Tamper proof outlet problems? Might be the plug

[Roger Feeley]

My daughter has been working on our covered porch and has struggled to plug in her computer. One outlet just wouldn’t work at all and the other required much profanity. Today, I looked at the plug and noticed a tiny burr at the end where they used a press to make it a bit narrower at the end. Hmmmm....says I.

I filed down the end of the blades to a nice roundish profile with no burrs and voila, the plug went into the worst outlet. It’s still not as smooth as a non-tamper-proof outlet but it’s not terrible.

[vince mastrosimone]

YouCan buy a new plug for under five dollars. Just change it out

[Roger Feeley]

YouCan buy a new plug for under five dollars. Just change it out

This was the plug for my daughters notebook P.C. it was much easier to file the ends.

the problem interests me. The thing that caused the burr was the manufacturer stamping a sort of knife edge at the front of the blade. This was clearly done to make the blade insert more smoothly between the outlets internal contacts. It makes perfect sense that that manufacturing step would cause a small burr. I think that some plug manufacturers haven’t caught up with tamper-proof outlets.

[roger wiegand]

We had the misfortune of rewiring the house in the early days of tamper-proof receptacles. What a disaster! The first lot was so bad that eventually Hubbell sent someone from the factory to our house (because they didn't believe they were un-useable) The engineer concluded we were right and they paid for the electrician to replace the 70-80 outlets he'd just installed. Unfortunately the replacements were only marginally better.

I discovered that if you take a heavy rubber cube tap and insert it with a sharp rap from a deadblow hammer the outlets become much more cooperative. ;-)

[Brian Elfert]

We had the misfortune of rewiring the house in the early days of tamper-proof receptacles. What a disaster! The first lot was so bad that eventually Hubbell sent someone from the factory to our house (because they didn't believe they were un-useable) The engineer concluded we were right and they paid for the electrician to replace the 70-80 outlets he'd just installed. Unfortunately the replacements were only marginally better.

It seems like every major change required by the NEC results in new equipment that doesn't work all that well. The first arc fault breakers were not great, but they seem okay now.

[mike stenson]

It seems like every major change required by the NEC results in new equipment that doesn't work all that well. The first arc fault breakers were not great, but they seem okay now.

This is just generally how things work in general. More problems are generally found in the field than in the lab.

[Mike Henderson]

This is just generally how things work in general. More problems are generally found in the field than in the lab.

Man, is that the truth. And we used to always get a call about the problem at 4pm on Friday.

Mike

[mike stenson]

Man, is that the truth. And we used to always get a call about the problem at 4pm on Friday.

Mike

HAHA! That describes my last Friday almost perfectly!

[Roger Feeley]

Update,
my daughter just plugged in her laptop successfully where neither of us could before. Now I understand and know what to do.

It seems that a number of posters here are running afoul of the early adopter problem. In the software industry, it’s common to alpha test in-house, beta test with some number of friendly customers and then hope for the best. I’ve read about some companies just skipping the beta stage altogether.

We were an early adopter of a range. We like the little upper oven instead of the drawer below and we wanted an induction cooktop. When we ordered it, it wasn’t even in production yet. But the company had done that type of oven with other cooktops and had done induction so it was just a matter of putting the two together. It worked out great and we will never go back.

[mike stenson]

It seems that a number of posters here are running afoul of the early adopter problem. In the software industry, it’s common to alpha test in-house, beta test with some number of friendly customers and then hope for the best. I’ve read about some companies just skipping the beta stage altogether.

Yea, it's a byproduct (I believe) of incorrectly adopted 'agile' development process. Continual delivery... errr. fix.

[Frank Pratt]

YouCan buy a new plug for under five dollars. Just change it out

Unfortunately, nobody seems to make a plug that is not big & clunky & out of place anywhere but a shop or construction site.

[mike stenson]

Unfortunately, nobody seems to make a plug that is not big & clunky & out of place anywhere but a shop or construction site.

yea, to get a nice molded one you have to replace the entire cord assembly.

[Roger Feeley]

Yea, it's a byproduct (I believe) of incorrectly adopted 'agile' development process. Continual delivery... errr. fix.

For those non-software types, Agile is a way to deliver software over time rather than all at once. I did that for 30 years but never knew the name for it.

The old way to design software was to spend a year thinking it all out down to the most minute detail. Then it gets thrown over the wall and the coders write to the specification. That probably doesn’t work right so you spen another year banging out a new spec and so on. In truth, it’s not quite that bad. But it’s bad.

I used to follow what I called he “make it grunt” philosophy. That was to figure out the absolute minimum version that would function. Generally, my customers (mostly internal) were in full agreement about that part so I knew I wasn’t wasting my time. I would let the customer play with that a bit and then we had something to point at when fleshing it out. They loved it. Writing specifications is really hard. They didn’t have to do that. I would deliver a version, they would mess around for a couple of days and then we would meet and come up with a wish list. We would prioritize the features and a week later, I would deliver the next version.

[mike stenson]

Yea, for years we just referred to it as 'iterative', that became 'Agile' and 'waterfall' (that's the method where you have the entire spec at once) is just uncool now. I'm still trying to figure out how to do Agile hardware development though. I love me some buzzwords.. as I'm waiting for a job to finish.

[Roger Feeley]

Yea, for years we just referred to it as 'iterative', that became 'Agile' and 'waterfall' (that's the method where you have the entire spec at once) is just uncool now. I'm still trying to figure out how to do Agile hardware development though. I love me some buzzwords.. as I'm waiting for a job to finish.

I sort of do agile development in woodworking.
my wife said the grandsons would like a water table. I went through multiple versions.
1. I needed a vessel so I went to HD and bought an under-bed storage bin. Threw away the lid and wheels. initial acceptance testing indicated that it needed to be elevated 12”
2. Made a frame from two bys with cleats at the edges. Water was too heavy and it bowed down in the middle.
3. Banged out the cleats and replaced with two cross supports. We noticed that the stringers needed to be off the ground so they wouldn’t get nasty.
4. Raised the stringers. Grandson (1.5 years old) had a great time.
second grandson born two years after first. Second summer saw a diminution in interest. Grandma saw commercial table that had a battery operated pump.

5. Removed stringer at one end and added platform to support a manually operated pitcher pump. An elevated drain in upper vessel drains water into lower vessel while maintaining a depth of 1.5”. Pump draws water from lower vessel. The circulation provides for unlimited exercise. The older one is trying to fill the upper vessel by outrunning the drain. He’s been napping better lately.

the final product looks like crap but the boys, now 2.5 and 4.5, love it. They know how to prime it not only with water but sidewalk chalk, mud, rocks, bugs and small toys. We keep a gallon jug of Clorox water (3oz Clorox to 1 gal) under our sink and add a cup daily to keep the algae down. Lately, we’ve been adding dish soap.