Chap blew up critical equipment on his first day – but it wasn't his volt
- Reference: 1695021971
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/09/18/who_me/
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This week, meet a reader we have Regomized as "Cameron" who once worked at an outfit that made stereoscopic movies by converting boring old 2D movies into 3D extravaganzas.
Among the kit on site was a prototype arcade racing game that, when players sat inside its cockpit, used eye-tracking tech to change the movie projection as players gazed in different directions.
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"I was utterly dazzled by this and at the end of my first day, asked my new boss if I could hang around and have a play with it, a bit longer than the minute or so demo I'd seen in my walk around," Cameron wrote in his mail to Who, Me?
[2]
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His boss allowed this exploration, so when the time came Cameron approached the machine, but noticed it wasn't connected to power. He spotted a lead near a wall outlet, and plugged it in.
Which produced "sundry sizzling sounds and some fragrant smoke."
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Cameron 'fessed up to his error and slunk off home.
[5]Watt's the worst thing you can do to a datacenter? Failing to RTFM, electrically
[6]Sure, give the new kid and his MCSE power over the AS/400. What could possibly go wrong?
[7]Lesson 1: Keep your mind on the ... why aren't the servers making any noise?
[8]Sure, give the new kid and his MCSE power over the AS/400. What could possibly go wrong?
The next morning, he learned that his acts had proven particularly problematic, as the prototype came was to be used in a major corporate demo due to start within hours.
Thankfully, our hero had enough time to replace the relevant parts. And also to point out that he hadn't been able to use the relevant parts. His employer's engineering team admitted that his mistake was easily made – the prototype was designed to run on 110V power, not the 240V of the Australian grid where Cameron toiled.
A 240V-110V transformer was available, of course. But it was an ugly beast that had been rewired to replace its American prongs and then left on the ground dangling next to the arcade game – without any signage or other info to suggest its purpose.
Cameron's decision to pick up the nearest – and neatest – power plug was thus deemed entirely reasonable.
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Have you survived a first day disaster? Or escaped sanction because you can't RTFM when there’s no FM to R? [10]Click here to share your story with Who, Me? and perhaps your tale will make a future Monday less miserable for your fellow Register readers. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/11/who_me/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/04/who_me/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/21/who_me/
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It doesn't always smoke though
I once heard of someone who asked for a PC upgrade, was declined, and decided that changing the voltage selector from 240V to 110V for a while might help to "justify" the case.
Sure enough, there was a "crack", the thing went dead, the switch was returned to the 240V position and a call placed to the support team - who, after a bit of testing, diagnosed that the fuse next to voltage selector had failed, with "normal" service being restored soon after.
Re: It doesn't always smoke though
You mean they re-fused to give him a new one?
Re: It doesn't always smoke though
They blew him off.
Re: It doesn't always smoke though
I had a router that was fine for 6 months then started randomly crashing / disconnecting. Of course it would take hours for it to happen and I could just see support people deciding it was fine, or some other problem.
So charged up a capacitor from the mains and applied it the the USB port and got a satisfying crack. Now I had a dead router which was much easier to get replaced. Dishonest I suppose, but the router was already faulty, I just made it definitive.
Re: It doesn't always smoke though
Learnt from the BOFH you have.
Very good.
Should this be so easy?
IEC leads are a worldwide standard, yet they carry at least two dangerously incompatible voltages. Maybe the world should have adopted different connectors for the two different voltages.
Incidentally, there are already two slightly different plugs and sockets for high and low current devices. You can't plug a printer lead into a kettle as it wouldn't take the current.
Re: Should this be so easy?
I can't help myself, I'm going to have to be the "well, actually" guy. Sorry!
Those differing connectors is actually a temperature thing not a current thing. The kettle connector has to be different (and has a little notch to enforce this) because the kettle gets hot and the connector could rise above 70 C.
i didn't realise this but there is also a "very hot" version if the temperature might go over 120 C.
But, yes, I do agree that the whole "could be 120V, could be 240V, who knows?" thing is strange...
Re: Should this be so easy?
