Adam Funk writes:

On 2015-02-05, Tim Watts wrote:

On 05/02/15 19:54, Part Timer wrote:
My brother sent me these pictures of a cable he found today plugged in
(but not switched on!) on MoD property (barrack block utility room).

Ignoring H&S, anyone know what the connector is actually for?

http://tinypic.com/r/ieh4oz/8
http://tinypic.com/r/mh6d6g/8
http://tinypic.com/r/rtq81y/8
http://tinypic.com/r/1zd3bc0/8

It's a variation on a "Jesus Cord"[1]

[1] 2 13A plugs on each end of a flex - used to bridge one house supply
to the house next door in the even of a single phase failure, or for
cobbling a generator into the house's circuits.

If it's a temporary single-phase failure, what happens when your phase
comes back on while you're still plugged into your neighbour's phase?

I thought the main purpose of those cords was to get free electricity
from an unoccupied house next door (after breaking in).

If you have an autotransformer which you want to be able to use from
time to time either in a 110V country to produce 230V or in a 230V
country to produce 110V, the easy way is to fit one type of socket to
the 110V side of the transformer and the other type of socket to the
230V side.
Then to use it you need either a cable with 110V plugs on each end, or
a cable with 230V plugs on each send, depending on which country you're
in.

Of course to be safe when in use you should somehow clamp the plug to
the socket on the autotransformer so that it can't be accidentally
removed.




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