug to touch the contacts, you’d pretty much have to do it intentionally.

Incorrect, especially when pulling one out. It's perfectly natural to wrap your hand round something you're getting a grip of. In fact my father (yeah he's old but not stupid or clumsy) shocked himself recently when removing a lamp from a power strip. It's more likely with power strips, because they aren't fixed to the wall, so you have to pull more. I changed the plug to a sleeved one (it was a very old lamp). 240V isn't harmful, especially through just one hand, but since he has a weak heart and kidney problems, and it's very likely it makes you jump, I changed it anyway.

But those adapters are an example of incorrect use. The receptacle itself is not rated for 20A and will likely fail with extended use under >15A loads, the internal contacts aren’t rated for it, will generate excess heat, and most likely start to melt. Same thing that happens when you have too much stuff on a single 15A receptacle on a 12GA/20A circuit (which is allowed when multiple receptacles are on the same circuit, but not allowed for a single receptacle circuit)

Again I'll bring up fuses. To my left is a triple adapter, it's a cube which plugs into the wall and has a socket on the front, left, and right sides. Inside that adapter is a 13A fuse. So I can't do something stupid like run three of 3kW devices off it.

And if you do do it you only do it once as the shock is not pleasant, but at least it won't kill you. Most harry homeowners, ie the generic homeowner, who does their own electrical work have been zapped at least once but then try very hard to assure it doesn't happen again.

But it's not unpleasant. Even with 240V it's akin to you tapping me on the shoulder when I don't know you're there, and making me jump. It's only a problem if I'm up a ladder. For example I got a shock from my right hand on a chewed bit of flex on a mower (rat in shed) to my bare foot on the damp lawn. I jumped in the air and shouted something the admins in here will delete this thread for aswell. My neighbour peeked over the fence wondering what was going on. Not painful, just took me by surprise.

Older electrical panels are very poorly or not marked at all as to which circuit goes to which breaker, new codes require new homes to have the panel properly labeled making it much easier to know which breaker to turn off when working on a circuit.

Don't most people label anyway for convenience? My 1979 fusebox has a sticky label with something written on each. In fact the fusebox came with a space to write on. Otherwise how do you know which fuse to change when something blows. Oh yeah, breakers, makes it obvious, but only if they've tripped.

I totally agree that using an adapter is notoriously hazardous and dangerous but also know that sometimes you have to 'make do' until you can make things right.

If the device is using <=15A, why does it have a 20A plug on it? If it's using >15A, doesn't the socket get damn hot? Heat is proportional to the square of the current. 1.33x the current = 1.77x the heat.

Anyway, you and me are not the same as the stupid/law abiding majority. We can think for ourselves and just make something do what we need it to. The others have to look up regulations to see if it's ok. For example I was once behind someone at a red light. There was an ambulance trying to get through. They refused to move. I blasted my horn and told them to move or I'd do it for them, and they shifted, seeing my car was a lot cheaper than theirs. He got very angry afterwards and told me it was illegal to go through a red light. I simply said "tell that to the dead guy in the ambulance" and he shut up.

Older electrical panels are very poorly or not marked at all as to which circuit goes to which breaker, new codes require new homes to have the panel properly labeled making it much easier to know which breaker to turn off when working on a circuit.

Don't most people label anyway for convenience? My 1979 fusebox has a sticky label with something written on each. In fact the fusebox came with a space to write on. Otherwise how do you know which fuse to change when something blows. Oh yeah, breakers, makes it obvious, but only if they've tripped.

Yes they do label it as they find what they are looking for if it's not labelled, we have spaces to write things down next to our breakers too

no one with any sense is grabbing plugs in a way to slip their fingers behind the plug to touch the contacts, you’d pretty much have to do it intentionally.

I have to disagree on this, I did it once by accident. :D
It was however in Italy around 25 years ago and they had sockets from the stone age of electricity, impossible to do it with the current sockets we have in Europe (some countries use different plug/socket system, but most have Schuko).

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