I`m looking into it. So far I left no witnesses. And I don`t know nothin` `bout those mysterious electrical deaths reported in the news. (just kidding, of course;) Could be a loose/broken plug pin arcing, ...
Crap... he is on to me... wait, why did I open my mouth? I just exposed my self. I mean, I can still delete this comment and not post it... Yet, I am going to post it anyway. Weird.
The trap set by the MasterNinjaonANinja has snapped and narroly missed me. Here is the actual victim: th-cam.com/video/53pkJQVQ6OY/w-d-xo.html So the hunt continues ...
The most disconcerting piece of information I have ever been given, (other than at the tender age of 6 my big Sister telling me I was adopted from travelling gypsies) was the supposed fact that in an urban environment, you're never more than 10 meters from a rat!
Yeah, that 10 m is pushing it ... That 10 is an average type figure, such us if I have $1 and my bro has $3, on average we have $2 each but ACTUALLY no-one has $2. So it could be close to 0.5m in a travelling gypsy camp or inner city London, UK, but 19.5m in a National Park, hence 10 m on average ... something like that ...
Same, running a heater, PC with 4 monitors, 5.1 surround speakers/sub, a solder station, lamp, chargers and more.... thinking its about time to get one of those industrial power strips with like 20 connections, and to check my breaker
Shremeant “Depends on your PC specs” LOL. Do you really think a highend video card will make 300 watts difference or so? A PC is just a PC. The maximum i have ever seen a PC drawing was like 350 watts. Normal household PC uses 150 watts or so. A 16” laptop can go as low as 15 watts.
For those who don't feel like counting to 15, you can grab a Kill-A-Watt meter which will tell you exactly how many amps and watts a plug in an outlet is taking. Very useful for determining how close you are to overloading! (This is not endorsed by any company, I have a few and they're great.)
@@cliffmathewYou would need to know how many outlets are on the circuit and use the device to measure the current being drawn from each one. Easiest way to find how many outlets on the circuit is to flip the breaker off and check how many outlets lose power.
Thank you so much for taking the time to make this video. This was incredibly educational and helpful. This is the kind of stuff that everyone SHOULD learn in high school. I made it to age 31 without ever understanding this stuff. How horribly irresponsible and unsafe.
3:57 You need to take the power factor into consideration. Basically it is about 0.5 on such equipment so double the figure. 4:43 It is output 1 A at 9 V. The input is 15 W at 120 V which gives 0.125 A but lets double that for the power factor so we get 0.25 A. A circuit breaker does not trip immediately if the overload is not large. Also if there is poor contact in the plug it can cause heat. The more you chain the more change there is for poor contact. Here extension cords are for 16 A. I have a 10 A circuit breaker.
a heater is just consuming electricity like any other, just because you know it consumes a little bit more he should still be able to check all his devices and their power consumption. if one power bar is rated 1500w and other one is 1500w, once you run 1500w on either you're at max capacity, you're running 1500w thro both ofcourse, this guy probably ended up running more than rated for thats all, heaters has nothing to do with this, just the power consumption of the devices attatched.
Kinda. In pretty much all cases it will be fine, just keep in mind that it's a high resistance load. Cheaply designed power bars' caps would never be able to handle a high resistance load.
Had the same thing happen years ago, had a heater plugged into a power bar, that was plugged into another power bar. Outlet melted where the 2nd power bar plugged into the first.
You hit the nail on the head. I was scrolling through looking for this very comment. Those rotating plugs suck and are prone to premature mechanical failure. I'm convinced that was the failure point.
Indeed, the resistance inside the contacts on the plug was just too high (bad contact, fouled by greasy fingers perhaps), which in turn generates a lot of loacl heat build-up. Hence the fire.
Also I would also give a notice. Over time contact between chinese and even non chinese plugs/sockets tend to oxidize due to thermal cycling, moisture, also dust adds its toll. So it may start heating even if you are at 11/12/13/14A of your total 15A maximum. Also, if contact between socket and plug gets overloaded for some time, oxides and burns start to develop between contacts and that encourages even more heating. So I would recommend reaching 50-80% of the load maximum and recycling the plugs into sockets, also taking a look at the state of conductors and cleaning if neccessary. When unplugged/replugged, the conductors scratch off the oxides/dust and thus the contact improves.
The same mistake you noticed with the speaker adapter you made with the modem. The modem runs at 5 volts from an adapter, and the sign on the modem itself said 1 amp at 5 volts, so that's just 5 watts. That's 0.043 amps from the mains, but given you have some losses in the adapter, lets say it draws 0.05 amps.
It's quite clear to me what happened. Electrical conductors get warm when they are pushed near their rated limit (doesn't have to be over), the first place to get warm will be the weakest point, such as a connection like a plug. As a conductor gets warm resistance increases, as resistance increases it generates more heat, and it can turn into a runaway effect until it starts a fire. Your circuit did not exceed 15 amps, which is why the breaker did not trip. The problem was the cheap Chinese power bars, despite saying 15 amps they are not designed to handled that kind of load. If you've ever used Chinese batteries that say something like "6000mah" but actually are more like 800mah, you'll be aware they are not shy about overstating the capacities of their products.
It overheated because the resistence of the connection was high (the plug connected to the other power bar), that resistence did two thing, ONE it avoided the ampers (current) to go nominal 12.5A, TWO it generated heat and fire, that is the reason protections didn't trip. Was a loose connection?, not necesarily, if you study the internal shape of the females contacts, it is just a tiny part which really get in contact with the male counterpart, the parts are not perfectly parallel frictioning, notmally is a tiny part which press against the male plug. That minimal surface normally can't conduct 12.5A.... , when the power bar say in the label it is 15A, it don't reffers to just ONE female plug, female counterparts are not designed that way, but the label reffer that the sum of all females will do up to 15A, and the protection is normally 15A sustained during X ammount of period, it is NOT just past 15A barrier and PUUUFFF (instantly).
if it were really loose the user will notice it just when pluggin, what happens is that the metals increase resistence on heat, and change its shape on heat, and it is a run, if at the beginning it was a tiny surface in contact, it heat, then the heat makes it worst.
That doesn't really make sense, because it means you could overload a power strip far too easily in general. Consider I have 6 socket power strip rated for 240 volts 10 amps. OK, so if I plug in 6 devices that use 400 watts each, that's the power limit. But so is one device that uses 1500 watts, and one that uses 800 And if you don't think something can use those kinds of wattages, a typical portable fan heater is anything from 1500-2000 watts. My Desktop PC has a 650 watt power supply. And that's the OUTPUT power rating, and when heavily loaded efficiency may be as little as 80%, meaning it draws closer 780 watts. Meanwhile, it's fully possible to buy 1250 watt power supplies for computers, and while those tend to be much more efficient... It still means you're pulling more than half the total power the entire strip is rated for through a single plug. For that matter, the power strip has pretty much the exact same rating as the wall socket. If you overload the power strip as a whole you're also overloading the household circuit... So there are things like resistance and inductance and some other complex issues, and in general plugging a power strip into a second power strip isn't the best idea ever. But if you're careful it's perfectly safe. I've seen professional theatre crews plug a whole heap of equipment into several power strips leading into another power strip this way, which was then plugged into a rather long extension cord... That worked perfectly fine. (admittedly the extension cord was a 20 amp rated chord, which means something like 4.8 kilowatts, but nonetheless it was quite a mess of wires and adapters and other things...)
well done bro i thought in my head if the WHOLE amps is 15 not one outlet is 15A all the four is and he must have fought that one outlet is 15A so he plugged the printer in which must have been over 3.75A
here in argentina is outlets at wall for 10A and 20A, if a power bar must meet it, it can be 10A or 20A in the main plug, now, now, except for industrial type, to see power bars where each individual plug is capable of that, overall thinking the POWER BAR concept is for dividing power in several female plugs, has no-sense for making each individual female plug capable of the full input Amps. Other way I would be a power extension cord, not a power bar. But, any way, this burn, your video case, is not about you did those Amps, it was just heat from a loose conection or DIRT in the contacts, that did't the required resistence for allowed heat to be developed, so, it is normal that none protection shut it down.
Common sense says no more then 1 power strip at a time just because of the fact you can plug a lot of things in already. Most power strip packages they tell you not to plug multiple strips into each other. If you need a second one, use both wall plugs. These cheap power strips are a joke especially Monster branded ones, very thin copper strips running along the inside and everything is molded, which means plugs can get loose. All of my strips are metal with actual outlets. You can get them from some electronic stores and most hardware stores. Way better construction. The reason why the breaker didn't trip on the power strip nor the breaker box was because there wasn't a physical short, just a connection heating up.
