Friday Squid Blogging: PowerSquid
To the reader out there that got me a PowerSquid: thank you.
(And here’s a home-made version.)
Comments
Curt Sampson • December 29, 2006 8:24 PM
In Japan for quite some time they’ve sold (for perhaps $3-4/pair) extremely short (10 cm) “extension cords” designed to plug into a power strip and get one of those larger power adapters far enough away from it that you can plug it in without it blocking other outlets on the strip. I find this rather more convenient, since you can still plug normal power cables directly in, giving you slightly nicer cable control for those. It’s odd that they don’t sell these elsewhere.
You can see a picture of these in action at http://www.cynic.net/~cjs/img/brick-adapter.jpeg
Andrew • December 29, 2006 8:40 PM
Curt:
There is such a thing sold in the U.S. as well. I’ve ordered them from Cyberguys in the past: http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/searchproducts.asp?categoryID=279
Jim • December 30, 2006 4:05 PM
These are also available at any Fry’s Electronics store, as well as Frys.com, and are very handy for multiple wall warts. I use them in my home studio, routing them from the rackmount power buss, so one switch controls all my gear, including pedals and midi foot controllers.
Davi Ottenheimer • December 31, 2006 1:58 AM
Ok, I get the invertebrate form factor, but what’s with the exoskeleton?
jon • January 1, 2007 9:28 AM
Substantial caution is necessary with homemade electrical projects. Looking at the home made power squid project several things are problematic:
- Water pipe PVC pipe is not a rated electrical insulator
- 3-prong adaptors are cheesy and are not meant to be soldered to. Their prongs may well deflect and conatact each other, creating short circuits and sparking
2.5 My local Home Depot has commercial grade plug end that do what you need for around $2, allowing the PVC caps to be omitted or serve only an ornamental role
- Electrical tape (or whatever that green stuff is) is insufficient to protect a soldered joint
-
The wire fill, and attendant heat buildup, greatly exceeds the fill volume capacity of a single pole handy box.
While I’m a big fan of DIY projects, resourcefulness and innovation, this is not a safe project by any measure. It does look pretty cool, and I may start putting eyes on my projects(!).
There’s a good reason to look for UL labels on consumer products. At least you have someone to blame when your house burns down. This is a fun and instructive project, but if you replicate it, please use extrordinary caution in its fabrication and use. I’m not usually such a buzzkill (really), but this is truly worrisome.
brainfart • January 1, 2007 11:23 AM
US governments demands access to air travellers email accounts and credit card data
Email data to be saved for up to eight years.
Any non-Americans feel like traveling to the US? I don’t. No fucking way.
Rob Mayfield • January 1, 2007 4:03 PM
@jon … and no apparent effective strain relief on the socket end of the cords. You just hope that the average reader is smarter than the author in cases like this.
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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.
AJM • December 29, 2006 6:00 PM
You’re most welcome. When I saw it, I could almost hear a gurgling squid voice telling me “send me to Bruuuuuuce…”