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Back in the day, I remember reading instructions on how to build some sort of electrical toy (a Tesla coil? can't remember). The circuit was 120VAC powered, wit

Back in the day, I remember reading instructions on how to build some sort of electrical toy (a Tesla coil? can't remember). The circuit was 120VAC powered, with a hot side and a neutral side. The problem was that the neutral side was accessible to the user, and the plugs back then were unpolarized. So, if you plugged the "neutral" side of the plug into the "hot" side of the outlet, you would Have A Bad Day. The workaround: only wire the "hot" side to the plug, and connect the "neutral" side via a separate wire to a nearby radiator (presumably ground). That way, plug the plug in wrong and the toy wouldn't work, rather than becoming dangerously charged. Was it safe? Safe enough for back then...

Gracana 4y ago
Are you sure it didn’t have a normal plug, with a separate clip for a reliable chassis ground? I don’t see how the half plug with a neutral wire to a radiator would be “safe”, even when compared to a neutral-connected chassis with an unpolarized plug. “The hot side is accessible to the user” is still true, just remove the wire to the radiator, now it‘s at line potential.
jaclaz 4y ago
>Was it safe? Safe enough for back then... Yep, but back then we were much more reckless, just the other day there was a story on HN on amateur chemistry (dying or dead): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33517520 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33517520 About electricity, up to not so many years ago (here in Italy up to around 1990) electrical codes were fairly "open", with no ground/earth requirement, and up to the 1970's or so it was not so uncommon to have houses with external wires, see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29616691 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29616691 How we (kids in the '60's and '70's) managed to largely survive these and all the other everyday risks (no helmet on motorbikes, no safety belts in cars, etc.) remains a mistery. But in the case reported here that today an electrician would ground an outlet to water plumbing, it would be - well before being forbidden - unthinkable of.
- 13of40 4y ago
  > amateur chemistry Ah, those were the days. Back in the 80s my parents bought us a chemistry set from a thrift store that was probably 20 years old already. It was actually set up to teach some practical chemistry by providing a mystery substance and a set of reagents that would help you figure out what the substance was. Ten year old me just cut to the finish line and tasted the mystery substance - it was sugar.

Gracana 4y ago

Are you sure it didn’t have a normal plug, with a separate clip for a reliable chassis ground? I don’t see how the half plug with a neutral wire to a radiator would be “safe”, even when compared to a neutral-connected chassis with an unpolarized plug. “The hot side is accessible to the user” is still true, just remove the wire to the radiator, now it‘s at line potential.

jaclaz 4y ago

>Was it safe? Safe enough for back then... Yep, but back then we were much more reckless, just the other day there was a story on HN on amateur chemistry (dying or dead): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33517520 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33517520 About electricity, up to not so many years ago (here in Italy up to around 1990) electrical codes were fairly "open", with no ground/earth requirement, and up to the 1970's or so it was not so uncommon to have houses with external wires, see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29616691 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29616691 How we (kids in the '60's and '70's) managed to largely survive these and all the other everyday risks (no helmet on motorbikes, no safety belts in cars, etc.) remains a mistery. But in the case reported here that today an electrician would ground an outlet to water plumbing, it would be - well before being forbidden - unthinkable of.

13of40 4y ago
> amateur chemistry Ah, those were the days. Back in the 80s my parents bought us a chemistry set from a thrift store that was probably 20 years old already. It was actually set up to teach some practical chemistry by providing a mystery substance and a set of reagents that would help you figure out what the substance was. Ten year old me just cut to the finish line and tasted the mystery substance - it was sugar.