I'm using both wall sockets already. My problem is the house I live in has a grand total of 10 power sockets total. the bedroom has just two. My computer setup alone requires 3 plugs all to itself. I am faced with 12 things plugged in at once right now in a location that only has 2 accessible wall sockets, and that's with half the stuff I keep around my desk not actually plugged in at all. To top it off one of the power strips I use has UK plug sockets, because I have several UK devices. That's not otherwise a problem, because the voltages are the same, but the power strip is the only way I can reasonably plug those in to anything... If these properties actually had a decent number of power sockets for modern conditions, this absurd setup wouldn't be quite as necessary. But as it is... In any event I try to keep stacked anything to an absolute bare minimum. The two standard strips are plugged into a wall socket each. The UK strip is plugged into one of the other strips. (I'd give it it's own wall socket if I could. In fact I did, when this whole setup was in a different room, but I'm simply out of options...)
That's not how "common sense" works. 2 devices plugged into 1 socket can attempt to draw 30 amps by themselves if they are high current devices like heaters whereas you can piggyback to your heart's delight if the drain from each device is low enough. A double powerpoint doesn't supply any more power than a single one does, they are BOTH on the same circuit. "Common sense" is no substitute for logic or maths.
Red things on power bars ARE NOT BREAKERS, they are just switches that humans can use if needed, only breakers you have there are the ones in basement. Meltdown could happen from two factors: 1st the wall plug could've been connected to a higher amperage breaker by accident, so the meltdown occurred (it would happen first on contacts between wires); 2nd it could have been a loose connection.
Your math is flawed...lets use the the speakers as an example. Speakers DC adapter said it has an output voltage of 9 VDC and is capable of supplying 1A of current which give you a maximum output of 9 watts o f power (I know it saw 15W but I just did the math for you). 9 Watts / 120 VAC = 0.075A Max Draw on 120V mains. Basically stating that the speakers won't draw more than 0.08A at max volume....not even 1/10 of an amp from the wall. If it could draw 1A at 120 volts that means it would use 120 Watts...which is unrealistic.
That`s right, thanks for noticing. I pointed at the OUTPUT numbers by mistake.And those are DC. The INPUT is 15 W, so same math as with the TV 15/115 = 0.13A I`ll insert some text box fix.
The input of the speaker adapter says 15 watts, and the output is 9 watts. But these numbers are right, as the speaker adapter has a transformer in it, and transformers are not 100% efficient. Some of the electricity is turned into heat in the coils, you can feel that a transformer gets warm when in use.
Power consumption is not the same as power that goes into producing sound in speakers. Much of the power is consumed by the amplifier. And power consumption ratings, are probably more of a "maximum under reasonable conditions" rating, and not the "average" or typical usage. Probably a bit more power will be used when played as maximum volume, than at the typical volume.
I noted a problem when you added 1A from the router. the router was attached via a powerinversion brick, that converts 120VAC to 5VDC. This conversion changes the amperage alongside the voltage, to create the overall wattage pull. 5Vx1A=5 Watts, so 5W/125V=0.04 Amps pulled from the wall, plus efficiency loss, which should be listed on the power brick.
It all depends on the draw through each powerbar. If you're only drawing low power, it will make no difference and hurt nothing. I agree that is a big 'if' however for someone who doesn't know what they're doing.
Moral of the story anyone: Plug as many surge protectors into surge protectors with things plugged into those as you want, just make darn sure NOT to exceed 15 amps. If those circuit breakers were not flipping when you drew a lot more, there's something wrong with it obviously, and I won't be surprised if there is considering it was from 1971, right in the middle of the time contractors were using aluminum wiring, which is extremely unsafe. If you need to be worried about anything at all it is that wiring in your house, that will go up in flames WAY before the copper stuff in the surge protectors will.
Well, obviously. My college used very cheap Belkin power strips, with no surge protection. I measured ground voltage from the neutral and hot terminals and got a voltage reading of 42 volts and 46 volts. I immediately unplugged it. I at home use a 200 dollar UPS unit as my power strip.
Now I'm starting to consider that maybe using ground voltage to power low power devices and charge batteries for occasional use of high power devices is viable. Shouldn't it be not normal for ground to get a measurable amount except during spikes?
It's quite simple: If you plug low-power drawing items into a power strip that's coming off of another power strip, you should be just fine. However, under NO circumstances should an extremely high wattage item (like a space heater) be plugged into ANY kind of extension, be it a power strip or extension cord. If anything, it should be the only thing plugged into that outlet. Same goes for air conditioners. Plugging a computer or laptop charger into the primary strip (the one plugged into the wall) and then using a second strip for something like an lame with a CFL or LED bulb, maybe a phone charger... You'll be fine. I have a dual strip setup at my house but I only use the 2nd strip to power a small LCD monitor, my computer speakers (about 5A), and an LED lamp. Pretty sure I'm not going to burn anything down.
This power bar is a classic case of a poor connection. Happens when the plug doesn't make a full connection. Ive seen this on CH breakers too - in particular the BR style. 14 gauge can handle 18A without a problem. The 15 A is a rating given also to compensate for high ambient air temps which changes how many amps rather conductor can carry and for how long before the insulation is compromised. The power bar problem above is avoided when an AFCI breaker is used.
The heat damage / fire was caused by a loose (or) high resistance connection between the socket of the first power strip and the plug of the second power strip, and not because of an overlaoad. And while adding the amperes of the different loads. All the amperes rating should be converted to it's equivalent 120V reference before adding them up.
Daisy chaining is the name that springs to mind to me. It's perfectly okay and safe to do as long as you don't exceed the power rating of the power strip, which should be molded somewhere in the plastic casing, or the sockets thereof.
Except it violates the safety devices that are on the power strip, extension cord or surge protector. They are not designed to be plugged into each other in any form or fashion at all. They are designed to be independent equipment.
@@chadmargraf4020 The reason manufactures warn against daisy-chaining is because they assume people will use every available plug in both the first and second power bar, and I don't blame them for assuming that because people are idiots. However, as long as you keep the full power draw well within the maximum amp rating for a single power strip, (which is usually around 14 or 15 amps) then it is not dangerous. People just need to understand that a chain of power-strips has the same maximum amp capacity as a single power strip. You don't gain extra capacity by chaining them because every strip in the chain must bear the full load of everything that's plugged in.
@@Beefnhammer thats what I figure, that you are not using all the devices at once. and would shy away from using the bar for anything that heats up and thereby draws a lot of electricity.
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Thank you. I have cords, and strips plugged in everywhere throughout my woodshop. This was a big wakeup call for me.
FYI - the router is rated at 5V 1A, that's what comes out of its power brick, check the rating for the input of the power brick and it'll probably be much less than 1A.
You can hook a power strip into another one as long as the power being pulled isn't a lot. Basically don't plug in a vacuum or any high power devices into them.
Your router is taking 1A at 5V - that does not mean it's taking 1A at 115V. If the power conversion is 100% efficient, the 5W (5Vx1A) drawn by the router would work out at (5W/115V) 0.043A. To allow for inefficiencies I'd call that 0.1A. Also, your speaker adapter shows it takes 15W at 120V - that is (15/120) 0.125A. Its OUTPUT is 1A at 9V (= 9W - that is a fairly inefficient converter given a 15W input). You can take that figure as that is given as the input rating. Therefore your total power draw is 9.305A (call it 9.5 to allow for inaccuracies), not 11.08A. Here in UK, our plugs are rated to 13A (not 15A), but our higher voltage allows a maximum power draw of 3120W at 240V.
In the UK we have fuses in every plug. I have 4 power strips plugged into one wall outlet but on the one plugged into the outlet I have a 5 amp fuse, so I should never encounter any fires I hope.
thanks for the clarification. i have a couple of chains of these in my office for screens and computers, but its a calculated amount of power used, well below the rated amount for my cables :)
now with cable extensions in the UK no idea how many amps but you can connect extension leads and other equipment plugged into them and it still works correctly.
We don`t keep dogs in the office, it`s a heritage building from 1892. But there aren`t any washrooms either, so that there might be something to look into ... I just remembed we have a high electrocution rate among workers there, all misteriously found dead with pants down, never been solved cases ...
theoverengineer You know, I think we may be on to something major here. If we combine our brain power, we might be able to save lives. Or at least keep power outlets dry. But it is sketchy.
