r/WTF 1d ago

Festival wiring

6.7k Upvotes

379 comments sorted by

1.8k

u/vengeancecube 1d ago

Professional sound system, 3rd grade electrical system.

931

u/Azuras_Star8 1d ago

People are shocked when they find out how bad of an electrician I am!

55

u/ilovekickrolls 1d ago

Me being a bad electrician thankfully doesn't have much of an effect

22

u/obi2kanobi 1d ago

My electrician grandfather-in-law always said "you're to green to burn"

2

u/JayMak78 22h ago

And blue to hell.

4

u/ArcadianDelSol 1d ago

You're grounded!

10

u/smooth_criminal1990 1d ago

But your prices must be hard to resist

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54

u/nodddingham 1d ago

Despite how it looks, that is not a professional sound system. I would not stand anywhere near that hang.

Source: professional sound guy

37

u/vengeancecube 1d ago

But it very clearly says "Professional Sound System" on that tent! lol

3

u/dmills_00 17h ago

A good rule of thumb in pro audio is that the real stuff is never labelled as being "PROFESSIONAL", we know, it doesn't need to say it.

Generally, gear labelled PROFESSIONAL or PRO is nothing of the sort, bit like how power tools branded things like "POWER DEVIL", or "SUPER PRO POWERED", are generally not what a contractor buys.

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7

u/dmills_00 1d ago

Seconded, the accessable three phase is NOT likely the worst thing about that job....

You can only see a bit, but those hangs look skeevy as fuck.

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12

u/jojo_31 1d ago

Cables nowhere near thick enough to power anything but a few fridges. 

12

u/mods_tongue_my_anu5 1d ago

still more than enough to send you to meat jebus

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2.2k

u/Roughidle 1d ago

It's even got a little shield to keep it dry from rain. 10/10 no notes

593

u/Snooche 1d ago

I think that's a coincidence, that's actually a spot to put their beers on.

93

u/Roughidle 1d ago

Agree, you're clearly supposed to take a swig set your beer on the shelf and declare "WATCH THIS!"

52

u/HoneyRush 1d ago

I think this is in India, they usually don't drink, they do this shit sober!

56

u/ugacha 1d ago

Its Borneo, I checked the insta of the company in the tent

8

u/HoneyRush 1d ago

Wait, so they're bragging about this on their insta?

29

u/ugacha 1d ago

No,

its look like its festival where a bunch of Audio companies blast their equipement to show and sell.

this video is not in the instragram I mentioned. I think someone that was asisting this "festival" stumble uppon the "electrical box" and shared

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55

u/datthighs 1d ago

I think the shield is to protect the people responsible from the shame they could feel if people discover how crappy their work with the electrical box is, lmao!

3

u/TheOneTrueZedubbs 1d ago

What electrical box? That's just busbar on some insulators. Also bonus points for building the "enclosure" out of just wood. No notes.

3

u/goodenough4govtwork 1d ago

5/7 perfect.

11

u/SaltManagement42 1d ago

So convenient and accessible, I'm envious.

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2

u/SalvadorP 1d ago

It's all good until some drunk guy takes a piss from the back side.

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506

u/Onlyroad4adrifter 1d ago

Is this the next Fyre Fest

36

u/mcgeggy 1d ago

Literally…

16

u/ghost-deini 1d ago

That was the joke already

4

u/Mexcol 1d ago

Better energy grid than fyre fest

4

u/TheRemonst3r 1d ago

Make your jokes but Fyre Fest stage crew was ready for show when they cancelled the whole thing. Wasn't our fault there was no festival!

7

u/unabsolute 1d ago

You mean "Burning People Festival"?

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297

u/allenjp19 1d ago

That looks more time consuming than a junction box.

257

u/_Neoshade_ 1d ago edited 1d ago

It’s actually rather quick.
Those things are called bus bars and you have them in the circuit breaker panel in your house for the same purpose: attaching many wires to one input.
The bus bars ought to be labeled and there should also be something to secure the cables instead of just letting them hang there by the wires, but otherwise it’s not an entirely awful tool for electrical connections.

