I'm all about respecting the rules on forums and such but I've seen some closed threads which REALLY make me wonder about certain rules.

6. Restricted topics. The following topics are regularly raised however are considered “off-topic” at all times and will results in Your thread being closed without question:

Any kind of over-unity devices and systems
Automotive modifications
Devices designed to electrocute or shock another person
LEDs to mains
Phone jammers
Rail guns and high-energy projectile devices
Transformer-less power supplies

I'm just curious why these things are against the rules.
Railguns, and devices to harm other people I can certainly understand, Phone jammers.....ok, I guess I can see that too.
LEDs to mains, this I can only assume is a safety issue and not wanting to support some fool who wired it wrong and zapped himself.

The other 3 however, auto mods, transformerless supplies, and "free energy" devices??

Whhy are they not allowed, I simply cannot understand why one would not be allowed to ask or discuss auto mods, or over-unity devices. Even the transformeless supplies I could maybe see, the thread I saw refered to a bunch of caps, so that could easily kill someone I guess.

I just want to understand here, I guess i'm mostly confused about auto mods.....why is that against the TOS?

 

The automotive restriction is clearly based purely on legal issues. The US being such a lawsuit prone country, the site owners feel reluctant to delve into such an "adventurous" topic. We know that automotive talk is a big part of other electronic forums, but you won't find any here.

On the other hand, the over-unity ban is to safeguard our mental stability. Over the years, we have seen so many absurd contraptions and unscientific opinions being posted by blinded fanatics. They only hurt the site integrity and promoted pseudo-science. There are threads that sum up the site's opinion on such devices and the reasons why AAC won't spend any resources in bandwidth or members' time to defend the obvious.

 

Then it comes to the free-energy stuff. You will also find a lot scammers out there. That will sell something that is supposed to work. But never has or nor will work at at all. They will just con you, for your money.
We also allowed some some auto questions before. But that did not include any changes to the ECU unit, or light system. Tapering with the ECU is not legal in USA. And the light system was a no-no. Due to safety for others. As an example using self made LEDs light system for the rear lights. May be hard to see for others in some angles. Front light system that follows the beat of your car stereo, is another example. At one point the site owners put the foot down and said no more automotive questions. Most of the automotive questions were in any case related to doing something (dumb) with the light system. Or ECU related. If you need help with an automotive question. We have a list of forums that may be of help.

 

There is fine print on any thing in life,read the fine print on Loosewire.

 

This site is mainly a teaching site. How many electronics site have a text book at it's heart? Many of the rules are based on Safety, such as the transformerless power supplies. People are willing to put themselves and others at risk for the price of a transformer.

You may notice we also have a science section. I am astounded how many people do not understand the basics of science, especially the 3 laws of thermodynamics. To many people "thinking outside the box" is code for "these laws are darn inconvenient, so I'm going to pretend they don't exist", then proceed to argue to the death why they don't apply for their application. A former moderator (who is well missed) actually collected a bunch of links to show how far these folks will go.

Not of them don't get it though, many want to make a living scamming their fellow man, so will try to use this site to gain credibility they couldn't have otherwise. We are not buying. Many popular physics sites have adopted the same policy.

 

Could you send a link to these posts Bill?

Also, would I be allowed to post an 'infite' energy video from YouTube, providing it was just for laughs - even the video making it clear it doesn't work? There are some which are quite funny.

 

They are stickies on top of the off topic area.

No more HHO, overunity, or Meyer

Perpetual motion

I would rather not post videos, it would attract flies. However, this is not a moderator judgment, but a personal one. If you post them, I will laugh and point just like everyone else.

 

Thanks for the clarification Bill.

I might wait and post the videos later - just to spread the talk out a bit.

 

I have recently bought in to using LED night lights....a 4 watt incandescent bulb is replaced with a 4/10 watt LED bulb. This LED replacement is run directly off the power line with a capacitor to limit its current. They work! They pay for themselves every 5 months!

But they are not for discussion on this site, so I don't. The fact that some corporation could get a capacitor limited, UL certified circuit, on the retail market doesn't mean the people that visit here are equally capable. We aren't catering to fully educated and well rounded engineers. We see posts every week by people that don't know an LED is a current driven device. That's not the kind of people you instruct to plug a capacitor into a wall outlet. As Loosie says, that's the fine print on that one.

 

Thanks for clearing that up guys, sorry I didn't respond to this sooner, I kinda forgot lol.

 

But they are not for discussion on this site, so I don't. The fact that some corporation could get a capacitor limited, UL certified circuit, on the retail market doesn't mean the people that visit here are equally capable. We aren't catering to fully educated and well rounded engineers. We see posts every week by people that don't know an LED is a current driven device. That's not the kind of people you instruct to plug a capacitor into a wall outlet. As Loosie says, that's the fine print on that one.

I smell a sizzling dare!

 

Not here you don't. The AAC book shows how to do it, a fact that bothered beenthere to no end, but the TOS specifically forbids it on site. If you have to ask how, you are not ready. If you are competent, you don't need to show and tell.

 

Not here you don't. The AAC book shows how to do it, a fact that bothered beenthere to no end, but the TOS specifically forbids it on site. If you have to ask how, you are not ready. If you are competent, you don't need to show and tell.

I second that. As a teenager I worked out some pretty dodgy schemes for running things off the (240V(!)) mains, probably not too advisable, but I'm still here and did not manage to burn the house down. Any adult telling me explicitly how to do such things might have been in deep water though, if there had been an accident.

At a certain point for instance it became clear to me that in certain circumstances a filament lamp might make a workable replacement for a power resistor - a sort of poor man's barretter. This was at a time when pocket money and access to components was limited. One of my most "electric" moments involved getting a faulty piece of equipment working this way. The point is that by that stage I knew about Ohm's Law, and also had a rough idea of lamp resistance changing with temperature, so I did not have to ask how.