Short answer, NO! Power strips are designed for a certain load. It's easy to go way above that load rating when chaining them together. It's even possible to overload individual power bars and house circuits by plugging multiple high amp devices into it. As a general rule, any device that generates heat draws a heavy load (such as hair dryers, curling irons, heater fans, block heaters, etc.) Also air conditioners draw a lot. So be aware and be safe.
i get where this is going, the whole reason why its against electric code to daisy chain power taps is because its very easy to overdraw current from the host tap from all the extra crap or current plugged into the host or downstream taps, putting a large amp draw on the main one, burning the wires and starting a fire, if the host is 15 amp max, the total current draw across *ALL* the power taps in the daisy chain must NOT exceed 15 amps, even if a downstream tap can handle more than that, i see many people only account on a per tap in the chain, and push 15 amps on 3 of their taps (totalling 50 amps to the first tap, burning it)
That depends on what's being plugged in. Many devices use less than half an amp each; 21 such devices would fill up four, six-outlet power strips (three of the 24 total outlets would be serving power strips) while drawing less than 70% of a 15-amp circuit's nominal capacity.
be carful on following these stickers that gives you energy consumtion rating , because they say what is the nominal wattage not peak , which could be much higher
Who the heck plugs a heater into a surge protector in the first place... Air Conditioner, Refrigerator, Portable Heater, Deep Freezer, All of these things draw massive amounts of wattage, and should always be plugged directly into a wall outlet. A surge protector can not handle those levels of wattage very well, which is obvious why the fire started in the first place.
I had this happen from sparking on an outlet of a power strip with nothing plugged in and only two plugs were used one by a low voltage thing but like a month before a bunch of audio equipment including an 18” subwoofer were plugged into it maxing it out and it was fine
"plug power bars into power bars" is : ( in France ) unauthorized, installation outside the norm, not covered by insurance, and it's very dangerous !!! (because, made in china multiplug is not alltime full good, and up the problem of the power run in.
All depends where you're at. Here stateside we are anywhere from 110-120 for most residential applications with some 220-240 volt plugs for larger appliances requiring special plugs. Think large residential electric dryers and range/ovens. So for our applications daisy-chaining power strips can act as extra outlets, or in the case of my college dorm an extension cord since those were banned from the dorms. In the UK and most other places that side of the Atlantic I believe use 220 for all applications. At 220 volts you are likely to sooner exceed the limitations of the single power strip. I am a firm believer in only buying products from reputable brands when it comes to anything handling electricity, especially with higher requirements. I believe what may have been the issue is that some power strips have an 'always on' outlet that could have caused a problem, or could have just been old/faulty where there was enough draw to cause the heat and melt. Too many factors for it to really say for sure based off this video alone. But typically I would agree daisy-chaining multiple power strips isn't a best practice for wide application across an entire home or business and is begging for a fire.
Ryan Slemmer the Heat generated really only depends on the current flowing through the socket and it's resistance (P=R*I^2). With the same load the current is lower on a 220V system and I theory you're less likely to start a fire. But it really depends on if the power strip is reasonable good if it will hold the bold promise molded into it's casing
One of the disadvantages of using a low voltage such as 120V is that it requires a higher current to deliver the same power as a higher voltage can do at a lower current, and thus requiring more bulky connectors and thicker wires to establish a good connection. I've seen lots of pictures and videos of charred and burned 120V outlets. I live in a country with 240V phase-to-neutral and I've never seen a burned outlet here (not saying it hasn't happened, I just haven't seen one). Most outlets here are fused at 10A.
The math is irrelevant.As soon as you plug one power strip into another you've violated the UL Listing.Good luck getting your insurance company to pay you for your losses.
I am glad to live in Europe where we have 230V system and 16A sockets that can withstand even overloading without a problem. You can draw 3.7 kW from one socket or group of sockets connected to a breaker. Also, in each house there's at least one 3-phase (3x230/400V) 32A socket, from which can be drawn up to 22 kW of power. That allows us to run machines with very powerful motors for example. That's not possible in America I think :P
Zdenek Březovský I'll never understand why you all always seem to think so many things are impossible in America? An average modern home is fed by a 200A main feed at 240V single split-phase, or 48KW of total power available to a typical modern home (roughly equivalent to a 65A three phase service provided all the phases are in balance). While the average tap is either a 15A (1.8KW) or 20A (2.4KW) receptacle at 120VAC we also use 240VAC taps of 15A, 20A, 30A, 50A, 60A, and up, wherever needed (ovens, range tops, larger plug-in air conditioners, heat pumps, or heaters, clothes dryers, our workshops, emergency power generation, etc.). Even larger homes can start at 400A and up, depending upon the building needs. At the same time, 120VAC is considerably less lethal if one comes in contact and 1.8KW is far more than required for most temporary accessory loads at a single usage point. The few larger loads that are commonly encountered in the U.K., like your 3.6KW kettles, are not really relevant here in the U.S. not because we can't accommodate such -- we could very easily add 20A@240VAC outlets if we wanted such -- but because in a typical U.S. home such a device would be placed on a kitchen countertop right next to the oven/range that, whether gas or electric, is already equipped with much higher powered burners if your goal is to simply boil water in a hurry.
we do this on a large scale on LAN parties. we do however go thru EVERYTHING and plan how we spread it out. Here we use 10-16A 230V systems and fuses and we use 16A rated stuff AND spread it out as best as possible. we try to allocate 8A to a 16A circuit. .
its ok to have one more on the line Only if not exceeding the amount of plug space on the original one already. Say there is 6 ports for plugs. can have up to 6 items on it. now some plugs are blocky in size. taking up more then 1 plug on the ports. sometimes you have 2 or 3 of these block plugs. where all 6 ports are covered up. noiw if you take extra power bar. plug it in the first one. you have some extra space for a couple more plugs if needed. but overall might be better ans safer to a longer or better power bar aka Surge Protector is what they are called.
6:07 that isn't entirely accurate that the amp number is 15, the real reason is that the wire being used in the power bar is 14 AWG. which can handle up to a maximum of 15 amps. Slight correction.
Just an FYI, those breakers on a power bar are simple bimetallic thermal switches, i remember plugging a 1500 watt heater into one of those (well within the current rating with just a laptop and speakers on other plugs), the switch tripped after about 3 minutes. further tests show that those CANNOT be used to supplement a proper circuit breaker. Older power bars may not even have an overload contingency, while newer ones may even have a proper 15 amp circuit breaker.
Breakers sometimes have problems with "slow blow" events, where the operation is overloaded, but everything else is within limits. Some devices also sont always draw power and allow tripping mechanisms to "reset" before the point of activation. It can be as simple as that it wasn't a true fire, but instead, an overloaded outlet connection between the affected strips. This is why price matters
The only time it would be safe is if BOTH bars do NOT exceed the capacity of the 1st, and the wall outlet. I have daisy chained many low amperage devices to 2 bars plugged into each other. Still, those power strips are NOT for large amperage draw devices.
Basically, as long as you didn't go over the max amp, you're pretty much safe as long as 1) extension did cheap out on cable (gauge) 2) amp taken for a device is as exactly as it said
I don't know much about funky US electrical installations but here is northern Europe, where rules and regulations are followed neurotically, domestic switchboards have 10A or 16A fuses or circuit breakers, which pretty much guarantees that regulations-compliant extension cords cannot melt. At 230V voltage these currents correspond to 2300 and 3700 Watts, respectively.
It's all about the load. You CAN daisy-chain power-bars fine, but if you OVERLOAD them, you will have issues. This video explains the issue well. Cheap bars will also be a cause for concern if you put any load on them, as a cheap bar with crappy connections to the plugs will be prone to I-squared-R heating, which can be substantial if the current flow is high, but the connection is loose or has a high resistance. Turns the bar into a heater itself. ;)
I would say it depends on the load. One portable electric heater at 1500 watts will max the circuit. The circuit supplying the strip also is operating other outlets in other rooms. Figure your loads and stay less than 80% of the maximum of the circuit on that circuit. Fun!
My job is to find such cascade setups and dismantle them. There are so much of these in office tables. Good thing some use power bars with proper cable thickness and special reinforced extended connectors. Also, powerbars with integrated fuses.
The problem is the resistance. The longer the cords (added together) the higher the resistance. PLUS the contacts of the plugs do not connect on the whole area pf the plug, but only on a fraction of the surface, creating another resistance. More resistance means less current flowing but more heat being generated. There is also some induction in the wire itself which altogether keeps the circuit breaker ftom tripping.
I made the biggest mistake during college by plugging a heater into an electrical cord instead of an outlet and the power on the side of the room it was plugged into went out and I had to get my RA to flip the breaker switch. 5 times in the first 2 months of school. I’m grateful a fire never started but I did get fined when a separate RA reported me. Be safe with ur heaters!
