STARELO 24PCS Green Vampire Electrical Male and Female Plugs ,Holiday Zip Cord Male and Female Plugs,Gilbert Plugs for Holiday Parties, Christmas, and Halloween Plugs,UL Listed.(STP1)

When trying to decorate the arches on my house over my front door and windows, I found it frustrating on how to string together the lights to accomplish this. It was recommended to me to use zip cord and vampire plugs and this made a seemingly impossible task relatively simple. These vampire male and female plugs allow me to cut a piece of SPT-1 zip wire (also called lamp cord) and create customizable electrical connections and extension cords for my holiday lights. The plugs are dead simple to use: insert into the vampire plug of choice, push down onto the metal spikes and slide closed the lid/top and you are done, no wire stripping necessary or even needed. The only thing I had to do was ensure the polarity was the same for all plugs, which is easily accomplished by ensuring that the large slot and prong are on the same strand of zip line (like the one strand with writing or the one with ribbing on it). I have been able to create some pretty unique connections this way and very efficiently connect my Christmas lights. The zip plugs are also reusable, so if you have a cord you no longer need, or has been damaged you can remove the vampire plugs and make a new one. I have even used these to make custom lengths of Christmas lights with socket line. These are a great find this time of year; get some now before they sell out.

These are pretty good plugs sets. They have nice toppers that slide on and push the wire onto the prongs. The male plugs are designed so that they can be put in the middle of a cord by breaking the other side out. The plastic is pretty decent quality. I'm not overly impressed with the metal prongs. They look a little cheap and unfinished. Also the plastic has some pretty harsh edges. They could have done a little something to make them a little more comfortable in the hand. Overall though they are pretty decent.

These connectors seem janky in principle, but in practice they work well. The plugs and prongs are secure, and the sliding door that pushes the wire into the pins is firm and strong (to the point that it takes pliers to shut it all the way).The plugs and prongs are polarized (one blade wider than the other), but there aren't clear instructions on which is line and which is neutral when connecting to a wire. Here's what I found: The neutral wire (which is the one with ridges in standard SPT-2 lamp cord) faces the side of the connector with the "K" on it. See attached pic for reference.