I'll take a shot at the "Reader's Digest" version of it: It's a cheap outlet strip that doesn't make very good contact, and it overheated because of the lousy connections.
Or, in other words, even though it's supposed to be good for 15 amps, it's not.
Is that a reasonably accurate translation?
[This message has been edited by SolarPowered (edited 11-15-2004).]