This has NOTHING to do with a power bar being plugged into another power bar and EVERYTHING to do with a poor connection between the plug and receptacle or a problem with the wire internally fraying in the plug. The resistance (poor connection) between the plug and receptacle (socket) generates heat, causing the melting shown. I had the EXACT same melting happen to me with a heater and a power bar (power strip), only the power bar was plugged directly into the wall, NOT another power bar. Internally and invisibly, the wires in the plug had been fraying due to flexing over the years. The higher resistance of the frayed wire generated heat that melted the plug. The same thing can also happen if the plug prongs are not solidly connecting to the receptacle, which can happen when the socket loosens up after many years of use.
The amp rating of those breakers assumes that you don't have all or most of your load get through a single socket. I've Daisy Chained power strips when the power cables plugged into them are very skinny compared to the power cable feeding the strip
As stated in at least one other comment your point of failure is the rotatable plug on that power strip. The rest of the video seems to be fine. However, I do have one problem. Those power strips are rated at 15 Amps with the length of wire attached to it. You you daisy chain 2 identicle power strips, you just doubled the length of the wire, reducing the amount of current (amps) it can handle. By how much depends on the gauge, temperature rating, and material of the wire. Then you have to consider the resistance of the plug and socket of each power strip you daisy chain together. I always find it best to tell people no more than 2, and plug high demand devices like a heater or pc into the first strip and leave the second for low power devices like monitors, tv's, and phone chargers.
its always about the load or amp rating. if you exceed this on the wall electrical outlet it will trip the fuse on the breaker panel, on a power bar it will get so hot it will melt the plastic and catch fire along with everything around it, e.g. carpet, curtains, etc.
never EVER plug in a high-load appliance into a plastic power strip. there is a hidden flaw in all, being the plastic isn't thermally rated for the temps the metal strips may reach. when the makers say 15 amps, they are only referring to the plug configuration and fuse, and not the actual thermal rating for the shell. also, it has been found that the wires used on the cheaper strips are actually underrated for the load. if the cord is 16 awg, you can only put 12 amps on the strip, and 18 awg can do even less (maybe 8-10 amps) and should be thrown out. it should also be noted that the prongs in the plastic strips can also be undersized for 15 amps, and normally only can handle around 10 amps per socket. the metal ones generally use better quality contacts that can handle 15 amps, but may still get warm. if you are going to plug a high amp device into a power strip it should be made of metal and have intact grounding with a 10-14 awg cord. however, is it best not to use power strips for appliances anyways.
Just buy a surge protector with 10 or 12 outlets but still have to be careful what is plugged into it. Find out the Max capacity the surge protector can handle and how much each device will consume . Oven aka stove, refrigerator aka ice box, microwave, washer dryer, window fan aka swamp fan, heater, George foreman grill, air fryer etc all need to be pulled into the wall outlet directly . They all require and draw a lot power and electricity. In my apartment if I use air fryer and microwave at the same time it trips the fuses and no more power. Do not buy used or surge protector from the dollar store.
In itself daisy chaining power strip isn't a problem generally. The receptacles in most power inexpenvivetrips are substandard. My guess the person using the heater don their due diligence and unpluged it whenever the heater wasn't need. Most likely using the same on the power atrip wearing it to the point were it no longer made a snug connection to the plug, so heat was generate at that point. That itself wasn't an over current event to be tripping the breakers. When there's a need to daisy chain, use an heavy duty on at the first position, and plug in high current devices to it
In the UK sockets are fused, you shouldn't be able to over amp the wires based just on the because if you try plugging too much in you'd just blow the fuse
For transformer plugs the output amperage is not the same as the input amperage because it is at a much longer voltage. For example, using the formula W=VA 9v at 1a is only 9 watts. 9/120 is only ~0.1 amps from the wall.
These calculations show a faulty breaker or faulty power board. If that board is rated 15 amps it should be handling the power draw from anything connected up until the 15 amp CB trips. It should have no problem tripping as anything else running on the SAME circuit would push it even further. It should not have caught fire as circuit breakers have 2 tripping functions built in, short circuit which trips fairly quickly or overload where over time a metal strip heats up and bends to trip the breaker. To avoid this problem you can get power boards with breakers built in that trip when theres too much load, get new breakers that can be tested regularly or get more power outlets installed.
Never gave much thought about it... In Europe most eletric bars also have 16A max, but since we use 240v we atually have about twice as much capacity, unless I plug home appliances or several heaters to one, it's quite hard to overload one
nervously looks behind my media center where its just a mess of power bars well, its been functioning just fine for 8 years so i doubt it will catch fire any time soon, just gotta be careful in case we plug anything new into it
One nitpick: On the router and speakers, you used the OUTPUT current rating instead of the INPUT current rating, meaning the real numbers are actually much lower. For example, on the speaker, if you take the 1A rating * 120V you get 120 watts... but it's only rated for 15 (so the actual rating is 0.125A instead of 1.0). That said, it only makes things safer by giving a wider margin to the max current, so I guess it doesn't really harm much.
If you plug a power bar into itself you actually get infinite power.
I too marvel at the idea of a flux capacitor
you moron
I did what u said and my house caught fire Thanks for lying in actually mad
DONT TRY IT CAN EXPLODE OR CAUSE A FIRE
I have already received the consequence 😓
Its all about the load. Hook up fifteen 5 watt phone chargers and you'll be fine. hook up two 1200 watt space heaters and you got issues.
My friend had two 15 amp window air conditioners on a single 15 amp circuit and couldn't figure out why the breaker kept tripping.
oh man thank you, after watching this video I only thought about the amp. But you saved me xD
Nope.Killed all the peep on the dive boat last year. phone chargers can be 3 amps.
yeah no shit sherlock
Three safety cut-off devices all failed to activate? Maybe someone's trying to get rid of you. :)
I`m looking into it. So far I left no witnesses. And I don`t know nothin` `bout those mysterious electrical deaths reported in the news.
(just kidding, of course;)
Could be a loose/broken plug pin arcing, ...
Crap... he is on to me... wait, why did I open my mouth? I just exposed my self. I mean, I can still delete this comment and not post it... Yet, I am going to post it anyway. Weird.
The trap set by the MasterNinjaonANinja has snapped and narroly missed me. Here is the actual victim: th-cam.com/video/53pkJQVQ6OY/w-d-xo.html So the hunt continues ...
The most disconcerting piece of information I have ever been given, (other than at the tender age of 6 my big Sister telling me I was adopted from travelling gypsies) was the supposed fact that in an urban environment, you're never more than 10 meters from a rat!
Yeah, that 10 m is pushing it ... That 10 is an average type figure, such us if I have $1 and my bro has $3, on average we have $2 each but ACTUALLY no-one has $2. So it could be close to 0.5m in a travelling gypsy camp or inner city London, UK, but 19.5m in a National Park, hence 10 m on average ... something like that ...
*Looks under desk* "Well I'm screwed."
As long as not much power is going through it I think it’s ok.
Depends on what ur pc specs.
Haimanala TV I assume you are a gamer. It might be just enough, but it wouldn’t be crazy if something did happen
Same, running a heater, PC with 4 monitors, 5.1 surround speakers/sub, a solder station, lamp, chargers and more.... thinking its about time to get one of those industrial power strips with like 20 connections, and to check my breaker
Shremeant “Depends on your PC specs” LOL. Do you really think a highend video card will make 300 watts difference or so? A PC is just a PC. The maximum i have ever seen a PC drawing was like 350 watts. Normal household PC uses 150 watts or so. A 16” laptop can go as low as 15 watts.
For those who don't feel like counting to 15, you can grab a Kill-A-Watt meter which will tell you exactly how many amps and watts a plug in an outlet is taking. Very useful for determining how close you are to overloading! (This is not endorsed by any company, I have a few and they're great.)
Wow thanks. Time to pull the Kill-A-Watt out of the office
Does it help with the scenario he was showing - many plugs on the same breaker?
@@cliffmathewYou would need to know how many outlets are on the circuit and use the device to measure the current being drawn from each one. Easiest way to find how many outlets on the circuit is to flip the breaker off and check how many outlets lose power.
Thank you so much for taking the time to make this video. This was incredibly educational and helpful.
This is the kind of stuff that everyone SHOULD learn in high school.
I made it to age 31 without ever understanding this stuff.
How horribly irresponsible and unsafe.
Thanks for watching! (hearted)
Indeed, I learned a lot from this as well. It's rare to find facts and truth instead of generic PoWeR sTrIpS bAd advice.
😢❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😂😢😮😅😊🔥 😊
3:57 You need to take the power factor into consideration. Basically it is about 0.5 on such equipment so double the figure. 4:43 It is output 1 A at 9 V. The input is 15 W at 120 V which gives 0.125 A but lets double that for the power factor so we get 0.25 A.
A circuit breaker does not trip immediately if the overload is not large. Also if there is poor contact in the plug it can cause heat. The more you chain the more change there is for poor contact.
