Anyone Know if Daisy-Chaining is Dangerous

godreborn

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alright, I have one power strip connected to the wall. from that, I have another power strip (using one of the original power strip's power outlets), and then from that I have a third power strip (again going from one of the outlets on the second power strip). now, I have an extension cable going to one of those outlets up to my switch. is this dangerous? could it burn out the system? fire hazard? I really have no where else to put it. thanks.
 

Arras

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I'm very far from an expert, but I believe that it's fine as long as you don't plug in too many devices. If you're just using them as extension cables, whatever, but if you plug in a bunch of devices on all three power strips, you might get into trouble with drawing more power than the power strips can handle.
 

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It's not dangerous as long as you don't have anything else plugged in. But if every power strip is filled with additional devices that can be a fire hazard because the total power consumed can exceed the first power strip's rating. But if you're just chaining them to create one long extension cord to reach the Switch, you're fine.
 

jahrs

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how old are the power strips if relatively new 1 or 2 years your fine but if they are older one could shortout and fry whatevers connected to it. and yeah what the guys above said as long as you dont plug in a bunch of stuff and overload the plug you should be fine. i would however recommend keeping an eye on the temperature of the one connected to the wall to ensure its not overheating everyonce in a while
 
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Searinox

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The power cord with the least wattage capacity will be the one that gets most strained. In general it is not recommended but it can be done absolutely fine, provided the power drawn isn't too great, which tends to be the case in these extension cord mishaps because they have a large number of devices plugged, which under normal circumstances they would not. Make sure they all have ground and that the power socket can also hold the demand. You can also check wiring for heat under load. Failure to account for a weak cord in a circuit can result in fire or explosion from the high resistance as the amount of current going through it gets excessively wasted as heat from the electrons bumping around as they circulate the current.

Disclosure: I have 4 extension cords in my room daisy chained to bring power to my AC unit on the other side of the room where there is no socket, plus another 2 branching out of them on the way.
 
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godreborn

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thanks. I do have something plugged into each outlet. will flipping the toggle switch conserve power? all of my power strips, aside from one in my room, have toggle switches for each device instead of the whole thing. I was using them to reduce power consumption, but I keep forgetting that I have them. plus, I never marked what cable goes to what, and my setup is extremely complicated (50-100 video/audio, power, etc cables). I can't get back behind my entertainment center to check everything either, which is why it's all daisy chained.
 

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It's safe to do that, just heads up, the outlet itself has a limit to how much wattage it can provide, connecting too many devices that require more than that can cause issues such as running underpowered (can seriously mess up some devices, especially if their PSU is not high quality with the necessary safeties in place), some devices not running at all or the security power switch (on the breaker board) going down to prevent overloads/surges/leaks/etc. just to give you some examples. If you are just doing it for 3-4 devices, especially if low powered like a TV and the Switch, you have nothing to worry about provided the electrical grid in your house isn't ancient (but even then it should be able to push out at least 1.5KW since even grids from the 70s can handle that much).
 
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godreborn

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will flipping the toggle switches be the same as unplugging the devices? I'm trying to figure out why my original switch died. it was connected to an extension cable that seemed to have gone bad. the grounding prong fell off when I unplugged it. could that have caused a short despite the switch not using that prong?
 

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alright, I have one power strip connected to the wall. from that, I have another power strip (using one of the original power strip's power outlets), and then from that I have a third power strip (again going from one of the outlets on the second power strip). now, I have an extension cable going to one of those outlets up to my switch. is this dangerous? could it burn out the system? fire hazard? I really have no where else to put it. thanks.
Look at the power rating on the power strips, and make sure you don't overload any of them. Unless you have heaters/AC units/several computers all powered on at the same time plugged into them, it's probably fine, most things don't drain that much power.
will flipping the toggle switches be the same as unplugging the devices? I'm trying to figure out why my original switch died. it was connected to an extension cable that seemed to have gone bad. the grounding prong fell off when I unplugged it. could that have caused a short despite the switch not using that prong?
Not likely, even if something in the extension cord shorted, that's before the Switch PSU in the chain, all it would do would be to loop power back into neutral/ground and trip your breaker/GFCI. Electricity takes the path of least resistance which in that case would simply be to loop back in a dead short.
Were you using a 3rd party PSU or dock?
 
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godreborn

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nope, official. it has me worried though as I've encountered others issues with the switch, such as bugs (i.e. a game crashing). I've wondered if power might be the reason. though, my wii u has never crashed. it's only happened a couple times with the switch, but last night I was playing tropical freeze and all of a sudden the down button stopped working. it started working again a few moments later. I'm trying to enjoy the system without having to worry about anything extra like the system falling apart for inexplicable reasons.
 

jahrs

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couldve been a faulty switch and yeah turn off the the power strip and its like unplugging the device. however for the switch it shouldnt be a big deal because it has an internal battery. perhaps the faulty strip caused an electrical backlash and fried something inside the switch.
 
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godreborn

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that was my theory as well. my second wii u had been using the same cable for years. I unplugged it for the switch. a few days ago, I plugged that wii u in again to see if it powered on or if something was wrong with it from the faulty cable. it powered right up, no issues. though, what's odd is that my media player wasn't receiving any power until after I replaced that extension cable. the media player wasn't plugged in to that extension cable either, so interference of some sort?
 

