solarbird | what happens when you scratch the surface

holy fuck you scratch the surface and it's TIME TO GO MINING

So this VR rig I got used a little while ago, to use it I've had to plug all the parts into a couple of different power strips every time because I've never finished setting it up right. That kind of sucks and is a barrier to use and all that so last night I decided to be all LET'S FIX THIS!

And while I'm setting it up with foot switches and stuff that's when I find that the UPS for my gaming rig is actually only backing up one (1) external soundbox, and the rest of the kit is just on power filters.

(The UPS is also really for another machine that uses that external soundbox - both the external soundbox and that CPU were supposed to be on it.)

And I then find out that while it's beefy enough for the other machine, it is NOT beefy enough for my gaming rig so I'm like "whelp I've got kind of a spare - one I can use anyway" and swap that in
and that involves digging a lot of stuff out of closets but that's okay.

So I plug the replacement UPS into the (heavy duty, 13A, three-prong) extension cord and the replacement UPS starts making new noises, ones I've never heard before and I'm like "uh, this is bad" and I'm thinking maybe it's just charging capacitors since it's been out of service for a while and that's... okay enough...

But then I see that it's not getting power despite being plugged in. It's running on battery except occasionally (I determine) it's not? And sometimes it's getting 120V and sometimes it's getting 0V and sometimes it's getting small random numbers of volts under 25?

So I'm like "I plugged this in and then put the connection back behind these boxes in the closet, did it come partially unplugged somehow?" and I retrieve the cord (which is for the record completely unstressed and was completely unstressed before, this is not a bendy cord issue)

...and it's making noises.

extension cords should

never

make noises

So I grab the end of it and see that depending upon how I put stress on the connection it makes different noises (and yes, it was completely plugged in) so I'm OKAY TURNING OFF THE UPS NOW and unplug it and I think, okay, this is probably the socket end of the extension cord gone bad but I can't rule out the plug end, let's go make sure nothing's wrong with that (which is easy, it's a short cord, it's just behind shit) and I move all the stuff in the way and I get to it and it's plugged in fine and stable

but

the outlet-mount power filter/line splitter it's plugged into is wobbly? And that's new? (And it has also been under no meaningful stress?)

So I unscrew the filter from the outlet and take off the outlet plate and discover yep it's the outlet and oh shit it was never screwed down properly by the electrician which is insane because it had been perfectly stable when I set all this up which is when I realise that's only because of the sprayed-on wall texture that's been holding it down.

So anyway I fix all of that

(that's like three levels removed from the original task at this point)

and put the plate back on and put the adaptor/splitter/filter/surge protector back on and plug the UPS into that and it behaves normally and if I put the extension cord back in series it's definitely the extension cord socket gone bad. It's really clear when you aren't bent over under shelves in a closet.

Anyway, that's what happens when you try to plug a VR helmet interface box's power plug into a footswitch.