Here extension cords are for 16 A. I have a 10 A circuit breaker.
What is the radius of your head?
The heater was the problem NEVER EVER hook a heater to a surge protect!
a heater is just consuming electricity like any other, just because you know it consumes a little bit more he should still be able to check all his devices and their power consumption.
if one power bar is rated 1500w and other one is 1500w, once you run 1500w on either you're at max capacity, you're running 1500w thro both ofcourse, this guy probably ended up running more than rated for thats all, heaters has nothing to do with this, just the power consumption of the devices attatched.
Kinda. In pretty much all cases it will be fine, just keep in mind that it's a high resistance load. Cheaply designed power bars' caps would never be able to handle a high resistance load.
Lol then whats the use of the surge protect
Raymond Leggs thank you
Had the same thing happen years ago, had a heater plugged into a power bar, that was plugged into another power bar. Outlet melted where the 2nd power bar plugged into the first.
The total didn't exceed 15 amps. The rotational plug in the last plug strip was defective and over heated with the heater plugged in.
You hit the nail on the head. I was scrolling through looking for this very comment. Those rotating plugs suck and are prone to premature mechanical failure. I'm convinced that was the failure point.
Indeed, the resistance inside the contacts on the plug was just too high (bad contact, fouled by greasy fingers perhaps), which in turn generates a lot of loacl heat build-up. Hence the fire.
it looks like it was the socket rather than the plug that burned though...
no, they both got hot at the connection point and both fried
I saw your profile pic the read your comment in my head with a country accent
Also I would also give a notice. Over time contact between chinese and even non chinese plugs/sockets tend to oxidize due to thermal cycling, moisture, also dust adds its toll. So it may start heating even if you are at 11/12/13/14A of your total 15A maximum. Also, if contact between socket and plug gets overloaded for some time, oxides and burns start to develop between contacts and that encourages even more heating. So I would recommend reaching 50-80% of the load maximum and recycling the plugs into sockets, also taking a look at the state of conductors and cleaning if neccessary. When unplugged/replugged, the conductors scratch off the oxides/dust and thus the contact improves.
The same mistake you noticed with the speaker adapter you made with the modem.
The modem runs at 5 volts from an adapter, and the sign on the modem itself said 1 amp at 5 volts, so that's just 5 watts.
That's 0.043 amps from the mains, but given you have some losses in the adapter, lets say it draws 0.05 amps.
Thanks for the correction.
(Errors happen when I have 1 take and no script)
I was just about to point this out.
I actually learned a lot from this
Same lol
i made your 68 likes go 69 :3
It's quite clear to me what happened. Electrical conductors get warm when they are pushed near their rated limit (doesn't have to be over), the first place to get warm will be the weakest point, such as a connection like a plug. As a conductor gets warm resistance increases, as resistance increases it generates more heat, and it can turn into a runaway effect until it starts a fire. Your circuit did not exceed 15 amps, which is why the breaker did not trip. The problem was the cheap Chinese power bars, despite saying 15 amps they are not designed to handled that kind of load. If you've ever used Chinese batteries that say something like "6000mah" but actually are more like 800mah, you'll be aware they are not shy about overstating the capacities of their products.
1:58 LMAOOO
happens All the time lol
jx.504 hahahah
jx.504 Aa
haha I was gonna comment the same but I KNEW someone had already done it.
Facts bruhh
It's all about load. Running a bunch of power powered devises is fine, just don't hook up anything that draws a lot of power such as a space heater.
billybassman21 there are breakers you know
The Minecraft Expidition and there are faulty breakers you know. Can’t rely too much on these things
Is a gaming pc alright fine to plug in
+PreCook ed yeah if its not an amd based gaming pc
*plugs a fridge, heater, microwave and coffee maker in*
*House Explodes*
InstantCake lloooool
InstantCake No, Breaker trips.
Fridges and microwaves by themselves would far exceed the 15A breaker. That's why they have their own breakers.
Refrigerators and microwave ovens are usually served by 20 amp circuits.
It overheated because the resistence of the connection was high (the plug connected to the other power bar), that resistence did two thing, ONE it avoided the ampers (current) to go nominal 12.5A, TWO it generated heat and fire, that is the reason protections didn't trip.
Was a loose connection?, not necesarily, if you study the internal shape of the females contacts, it is just a tiny part which really get in contact with the male counterpart, the parts are not perfectly parallel frictioning, notmally is a tiny part which press against the male plug. That minimal surface normally can't conduct 12.5A.... , when the power bar say in the label it is 15A, it don't reffers to just ONE female plug, female counterparts are not designed that way, but the label reffer that the sum of all females will do up to 15A, and the protection is normally 15A sustained during X ammount of period, it is NOT just past 15A barrier and PUUUFFF (instantly).
It looks like the overcurrent arced at a loose-fitting pin, manufacturing problem.
if it were really loose the user will notice it just when pluggin, what happens is that the metals increase resistence on heat, and change its shape on heat, and it is a run, if at the beginning it was a tiny surface in contact, it heat, then the heat makes it worst.
That doesn't really make sense, because it means you could overload a power strip far too easily in general.
Consider I have 6 socket power strip rated for 240 volts 10 amps.
OK, so if I plug in 6 devices that use 400 watts each, that's the power limit.
But so is one device that uses 1500 watts, and one that uses 800
And if you don't think something can use those kinds of wattages, a typical portable fan heater is anything from 1500-2000 watts.
My Desktop PC has a 650 watt power supply. And that's the OUTPUT power rating, and when heavily loaded efficiency may be as little as 80%, meaning it draws closer 780 watts.
Meanwhile, it's fully possible to buy 1250 watt power supplies for computers, and while those tend to be much more efficient...
It still means you're pulling more than half the total power the entire strip is rated for through a single plug.
For that matter, the power strip has pretty much the exact same rating as the wall socket.
If you overload the power strip as a whole you're also overloading the household circuit...
So there are things like resistance and inductance and some other complex issues, and in general plugging a power strip into a second power strip isn't the best idea ever.
But if you're careful it's perfectly safe.
I've seen professional theatre crews plug a whole heap of equipment into several power strips leading into another power strip this way, which was then plugged into a rather long extension cord...
That worked perfectly fine. (admittedly the extension cord was a 20 amp rated chord, which means something like 4.8 kilowatts, but nonetheless it was quite a mess of wires and adapters and other things...)
well done bro i thought in my head if the WHOLE amps is 15 not one outlet is 15A all the four is and he must have fought that one outlet is 15A so he plugged the printer in which must have been over 3.75A
here in argentina is outlets at wall for 10A and 20A, if a power bar must meet it, it can be 10A or 20A in the main plug, now, now, except for industrial type, to see power bars where each individual plug is capable of that, overall thinking the POWER BAR concept is for dividing power in several female plugs, has no-sense for making each individual female plug capable of the full input Amps. Other way I would be a power extension cord, not a power bar. But, any way, this burn, your video case, is not about you did those Amps, it was just heat from a loose conection or DIRT in the contacts, that did't the required resistence for allowed heat to be developed, so, it is normal that none protection shut it down.
Common sense says no more then 1 power strip at a time just because of the fact you can plug a lot of things in already. Most power strip packages they tell you not to plug multiple strips into each other. If you need a second one, use both wall plugs. These cheap power strips are a joke especially Monster branded ones, very thin copper strips running along the inside and everything is molded, which means plugs can get loose. All of my strips are metal with actual outlets. You can get them from some electronic stores and most hardware stores. Way better construction. The reason why the breaker didn't trip on the power strip nor the breaker box was because there wasn't a physical short, just a connection heating up.
travis piper is right.
I'm using both wall sockets already.
My problem is the house I live in has a grand total of 10 power sockets total.
the bedroom has just two.
My computer setup alone requires 3 plugs all to itself.
I am faced with 12 things plugged in at once right now in a location that only has 2 accessible wall sockets, and that's with half the stuff I keep around my desk not actually plugged in at all.
To top it off one of the power strips I use has UK plug sockets, because I have several UK devices.
That's not otherwise a problem, because the voltages are the same, but the power strip is the only way I can reasonably plug those in to anything...
If these properties actually had a decent number of power sockets for modern conditions, this absurd setup wouldn't be quite as necessary.
But as it is...
In any event I try to keep stacked anything to an absolute bare minimum.
The two standard strips are plugged into a wall socket each.
The UK strip is plugged into one of the other strips.
(I'd give it it's own wall socket if I could. In fact I did, when this whole setup was in a different room, but I'm simply out of options...)
Who else hates reading long comments.
