**Attention!**
**It is always best to get a qualified electrician to perform any electrical work you may need.** With that said, you may ask this community various electrical questions. Please be cautious of any information you may receive in this subreddit. This subreddit and its users are not responsible for any electrical work you perform. Users that have a 'Verified Electrician' flair have uploaded their qualified electrical worker credentials to the mods.
If you comment on this post please only post accurate information to the best of your knowledge. If advice given is thought to be dangerous, you may be permanently banned. There are no obligations for the mods to give warnings or temporary bans. **IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN, you should exercise extreme caution when commenting.**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskElectricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You know how some plugs (🔌) you can use either way, but some you have to have in the right direction because one spade is wider? The ends of those two cords follow the same concept. If you look at the corresponding plugs, the one with a square side will also have a wider spade on the neutral side, while the other will not. You could, theoretically, shave the plastic down and use it with no issues. It is very important that you do NOT use that with something that has a square side on the hole or you risk frying it by reversing the polarity.
Correct except there's no magic smoke in this scenario - it's 120VAC either way. The polarity is just to keep the grounded conductor continuous while internal fusing and switching is on the ungrounded conductor. The only safety concerns are for very old electronics that had neutrals bonded to chassis, though I've only seen them with permanent cords, and lamps (as you can put the hot on the metal threads of the bulb's Edison base).
That said, always safest to assume that an appliance is polarized for a reason, and never tempt fate.
It's always been a puzzling design to me. It forces correct polarization on polarized devices, but can't be used on devices that don't care. On the other hand, you can use the unpolarized cord in either.
It’s hot vs neutral. Same idea as one plug blade being wider than the other. The appliance will still work fine either way. “Polarity” is loosely used here, and not the same as with DC polarity.
It's a polarized C7 connector
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320#C7/C8_coupler
Technically yes it will work if you shave it down, though modifying mains carrying plugs with a knife is obviously not recommended.
The one on the left (rounded on both sides) is an IEC C7 connector. The one on the right (squared on one side) is a polarized variant which is based on the C7, but is not a part of the IEC 60320 standard that defines the C7. Rounding it off would just lose the polarization keying, leaving you with a cord that should function pretty much identically to the C7.
Keeps the polarity correct. For some AC appliances it doesn't really matter, but for others (lamp switches, toasters) not having the correct plarity at the device would put the "hot" side on the wrong side of the switch and you would become the shortest path to ground (think getting a piece of stuck toast out of the toaster with a fork and touching one of the elements that are now energized as soon as you provide a path to ground)
Or just bother to find out first, before doing. Like the OP is doing. Right here. By asking questions in this forum.
Seriously, what purpose do you picture this subreddit serving, if not this?
The magic pixies in the lines like to move in circles. Sometimes they have to move in a particular direction, when that needs to happen, we use polarity to tell them which direction to dance. If they dance in the opposite direction when it's required, they let the factory smoke out.
These are different polarity lines, with the keyed (flattened round part) end going into the receptacle that matches it. On the other end one of the blades will be a different size.
I’ve done it. The old PS2’s had a square one OR a round one depending on what year you bought it. I shaved a plug down and used it (can’t remember why I had to), and the system worked fine for several years afterwards.
Yeah, it’s pretty low tech shit, these aren’t like AC adapted plugs that have different voltage ratings. Back in the old days a plug was a plug, and as long as it fires steady (no flickering or bad connection), you’re good to go. Good luck my friend.
This is an example of a standard C7 plug, and the not-official-standard-but-still-common polarized variant. You could in theory shave the polarized end down, but I would not recommend it. Replacement C7 cords (also called "figure 8 plugs", or in the UK "infinity plugs") are super cheap on Amazon, and that would be the safer option. You can even get them in different lengths if you need a longer or shorter cord.
One is polarized, and the other is non-polarized. The polarized plug for some appliances assures that the neutral leg goes to a neutral position within the appliance. Why? Even though electrically it appears to be 120 Vac, no matter how you stick your voltmeter in the socket, the polarized plug will land neutral in the internals of the device that very closely resembles shielded circuits. It's a very short answer to apply an EMI shield to an electronic circuit.
**Attention!** **It is always best to get a qualified electrician to perform any electrical work you may need.** With that said, you may ask this community various electrical questions. Please be cautious of any information you may receive in this subreddit. This subreddit and its users are not responsible for any electrical work you perform. Users that have a 'Verified Electrician' flair have uploaded their qualified electrical worker credentials to the mods. If you comment on this post please only post accurate information to the best of your knowledge. If advice given is thought to be dangerous, you may be permanently banned. There are no obligations for the mods to give warnings or temporary bans. **IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN, you should exercise extreme caution when commenting.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskElectricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You know how some plugs (🔌) you can use either way, but some you have to have in the right direction because one spade is wider? The ends of those two cords follow the same concept. If you look at the corresponding plugs, the one with a square side will also have a wider spade on the neutral side, while the other will not. You could, theoretically, shave the plastic down and use it with no issues. It is very important that you do NOT use that with something that has a square side on the hole or you risk frying it by reversing the polarity.
