[sdiy] [OT] ...well nothing exploded...

[harrybissell]

Since the unit was plugged into (presumably) a single phase 120V
circuit... and the surge
protector probably CANNOT be connected across two different 'phases'
(possible, but usually all
outlets in the same room share ONE phase)...you should be OK.

In theory, you just reversed the hot and neutral connections... in
effect swapping the plug.

What a crappy surge protector design if it allowed that... a 1/4
difference in spacing would have
made the error impossible...

but its freaky aint it :^P

H^) harry

Robotboy8 at aol.com wrote:

> Okay, this is mostly off-topic, but a few weeks ago our VCR started
> acting funny.  After turning it on it will blink on and off for about
> five minutes before finally staying on.  Last night I figured out what
> was wrong: it was plugged into two outlets at once.  There is a surge
> protector that effectively turns two outlets into six.  It only had
> three things plugged in (cable box, DVD player, and VCR - the
> television itself was plugged into the cable box).    But the VCR,
> rather than being plugged any one of the available outlets, was
> instead plugged into one prong of one outlet and another prong of the
> other.  As noted in the subject line, nothing (visibly) exploded or
> anything.  So my question has many pieces:  How did the thing manage
> to work at all?  Is the damage irreparable?  If not, are there any
> pieces to remove from the VCR for possible later use?
>
>        -eric