That's not how "common sense" works. 2 devices plugged into 1 socket can attempt to draw 30 amps by themselves if they are high current devices like heaters whereas you can piggyback to your heart's delight if the drain from each device is low enough.
A double powerpoint doesn't supply any more power than a single one does, they are BOTH on the same circuit.
"Common sense" is no substitute for logic or maths.
You can also buy firelighters...a much cheaper and more efficient way of burning your house down.
Always buy a very high quality surge protector
Red things on power bars ARE NOT BREAKERS, they are just switches that humans can use if needed, only breakers you have there are the ones in basement. Meltdown could happen from two factors:
1st the wall plug could've been connected to a higher amperage breaker by accident, so the meltdown occurred (it would happen first on contacts between wires);
2nd it could have been a loose connection.
Your math is flawed...lets use the the speakers as an example.
Speakers DC adapter said it has an output voltage of 9 VDC and is capable of supplying 1A of current which give you a maximum output of 9 watts o f power (I know it saw 15W but I just did the math for you).
9 Watts / 120 VAC = 0.075A Max Draw on 120V mains.
Basically stating that the speakers won't draw more than 0.08A at max volume....not even 1/10 of an amp from the wall.
If it could draw 1A at 120 volts that means it would use 120 Watts...which is unrealistic.
That`s right, thanks for noticing. I pointed at the OUTPUT numbers by mistake.And those are DC.
The INPUT is 15 W, so same math as with the TV 15/115 = 0.13A
I`ll insert some text box fix.
The input of the speaker adapter says 15 watts, and the output is 9 watts.
But these numbers are right, as the speaker adapter has a transformer in it, and transformers are not 100% efficient.
Some of the electricity is turned into heat in the coils, you can feel that a transformer gets warm when in use.
Power consumption is not the same as power that goes into producing sound in speakers. Much of the power is consumed by the amplifier. And power consumption ratings, are probably more of a "maximum under reasonable conditions" rating, and not the "average" or typical usage. Probably a bit more power will be used when played as maximum volume, than at the typical volume.
The router is also 1A at 5 volts, not 1A at 120 volts.
Was looking for this comment...
I noted a problem when you added 1A from the router. the router was attached via a powerinversion brick, that converts 120VAC to 5VDC. This conversion changes the amperage alongside the voltage, to create the overall wattage pull. 5Vx1A=5 Watts, so 5W/125V=0.04 Amps pulled from the wall, plus efficiency loss, which should be listed on the power brick.
It all depends on the draw through each powerbar. If you're only drawing low power, it will make no difference and hurt nothing. I agree that is a big 'if' however for someone who doesn't know what they're doing.
Phototristan==You are correct.
The faces look so shocked at the death of their dear friend :(
🤣🤣
Moral of the story anyone: Plug as many surge protectors into surge protectors with things plugged into those as you want, just make darn sure NOT to exceed 15 amps.
If those circuit breakers were not flipping when you drew a lot more, there's something wrong with it obviously, and I won't be surprised if there is considering it was from 1971, right in the middle of the time contractors were using aluminum wiring, which is extremely unsafe. If you need to be worried about anything at all it is that wiring in your house, that will go up in flames WAY before the copper stuff in the surge protectors will.
elevator1tom real story: don't buy cheap pieces of shit and not expect it to blow up and catch fire
Well, obviously. My college used very cheap Belkin power strips, with no surge protection. I measured ground voltage from the neutral and hot terminals and got a voltage reading of 42 volts and 46 volts. I immediately unplugged it. I at home use a 200 dollar UPS unit as my power strip.
Now I'm starting to consider that maybe using ground voltage to power low power devices and charge batteries for occasional use of high power devices is viable. Shouldn't it be not normal for ground to get a measurable amount except during spikes?
I love my electronics but I don't wanna BBQ either 😂😂😂😂
It's quite simple: If you plug low-power drawing items into a power strip that's coming off of another power strip, you should be just fine. However, under NO circumstances should an extremely high wattage item (like a space heater) be plugged into ANY kind of extension, be it a power strip or extension cord. If anything, it should be the only thing plugged into that outlet. Same goes for air conditioners.
Plugging a computer or laptop charger into the primary strip (the one plugged into the wall) and then using a second strip for something like an lame with a CFL or LED bulb, maybe a phone charger... You'll be fine.
I have a dual strip setup at my house but I only use the 2nd strip to power a small LCD monitor, my computer speakers (about 5A), and an LED lamp. Pretty sure I'm not going to burn anything down.
This power bar is a classic case of a poor connection. Happens when the plug doesn't make a full connection. Ive seen this on CH breakers too - in particular the BR style. 14 gauge can handle 18A without a problem. The 15 A is a rating given also to compensate for high ambient air temps which changes how many amps rather conductor can carry and for how long before the insulation is compromised.
The power bar problem above is avoided when an AFCI breaker is used.
The heat damage / fire was caused by a loose (or) high resistance connection between the socket of the first power strip and the plug of the second power strip, and not because of an overlaoad.
And while adding the amperes of the different loads. All the amperes rating should be converted to it's equivalent 120V reference before adding them up.
You can do this but it's not really recommended that you do. So long as the draw doesn't exceed the amps you should be fine.
Still, just get a bigger power strip
Daisy chaining is the name that springs to mind to me. It's perfectly okay and safe to do as long as you don't exceed the power rating of the power strip, which should be molded somewhere in the plastic casing, or the sockets thereof.
Except it violates the safety devices that are on the power strip, extension cord or surge protector. They are not designed to be plugged into each other in any form or fashion at all. They are designed to be independent equipment.
@@chadmargraf4020 The reason manufactures warn against daisy-chaining is because they assume people will use every available plug in both the first and second power bar, and I don't blame them for assuming that because people are idiots. However, as long as you keep the full power draw well within the maximum amp rating for a single power strip, (which is usually around 14 or 15 amps) then it is not dangerous. People just need to understand that a chain of power-strips has the same maximum amp capacity as a single power strip. You don't gain extra capacity by chaining them because every strip in the chain must bear the full load of everything that's plugged in.
@@Beefnhammer thats what I figure, that you are not using all the devices at once. and would shy away from using the bar for anything that heats up and thereby draws a lot of electricity.
Thank you. I have cords, and strips plugged in everywhere throughout my woodshop. This was a big wakeup call for me.
FYI - the router is rated at 5V 1A, that's what comes out of its power brick, check the rating for the input of the power brick and it'll probably be much less than 1A.
Totally glossed over that, didn't he?
You can hook a power strip into another one as long as the power being pulled isn't a lot. Basically don't plug in a vacuum or any high power devices into them.
Infinite *POWER*
YES
But not for my bro
Your router is taking 1A at 5V - that does not mean it's taking 1A at 115V. If the power conversion is 100% efficient, the 5W (5Vx1A) drawn by the router would work out at (5W/115V) 0.043A. To allow for inefficiencies I'd call that 0.1A. Also, your speaker adapter shows it takes 15W at 120V - that is (15/120) 0.125A. Its OUTPUT is 1A at 9V (= 9W - that is a fairly inefficient converter given a 15W input). You can take that figure as that is given as the input rating. Therefore your total power draw is 9.305A (call it 9.5 to allow for inaccuracies), not 11.08A.
Here in UK, our plugs are rated to 13A (not 15A), but our higher voltage allows a maximum power draw of 3120W at 240V.
In the UK we have fuses in every plug. I have 4 power strips plugged into one wall outlet but on the one plugged into the outlet I have a 5 amp fuse, so I should never encounter any fires I hope.
Ethan Short doesn't that almost render them useless for amp-eating appliances?😂
yep but ive never had a problem and its never set on fire so thats pretty good. i plug hairdryer and whatever into the other socket
thanks for the clarification. i have a couple of chains of these in my office for screens and computers, but its a calculated amount of power used, well below the rated amount for my cables :)
Oh... this is literally how I have my PC setup because the nearest outlet is insanely far away from my desk.
Is it safe to use two cords for pc only
@@NOAH_999 No, this is super unsafe. You always want to ground your PC to a surge protector.
@@thetwistedsamurai thanks for the information 🤜🤛
now with cable extensions in the UK no idea how many amps but you can connect extension leads and other equipment plugged into them and it still works correctly.
Also, don't let your dog pee on them. That also starts fires.
We don`t keep dogs in the office, it`s a heritage building from 1892. But there aren`t any washrooms either, so that there might be something to look into ... I just remembed we have a high electrocution rate among workers there, all misteriously found dead with pants down, never been solved cases ...
theoverengineer You know, I think we may be on to something major here. If we combine our brain power, we might be able to save lives. Or at least keep power outlets dry. But it is sketchy.
No, it will just shock him badly, usually.
Short answer, NO!