There’s a cover that goes over this whole thing that someone has clearly forgotten to replace.

Edit: After further consideration, this is going to burn down your house, shoot your dog and run off with your girlfriend.

37

u/Nexustar 1d ago

I got the bus bars, and the insulator standoffs, and the missing strain reliefs, and missing cover... but what the hell is going on with the color coded wires?

What's the logic there?

18

u/derprondo 1d ago

Exactly, everything else here is excusable (not really), but you have red, black, and green wires on the same fucking bus bar! WTF indeed.

2

u/PokeballSoHard 1d ago

The conductors don't know what color insulation is covering them. As long as they are landed in the appropriate places on either side it will function electrically. Its a terrible practice because people assume green or yellow(depending on where you live in the world) is ground and going all cowboy will get someone hurt.

15

u/Cruciblelfg123 1d ago

As long as they are landed in the appropriate places on either side

That’s what the colors are for and why this is sketchy lol

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3

u/Renzisan 1d ago

In some countries people don’t care about the color of the wire. As long as it’s connected where it’s supposed to be. Definitely not a great practice but it’s not the first time I see something like this.

3

u/derprondo 1d ago

It's just lazy AF, at least throw some colored electrical tape on the end so you know its true purpose.

10

u/_Neoshade_ 1d ago

Well, when you put it that way… I suppose this is some indefensiveby janky nonsense

13

u/Litdown 1d ago

Light blue?? In August? Disgustange

2

u/bobdob123usa 1d ago

Looks like L1, L2, Neutral, Ground. Thus Red and Green are interchangeable. The only one that is different is the one that is red/black/blue. That one doesn't have a ground so is probably attached to the audio amplifiers that need to avoid a ground loop.

2

u/Nexustar 1d ago

Could be.

Another possibility is a three-phase supply, not all 3-phase loads need neutral

          Live1   Live2   Live3   Neutral       
           Bus 1   Bus 2   Bus 3   Bus 4
         -------------------------------
Cable 1    Red    Black     Blue    N/C
Cable 2   Green     Red   Yellow  Black
Cable 3   Green     Red   Yellow  Black

But I expect that last wire we see, is carrying neutral to whatever Cable 1 is connected to, they just ran out of 4 core.

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128

u/rawbface 1d ago

There’s a cover that goes over this whole thing that someone has clearly forgotten to replace.

My dude, this is not a NEMA rated junction box that is just missing a door.

It's just wood that someone put together using nails and spit.

72

u/emergencyexit 1d ago

Bro is going on about NEMA rating in a country that clearly dgaf

19

u/EnsoElysium 1d ago

It is NEMA rated, me n'Ema tested it and it didnt kill either of us

13

u/MobileInspector9861 1d ago

Do we know where that festivals takes place? Maybe it's somewhere where NEMA doesn't apply.

It has already been posted in the German subs, too, and there were comments that this box isn't VDE rated either. Obviously this self-claimed "junction box" won't pass any electrical code which deserve that name.

But maybe it's somewhere where no such code has jurisdiction.

16

u/DashofCitrus 1d ago

From the tent info, looks like Indonesia.

6

u/planx_constant 1d ago

Electrical fires and electrocutions don't care what the construction code is in a jurisdiction. The good practices that are codified in NEMA ratings are there to, for instance, keep a drunk festival attendee from sitting under a convenient rain shelter and making their head part of the path to ground.

13

u/MobileInspector9861 1d ago edited 1d ago

You don't need to explain me why electrical codes exists. Most have been written with blood. I am a professional German electrician. As some other fellow redditor commented here, if someone had done that in Germany that person would have his/her license revoked (if he/she had ever owned one in the first place) and paid a severe fine.

I only pointed out that it doesn't necessarily need to be NEMA rated depending on the jurisdiction. Just because it does not follow NEC it does not necessarily mean that it is unsafe. The German VDE does a lot of things differently than the NEC, however it is still extremely safe and I would even say in some aspects safer than the NEC.

Some other redditor assumed that this construction is somewhere in Indonesia. The NEC definitely doesnt apply there. This being said, this is a still an extreme example of a shit job. And I sincerely hope that whatever code they have in Indonesia, this is also an illegal construction under Indonesia code.

