Birmingham July 2018 “Socket to me!”
01/07/18 04:09
I own a two bedroom flat in the UK. It is located in the centre of Birmingham, overlooking one of the many canals in that area. After 20 years things are starting to wear out such as wall tiles coming off the bathroom wall and cracks appearing in the paintwork. Nothing too serious and certainly nothing that I can’t fix in time. However one problem has been bugging me and that is the failure of both electricity power sockets in my study room. A short explanation might help. The smaller bedroom has been converted into an ‘office’, something I suspect other owners of similar property have done given it would be a struggle to fit a single bed and bedside table into it. Nevertheless it does an excellent job of hosting my collection of computers, VDUs, scanners and so on. Next to the computer desk is a wall mounted power socket into which can be fitted two plugs. On the other side of the room there is a similar socket but I seldom used that. Two years ago I had the bright idea of changing the socket by the computer desk for one that had an additional two USB outlets. I thought that would be good for when I decide to sell the property. Not that I really needed it now as there were plenty of USB ports on the back of the VDU but it is far easier to plug the phone charger into the wall socket than to try to find a spare port on the back of a monitor. Now I am well capable of safely changing a power socket so I bought the replacement, installed it and we were back in action. However I noted that it took me two hours to do. The problem was that there was only a 10 cm gap between the wall socket and the side of the computer desk so to make room to unscrew the socket I had to disconnect and remove all the computers, screens and printer from the desk before it could be moved to create enough space for me to work in. The actual replacement of the socket took only 30 minutes but the removal and subsequent replacement of all equipment on the computer desk added another 90 minutes. You can perhaps appreciate my annoyance when only six months later that socket failed! One evening when I switched it on there was a loud bang from the socket. On inspection it looked like something had gone wrong in the USB power outlet but no matter there were two power outlets on that socket so I swapped the plug over to the other one and started using that. Within a week there was another bang and the other USB power outlet failed rendering the socket useless.
As the room had two power sockets I could keep working by using an extension lead from that socket over to where I was working. Of course I now had a defective and potentially dangerous socket in the room and whilst I knew not to plug anything into it that would hardly be a good selling point for the house. A bit of research on the internet showed I was not the only person to have problems with USB power sockets so I resolved to go back to the original which fortunately I had kept. All I need to do was to find a two hour slot in my activities and repeat the installation exercise. So a year ago we were back to where I had started from and I could put the extension lead back into the cupboard, well for a few months anyhow.
What then happened was very odd. One evening after I had finished working I bent down to switch off the power supply and found the switch wouldn't switch! No matter how hard I pressed it I couldn’t get it to switch off and nether would the other switch on that socket. I looked at it and wondered what had gone wrong this time. I surmised that there must be a mechanical linkage inside the socket that had come loose and was preventing my from switching it off. Didn’t stop me pulling the plug out but each time I put it back in there was a spark and a build up of carbon dust on the plug’s pins. After a couple of weeks I got fed up with that and decided to go back to using the other socket in the room. So out came the extension lead again and I started to power the equipment from the other side of the room. At some point I would have to replace the failed socket but that was not a priority job. Well what had seemed to be a good solution lasted for just a few weeks and then something exceedingly odd happened, I couldn’t switch the power off on that socket either! In all my life I had never known a power socket fail and now both in the room were defective, this was just weird. I tried pressing really hard on the switches but they wouldn’t move so I was back to to pulling the plug out each night. In time I stopped doing that and left it permanently on and just switched off the computer equipment each night. The only time I would need to take the plug out was when leaving the house for a holiday or when going abroad.
I couldn’t leave it like that and a year later I decided to replace both sockets. I had used one socket for twenty years but to have the other fail after only three months use was odd but these things happen. When something breaks it is usually going to be at the start of its working life or near to its design lifetime and I had one of each in that room. I bought two replacement sockets at six pounds each and then tried to work up the enthusiasm to get started with this job. Shortly before returning to Malaysia for my summer stay I decided to ‘get it done’ but there wasn’t two hours daylight left in that day. I really, really, didn’t want to move all the computer equipment again so I sat on the floor and tried to get a small screwdriver into the gap between wall and computer desk. My screwdrivers were mostly longer than that gap and it didn’t look hopeful. Somewhere I had a shorter screwdriver but it had gone missing. Then I remembered prayer. Well why not? Whilst I had come to associate prayer with healing miracles that wasn’t always the case. So I asked for help and the sort of help I had in mind was assistance in finding that small screwdriver. Unfortunately I didn’t and as the sun set I eventually decided to give up. Tomorrow I would get up early and start the tiresome process of clearing the computer desk but then, for some reason, I decided to press the switch on the socket, more out of annoyance than hope it has to be said. It clicked off. I stared at it and then switched it on and off several times. I tried the other switch on that socket, they were both in working order! Wow, well I only have to replace one then and that one will be easy to do. I stood up, walked over to the other socket and went to press the switch. Surely that wasn’t going to work as well? Click! There was no fault with that socket either. I walked back and forward between the two power sockets switching them on and off several times, they were both back in working order. Somewhat stunned by this turn of events I gave a prayer of thanks to my Lord and put the extension cord away.