Power strips are designed for a certain load. It's easy to go way above that load rating when chaining them together.
It's even possible to overload individual power bars and house circuits by plugging multiple high amp devices into it. As a general rule, any device that generates heat draws a heavy load (such as hair dryers, curling irons, heater fans, block heaters, etc.)
Also air conditioners draw a lot. So be aware and be safe.
They are safe up until a certain point, being mindful of the amount of current you're drawing will be a life saver.
literally
i get where this is going, the whole reason why its against electric code to daisy chain power taps is because its very easy to overdraw current from the host tap from all the extra crap or current plugged into the host or downstream taps, putting a large amp draw on the main one, burning the wires and starting a fire, if the host is 15 amp max, the total current draw across *ALL* the power taps in the daisy chain must NOT exceed 15 amps, even if a downstream tap can handle more than that, i see many people only account on a per tap in the chain, and push 15 amps on 3 of their taps (totalling 50 amps to the first tap, burning it)
That depends on what's being plugged in. Many devices use less than half an amp each; 21 such devices would fill up four, six-outlet power strips (three of the 24 total outlets would be serving power strips) while drawing less than 70% of a 15-amp circuit's nominal capacity.
Well yeah if you plug an energy and shove it into another energy bar you get twice the energy, twice the power.
Justin Y. Hey man
Hey you here again!?
Justin Y. Wtf... I have seen you on every video I have watched in the last 24 hours
Hey guys, if your genuinely sick of this parasite just ignore his comments. Bonus points for using the (pointless) downvote button!
Dumbass Demoman dude no one's sick of him, he just appears in every comment section
be carful on following these stickers that gives you energy consumtion rating , because they say what is the nominal wattage not peak , which could be much higher
Who the heck plugs a heater into a surge protector in the first place...
Air Conditioner, Refrigerator, Portable Heater, Deep Freezer, All of these things draw massive amounts of wattage, and should always be plugged directly into a wall outlet. A surge protector can not handle those levels of wattage very well, which is obvious why the fire started in the first place.
Speedy Game Clips people who just want to use them for a longer cord length for one appliance
I had this happen from sparking on an outlet of a power strip with nothing plugged in and only two plugs were used one by a low voltage thing but like a month before a bunch of audio equipment including an 18” subwoofer were plugged into it maxing it out and it was fine
"plug power bars into power bars" is : ( in France )
unauthorized, installation outside the norm, not covered by insurance,
and it's very dangerous !!! (because, made in china multiplug is not alltime full good, and up the problem of the power run in.
All depends where you're at. Here stateside we are anywhere from 110-120 for most residential applications with some 220-240 volt plugs for larger appliances requiring special plugs. Think large residential electric dryers and range/ovens. So for our applications daisy-chaining power strips can act as extra outlets, or in the case of my college dorm an extension cord since those were banned from the dorms. In the UK and most other places that side of the Atlantic I believe use 220 for all applications. At 220 volts you are likely to sooner exceed the limitations of the single power strip.
I am a firm believer in only buying products from reputable brands when it comes to anything handling electricity, especially with higher requirements. I believe what may have been the issue is that some power strips have an 'always on' outlet that could have caused a problem, or could have just been old/faulty where there was enough draw to cause the heat and melt. Too many factors for it to really say for sure based off this video alone. But typically I would agree daisy-chaining multiple power strips isn't a best practice for wide application across an entire home or business and is begging for a fire.
Ryan Slemmer the Heat generated really only depends on the current flowing through the socket and it's resistance (P=R*I^2). With the same load the current is lower on a 220V system and I theory you're less likely to start a fire. But it really depends on if the power strip is reasonable good if it will hold the bold promise molded into it's casing
One of the disadvantages of using a low voltage such as 120V is that it requires a higher current to deliver the same power as a higher voltage can do at a lower current, and thus requiring more bulky connectors and thicker wires to establish a good connection. I've seen lots of pictures and videos of charred and burned 120V outlets. I live in a country with 240V phase-to-neutral and I've never seen a burned outlet here (not saying it hasn't happened, I just haven't seen one). Most outlets here are fused at 10A.
now I want to look up comparison info on 120 and 240 vac.
The math is irrelevant.As soon as you plug one power strip into another you've violated the UL Listing.Good luck getting your insurance company to pay you for your losses.
I am glad to live in Europe where we have 230V system and 16A sockets that can withstand even overloading without a problem. You can draw 3.7 kW from one socket or group of sockets connected to a breaker. Also, in each house there's at least one 3-phase (3x230/400V) 32A socket, from which can be drawn up to 22 kW of power. That allows us to run machines with very powerful motors for example. That's not possible in America I think :P
Zdenek Březovský I'll never understand why you all always seem to think so many things are impossible in America? An average modern home is fed by a 200A main feed at 240V single split-phase, or 48KW of total power available to a typical modern home (roughly equivalent to a 65A three phase service provided all the phases are in balance). While the average tap is either a 15A (1.8KW) or 20A (2.4KW) receptacle at 120VAC we also use 240VAC taps of 15A, 20A, 30A, 50A, 60A, and up, wherever needed (ovens, range tops, larger plug-in air conditioners, heat pumps, or heaters, clothes dryers, our workshops, emergency power generation, etc.). Even larger homes can start at 400A and up, depending upon the building needs. At the same time, 120VAC is considerably less lethal if one comes in contact and 1.8KW is far more than required for most temporary accessory loads at a single usage point. The few larger loads that are commonly encountered in the U.K., like your 3.6KW kettles, are not really relevant here in the U.S. not because we can't accommodate such -- we could very easily add 20A@240VAC outlets if we wanted such -- but because in a typical U.S. home such a device would be placed on a kitchen countertop right next to the oven/range that, whether gas or electric, is already equipped with much higher powered burners if your goal is to simply boil water in a hurry.
This video is so electrifying
These terrible puns shock me.
Watt do you mean by that?
These hurtz my head
we do this on a large scale on LAN parties. we do however go thru EVERYTHING and plan how we spread it out. Here we use 10-16A 230V systems and fuses and we use 16A rated stuff AND spread it out as best as possible. we try to allocate 8A to a 16A circuit. .
*When your too lazy to plug in your charger so you plug in a power bar's plug into itself and plug your charger there*
its ok to have one more on the line Only if not exceeding the amount of plug space on the original one already. Say there is 6 ports for plugs. can have up to 6 items on it. now some plugs are blocky in size. taking up more then 1 plug on the ports. sometimes you have 2 or 3 of these block plugs. where all 6 ports are covered up. noiw if you take extra power bar. plug it in the first one. you have some extra space for a couple more plugs if needed. but overall might be better ans safer to a longer or better power bar aka Surge Protector is what they are called.
I learn't a lot to be honest.
great video, first 3 minutes answered all my questions thank you sir
Glad to help
I have this kind if setup of power bars, no fires or smoke for me. Works amazing and no issues for me.
InactiveCunt he explains in the video why if you took the time to watch it.
that's dangerous and unsafe incase too much energy goes through the wires causing it to overheat and catch fire.
Thank You for making this very informative video. I learned something about Watt and voltages that I had no idea before. Great video. Thank You
*no*
*yes*
6:07 that isn't entirely accurate that the amp number is 15, the real reason is that the wire being used in the power bar is 14 AWG. which can handle up to a maximum of 15 amps. Slight correction.
I got 2 15s and 5 20s, and a 1952 Cutler Hammer circuit panel. lel
The panel`s about up for donation to a museum ... Probably has only 60A supplied to the household
theoverengineer The master breaker is only 50A. It still does good!
and it will function indefinitely well as long as the 50A is not exceeded (eg. by a meltdown by lightning strike)
theoverengineer The 3 prong outlets in my home aren't really grounded, except for the gfci, hehe.
You also need to include the margin of error for the electronics and also that the splitters themselves also draw a slight load individually.
Power strips should never be plugged into each other
that's just my multi use room...
Börk Deutsche Doesn't matter they do not get plugged into each other
potato Wrong about what?
i dont have any extensions so i used 2 power strips to run the length of my bed just to power 1 small lamp
Been doing this for years, no issues whatsoever : /
Just an FYI, those breakers on a power bar are simple bimetallic thermal switches, i remember plugging a 1500 watt heater into one of those (well within the current rating with just a laptop and speakers on other plugs), the switch tripped after about 3 minutes. further tests show that those CANNOT be used to supplement a proper circuit breaker.
Older power bars may not even have an overload contingency, while newer ones may even have a proper 15 amp circuit breaker.
Its from china that's the problem
Everything is from China.
Breakers sometimes have problems with "slow blow" events, where the operation is overloaded, but everything else is within limits. Some devices also sont always draw power and allow tripping mechanisms to "reset" before the point of activation.
