You need this:
http://www.360electrical.com/index-3.html
 
or this:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/77e6/
 
or this:
http://www.x-tremegeek.com/templates/searchdetail.asp?ProductID=4762
 
All of the above were noticed at Boing-Boing, A Dictionary of Wonderful Things:
http://www.boingboing.net/
 
 
 

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Price, Ed
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 8:04 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Power Plug Blade Configuration


I recently bought a little Radio Shack wallwart power supply, equipped with
two parallel-blade AC power terminals (with no ground blade) and a 6 VDC
output wire pair. As you would expect, one of the blades is slightly wider
than the other (implying that this is the neutral or return line), conforming
to the convention of the typical NEMA 15 Amp female power receptacle. Since
the AC power blades are located near one edge of the wallwart, you can plug
the wallwart into a receptacle and the bulk of the wallwart body hangs to one
side of the receptacle.
 
Unfortunately, when you try to plug in a second wallwart, the bulk of the
wallwart body prevents you from plugging it in, and the larger AC power blade
prevents you from facing this second wallwart opposite the first one.
 
My question is, why does this appliance have a polarized blade power
connector? I am assuming that the input power pins go directly to the primary
of a transformer, so why should we worry about which side is "high" or
"return"? Could wallwarts be designed using identical power blades, allowing
the option of a 180-degree rotation installation?
 
 

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