Special to ThisCrazyTrain.com
Hidy
ho, Ms. Cindy!
Billy
Bob here in St. Catharines. My missus, Daisy
May, was feelin’ right badly for you the other week, cuz your phone lost juice
and you was forced to GO it incommunicado. Daisy May understands why them older coaches
– with the “rich Carinthian leather” seats – don’t got no wall plugs, but she
don’t get why them new train cars don’t come from the factory wired with
outlets for you folks. Daisy May says
findin’ a power outlet on a GO train is like a Easter egg hunt, even when you
got the list of wired coaches put
together by that GO Voyageur person. So, Daisy May turned to me ‘n’ said we gotta
do somethin’ for that nice Cindy ‘n’ all her LSE friends, so they never gets
stuck like that again.
By
“we”, my missus meant me, and I knew I was in way over my head, so I got on the
CB radio to my cousin Herb. Maybe you
heard of him? Back in the 60s, he hosted
his own local TV show called Handyman Herb's DIY Hacks – with Herb Hellfinger. After explainin’ the situation, Herb laughed
and said he knew right off what the fix was.
Herb
said, “Every GO train car has outlets, Billy Bob. The problem is folks don’t have the right
plugs for ‘em”.
Huh?
O’
course, Herb was right – he always is. He
told me every GO train car he’s ever been on has these plugs:
I
figured I’d be real smart, so I told Herb that folks just gotta buy one of these
connector doohickeys off Amazon.
Well, Herb split a gut when he heard that, followed by, “Folks ain’t
gonna part with their hard earned dough for that! We’re gonna show ‘em how to build an adapter
for way less!”
Huh?
We
hopped in my Ford pickup and headed over to WallyMart (that’s what we call
Walmart down here) and got us one o’ these here mini power bars:
Next
stop, Home Depot, where we bought the all-important lockin’ plug:
Back
at Herb’s workshop, he cut the cord on that mini power bar about 6” from the
regular plug and tossed it in his “keeper bin” – Herb don’t throw nothin’ away. Then he stripped down the insulation on the
wires and connected the lockin’ plug and we was done! Herb says make sure you connect them wires to
the right prongs, like black to “hot”, white to neutral, and green to ground.
Here’s
the project all set to GO:
Herb
says if you’re goin’ this route, you might wanna upgrade your DIY project and
invest in a surge protector, too, cuz you don’t want dirty power on them trains
fryin’ your valuable ‘lectronics, eh.
Even them regular outlets
have green lights to tell you if it’s safe to plug in your
gear. The higher the number of joules on
one o’ them protectors, the better, or as Daisy May says, “Size matters.” WallyMart gots this one that’s good enough to
protect your fridge:
So,
there you GO, Ms. Cindy. Toss that in
your bag and you’re never frettin’ about that cell phone dyin’ on you again! And Daisy May will be feelin’ a whole lot
better, too.
Best
wishes from the other side of the lake,
Billy
Bob
I think Herb needs a Youtube channel. I would love to watch his McGuiver efforts followed by the inevitable electrocution during the demo ;)
ReplyDeleteClassic comedy!
Cant wait to see the delays that occurs once this guy blows out the eltrical sytem in the coach or entire train. Hope its nice and hot too. These plugs folks are for the tech s equipment during down time. I would not recomended using that for any other reason, unless your willing to own up to it if it cuases a train delay.
ReplyDeleteCan I get that in writing? Please cite by-law/tariff and submit to me (cj@thiscrazytrain.com)
ReplyDeleteI doubt any passenger will go through this expense but it was well worth the comedic value. Some people need to calm down.
ReplyDeleteHey FRED, doubt no longer: I did exactly this many years ago! Cost about $5 and has worked perfectly ever since.
ReplyDeleteA word of warning to those who make these adaptors: I wouldn't plug anything in that doesn't use a DC transformer, or any device that requires a clean AC wave. From the tests I've done, there's quite a bit of voltage fluctuation and other anomalies while the train is using its HEP generator; it's definitely not clean shore power.
That said, I've successfully charged my laptop, phone and other electronics while on the GO train. I've even had people offer to buy the adaptor from me, but I'm sure the ports would be locked out (or otherwise disabled) if these adaptors became too common.
While I don't think normal use should "blow out the electrical system in the coach or entire train," people should definitely exercise common sense and not use hair dryers, space heaters or anything with a motor; I'd imagine the inrush current when those devices start up could cause a brownout on the train.
Of course, I'm only halfway to becoming an electrical engineer, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
TL;DR: don't be stupid.
This also relies on you having a seat near the plugs...
ReplyDeleteI bought a 13000mAh Portable Charger when the Anker version went on sale a few months back. Its charge time compares favourably to a standard plug so it should get you through any GO delay.
And you can sit in your normal seat.
Old "Billy Bob" isn't a descendant of that legendary "Jerry Riggs" fellow by any chance, is he?
ReplyDeleteApparently, this practice is frowned upon in the UK: http://cnet.co/1fUl9rT (copy/paste to browser address bar)
ReplyDelete