How to wire 220 - 240 Volt NEMA 6-50
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 พ.ค. 2014
- This "How To" video shows how to wire a 220-240 volt 6-50 NEMA Female electrical outlet. This is the common electrical outlet for a welder or plasma cutter in the 220 Volt Range.
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Thanks I'll be doing this tomorrow and you have the exact same receptacle I have so now I know what to expect.
Your welcome FixxxerKH202 I hope it turned out and works well and was not a shocking experience!
Worked great and no shocks. I was running it off a 50amp subpanel so I killed the breaker in the main. I did have to reorganize breakers and adjust wires though because my 100amp main was getting pushed by the wires so it slid one pole of the 50 amp next to it off the connection on the panel so I only had 110v in the sub on one side until I sorted that issue out. Now I also have enough 6/3 from running the sub panel to make a nice extension cord for my welder with one of these outlets and a male 6-50.
Great video, thanks for sharing
Thanks a ton for the video.
Your welcome Dennis Burgeson , I hope it helped out and you managed to get your plug installed rather uneventfully.
Exactly what I need for my everlast welders Thank you.
NEMA 14-50R (and P) will make you life easier down the road.
For educational purpose, as I do not know, would both the tall and short legs of the NEMA 6-50P plug into the NEMA 14-50R, or would this swap require wiring new pigtails onto the equipment that has the NEMA 14-50P?
I thought you could have screwed down that box to the wood a lot sooner to make the work easier. Also, I wish you would have identified the awg of wire you were using right up front.
Could you share more about the 6-50 outlet？what’s the brand and where to purchase?
Did you plug the white wire in the box?I did not use the white wire in the box and in the breaker panel but still getting current in the white wire?
The breaker should be the last thing to wire. As per what you’re doing, I’d pull the breaker.
I'm wiring a cable for my welder (nema 6-50) going to the dryer outlet (nema 14-30) so I can just run a 3 wired cord, skipping the neutral and using the 240 and ground? The dryer outlet is a 4 prong connection, welder is 3.
Thatcher N Not legal.
I'm wiring up a hobby lab and would like to use the same outlet layout as yours. Different types of 30- 50A outlets along a 2x4 with portable cord coming off the breaker box. Each on their own breaker. However, I'm concerned that it might not follow code. The SOOW cord sure makes it easy to modify the setup from time to time. Bending conduit is a pain when versatility is required.
I'm sorry, but I don't follow whether you are warning me of a code violation or asking a question? I am not an electrician, but a DIY'er. This is in my own separate from my residence work shop. I would advice if you have any concerns in electrical work that it isn't something you should do unless you are comfortable with your abilities and should consult an electrician and research for code compliance.
David Finch I'm a DIY'er like you. Your setup makes perfect sense to me. I'm an electrical engineer and do my own wiring for charging my two electric cars. So I'm familiar with wire selection and connections. But, I'm always being told by electricians that my physical setup isn't to code. Something isn't supported properly or something isn't so many inches of feet from something else. Just wondering if you've had a similar experience.
Zazzle Delacruz I cannot say that I have had any comments as you suggest. I work next to an Electrical/Grounding/Lightning Protection Engineer, and we agree that what I am doing works just fine, but neither of us are experts on the residential codes. We simply agree that it will work and for serious items may consult the NEC Handbook.
my angle on code is you need an licensed electrician to install it. if you open the panel and touch it you are breaking code.
my other angle is that you just say it was wired up before, no inspector said shit when you purchased the property. make sure you have the correct caps on the wire inside the box just for your own safety. use somekind of conduit to protect the wire near welding or heat zones. I am wiring up for a lincoln buzzbox too!! nice vid!
It was difficult to see where you put the wire on the NEMA 6 50R was it under the screw or in the u shaped brass piece? A close up would have been helpful.
So on this particular style receptacle, by placing the stripped wire in the U shaped brass piece, it would then be under the screw. the threaded piece that the screw goes through gets retained and then you are pinching the wire between the screw and the U shaped brass piece.
I've wired my outlet 60-50R outlet. I'm getting 119v from the ground to the two hot terminals, but I'm not getting anything when I test the two terminals together. Do you know of anything I could check for to make sure that my wiring is correct? Thanks for the video.
+KyleMyers33 This sounds like what would happen if you are pulling the hots from the same leg of power on the panel. I don't see how this would happen if you have a 250V 50A breaker in the box. My only thought would be that if working from a sub panel, is this the first 220-250V outlet you are trying to put on it? Some sub panels get wired with only one of the legs from the main instead of both of them and therefor can only provide 110-125V. If your breaker is correct and you have a single pole sub panel then testing across the two as you describe would be equivalent to testing the same wire in two spots. That is my only thought, and to look for it, I would see how many larger main wires are coming into the main tree one leg on the left and one on the right generally, if only one is there then you have a single pole sub panel only. Again, just a thought and as always my caveat that I am not an electrician and if your not comfortable looking into this yourself, please find someone that is licensed/comfortable to do so.
Hope this helps.
David Finch It's fixed! You were right, I was pulling from the same phase. I have an older and very small box, and there are only two spots where I can pull from both phases. I did some rearranging and now have it working properly. Thank you for your help.