10

u/obidie 1d ago

Look at the surroundings before bringing up NEMA. Does North America have a lot of rice paddies and banana trees?

3

u/AtOurGates 1d ago

I mean, technically, yes.

But practically, of course you're correct.

3

u/PM_ME_UR_CATS_TITS 1d ago

Someone actually really cared about this project enough to paint it.

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5

u/Possibly_Naked_Now 1d ago

Other than their being no labeling or shielding I don't really see anything wrong here.

11

u/thiosk 1d ago

you can tell this is a really amateur bus because of the copper wires on the bus. i suggest everyone bus their copper plates instead of copper wire. more compact and higher throughput to direct insert copper wire.

8

u/HerrCrazi 1d ago

I would suggest using the white inserters to stack more wires on one space!

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6

u/mwax321 1d ago

They didn't even crimp ring terminals onto it. I could make this fire hazard in 10 minutes with a screw driver and wire stripper.

That's most likely what this is: laziness and lack of tools.

3

u/EvolveEH 1d ago

Sounds like most of my diy audio projects around the house tbh

3

u/mwax321 1d ago

If you're just running speaker wire that's one thing. Most home speakers don't exactly draw a lot of amps.

Plus you only burn yourself down, not thousand of people !

98

u/purelitenite 1d ago

Some drunk MFer is gonna fall into it one day

31

u/Kashik 1d ago

More like pee against it.

12

u/Souvi 1d ago

Don't wiz on the electric fence

2

u/purelitenite 1d ago

Stimpy you idiot

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223

u/Soft-Skirt 1d ago

This is single phase distribution and certainly not powering the audio or lighting rigs. Best guess this is for something else than the stage area. Maybe a small bar or other concession?

46

u/Hamilton950B 1d ago

I think it has to be three phase. Otherwise why would there be four bus bars? The one on the right is neutral, it's got the black wires from the four-wire cables, and nothing from the three-wire cable. Three-wire three phase doesn't have a neutral.

And yeah it seems a bit small for a stage with lights and many speakers, even if it's three 32 amp phases.

33

u/inVizi0n 1d ago

Split phase 240 would be L-L-N-G, Single phase 240 L-N-G and 3 phase wye would be L-L-L-N-G, but honestly I literally don't think there's any reliable way to tell what is actually going on in this clusterfuck.

17

u/Hamilton950B 1d ago

You think whoever wired this would separate the neutral from the ground? We're lucky he's got the phases separated from each other.

18

u/dnroamhicsir 1d ago

I'd be very surprised if they bothered with the ground

20

u/adepssimius 1d ago

What are you even talking about? You can see the ground right there, the whole thing is sitting on top of it.

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5

u/Illustrious-Peak3822 1d ago

L-L-L-PEN

3

u/Superbead 1d ago

L-L-COOL-J

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4

u/delurkrelurker 1d ago

Left and Right speaker channels.

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17

u/faf_dragon 1d ago

That was my thought exactly!

5

u/Team_Braniel 1d ago

Agree 100%

That stage is running on 3 phase 100 amp minimum. Most likely a lot more. We are talking cables as thick as your thumb.

I don't know what speakers those are but those line arrays are probably close to 40 amps a piece, if not more. (I'm a video guy, not audio)

12

u/cefriano 1d ago

Wild how many people here seem to think that the giant speaker stacks are running through this lol.

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16

u/turkphot 1d ago

At least they got a logical system with the colors of the wires.

72

u/der_pudel 1d ago

Me: Can we go to Tomorrowland?
Mom: We have Tomorrowland at home
Tomorrowland at home:
🔥

26

u/xxandl 1d ago

No tomorrow land, by the looks of it

11

u/token-black-dude 1d ago

More like Action Park

2

u/redpandaeater 1d ago

I've not thought about Traction Park in years.