By now I am used to odd things happening around me but these two power sockets had been stuck in the on position for a year and now they were working fine. I’ll say it again, thank you Lord. Does anyone need of a new power socket? I have two spares available.
As the room had two power sockets I could keep working by using an extension lead from that socket over to where I was working. Of course I now had a defective and potentially dangerous socket in the room and whilst I knew not to plug anything into it that would hardly be a good selling point for the house. A bit of research on the internet showed I was not the only person to have problems with USB power sockets so I resolved to go back to the original which fortunately I had kept. All I need to do was to find a two hour slot in my activities and repeat the installation exercise. So a year ago we were back to where I had started from and I could put the extension lead back into the cupboard, well for a few months anyhow.
What then happened was very odd. One evening after I had finished working I bent down to switch off the power supply and found the switch wouldn't switch! No matter how hard I pressed it I couldn’t get it to switch off and nether would the other switch on that socket. I looked at it and wondered what had gone wrong this time. I surmised that there must be a mechanical linkage inside the socket that had come loose and was preventing my from switching it off. Didn’t stop me pulling the plug out but each time I put it back in there was a spark and a build up of carbon dust on the plug’s pins. After a couple of weeks I got fed up with that and decided to go back to using the other socket in the room. So out came the extension lead again and I started to power the equipment from the other side of the room. At some point I would have to replace the failed socket but that was not a priority job. Well what had seemed to be a good solution lasted for just a few weeks and then something exceedingly odd happened, I couldn’t switch the power off on that socket either! In all my life I had never known a power socket fail and now both in the room were defective, this was just weird. I tried pressing really hard on the switches but they wouldn’t move so I was back to to pulling the plug out each night. In time I stopped doing that and left it permanently on and just switched off the computer equipment each night. The only time I would need to take the plug out was when leaving the house for a holiday or when going abroad.
I couldn’t leave it like that and a year later I decided to replace both sockets. I had used one socket for twenty years but to have the other fail after only three months use was odd but these things happen. When something breaks it is usually going to be at the start of its working life or near to its design lifetime and I had one of each in that room. I bought two replacement sockets at six pounds each and then tried to work up the enthusiasm to get started with this job. Shortly before returning to Malaysia for my summer stay I decided to ‘get it done’ but there wasn’t two hours daylight left in that day. I really, really, didn’t want to move all the computer equipment again so I sat on the floor and tried to get a small screwdriver into the gap between wall and computer desk. My screwdrivers were mostly longer than that gap and it didn’t look hopeful. Somewhere I had a shorter screwdriver but it had gone missing. Then I remembered prayer. Well why not? Whilst I had come to associate prayer with healing miracles that wasn’t always the case. So I asked for help and the sort of help I had in mind was assistance in finding that small screwdriver. Unfortunately I didn’t and as the sun set I eventually decided to give up. Tomorrow I would get up early and start the tiresome process of clearing the computer desk but then, for some reason, I decided to press the switch on the socket, more out of annoyance than hope it has to be said. It clicked off. I stared at it and then switched it on and off several times. I tried the other switch on that socket, they were both in working order! Wow, well I only have to replace one then and that one will be easy to do. I stood up, walked over to the other socket and went to press the switch. Surely that wasn’t going to work as well? Click! There was no fault with that socket either. I walked back and forward between the two power sockets switching them on and off several times, they were both back in working order. Somewhat stunned by this turn of events I gave a prayer of thanks to my Lord and put the extension cord away.
By now I am used to odd things happening around me but these two power sockets had been stuck in the on position for a year and now they were working fine. I’ll say it again, thank you Lord. Does anyone need of a new power socket? I have two spares available.