On Mar 24, 8:18*am, (Chris Lewis) wrote:
According to DerbyDad03 :
OK, let's do it a different way, so you'll feel safe and confident
that you are making a good connection.
Make a cheater cord, sometimes referred to as a suicide cord:
Minor nit: "suicide cord" has a plug on both ends. *What you
describe is simply splicing a hacked off three prong cord onto
a pigtail lamp base.
Take a three wire cord and cut off the socket end, exposing the three
conductors.
Attach one wire from the pigtail socket to the black hot wire and one
to the green ground. *Tape them to keep them from touching. Tape off
the white (or don't strip the insulation) if that makes you feel
better. (Or screw the hot and ground wires from the cord to a 2 wire
lamp socket)
Note that it's best to put the green wire on the lead going to the
shell of the screw base. *A little harder to accidentally hit the
hot. *Tape each of the connections well, and then bundle them under
another layer of tape.
[Use electrical tape ;-)]
If you have a spare octagonal box, rather than using a pigtail bulb
socket, you could use a socket designed for mounting on the box (what
are those things called? *I forget).
Then your connections are inside a box and can be done with wirenuts.
If the box is metal, DO NOT connect the box to the ground wire.
If if you do, and the outlet ground is non-existant or poor, the metal
box goes live.
Better to use a plastic box.
If the lamp does not go to full brightness or flickers, unplug it
quick - sign of bad ground, and something may be overheating.
--
Chris Lewis,
Age and Treachery will Triumph over Youth and Skill
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.
Minor nit: "suicide cord" has a plug on both ends
I guess it depends on who you ask...
IMHO a suicide cord without the second plug is more versatile in that
it can be attached to just about anything, including the leads of a
second suicide cord to create a cord with plugs on both ends.
from:
http://www.bvws.org.uk/405alive/info/abbrev.html
suicide cord - also known as a 'Widow Maker', this is a power cord
with a plug on one end and either bare wires or alligator clips on the
other. It was used in radio and TV workshops to apply power to a
chassis that was out of the cabinet.
from:
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13645_1-9814770-47.html
The big selling point for me was when the salesman took a zip cord or
suicide cord (a two prong plug, six feet of wire and aligator clips on
the ends)...
Yes, you can also find links describing a suicide cord as having a
male plug on both ends. In fact, this somewhat humorous site mentions
both versions:
http://mysite.verizon.net/tomhunter/...me/suicide.htm
So, until someone posts an article describing a suicide cord on
Wikipedia, making it the *definitive* answer g I'll say that both
versions are correct.