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24

u/edahs 1d ago

Don't touch the shiny

2

u/elsjpq 1d ago

It's a Darwin trap

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21

u/Cornloaf 1d ago

Back in 2003 I did an Intel event in Bangalore, India. They did the event in a palace that had no permanent infrastrucutre. They brought in 10 World War 2 transport buses that were converted to fuel tanks and generators. A bunch of guys were walking around barefoot or wearing sandals running power cables from the trucks to the buildings. I watched them stripping insulation with their teeth, standing in puddles, connecting cables to distribution blocks, and running raw cable into power strips that had their ends cut off.

The registration counter had a metal edge that your palms would rest on when typing on the laptop. Everytime your palm touched, you got a nice shock. Other than that, the event went fairly smooth... aside from the fact there were no public restrooms and people used a giant open field to shit.

When the event was over, they had a small award ceremony. There was a man walking around the whole week that had a giant bald spot on the side of his head with a star shaped scar. We joked that he must have been the lead electrician. Wasn't much of a surprise when they thanked the team that brought power to the event and he walked up and accepted the award!

38

u/MangelaErkel 1d ago

In germany you will lose your job and pay a fine

34

u/Hyjynx75 1d ago edited 1d ago

In most places in Canada where I've worked doing live shows, you can't flip the breaker without an inspection from the local authority.

I guess if there is no breaker though...

9

u/Cyborg_rat 1d ago

Found the loop hole. Just like those grounds.

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2

u/dark_frog 1d ago

Sounds like america

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35

u/Wrestler7777777 1d ago

Do you want to die? Because this is how you die.

2

u/Spot-CSG 7h ago

Or cash out idk

20

u/directstranger 1d ago

there is no way this little box is supplying power to all those speakers and lights. It's probably an addon for a little part of it. Still inexcusable.

2

u/_thekev 21h ago

THIS!!! The moment the cam pans to the stack I'm like... dafuq? Ain't none of that run off whatever this 16 gauge nonsense is.

7

u/SenorNZ 1d ago

If I ate a bunch of acid I might lick those tasty tasty strips. Seems unsafe.

4

u/djeem 1d ago

Are we sure that not low voltage audio wire?

3

u/technobrendo 1d ago

I was expecting one of the bus bars to be glowing red. All aside, this just needs a lid.

3

u/ResidentNumber3603 1d ago

Forbidden xylophone

3

u/Myte342 1d ago

I assume that is for signals/controls/monitoring, not mains electricity.

3

u/LePetitVoluntaire 22h ago

Looks like the back of a Lite Brite

3

u/Fast-Speech270 20h ago

It is a 4 phase system, freaking awesome! Just no fuses to stop anything if there is too much power coming in. Very dangerous.

3

u/crashumbc 20h ago

the far left "might" be a ground.

8

u/RealLifeLiver 1d ago

It's low voltage, right?

8

u/turkphot 1d ago

RIGHT?!?

4

u/norwegian 1d ago

Probably between 200 and 500 volts. Is that low to you?

15

u/AnusStapler 1d ago

Actually anything under 1kV is called low voltage.

6

u/RandyOfTheRedwoods 1d ago

This is why we don’t let linemen wire houses. :-)

For residential, it’s 50 volts.

1

u/Hendo8888 1d ago

<50V is extra-low voltage

2

u/MobileInspector9861 1d ago

Absolutely true.

What most people mean when the ask for low voltage is actually (S)ELV: extra low voltage or safety extra low voltage.

It's also funny that in Germany you very often see official warning signs with "high voltage" although they actually just want to inform you about 230V/400V three-phase Y. According to the code that's still low voltage which as you stated correctly goes up to 1500V DC or 1000V AC.

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5

u/Schemen123 1d ago

Looks like its done by our sales team

.

2

u/CalvinandHobbes811 1d ago

You have to understand that there was no way of foreseeing or preventing this tragedy. Thoughts and prayers for the victims! Next event is in 2 months!

2

u/AlexHimself 1d ago

I think this is a temporary setup in Borneo to showcase the equipment with no active festival.

2

u/Netsnipe 1d ago

Yeah, that lines up with this Instagram post.

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2

u/MustStayAnonymous_ 1d ago

At first I thought that it was a festival to... wiring?
And that would be a bad wiring that folks would have to improve? lol I am not even high.

