Wire with plugs on both ends
Not a good idea.

Exposed live pins and all that.
(karnuvap, Thu 20 Aug 2009, 15:44, 2 replies)

yup
I hope I didn't appear to support the idea - it's a safety disaster area; which would probably cause more problems than it could solve.

Even if you leave it plugged in, avoiding contact with exposed live pins; you could have a patch across two circuits, which could mean a circuit you think you shut off at the distribution board is still live (electrocution, death). Also, if one fuse/breaker trips out, you could have over 13A drawn down one small cable in a vain attempt to feed the whole other circuit (overheating, fire) - think of shutting down a section of the M25 and routing it down a C-road.

It would be even more dangerous in places with tri-phase supplies; hook one up to the other and I think you could get voltages exceeding an already lethal 240V (consider how you can get 415V machinery running off three "ordinary" 240V supplies).

There are other possible interpretations, but neither explains its location well:

This might be a crafty piece of hardware for stealing/borrowing electricity, plugged into someone elses supply and also into yours. If you kept your main supply switch off, and your total load below 13A per patch cable, this might work.

Alternatively, it could be a means to legitimately supply power to a caravan. Plug one end into domestic socket, the other into a socket in the otherwise electrically-isolated caravan, and you've just energised the caravan supply (although again limited to 13A per cable, this could be enough - a fridge, some lights, and you're all good).

Disclaimer: I am not a qualified electrician. Don't try this yourself, you may die or worse.
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Thu 20 Aug 2009, 20:55, closed)

My Welsh great uncle did your caravan trick...
...plus a few home lightswitches, bell-wires, etc, to supply his barn. Until the system electrocuted (luckily not TO DEATH) my dad, who then spent a week installing a proper ring main, waterproof sockets, etc, while my great uncle continued to maintain that it was perfectly safe and my dad was a numpty Englishman.

20 years later, my Indian stepmum's uncle's insane home-made electrical wiring put 240 volts through me while I was trying to fix his computer. Given the way I was standing, if it wasn't for my rubber-soled shoes I'd be TEH DEAD. Obviously, myuncle continued to maintain that it was perfectly safe and I was a numpty Englishman.

Conclusion A: eventually, everyone who isn't English will end up electrocuted due to their dodgy wiring
Conclusion B: foreigners deliberately set up their wiring in the hope of killing Englishmen
(stalinism, Fri 21 Aug 2009, 13:43, closed)

What got me
was when they did this on an advert- it was British Gas or Scottish Power or something... they had a windfarm on a planet and a house on a planet and linked to windfarm to the house using a normal domestic style socket. But the power was coming from the plug end- so you'd have had live pins

I complained about it but nobody listened...
( uberdeity Wondered why Owen Lars knew of the term "hell" on, Fri 21 Aug 2009, 18:04, closed)