It can be as simple as that it wasn't a true fire, but instead, an overloaded outlet connection between the affected strips. This is why price matters
I'm just glad there's easy addition you can do to check if you're fine instead of just hoping everything is fine.
The only time it would be safe is if BOTH bars do NOT exceed the capacity of the 1st, and the wall outlet. I have daisy chained many low amperage devices to 2 bars plugged into each other. Still, those power strips are NOT for large amperage draw devices.
Basically, as long as you didn't go over the max amp, you're pretty much safe as long as
1) extension did cheap out on cable (gauge)
2) amp taken for a device is as exactly as it said
This wasn't an over-current problem. It was a bad plug/socket that got hot. The breaker should have tripped if the problem was really over-current.
I don't know much about funky US electrical installations but here is northern Europe, where rules and regulations are followed neurotically, domestic switchboards have 10A or 16A fuses or circuit breakers, which pretty much guarantees that regulations-compliant extension cords cannot melt. At 230V voltage these currents correspond to 2300 and 3700 Watts, respectively.
Thanks for the video.
I completely forgot about the amp ratings and such.
You refreshed my memory and saved me from a fire.
BarcrestPlays I knooo I have a wide video vocabulary XD
well, range of videos like searching XD
It's all about the load. You CAN daisy-chain power-bars fine, but if you OVERLOAD them, you will have issues. This video explains the issue well. Cheap bars will also be a cause for concern if you put any load on them, as a cheap bar with crappy connections to the plugs will be prone to I-squared-R heating, which can be substantial if the current flow is high, but the connection is loose or has a high resistance. Turns the bar into a heater itself. ;)
Yup, all within Kitchoff`s Current Law
the 5V 1A and 9V 1A on the router and the white transformer box, is actually the lower voltage, it doesn't mean it's the same as the input.
I would say it depends on the load. One portable electric heater at 1500 watts will max the circuit. The circuit supplying the strip also is operating other outlets in other rooms. Figure your loads and stay less than 80% of the maximum of the circuit on that circuit.
Fun!
My job is to find such cascade setups and dismantle them. There are so much of these in office tables. Good thing some use power bars with proper cable thickness and special reinforced extended connectors. Also, powerbars with integrated fuses.
You can use power bars as kinda of a extension cable
The problem is the resistance. The longer the cords (added together) the higher the resistance. PLUS the contacts of the plugs do not connect on the whole area pf the plug, but only on a fraction of the surface, creating another resistance. More resistance means less current flowing but more heat being generated. There is also some induction in the wire itself which altogether keeps the circuit breaker ftom tripping.
I made the biggest mistake during college by plugging a heater into an electrical cord instead of an outlet and the power on the side of the room it was plugged into went out and I had to get my RA to flip the breaker switch. 5 times in the first 2 months of school.
I’m grateful a fire never started but I did get fined when a separate RA reported me.
Be safe with ur heaters!
This has NOTHING to do with a power bar being plugged into another power bar and EVERYTHING to do with a poor connection between the plug and receptacle or a problem with the wire internally fraying in the plug. The resistance (poor connection) between the plug and receptacle (socket) generates heat, causing the melting shown. I had the EXACT same melting happen to me with a heater and a power bar (power strip), only the power bar was plugged directly into the wall, NOT another power bar. Internally and invisibly, the wires in the plug had been fraying due to flexing over the years. The higher resistance of the frayed wire generated heat that melted the plug. The same thing can also happen if the plug prongs are not solidly connecting to the receptacle, which can happen when the socket loosens up after many years of use.
The amp rating of those breakers assumes that you don't have all or most of your load get through a single socket. I've Daisy Chained power strips when the power cables plugged into them are very skinny compared to the power cable feeding the strip
As stated in at least one other comment your point of failure is the rotatable plug on that power strip. The rest of the video seems to be fine. However, I do have one problem. Those power strips are rated at 15 Amps with the length of wire attached to it. You you daisy chain 2 identicle power strips, you just doubled the length of the wire, reducing the amount of current (amps) it can handle. By how much depends on the gauge, temperature rating, and material of the wire. Then you have to consider the resistance of the plug and socket of each power strip you daisy chain together.
I always find it best to tell people no more than 2, and plug high demand devices like a heater or pc into the first strip and leave the second for low power devices like monitors, tv's, and phone chargers.
Charged up to 100 phones/laptops from daisy-chained (fused) extensions. Low current draw (1-10 or max 120W) + 3W light. Fused extensions. No heaters.
its always about the load or amp rating. if you exceed this on the wall electrical outlet it will trip the fuse on the breaker panel, on a power bar it will get so hot it will melt the plastic and catch fire along with everything around it, e.g. carpet, curtains, etc.
I didn't know people needed this explained to them. "wats dem numbers fer? EELECTRISHUNS?!"
There should be a breaker that flips before anything melts, probably should look into that.
never EVER plug in a high-load appliance into a plastic power strip. there is a hidden flaw in all, being the plastic isn't thermally rated for the temps the metal strips may reach. when the makers say 15 amps, they are only referring to the plug configuration and fuse, and not the actual thermal rating for the shell.
also, it has been found that the wires used on the cheaper strips are actually underrated for the load. if the cord is 16 awg, you can only put 12 amps on the strip, and 18 awg can do even less (maybe 8-10 amps) and should be thrown out. it should also be noted that the prongs in the plastic strips can also be undersized for 15 amps, and normally only can handle around 10 amps per socket. the metal ones generally use better quality contacts that can handle 15 amps, but may still get warm.
if you are going to plug a high amp device into a power strip it should be made of metal and have intact grounding with a 10-14 awg cord. however, is it best not to use power strips for appliances anyways.
Just buy a surge protector with 10 or 12 outlets but still have to be careful what is plugged into it. Find out the Max capacity the surge protector can handle and how much each device will consume . Oven aka stove, refrigerator aka ice box, microwave, washer dryer, window fan aka swamp fan, heater, George foreman grill, air fryer etc all need to be pulled into the wall outlet directly . They all require and draw a lot power and electricity. In my apartment if I use air fryer and microwave at the same time it trips the fuses and no more power. Do not buy used or surge protector from the dollar store.
In itself daisy chaining power strip isn't a problem generally. The receptacles in most power inexpenvivetrips are substandard. My guess the person using the heater don their due diligence and unpluged it whenever the heater wasn't need. Most likely using the same on the power atrip wearing it to the point were it no longer made a snug connection to the plug, so heat was generate at that point. That itself wasn't an over current event to be tripping the breakers. When there's a need to daisy chain, use an heavy duty on at the first position, and plug in high current devices to it
In the UK sockets are fused, you shouldn't be able to over amp the wires based just on the because if you try plugging too much in you'd just blow the fuse
For transformer plugs the output amperage is not the same as the input amperage because it is at a much longer voltage. For example, using the formula W=VA 9v at 1a is only 9 watts. 9/120 is only ~0.1 amps from the wall.
That cable management is filthy, but you're smart
As someone with an OSHA certification, I'll say that there is NO WAY THAT THIS ISN'T AN OSHA VIOLATION!
Chack out this extension cord fire beauty th-cam.com/video/jRxhYsumf9I/w-d-xo.html
These calculations show a faulty breaker or faulty power board. If that board is rated 15 amps it should be handling the power draw from anything connected up until the 15 amp CB trips. It should have no problem tripping as anything else running on the SAME circuit would push it even further. It should not have caught fire as circuit breakers have 2 tripping functions built in, short circuit which trips fairly quickly or overload where over time a metal strip heats up and bends to trip the breaker.
To avoid this problem you can get power boards with breakers built in that trip when theres too much load, get new breakers that can be tested regularly or get more power outlets installed.
5years later and this video just won another argument lol thank you
So many unecessary fire events could be avoided if we just took some time to examine what we are using.
Never gave much thought about it... In Europe most eletric bars also have 16A max, but since we use 240v we atually have about twice as much capacity, unless I plug home appliances or several heaters to one, it's quite hard to overload one
nervously looks behind my media center where its just a mess of power bars
well, its been functioning just fine for 8 years so i doubt it will catch fire any time soon, just gotta be careful in case we plug anything new into it
One nitpick: On the router and speakers, you used the OUTPUT current rating instead of the INPUT current rating, meaning the real numbers are actually much lower. For example, on the speaker, if you take the 1A rating * 120V you get 120 watts... but it's only rated for 15 (so the actual rating is 0.125A instead of 1.0).
That said, it only makes things safer by giving a wider margin to the max current, so I guess it doesn't really harm much.
My bad, I apologize, I read the wrong line.
Never got edited out since it doesn`t make a significant difference, like you noted.
Thanks for watching.