Built your own "whole house" crossover cable!

[gunug]

I thought at first that this was clever; but maybe not for everyone:

http://hackaday.com/2010/04/01/how-to-make...ble/#more-22894



Make sure that it is long enough to reach a grounded outlet in your neighbors house!  

[sandbox]

Often used in houses after a hurricane, some like it hot.
I have a 110 and 220 v cable still left over from my portable generator.
Precaution must be taken, you should pull the Main breaker block first and disconnect everything that you don't need running. I also have attachments to connect directly to the breakers to heat a tank of hotwater or run the refrigerator which has it's own 20 amp breaker outside. Lights are easily replaced with batteries but a tank of hot water or a cold fridge is hard to come by in the aftermath.

My house generator is wired to the breaker box and it has an auto switch that prevents both power sources from running at once.

[gunug]

Sandbox - I assumed that there was a legal and safe use for this device; leave it to me to decide there was an illegal use!    

I guess my question would be is it good to build your own and is this set of instructions fairly complete.  I'm blue-skying here because I don't really own a generator or have another use for this thing; there have been times when it would be nice to have an option.

[Xairbusdriver]

Only time I've ever seen a need was after a storm blew a tree down on our neighbors house. We connected one end of a heavy duty cable to one of our unused circuits so they could keep a refrigerator running. They had a gas cook stove and being Spring time no heating or cooling was needed. Besides, back then, we still had screen on our windows so we could open them and left Mother Nature bring in some fresh air!

The biggest problem I see is that the longer the distance, the larger the wiring needs to be. Or one night go to the 240 volt current. Of course, lines like that laying on the ground are a tragic accident just waiting to happen, IMHO. Just go buy a generator and don't run it inside any building!

[jcarter]

Neat!  I thought my husband was the only one with one of these!
He made several of different lengths.
During the last hurricane, we put one of our portable generators in the back of our pickup, and went around to all our relatives houses and friends and neighbours and gave them all about a half hour of 'juice', long enough to bring their fridges back to cold.  We had stockpiled lots of gasoline when we heard the storm was coming.
We made sure that we ourselves pulled their mains before we did this, and put them back before we left, as you never know when the power could come back on, and that would be fireworks galore.

We also have a double ended hose, so that when we need water and haven't bothered to hook up our generator, we just hook onto the outdoor faucet of the next door people, as they are on town water. We run the long hose thru the woods. We have a well, though we do have an extra point with a pitcher pump on it.
Jane

[krissel]

QUOTE

Update: This How-To was written for April Fools’ Day. It is not advised  you attempt to make or even use this cable. The comments have made it very clear how dangerous to you and others using this cable can be. The image above is not of a full male-to-male cable, only the ground is connected, and the generator is not running