+KyleMyers33 I'm glad that I could be able to help you! Thank you for posting the verification of a solution as a comment for other viewers who might run into a similar problem can see it.
That actually was very helpful to me as I went and grabbed the female box and a 60a sub panel with a 60a dual pole breaker, the dude at home depot in my town is very knowledgeable and I let him know I was trying to hook up a lincoln buzz box in a house and knew about the 2 rails in the panel but I didnt know how to verify fer sure if my sub panel is the right one?, and it has 2 legs.
Can I ask you what size wire cap I need for 6gauge?
Ghost Dog I don't know off the top of my head, but normally the bag they come in will say how many wires at what gage they are good for.
I noticed you had no excess wire inside the receptacle box. Is that because the box is externally mounted (i.e. not inside a wall)?
I've been told each wire should be at least 6 inches in length within the electrical box.
What volume calculation did you use for sizing the box?
Thanks.
Jim, Thanks for watching, and as for the 6 inches of wire, maybe in most residential 120V boxes that is realistic, but there is no way you will get 6 inches of extra 8 gauge wire in this. It does however have a built in cable strain relief. I didn't do any calculation other than it is what I needed. a standard outlet for a 50A 240V welder.
Jim Czekaj Jim, technically the receptacle begins at the connector. It is all sold as a unit. So it is not a junction box as in code, therefore the 6" rule does not apply.
Can you wire multiple 240 volt receptacles off of the same breaker? I have a shop that I would like to run some 10/3 NMB down about 20 feet of wall and put in 3 receptacles so I have different options for placing woodworking tools along that wall. Thanks!
Yes, you certainly can.
When running wire for 120 volt receptacles, the wire connects at the receptacle due to the format of the receptacle (typically, up to 4 wires from the same leg of the circuit). How does that work with 240 volt? I don't see multiple ports on 240 volt receptacles for multiple wires from the same leg. Should the wires be spliced outside the receptacle?
Darron junction box with wire coming in, and two wires going out to sepperate receptacles.
Sounds good. Thanks. Just use a regular wire nut connector to split the line into 2?
Darron yes, has to be in a junction box though. And electrical tape is nice.
So if I’m running a new line for a welder to a 6-50r, all I need is a 8/2 romex ( two hots and a ground)? Thanks
Eric x yes, that would work.
David Finch thank you!
Can not use soow cord for a permanent installation.
Hello. In my garage is a dedicated plug (60 amp breaker) that the
previous owner used to fire her electric kiln. Can I switch the plug to a
30 amp plug for a space heater using the same wiring and breaker? Would
there be too much current for the space heater, or would it owner draw
what it needed? Hope this makes sense; I am not a electrician. Thank
you.
So, the equipment will only draw what it needs to, but without changing the breaker to a 30A, you run the risk of damaging your equipment. If there is a short for whatever reason, and the short allows 50A to go through equipment, then the equipment could be damaged or catch fire, etc. without the circuit tripping from over loading.
I hope that this makes sense, and if a 30A breaker has large enough screw clamps to accept the wire, I would recommend you change the breaker to the appropriate size to safe guard the equipment. Having the larger gauge wire with a smaller breaker is acceptable.
Thanks for watching and asking a question, and good luck, be safe, and if your uncomfortable, please hire an electrician to do this.
Thank you! Yes, that makes perfect sense. Much appreciated.
i have a question. everytime we install 240v receptacle, dont we use neutral wire?
It is my experience that the only time the neutral wire is needed is when the appliance/ equipment you are using will have something in it that is only using 1 leg of power, or 120 volts, then this amperage drawn from that portion of equipment is sent back to the panel using the neutral wire. If using all 240 volts, then the equipment typically sends amperage back through the ground wire. That's the way it was always explained to me.
There should never be power going through the ground wire, if there is, something is really wrong, either in the line or the equipment.
*In a nutshell:
A neutral is used to return load back to the transformer that's feeding your house, as no panel load is truly balanced, so you have the neutral line to balance the load at the transformer. The neutral is tied to ground in your breaker box, to keep it from building up a charge of it's own. The neutral is not there to provide a closed circuit like the return line would be in a DC circuit. Which is why it can be tied to ground in your panel without charging the ground wire, unless something is really, really, wrong.
The transformer feeding your house is a center tapped 220v AC output to provide two legs of 110v AC on opposite phases. Phase, the best I can explain it without a drawing is the curve formed by the peaks and valleys of the recipricating current flow, which looks like a sine wave. Opposite phases would be that if the sine waves were looked at side by side or superimposed over each other, you would see that while one is peaking at top, the other is hitting the very bottom of the wave.
For 220v, you are using both legs of the transformer, so there is no load imbalance to recify. The best way that I have found to understand this is that AC power is more about electrical potential, than it is about current flow like in a DC system. AC is it's own circuit, since the power is rapidly alternating (reversing at 60 Hz, or 60 times a second) current flow, so no return line is needed. If the transformer feeding your house was a non-center tapped 110v output, then you would not need the neutral line for 110v. An AC circuit will work without the ground, but if something goes wrong, it will create a very dangerous situation, so you always need the ground to be there just in case. There are lots of old appliances out there that weren't even manufactured with a ground of any kind. I am sure the funeral parlors miss them. :) A good ground also allows the system to shield itself to a practical extent from nearby lightning strikes that can cause a problem on an unprotected system.