I think you are confusing C13/C14 which are rated to 70 °C and C15/C16 which are rated to 120 °C - I don't think there is any difference between the power they can deliver.
Re: Should this be so easy?
You can't plug a printer lead into a kettle
We had a kettle at work that *didn't* have the extra notch in the power lead, and yes, someone replaced the original with a computer lead.
I don't know how long it lasted but eventually the lead decided it had had enough and started emitting smoke and flames. Fortunately I was in the kitchen at the time and knew the standard procedure in such cases* - turn the thing off at the wall! No drama in the end, it fizzled out and a new, hot condition, lead was easily procured.
*I did hear the tale of a generator fire, after several extinguishers had been tried and the fire was still going someone had the bright idea to stop the generator!
Re: Should this be so easy?
That be yer 'hot' lead for kettles, steam generators and the suchlike.
And I think the problem is that with so many PSUs being switchable, the lead would be mooted irrelevant anyway.
Told this years ago but.....
This must be about 15-20 years ago, Compaq (remember them) produced a line of laptops with docking stations the size of full PCs (think 50cm square footprint), these the laptop was locked into, with an eject button on the case. The mechanism wasn't that reliable and there was a manual release lever under the back cover (which could be removed with the power on as the eject still needed mains). A user rang up and said they had a stuck laptop.
No problem - just pull the access cover off the back and flick the white lever over to release the locks, user did this and then when they flicked the lever there was a loud bang. On the back of the chassis was a 110/240V selector and the eject lever.
Don't need to say any more....
p.s. this was the same user who couldn't get a dial tone on a modem from his hotel room when he rang the office to complain and someone asked him how many phone lines where in the hotel room...
I suppose we should be grateful that the Americans use volts rather than an archaic system of measurement.
Actually, are there any other units for potential difference? Should there be a Reg Standard?
>Should there be a Reg Standard
110v = lick finger, that's your live
220v = ouch, rubs arm muscle, that's your live.
415v = we are gathered here today to remember...
anything KV = can you smell bacon?
I'm no electrician, but I feel fairly sure that with enough amps, at 110v you could easily get "we are gathered here today to remember..."
(and isn't it 115v and 230v nowadays?)
200mA or thereabouts would do the trick, depending on how it crosses your body.
My old electrical engineering instructor used to say "It's volts what jolts, but mills* what kills"
* MilliAmps.
It's not quite that simple. I've seen a nasty burn from 110V mains which must have left a scar, but I accidentally put 230V mains through the palm of my hand a few weeks ago and the burns have already healed with no scar.
"110v = lick finger, that's your live"
If you happen to be well earthed, touching a 110v wire could well mean IT might be live, but chances are YOU won't be.
Didn't BOFH use varying levels of 'zzzt' to indicate voltage? Bzzt = warning shot, kzzt = temporary incapacitation and KZZZZT when you really mean it? Accordingly I would respectfully submit the following as Reg SI units for mains voltage;
zT = US 110v
bzT = Euro/World 230V
kzT = 3-phase
KzT = anything above 430v usually resulting in extreme crispiness.
>>extreme crispiness
Is it juicy? Is it scrumptiously crunchable?
*gollum*
Imperial emf :)
《I suppose we should be grateful that the Americans use volts rather than an archaic system of measurement.》
I can offer to any L.Pondians who don't wish to sully themselves with the cheese eating etc SI units:
foot-pound per imperial standard charge - which presume one might define as the charge on two 1ft×1ft parallel square plates in vacuo separated by 1in which exerts 1lb force :)
If non north americans are curious about their 120V/240V system I found this video [1]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jMmUoZh3Hq4 enlightening and in AU rather scary (when compared with AS/NZS 3000:2018 Amd 2:2021.)
[1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jMmUoZh3Hq4
Technically there's Electron Volts, but that's not really not-Volts. And also measures mass.
It never gets old
If I had a penny for every time I'd either been a victim (or perpetrator) of this I'd have a few more quid in my back pocket. It cuts right across from complete novices to (supposedly) seasoned professionals.