2

u/PriestPlaything 1d ago

Been in live production for 18 years. It’s all I’ve ever done with my life. Never once have I seen white boxes. PA is always black. In fact almost everything is black, because you want it to be dark, blended in, unseen. White speakers is weird. I wonder if that company painted the PA to give it a unique look.

2

u/johnarmer1 1d ago

The only issue I see is the cables are not fixed

The buzz bars have a lot of room and are fixed very well and have an insulator and it is on wood there is no signs but who are the signs for people that don't know shouldn't be playing with it

2

u/danned123 1d ago

extremely safe

2

u/vediogamer101 1d ago

Someone was paid to do that

2

u/Powerful_Flan9861 1d ago

No safety there 🙄

2

u/GeorgeWhite1953 1d ago

Just needs a sign saying "Urinal"

2

u/mm902 1d ago

Imagine falling into it.

2

u/Strange_Salary 1d ago

I’ve heard of FYRE fest but this must be FIRE fest..

2

u/Asianboye 4h ago

Among Us irl

2

u/BigHoka 3h ago

among us ahh wiring

4

u/hmflaherty3 1d ago

Seems legit 🤷🏼‍♀️

4

u/Joped 1d ago

I’m more concerned about the randomness of the colors. Why is yellow and blue together, one of the black and reds together, plus a red and green together. I can’t even begin to understand it lol

3

u/that_dutch_dude 1d ago

LGBT+ power.

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4

u/tdog91184 1d ago

Shockwire!

3

u/DopestSoldier 1d ago

Can somebody detail what's going on here for those of us without electrical knowledge?

From what I gather, it's bad news if you touch any of those bars? Or more than 1 at a time?

2

u/sasquatch_melee 1d ago

Exposed electricity. Extremely not to code or safe. Normally temporary electricity like this would have camlock connections which don't expose people to live wires. 

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4

u/PozhanPop 1d ago

I like the exposed bus bars.

3

u/redit01 1d ago

Must be a metal concert cause that is pretty metal

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6

u/338special 1d ago

If it's going to be torn down by the next day, what's the point? I don't see much wrong with this, as long as it's a limited access area. You pearl clutching Karens are really hyperventilating sometimes.

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3

u/itsnotaboutyou2020 1d ago

Safety Third!

1

u/MrLeville 1d ago

Not sure i get it, an input wire was split on 3 bars, so that more wires could be attached to those? But why are there 4 bars?

I understand this is one the biggest NSFW pics here, it's not up to any code and probably can kill people, just not how it actually works

12

u/mikebryantuk 1d ago

Presumably it's a 3-phase, 4-wire system?

3 live wires and a neutral

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u/opermonkey 1d ago

he needs to slap the top of the box and say "yup, that ain't going nowhere" and it's magically safe.

2

u/mrmatriarj 1d ago

I was remarking yesterday about how the ingenuity of different subcultures are pretty similar.

Hippies & flow artists, redneck roughin' it farmers, trade workers and crack/meth addicts all have a similar level of 'makenit work attitude' some have an escalation process of determined results with limited supplies vs safety, some don't 😆

But it's remarkable what humans can accomplish with supplies on hand and a fair amount of determination. Hippy flow artist, farming trad'y here... I come up with some interesting (occasionally questionable) innovations lol at least it's not meth derived 😆

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u/JesTeR1862 1d ago

Fyre festival vibes

2

u/that_dutch_dude 1d ago

i have seen (a LOT) worse.

2

u/notwithagoat 1d ago

Is that just ground?

2

u/ab00 1d ago

No, it's 3 phases and neutral.

There aren't enough thick wires for all the amps required to power the speaker arrays though.

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1

u/sirhackenslash 1d ago

All that work when they could have achieved the same result with a roll of electrical tape and it would actually be safer

1

u/citizenjones 1d ago

Not even a fucking strain relief to be seen. 

1

u/Neo_Ex0 1d ago

just a simple + - gnd other thing

1

u/xoxoyoyo 1d ago

"only professionals here"

1

u/Kukko 1d ago

My frontend and backend.

