Tall slot on 3 prong adapter something I just noticed todayT

[TimR]

Those little 3 to 2 adapters (that you can never find when you need one) have one of the flat slots taller than the other, just like the plug on a polarized appliance does. I never noticed before today because it didn't matter.

Today I tried to plug in a 3 prong LED shoplite and found to my surprise the light has one tall prong, and the adapter has one tall slot, but they don't match sides. You can't put it in the other way because of the ground hole.

Probably all of you knew this and I'm the only unobservant one. I looked around at my other 3 prong appliances, most of which are in proper grounded outlets anyway, and they all had the two current prongs equal size.

[hubops]

What are you referring to ? Post a link. John T.

[gfretwell]

Which one is right, compared to a real 5-15 receptacle? My guess is you have a device with a bogus listing mark if there is a listing mark at all. Those chinks always had a problem with mixing up their "L"s and "R"s ;-)

[trader_4]

The taller slot should be on the left, that's the neutral. If the adapter or the plug is the other way around, something is wrong, maybe China junk?

[Fred McKenzie]

TimR-

Plugs and outlets are different in different countries. In the U.S., common 120 VAC household plugs have two vertical flat prongs and one round "ground" prong centered above or below the flat prongs.

Outlets have one flat slot wider than the other. If the round socket is below, the narrow flat slot would be on the right. The narrow flat slot is on the "hot" side of the 120 Volt line. This is so two-prong plugs can be plugged in correctly.

Confusing? My point is that there is a standard. If your LED shoplite does not match the standard, is there any way you can swap the wide and narrow prongs? Could you grind the wide prong down to fit? If not, can you get a refund from where you bought the shoplite?

Fred

[trader_4]

Well, that's a good point. Around these parts they're all on the bottom. Let me rephrase that. If the tall slot isn't on the left when viewed with the ground at the bottom, something is wrong.

[Todesco]

Just for the fun of discussion, I have some really old adapters that do not have polar male pins or female sockets!

[TimR]

Yes. I think. I have a shop light that I can't plug in because it has a three prong plug and there is only a two slot outlet in the location. Eventually I'll replace that outlet with the correct one but it's low priority out in the shed now.

The shop light 3 prong plug will not plug into a standard adapter because the wide prong does not match the wide slot in the adapter.

So which is wrong? The shop light, or the adapter? Or is this something new supposed to prevent me from using an adapter? I do try to avoid it but sometimes they are convenient.

I can easily grind the wide prong down or cut off the ground pin, but I hate doing that. Yes, it's a Chinese four foot LED shoplite, about $20 at Walmart. The shed is unheated and the fluorescents start very slowly in the cold, so as the tubes age I've been replacing with the cheap fixtures. This is the third one, and the first time I ran into that problem - there was a grounded outlet near the other.

[micky]

It's a little hard now because we're not supposed to go the neighbors, but if you're willing to go to the hardware store, you can try to plug the light into, or you can just look at, the receptacles they sell. They are right.

LOL No.

I've done that a lot.

I also got tired of not having 3-prong adapters so I bought 2 more than I needed and when those ran out I bought 4 more. That was 10 or 20 years ago and I haven't used all 4 yet.

So you do have a 3-prong outlet, so you don't have to go to the store. See if the light plugs into it.

[TimR]

Huh. Somewhat to my surprise. That's a good idea.

I can't move the light easily, I'd attached it to the ceiling before I noticed the problem.

But I can take an adapter over to a 3-prong outlet and see if the slots match. I will do that tonight.

[Scott Lurndal]

Don't use those adapters. Fix your electrical system instead.

[TimR]

Hmmm. I bought those adapters when I started teleworking, because sometimes I had to plug a laptop in where there wasn't a grounded outlet. So the adapters are fairly new. So is the shop light.

I've never before run into a 3-prong plug that wouldn't work with an adapter.

The outlet I plugged into is the switched circuit so I can turn on the lights from the door. I just remembered the outlet for my bench grinder is a 3-slot outlet. It's just possible the light cord will reach that far. I'll check tonight.

[gfretwell]

That is legal if it is a GFCI receptacle and there should be s sticker in the box that says it is ungrounded.

[Clare Snyder]

Or just replacethe outlet - replace with a GFCI if there is no ground available and document it as required by code

[TimR]

The adapter clearly has one tall prong, and it is in the correct position to plug into a 3 slot outlet with one tall slot. So the adapter is correct.

The light looked like it had one tall prong on the wrong side. However, I was wrong. That prong is just a tiny bit bigger but I think never intended to be a tall prong, just sloppy manufacture. It went into an old 3-way outlet with no issues, but it was very tight in a new adapter.

[FromTheRafters]

I had one like that once, I just wiggled and forced the wider prong into the adaptor because it was made of rubber and had some 'give' to the hole. I was going to suggest it, but I thought it was too obvious for you not to have already tried that.

Mine was grey rippled rubber and had a green pigtail and shovel connector to screw down to the center escutcheon mounting screw. The light was two florescent bulbs with one ground sense (neutral) and the other ground sense (earth?) so only one would light if the pigtail wasn't used or there was a problem with the 'to earth' wiring connection.

[dpb]

double-whoosh...

Don't get a snide remark, do you... :)

[Clare Snyder]

maybe stoopid - but I don't get the "whoosh". Doesn't look like Fretwell does either - anyone else???

[micky]

Since you ask: FTR, "whoosh" means "the previous remark went over your head", and made a whoosh sound as it went quickly over your head.

I guess it's usually used when the previous remark was satire or sarcasm that was taken seriously.

[Clare Snyder]

So we all must be pretty dumb. What went over our heads?? Must have been a post from someone in my looney bin that I didn't see??