The switch to 4 wire/prong 220v connectors came from modern household appliances. Manufacturers wanted to use one leg of the incomng 220 to provide a 110 circuit to run the electronics on the fancy new dryers and stoves, so a neutral line had to be added to allow for this to be run from a single outlet. This why you are seeing neutral ines in some 220 outlets now. This has led to some confusion for those who are new to wiring.
***While I am happy to share what knowledge I have, I am not a professional electrican, and this is only a very basic explanation of how it works. This is not something to be taken lightly, or to play around with. If you don't know what you are doing, your house could burn down or someone could be killed. I learned what I know by wiring my shop with the advice and direct supervison of a qualified/certified electrical engineer (my father-in-law, who had a vested interest in not seeing his daughter made a widow, and is a retired head electrical engineer from a major manufacturer of some very complicated electrical and electronic equipment, I admit not many will be so lucky) If in ANY doubt, hire a qualified electrician, at least for final inspection and connection to the panel.***
*This of course, is referring to the standard U.S. household electrical system. European is 220v at 50Hz, and having never done any wiring on a house or shop in Europe, I defer to our European friends to chime in if they wish. 3 phase is a whole 'nother beast not covered here, and not going to be found in the normal American household.
Faelwolf thank you very much. One for not being a troll, and two for helping explain further for those that take the time to read the comments. I agree with all that you said.
I have one of these receptacles that I am trying to charge a Tesla on. I keep getting an error in the car saying there is a power problem. I had a electrician come over and he said the receptacle is fine.
I'm afraid I cannot be much help to you. I'm sure a licensed electrician knows more than me. I just plug wires together and then plug a welder into them.
What size wire did you use?
6 AWG fine stranded. Will carry more current than 50A, and was easy to manipulate and wire.
David Finch Thanks...I am re-wiring my shop/garage with a 100A sub panel which will feed my welder and all mt 220v tools. I will be using Romex 6/2 wire. Do you know if the way you did it was up to code?
WestCoastMods Keep in mind I am not an electrician and not a code expert, but I did read through some of it. From what I can tell the one thing that isn't is leaving the exposed cable out of the conduit before it goes into the outlet box. Other than that, all of the wiring connections should be good. I will stress to many people however since this is what it is that if they are not confident then to at least get it inspected by a licensed electrician if they are doing it themselves.
you meant socket
sockets mate
Instead of "plug" ?
Wow, major code violations here. 1: you MUST use EMT or flex conduit to wire up outlets in exposed work areas. You are NOT allowed to use rubber power cord. 2: You MUST use insulated throat 3/4" EMT fittings because 1/2" is too small and violates the allowable fill in 1/2" EMT for 8AWG wire. 3: Using PVC pipe is against OSHA rules for the workplace. PVC cab explode if struck by an object and becomes brittle. You need to remove all the PVC and replace it with either black iron pipe, copper or Rapid Air/ Plex-Al-Plex (which is the best option) piping
Does that mean I can't use a welder extension cord for my Welder?
He was referring to the type of wire that I used was fine stranded and is typically used for an extension cord, it is fine to use it for an extension cord, but not intended for permanent installation.
You can do whatever you want, it just might not be up to code, or the safest. You can use an extension cord for a welder, but you by code are not supposed to use SOOW cables for permanent in wall installation.
8:28 I’m not sure I’m confident in this videos instructions anymore
It took until 8:28?😂😂
Should invest in a power screwdriver...
I'm trying to find a video that shows which wire goes to which post, I'm having a hard time. All these guys want to talk a whole bunch of s*** about all the little bull you have to do to put a freaking Outlet on a wall. Nonsense. Ego. If I knew which wire goes to which post I could do this video in 30 seconds.
Let us know when you post your video on how to wire these!
Damn straight. This problem is starting to piss me off enough I'm thinking of starting my own videos of reviews and how-tos called 'Get To The Point'. First 5-30 seconds tell you precisely how to do it, or if it sucks. Want to know more? Watch the rest.
Agree fully. That's just TH-cam, lots of junk. Though I haven't wired a 6-50R, for a long time you have been able to identify which wire goes on which lug from the colors of the lugs and wires. In the general case (any receptacle), look for a green lug; that will be ground or the green wire. Then look for a white one. That will be for the White (neutral) wire. Then look for brass-colored ones, the red and/or black wires (220) will go on those. Note that the 6-50R is a 220/240V receptacle only and does not provide 120V and so does not use the white wire.
pvc as conduit ooof code mans going to come get ya in ya sleep. goodluck
How to not do electric work
After seeing the pvc for an air line you lost a bit of credibility, at least for me. There are some plastic line air kits that are inexpensive and won't blow up..
I've got no excuse for you. It was my shop, I wanted an economical route at the time. I am aware of all the concerns of using it, and chose to take that risk for myself and whomever I let in their. I respect your knowledge of the situation. Thanks for watching!