On December 23, Pierre-Michel Ricordel wrote:
> > <http://www.mcmanis.com/chuck/computers/vaxen/ba213.htm>
> On the web site, I read :
> 
> "The final scary bit about this cabinet is that it requires a very special
> power cord. If you see one being thrown out save it as they are not that
> common. It has a right angled end that looks like a standard IEC power cord,
> but the connector has a notch taken out of it. Why? Who knows but it does."
> 
> Well, I think it is not so scary. My BA440 has the same notched power plug.
> To my great surprise, I found that an old power cord I made 10 years ago has
> the
> same notch. The plug came from a grocery store totally unrelated to Digital.
> Maybe these notched plugs are just a long forgoten IEC standard extension ?

  There's nothing weird about those connectors, and they're far from
forgotten.  It's the "high current" version of the standard IEC cable,
rated to a full 15 amps I believe.  I don't have any pointers to
reference material handy, but it is a standard connector.

  Some larger, not-current-but-not-really-old Cisco routers (7513,
etc) use those cables as well...if anyone here is looking for some of
those cables, contacts in the ISP industry are often the best place to
check.

> More scary on the BA440 is the metal sheet that prevent a mysterious button
> to be pressed
> when the power cord is plugged...still wondering...

  I believe that's a sort of latch that hooked into a plastic piece
molded the DEC-supplied power cable which made it very difficult to
yank out.  Not positive, though.


          -Dave McGuire