is this dangerous?

[David G]

saw this in an eBay listing for a ZX81

[1024MAK]

In a word, yes.

Any and all mains voltage wiring, terminals or other conductors must be suitably insulated or in an enclosed so that a person can't touch it.

Mark

[David G]

thanks Mark. Even if it is a temporary jury-rigged test, i thought it looked chancy. Accidents do happen and what

[1024MAK]

What someone who knows what they are doing does and what you offer to sell to others are rather different things.

So, for example, I’m used to working on live (as in mains voltage or above) equipment. So I know the dangers and take appropriate precautions when working on live equipment.

But when selling an item of equipment, unless you are clearly only selling it for the parts (including stating this), any equipment that could be a hazard to an ordinary purchaser should be safe for use. In the U.K., there are regulations that require this (used items must comply with the standards in force when it was originally sold). Even for items sold by private individuals. The requirements for businesses selling products are even more strict, with them having to comply with some current requirements for used / second hand / preowned items/products/appliances. Obviously new items have to comply with all the current regulations.

As an example, it is perfectly okay for a business to sell a U.K. 240V 13A mains plug attached to a mains flex with no connector on the other end, just stripped bare wires, because it is a ‘spare part’. The intended market being technicians/service engineers or similar.

But you cannot as a business, sell a normal appliance with a mains flex with no mains plug on the other end (there are exceptions where an appliance is supposed to be installed by a professional). And the mains plug, the mains flex as well as the appliance all need to comply with the relevant regulations.

The principal of the regulations being that normal consumers should not be able to buy an appliance that they could injure themselves with (*1). But without unduly hindering the selling of spare parts.

Note *1: there are some, where due to historical items / appliances where a normal consumer could injure themselves. Lamp holders for example.

Mark

[Boydie]

If you could zoom out on the picture, you’d see the bare wires stuck straight into the socket holes (memories of the 70s, made all the more dangerous by use of an unburnt match to prise the shutters open).

I was going to say it’s perfectly safe, so long as you never put it near the mains, but it looks like quite a trip/fall hazard so I’d probably be wrong.

[Moggy]

When I was a kid (50's/60's) we had 5 and 15 amp round pin plugs, the sockets of same didn't even have shutters and the matches were used to hold the wires in place!