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will flipping the toggle switches be the same as unplugging the devices?
Depends on if the switch is single or double pole, and most importantly depends on the context (both types are sufficient to stop operation of a sanely designed device, double pole is better for safety while working on the insides, both are generally insufficient for lightning protection)

Commercial power strips, like sausages and politics, do belong into the "you won't want one anymore once you learn how they're made" category (each pin socket is made by a long piece of metal, which is just asking for worn out connections) - and while loose sockets CAN result in damage to the load, I would honestly go play the lottery if that was what happened!
 
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godreborn

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Depends on if the switch is single or double pole, and most importantly depends on the context (both types are sufficient to stop operation of a sanely designed device, double pole is better for safety while working on the insides, both are generally insufficient for lightning protection)

Commercial power strips, like sausages and politics, do belong into the "you won't want one anymore once you learn how they're made" category (each pin socket is made by a long piece of metal, which is just asking for worn out connections) - and while loose sockets CAN result in damage to the load, I would honestly go play the lottery if that was what happened!

so I should unplug them? I've heard that each outlet draws the same amount of power, so it's dangerous to have say a power strip in one outlet and a single device in the other.

the switch doesn't use ground, does it? there's no prong for it.

do you mean to say that damage caused by a faulty cable is extremely unlikely to cause some sort of short or feedback damaging a device?
 

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so I should unplug them?
Unplugging (and leaving the plug a few centimeters out of the wall, not just "pull out until it turns off") is practically 100% safe at preventing "unwanted input from the power line" coming in; but depending on your goal, it may be more than needed (a single pole switch is sufficient for eliminating power usage, for example)

I've heard that each outlet draws the same amount of power, so it's dangerous to have say a power strip in one outlet and a single device in the other.
Uh? No, a socket by itself doesn't consume anything (assuming we are calling a socket a socket, not those fancy timers/solar/motion controlled kinds), the watts or amps written on them are the maximum safe load (and that number assumes not only the wiring on both sides is up to that spec, but also that the connectors are not worn out!)

A loaded socket will result in some power consumption, since (at room temperature and pressure, with the metals commonly used ;) ) it's not an ideal conductor, so it has non-zero resistance, therefore it generates heat proportional to the resistance (that's why loose sockets combined with large loads are dangerous)


the switch doesn't use ground, does it? there's no prong for it.
You tell me, never seen one :)
The power brick is most likely class 2 - check the logo - and the console itself class 3; neither require a ground (as far as safety is concerned; there may be other "minor" issues, like the famous shocks from touching a metal Mac if you use the ungrounded plug of the 2 included ones, or regarding internal surge/noise protections)

do you mean to say that damage caused by a faulty cable is extremely unlikely to cause some sort of short or feedback damaging a device?
Pretty much: a short* caused by a loose socket is practically impossible and wouldn't damage the load any more than a non-shorting loose connection, while dropouts may do (inductive spikes causing excessive voltage, insufficient average voltage resulting in overcurrent while attempting to maintain a constant power, ...) but I'm not sure how likely these problems are with a relatively light load as a Switch charger (it is mainly inductive, which could be a disadvantage)


* strictly speaking, a short circuit is a 0 ohm connection, which would result in energy running in a loop to and from the power company for free** - but that's impossible (see above comment on materials and temperature) and everyone accepts the common-sense-adjusted definition!

** the 2nd principle of thermodynamics does not actually say that energy circulating in an infinite loop is impossible - "only" that it's impossible to add or remove some without inefficiencies :D
 
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godreborn

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so you're saying that a messed up cable wouldn't have caused my original switch to fail? what puzzles me is the fact that my media player wasn't receiving any power until I replaced the cable. it wasn't even using an extension cable.
 

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so you're saying that a messed up cable wouldn't have caused my original switch to fail? what puzzles me is the fact that my media player wasn't receiving any power until I replaced the cable.
It could (however unlikely), if the connection was loose (only working if bent at certain angles/sparking noises when moved or bent, etc) - if it "just didn't carry power" (and not due to the previous conditions worsening) it shouldn't have mattered
 
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mrdude

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It depends on your house wiring - type of fuse box. If you're running lots of stuff from the same wall outlet - all the amperage from each device will add up, Once the amperage on your fusebox RCD reaches it's limit - your fuse/RCD should trip out. If it doesn't the mains wire would heat up if too much amperage is running through the cable for a long time and could possibly melt the plastic/or set fire to it. You shouldn't try and run to much stuff from the same circuit. Ie High amperage stuff such as a TV/Microware/Tuble Dryer/Toaster/Iron etc.
 

godreborn

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so the failed switch is likely a coincidence or could those bent pegs have caused it? I've flipped all toggle switches off except those to the switch. I don't think this is going to make a difference as I've been using the same setup for many years. I'm just trying to figure out how the switch could've failed for no apparent reason.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I wasn't sure if that came up douche-baggery (;)), but the last sentence was just general confusion. out of all of my systems, the switch is the only one to suffer from failure. then, the media player seemingly goes, so I'm trying to figure out if there's a correlation. the media player came back to life after removing the extension cable, but I suppose the power cable was being snagged by something. however, why would that only happen after the extension cable went bad? with my new switch, I want to make sure it lasts. my wii u's never failed, so it's really made me lose a lot of confidence in Nintendo.
 
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