Anyone know anything about electricity?

[Tgo01]

Okay so here's the deal, I have a few of those blowup Christmas decorations on an extension cord and one of the smaller ones stopped working properly. The rest are larger and have much bigger motors while this one is smaller and has a tiny motor compared to the others. The motor on the smaller one looks as if it's not getting a constant supply of electricity, the fan will go for a split second then stop for a split second and will keep going like that. I thought since it's a much smaller motor it just can't take the cold weather as well as the larger ones can so I took it inside, plugged it in and it worked great. I plugged it in on my front porch, blew up just fine. Strange. Plugged it in on my back porch, worked perfectly. Plugged it into an outlet in my freezing cold garage, no problems. I decided to plug it back where it was, same problem as before, motor won't keep going. I decided to unplug everything else from this extension cord and just plug this one inflatable up and it worked fine. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke I plugged everything else back in, plugged this one back in where it used to be and same problem, motor won't go.

This doesn't make any sense to me. It's not like I have 4,000 watts of shit plugged into this extension cord and I don't have a portable space heater plugged into it, it's just maybe 500 watts of inflatable Christmas decorations. Is it possible this one inflatable really isn't getting power to it because too much shit is plugged into the same extension cord? But why just this one is not working? Why aren't the other 5 having any problems at all? It did rain last night if that makes any difference, but I've been having problems with this one off and on for the past week.

[Gelston]

Just run another extension cord from another outlet.

[Tgo01]

Just run another extension cord from another outlet.

Well sure, if you want to do something that makes sense!

[Back]

Take a fork and stick it in the socket to make sure it is not being clogged with foreign matter.

[Tgo01]

Take a fork and stick it in the socket to make sure it is not being clogged with foreign matter.

Should I be standing in a bucket of water when I attempt this?

[Kastrel]

Should I be standing in a bucket of water when I attempt this?

Yes. Make sure you are holding onto a power line at the time. You know, just in case you get electrocuted; the electricity will go right into the power line and you won't feel a thing!

[4a6c1]

For good luck do it during a lightening storm. Really good luck.

[Tgo01]

I get this feeling you guys are trying to get me hurt.

[Latrinsorm]

Well, you effectively have resistors linked up in parallel. The voltage is the same across each (and outlets have constant voltage), but the current is split, so if you split it enough you could conceivably not have enough to run the little one. Just because a motor is tiny doesn't mean it doesn't have hidden depths, Terrence.

[Tgo01]

Well, you effectively have resistors linked up in parallel. The voltage is the same across each (and outlets have constant voltage), but the current is split, so if you split it enough you could conceivably not have enough to run the little one. Just because a motor is tiny doesn't mean it doesn't have hidden depths, Terrence.

I can't tell if this post is sincere or sarcastic. Darn you Latrin for being so good at both!

[poloneus]

Okay so here's the deal, I have a few of those blowup Christmas decorations...

I see your problem. Get rid of that crap and get some lights and problem solved.

[Tgo01]

I see your problem. Get rid of that crap and get some lights and problem solved.

I have lots of lights.

[diethx]

I love this thread. Tgo, you're one of my favorite people here.

[Tgo01]

diethx loves that I'm clueless :(

[diethx]

:)

[Delias]

I have lots of lights.

He isn't coming back, no matter how big of a beacon you build.

[Tgo01]

He isn't coming back, no matter how big of a beacon you build.

You don't know that for sure!!

[SHAFT]

I learned today that Edison and tesla had a current war in the late 1800's. Edison pushed for dc while tesla was for ac. Jp Morgan was the eventual winner of the whole ordeal.

[Gelston]

Damn, that cat in your avatar is going nuts.

[SHAFT]

Damn, that cat in your avatar is going nuts.

What cat?

[Delias]

Damn, that cat in your avatar is going nuts.

You know how I know you're gay?

[Parkbandit]

Okay so here's the deal, I have a few of those blowup Christmas decorations on an extension cord and one of the smaller ones stopped working properly. The rest are larger and have much bigger motors while this one is smaller and has a tiny motor compared to the others. The motor on the smaller one looks as if it's not getting a constant supply of electricity, the fan will go for a split second then stop for a split second and will keep going like that. I thought since it's a much smaller motor it just can't take the cold weather as well as the larger ones can so I took it inside, plugged it in and it worked great. I plugged it in on my front porch, blew up just fine. Strange. Plugged it in on my back porch, worked perfectly. Plugged it into an outlet in my freezing cold garage, no problems. I decided to plug it back where it was, same problem as before, motor won't keep going. I decided to unplug everything else from this extension cord and just plug this one inflatable up and it worked fine. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke I plugged everything else back in, plugged this one back in where it used to be and same problem, motor won't go.

This doesn't make any sense to me. It's not like I have 4,000 watts of shit plugged into this extension cord and I don't have a portable space heater plugged into it, it's just maybe 500 watts of inflatable Christmas decorations. Is it possible this one inflatable really isn't getting power to it because too much shit is plugged into the same extension cord? But why just this one is not working? Why aren't the other 5 having any problems at all? It did rain last night if that makes any difference, but I've been having problems with this one off and on for the past week.

Do you have the smaller one plugged into it's own extension cord or is it plugged into another device that is plugged into another device that is then plugged into the power strip?

[Tgo01]

Do you have the smaller one plugged into it's own extension cord or is it plugged into another device that is plugged into another device that is then plugged into the power strip?

Sort of, the blow ups are pretty far from an outlet so I have a few extension cords plugged into one another (which is apparently a big no no I've read but I like to live dangerously.) The little one is at the far end of all of these extension cords, when I plug it in at the beginning it works.