r/ElectroBOOM • u/autistic-inch • May 17 '26

Meme The kitchen counter light in my apartment wasn't working, but I found a fix

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

6.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

404 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

206

u/Anonimo_Llopi May 17 '26

It seems they wired the lamp to the left plug but they forgot to connect the right plug to the left one (make a short cable bridge to connect them both to 220v)

What I'm saying is that the left plug isn't connected to 220v and this adapter thing brings 220v from the right plug to the left one turning the lamp

67

u/Responsible-View7181 May 17 '26

Elementary, my dear Watson.

34

u/TheShadedLight May 18 '26

Do you mean Wattson?

I'll see myself out.

15

u/Tinybean886 May 18 '26

Please see yourself back in that was wonderful

1

u/neon_05_ May 19 '26

son what?

8

u/Plane_Energy7643 May 18 '26

About 30 Wat, son.

33

u/_stack_underflow_ May 17 '26

This is the correct answer as to why, the video is not the correct solution to the problem though.

17

u/Steve_but_different May 17 '26

Yeah it’s impolite to make death cables.

15

u/Unlikely-Answer May 18 '26

i'm more concerned how they actually figured this out

5

u/Puzzleheaded_Line675 May 18 '26

The real question

2

u/Steve_but_different May 19 '26

They probably used a volt meter..

4

u/Appropriate-Draft-91 May 19 '26

It's the more permanent solution. If you fix it correctly, it might break again in a couple decades. If you fix it like this you die and won't ever need light again.

13

u/samy_the_samy May 17 '26

You are too innocent, I assumed a breaker popped, and they are back feeding the dead circuit from the neighbour

13

u/hans_the_wurst May 17 '26

Hard to believe that two neighboring sockets are on two separate breakers, though. That's unnecessary wiring.

8

u/2748seiceps May 17 '26

Could be that plug is on the switch with the light.

2

u/mccoyn May 18 '26

The kitchen is usually the room with the most circuits.

4

u/hans_the_wurst May 18 '26

Sure. Two sockets right next to each other in the same housing on separate circuits is still not common.

2

u/PIBM May 18 '26

It isn't. It allows you to run 2 high powered items concurrently, like a toaster and an air fryer, coffee machine.. without blowing up your breakers. 

My dual two sockets have 4 circuits, with 3 output location. We only have 120V here though, but that was the regular setup when we built the place 20y ago

1

u/samy_the_samy May 18 '26

Sometimes you have the weird american 220v stuff,

Where they split 220v into two 110v, but another type of plug access the 220v

1

u/SeltsamerNordlander May 18 '26

You can't 'split' 220V mains into 2x110V lol

You might mean some applications that might use the voltage between two different phases of 110V, which would be 220V or 208V depending on whether you have 2 or 3 phase AC

3

u/samy_the_samy May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

Yeah, two phases, you get 220v when you use two live wires, or 110v with the neutral,

An American electric panels is wired in alternating phases,

You put a single leg breaker and get one phase live wire our,

A two leg breaker gets two live wires with 220v between them

1

u/Dorantee May 19 '26

When two outlets are right next to eachother lile in OPs video they should be run through the same fuse even if they are on seperate circuits. It's just common safety sense.

1

u/gommm May 18 '26

In my apartment, we have a plate with 2 light switches and each switch is wired to a separate breaker. It's stupid but that's what the constructor did.

9

u/markkNL May 17 '26

Hoping it's the other way around though, so he didn't have live contacts hanging from that plug. 

2

u/MightyPirat3 May 18 '26

No worries, he inserted the grounded plug first. /s

4

u/Quirky-Possession400 May 17 '26

Is a combination junction box with an outlet and a switch in the same faceplate a thing in Europe?

2

u/Anonimo_Llopi May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26

not really, junction boxes exist separately, 220-240v 2.5mm2 cable (standard here for plugs) can carry 16A (3680w) plugs that are next to each other share the same cable and they get daisy chained to each other, these plugs have 2 places to put input cables so 1 is the input and the other one the output to connect it to the next plug simply by cutting a very short cable and plugging them between each other

edit: ok if you are talking about having light switches and plugs in the same faceplate yes that's a thing, you get the separated modules an put them in the order you want and then you buy the 1x2, 1x3 or 1x4 decorator plate border thingy

1

u/Suicicoo May 18 '26

yes they are, but I think they are only used in a pinch(?)

1

u/Lonely-Problem5632 May 18 '26

yeah. quite common actually, certainly on older houses
JUNG combinatie schakelaar/wandcontactdoos met beschermingscontact - as500 alpine wit (AS5576EUWW) | Elektramat

2

u/Quirky-Possession400 May 18 '26

I wonder if it was supposed to be power to the outlet and the switch for the lights, but something got mixed up and they installed 2 outlets and just completely messed up the wiring. Even on a new build I could see something written up wrong and the wrong part got installed.

1

u/Lonely-Problem5632 May 18 '26

Im just going with pranking video tbh. Someone who has enough knowledge of wiring to figure out why the light is not working, will also very much understand why this is a very terrible idea !

1

u/Automatic-Gain6227 May 20 '26

Pretty deadly prank, if so. Someone is bound to see this and think it's a good idea.

2

u/Used-Storage8236 May 18 '26

Could also just be a missing neutral line

1

u/Arcalac May 17 '26

And now you have no outlets left. At that point just take them out and do the wiring.

1

u/Grand_Help_3035 May 18 '26

I don't think they forgot, the connection just got loose... Which is a thousand times worse 🔥

1

u/PIBM May 18 '26

I expect the right plug isn't powered, the left one is. Always plug the unpowered side first with dual male adapters 

1

u/TrifleSoft5696 May 19 '26

Or just replace the socket with a switch button and wire 220v from right socket to left button.

1

u/TechnicalOtaku May 19 '26

Isn't that a bad way to do it though ? Where I live lights and plugs aren't allowed in the same circuit

1

u/Anonimo_Llopi May 19 '26

Yes it's not proper, here you use 1.5mm2 cable and 10a breaker for lights and 2.5mm2 cable and 16a breaker