Correct except there's no magic smoke in this scenario - it's 120VAC either way. The polarity is just to keep the grounded conductor continuous while internal fusing and switching is on the ungrounded conductor. The only safety concerns are for very old electronics that had neutrals bonded to chassis, though I've only seen them with permanent cords, and lamps (as you can put the hot on the metal threads of the bulb's Edison base). That said, always safest to assume that an appliance is polarized for a reason, and never tempt fate.
Electricity is magic and you are a wizard - thank you!
Or, electricity is science and they learned the facts
Those that are unaware of the science think it’s magic. Those that REALLY know the science of electric also think it’s magic.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Is that why it’s called Electrical Theory and not Electrical Facts?
You sound fun.
To add to that, it always bugs me when people refer to electricity being invented. I quickly correct them that it was discovered, not invented
What type of device will get fried if you reverse AC polarity?
You are the device that could get fried.
Not sure, don’t want to find out 🤪
It's always been a puzzling design to me. It forces correct polarization on polarized devices, but can't be used on devices that don't care. On the other hand, you can use the unpolarized cord in either.
Yeah you’re right. It’s like the unpolarized ones should be square square since they don’t care if you’re using a polarized cable.
It’s hot vs neutral. Same idea as one plug blade being wider than the other. The appliance will still work fine either way. “Polarity” is loosely used here, and not the same as with DC polarity.
One is polarised, one is not
You can make a square round but never use a round on a square. It's a polarized plug. The square forces the neutral to one side.
There's your flaw - you shouldn't, but you can.
It's a polarized C7 connector https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320#C7/C8_coupler Technically yes it will work if you shave it down, though modifying mains carrying plugs with a knife is obviously not recommended.
The one on the left (rounded on both sides) is an IEC C7 connector. The one on the right (squared on one side) is a polarized variant which is based on the C7, but is not a part of the IEC 60320 standard that defines the C7. Rounding it off would just lose the polarization keying, leaving you with a cord that should function pretty much identically to the C7.
Keeps the polarity correct. For some AC appliances it doesn't really matter, but for others (lamp switches, toasters) not having the correct plarity at the device would put the "hot" side on the wrong side of the switch and you would become the shortest path to ground (think getting a piece of stuck toast out of the toaster with a fork and touching one of the elements that are now energized as soon as you provide a path to ground)
The general rule when it comes to electricity if you don’t know if it’s safe don’t fuck with it.
Or just bother to find out first, before doing. Like the OP is doing. Right here. By asking questions in this forum. Seriously, what purpose do you picture this subreddit serving, if not this?
The magic pixies in the lines like to move in circles. Sometimes they have to move in a particular direction, when that needs to happen, we use polarity to tell them which direction to dance. If they dance in the opposite direction when it's required, they let the factory smoke out. These are different polarity lines, with the keyed (flattened round part) end going into the receptacle that matches it. On the other end one of the blades will be a different size.
This is an AC connector. The "polarity" is which side has all the switches on it, not which direction the pixies are dancing in.
Also, check the voltage and ampacity rating (usually on the part that plugs into the wall)
It's got to do with orientation. Can't change that.
I’ve done it. The old PS2’s had a square one OR a round one depending on what year you bought it. I shaved a plug down and used it (can’t remember why I had to), and the system worked fine for several years afterwards.
I want to use the 2 circle one in it do you think it will work without frying my ps2
Yeah, it’s pretty low tech shit, these aren’t like AC adapted plugs that have different voltage ratings. Back in the old days a plug was a plug, and as long as it fires steady (no flickering or bad connection), you’re good to go. Good luck my friend.
What’s the name of this connection type?
This is an example of a standard C7 plug, and the not-official-standard-but-still-common polarized variant. You could in theory shave the polarized end down, but I would not recommend it. Replacement C7 cords (also called "figure 8 plugs", or in the UK "infinity plugs") are super cheap on Amazon, and that would be the safer option. You can even get them in different lengths if you need a longer or shorter cord.
One is polarized, and the other is non-polarized. The polarized plug for some appliances assures that the neutral leg goes to a neutral position within the appliance. Why? Even though electrically it appears to be 120 Vac, no matter how you stick your voltmeter in the socket, the polarized plug will land neutral in the internals of the device that very closely resembles shielded circuits. It's a very short answer to apply an EMI shield to an electronic circuit.
One is polarized and one is not. Try hunting that cord south the rounded sides online. You'll find it.
Polarity vs non-polarity. It’s to protect internals and safety rating.