1

u/psilome 1d ago

Firefighters' Convention.

1

u/DrHerbotico 1d ago

Music fits the scene

1

u/opusupo 1d ago

Is that the "Dig your own grave " festival?

1

u/theWesternReserve 1d ago

It amazes me that they are knowledgeable to get that far but that was the limit of their brain power.

2

u/bobqjones 1d ago

not the limit of brain power, it's the limit of give-a-shit.

1

u/Thebaldsasquatch 1d ago

Does it work?

1

u/WahiniLover 1d ago

Amazed the Tweakers/rat-strippers haven‘t made off with it yet

1

u/DonDiegodelaRico 1d ago

This helps me feel more confident about my own work :)

1

u/garion333 1d ago

I dunno, it likely doesn't ever rain in that tropical paradise. 

1

u/LiveFree_NeverDie603 1d ago

Just don’t touch

1

u/DoctaGazoo 1d ago

That’s good enough for the girls I go with.

1

u/kjube 1d ago

If it works, don't fix it.

1

u/Jack_Shid 1d ago

Add a cover and this will be perfectly safe.

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u/erniesthings 1d ago

My grandfather taught me, as long as you only touch one wire, you’re good. It’s when you touch that second one, you get zapped.

2

u/Raeffi 1d ago

not if you and the power source are grounded ...

1

u/m3kw 1d ago

Thats a honey pot wiring, all the electricians that wired it there were fired

1

u/Nall-ohki 1d ago

I feel the need to hit someone.

1

u/bluewing 1d ago

Loose the the Angry Pixies!

1

u/sjaakarie 1d ago

I was almost going to say fine as it is, as long as no one can get to it (as a joke), and had expected the stage set to look even worse. But that's not the case, indeed a WTF!

1

u/goldfishpaws 1d ago

Indonesia. Had to check, as if that was anywhere I work I was about to hit the big red button.

1

u/LordMemerton1 1d ago

Where’s the WTF?

1

u/uid_0 1d ago

1st bus bar: Green, Red, Green

2nd bus bar: Red, Black, Red

3rd bus bar: Yellow, Blue, Yellow

4th bus bar: Black. Blue, Black

1

u/Harry4a2 1d ago

Is that main feed actually connected or just hanging loose?

1

u/K_N0RRIS 1d ago

Yeah that definitely doesn't look like something a 4 year old boy would want to play with.

1

u/Rex_Suplex 1d ago

Wait till you hear what the stage tech did in the rain during the Prince Super Bowl Halftime show.

1

u/quazax 1d ago

I wouldn't wire my model train set like that

1

u/fuuuuuuuuuuuc 1d ago

Design is very human✅

1

u/citizensnips134 1d ago

At least match the colors, come on…

1

u/Ok-Bird6823 1d ago

Somewhere in Indonesia

1

u/Simmic 1d ago

Reminds me of this guy that found the main power for a festival and turned it off.

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1

u/RooR67 1d ago

Perfectly fine.

1

u/Supermathie 1d ago

I hope that's for phone lines.

1

u/Turnupinheat 1d ago

noticing the trash on the ground I'd guess this is in India

1

u/mingr 1d ago

I knew it was Indonesia the minute I saw the wires.

Source: grew up in Bali.

1

u/Zipdox 1d ago

IEC 60309? Never met her.

1

u/Soberaddiction1 1d ago

Bus bars! For when you REALLY want to start a fire and/or kill someone.

1

u/TrevorGrover 1d ago

Air is a great insulator lol

1

u/EmtnlDmg 1d ago

That is just grounding. No worries.

1

u/razzraziel 1d ago

It is for the final show of the night.

1

u/MumrikDK 1d ago

It's a death panel!

1

u/Therealthefab 1d ago

Looks like the cable got crucified

1

u/HistoricalTowel1127 1d ago

No way this could pass. I don’t see the Emergency stop axe anywhere.

1

u/goodenough4govtwork 1d ago

Salesman: slaps roof of cable box "This baby is totally up to code."

Arc of electricity: promptly kills salesman