5 ms·

Reminds me of when PCs came with a voltage switch. With one flick of a switch... goodbye PSU. Of course the difference is it only needed to be set once.

ralph84 8y ago
Except when you move the PC. About 15 years ago I had an awesome demo all set up and ready to go on one of those cube PCs. Only problem was I did the setup and testing in the US, and the demo itself was in Germany. I came prepared with the correct power cable for Germany, but of course I forgot to switch the PSU to 240V and there went my awesome demo.
webignition 8y ago
Except when a curious child flips the switch when the PC is running.
- ChrisSD 8y ago
  I can confirm that a curious 10 year was indeed responsible for the loss of at least one PSU. At least he learned something.
  - tempestn 8y ago
    Ha, I can't count the number of times I've said to my kids some version of, "Don't push buttons if you don't know what they do!" I've mostly drilled it out of them by 6 and 4, but it was a process. Of course the new manifestation of childhood curiosity was my six year old daughter testing out the piece of sandpaper that came with a craft set she got for Christmas... on our kitchen table. (Fortunately it was already a bit "rustic".) Can't blame them though—I clearly remember at that age putting the garden hose into the dryer vent, with no clue what would happen. Dryer was in the basement too. I recall being mostly bemused by my parents' reactions. (It was on for quite a while too—I think it flooded more than one room.)
    - jfries 8y ago
      Imo, it's a bit unfortunate to drill the curiousity out of kids. I'm very thankful for being allowed to mess around unsupervised on my father's work computer as a 7 y/o. Pressed a lot of stuff I didn't know what it did and learned in the process.
      - rimliu 8y ago
        How does this drive out the curiosity? If anything it encourages it: kid should find out that this button does before pushing it. Though to be fair I did my share of button pushing at 5 years old. It was a typewriter at my mother’s work and I taught her a couple of new tricks after finding out what buttons do. On the other hand I struggle to understand people who refuse to read manuals and then struggle for months or even years with some basic functions of the product, when spending two minutes reading the page four of the manual would have saved lot’s of time and frustration.
        Consultant32452 8y ago
        This is not realistic for childhood curiosity. A 4 year old is curious about things like what happens when I bang a pot on the ground. It's unreasonable to expect the 4 year old to read a manual to inform them it makes a loud sound, and also unreasonable to expect them to know the difference ahead of time the difference in scale of danger between banging pots and flipping a switch. In fact, for most areas of curiosity no such manual exists. Experimentation is the primary mechanism of learning.
        DanBC 8y ago
        It even has a name - heuristic play. Here are early years examples, but it applies to all children. http://www.kathybrodie.com/articles/heuristic-play-a-simple-guide/ http://www.kathybrodie.com/articles/heuristic-play-a-simple-... https://schoolhouse-daycare.co.uk/blog/heuristic-play/ https://schoolhouse-daycare.co.uk/blog/heuristic-play/
        pixl97 8y ago
  - qubyte 8y ago
    When I was a curious ~10 year old, yes, I too did!
kstenerud 8y ago
I blew up a PSU like that a few months ago after moving to Europe. Didn't realize it wasn't auto-switching. It actually blows (loudly, and with smoke) the moment you plug it in.
- Doxin 8y ago
  If you're especially lucky it'll catch fire with the fan running. I've seen that happen to someone once, panic would be an understatement.
jasonkester 8y ago
I have an old external HDD with a switch on the back labelled "NTFS / Fat32". Flipping the switch will format the drive. ...as one would expect.
martin-adams 8y ago
I had one of those multi-power adapters for a pair of infrared headphones when I was about 14 years old. You had to get the plug the right way around. Plugged it in, and BANG, the headphones were toast.

ralph84 8y ago

Except when you move the PC. About 15 years ago I had an awesome demo all set up and ready to go on one of those cube PCs. Only problem was I did the setup and testing in the US, and the demo itself was in Germany. I came prepared with the correct power cable for Germany, but of course I forgot to switch the PSU to 240V and there went my awesome demo.

webignition 8y ago

Except when a curious child flips the switch when the PC is running.

ChrisSD 8y ago
I can confirm that a curious 10 year was indeed responsible for the loss of at least one PSU. At least he learned something.
- tempestn 8y ago
  Ha, I can't count the number of times I've said to my kids some version of, "Don't push buttons if you don't know what they do!" I've mostly drilled it out of them by 6 and 4, but it was a process. Of course the new manifestation of childhood curiosity was my six year old daughter testing out the piece of sandpaper that came with a craft set she got for Christmas... on our kitchen table. (Fortunately it was already a bit "rustic".) Can't blame them though—I clearly remember at that age putting the garden hose into the dryer vent, with no clue what would happen. Dryer was in the basement too. I recall being mostly bemused by my parents' reactions. (It was on for quite a while too—I think it flooded more than one room.)
  - jfries 8y ago
    Imo, it's a bit unfortunate to drill the curiousity out of kids. I'm very thankful for being allowed to mess around unsupervised on my father's work computer as a 7 y/o. Pressed a lot of stuff I didn't know what it did and learned in the process.
    - rimliu 8y ago
      How does this drive out the curiosity? If anything it encourages it: kid should find out that this button does before pushing it. Though to be fair I did my share of button pushing at 5 years old. It was a typewriter at my mother’s work and I taught her a couple of new tricks after finding out what buttons do. On the other hand I struggle to understand people who refuse to read manuals and then struggle for months or even years with some basic functions of the product, when spending two minutes reading the page four of the manual would have saved lot’s of time and frustration.
      - Consultant32452 8y ago
        This is not realistic for childhood curiosity. A 4 year old is curious about things like what happens when I bang a pot on the ground. It's unreasonable to expect the 4 year old to read a manual to inform them it makes a loud sound, and also unreasonable to expect them to know the difference ahead of time the difference in scale of danger between banging pots and flipping a switch. In fact, for most areas of curiosity no such manual exists. Experimentation is the primary mechanism of learning.
        DanBC 8y ago
        It even has a name - heuristic play. Here are early years examples, but it applies to all children. http://www.kathybrodie.com/articles/heuristic-play-a-simple-guide/ http://www.kathybrodie.com/articles/heuristic-play-a-simple-... https://schoolhouse-daycare.co.uk/blog/heuristic-play/ https://schoolhouse-daycare.co.uk/blog/heuristic-play/
      - pixl97 8y ago
- qubyte 8y ago
  When I was a curious ~10 year old, yes, I too did!

kstenerud 8y ago

I blew up a PSU like that a few months ago after moving to Europe. Didn't realize it wasn't auto-switching. It actually blows (loudly, and with smoke) the moment you plug it in.

Doxin 8y ago
If you're especially lucky it'll catch fire with the fan running. I've seen that happen to someone once, panic would be an understatement.

jasonkester 8y ago

I have an old external HDD with a switch on the back labelled "NTFS / Fat32". Flipping the switch will format the drive. ...as one would expect.

martin-adams 8y ago

I had one of those multi-power adapters for a pair of infrared headphones when I was about 14 years old. You had to get the plug the right way around. Plugged it in, and BANG, the headphones were toast.