I came home to find the device I used the xbox cord on had no power, power brick was off and would keep popping. Turns out it prevented a thermal overload in a failing machine (printer). Possibly saved me from some horrible situation.
Yep, I still don't understand why all plugs don't have a fuse like British ones. It's a must need for many items. Of course Japanese plugs are the same as the US. Horrid nasty things that can spark when putting in or taking out of the socket. I plug all my plugs in to a safety switch box that has a pop fuse on it. This way, if something goes wrong the switch box will pop killing power to everything connected. I use 3 of these in my games room and one downstairs which has the kettle, microwave and rice cooker connected to it. Yakumo
Because in america we use lower power so they don't "need" fuses. Doesn't mean anything in a high amp device. Of course this was proven to be a problem so now we use ground fault protection sockets. However those are only in modern houses.
Ex's mom's house had only two pronged outlets with no earth ground let alone GFCI. Never liked plugging anything into outlets there.
Australian plugs are the same, spark when you insert anything. XBOX 360 sparks the most. Have to have fuse protected power strips, guess it's all a money grab I think.
Australian plugs should have a spark prevention coating on them on the live and neutral. This is the new law. This prevents the arcing at the plastic housing, causing it to melt. The ground terminal is also longer. This is to let the device ground first before the live and neutral are connected. When I buy stuff from China or Hong Kong over eBay, they do not have this (the black coating seen below). When you plug something in, you should always turn it off at the wall to prevent the arcing. It will only arc, if it draws current instantly. So, with the Xbox power brick, it will arc because it is a linear power supply that will charge up some capacitors, and go on standby immediately. I believe there is also something call a 'soft starting' linear power supply if my memory is right. These do not arc and are a lot safer. As for the Xbox 360 power bricks, they are very cheap. Crack one open, and you will see poor solder joints, as well as a shit load of thermal glue covering EVERYTHING. The PS3's power supply it a lot more safer and well designed. Also has a rocket switch on the original system.
Uhm, yes we did. I have a bunch of them from MS when it all happened. And this is exactly what it was to prevent. There were a few xboxes that caught fire and that was MS's solution rather than a recall. It was all common knowledge at the time. Links: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/17/ms_xbox_recall/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/19/xbox_recall_nofix/ http://forums.xbox-scene.com/lofiversion/index.php/t361537.html Email received in the UK: And here is a picture too. I think that covers all the bases lol
The XBOX 360 doesn't have that, too bad the the power brick doesn't have a switch on it -_- power goes to it immediately... The XBOX doesn't have a powerbrick, well none of mine do it's transformer is inside, but that still sparks as well ><.. So a fuse protected powerstrip is the way to go.
I still have the one I got from Microsoft. I never understood exactly how it's supposed to work, but in any case I don't think it ever served its purpose.
Fair enough, you learn something new every day. I did have Xbox units from UK and US Microsoft and only the US machines ever had the short circuit protection, even machines I got from Microsoft near the end of the Xboxs life in 2007 only had the standard UK plugs. In theory the 3A fuse in the plug should blow before the machine overheated. I did have PSUs fail on me which would click the button on the US machines and blow the fuse on the UK machines, however I am sure that people would have stuck 13A fuses in the unit which might have meant the units getting rather hot. I hated removing PSUs from the Xbox as I got too many shocks from the charged caps. As for fires, I only could find cases in the US and one in Europe, not a single one in the UK... UK houses are wired up in a ring main circuit so it loops around the floor, other countries normally have point wiring which wires up a row of circuits from the fuseboard without termination. In the UK if a fuse or breaker in the main board goes, then it takes out everything in the ring, where as in Japan it tends to take everything out. UK plugs are fused so a failing device would blow the fuse locally as it might not draw enough current to blow the fusebox (as it may not be shorting properly, this could cause a fire...), this had the added advantage that UK home use less copper wire then a similar sized house in the US does. UK plugs were designed to be safe, shutter covering the live pins unless a plug is plugged in, earthing, polarised plug (vital due to the ring main), moulded plug so it was easy to grip, rectangle holes so children would not try to shove their fingers into the holes (which the old British system and other places around the world had), cable coming from the bottom so you would not try to pull the wire to unplug it and the internal fuse.
Looks like it has some sort of RCD (Residual Current Device), built-in to it. I have one (like this) plugged in when using the lawnmower, as it'll trip the power off instantly if you accidentally run the cable over. Modern 'consumer units' here also have RCD protection, although a lot of old houses still have a fuse box with re-wireable ceramic fuses. These no longer meet the legal requirements for new builds and installations anymore.
I have a really dumb question here. I have an Xbox that uses the new power cord (US) with the efi switch on it. But it keeps tripping it with it even off. Should I just unplug the XBox and never use it, and get a newer version off ebay or something. It never trips when the unit is on, it is plugged in a surge protector that does have a fuse in it. :/ =hugh
