This video was a real lifesaver for me. My central ac went out and its 100 humid Florida degrees outside and it looked to be weeks to get it replaced so I had a monster 22,000 btu 220 volt wall unit but no 220 plugs and the panel had no spaces left for a new circuit so I tried this fix and wham problem solved my window unit is roaring away with no problems at all not even a gfi blew BTW I followed your instructions right down to using computer cords so I don't know if variations will work as well. I was worried about what would happen if one of the cords was pulled by accident would the ac unit be damaged by only 120 volt current but then I realized if one cord was pulled it simply broke the circuit and you ended up with no power not 120 volts so the ac unit is safe Thank you so much for this well-done post !
The commercially available version of this is called a "quick 220", which uses an arrangement of three relays for safety. Which ensures you never have any live prongs when one end of the adapter is plugged in and the other isn't. A version without relays but which preserves neutral is sold for RV usage.
@@tvm2209 That very much depends on the electrical requirements of your saw, and if your two 120v sockets are on different halfs of the split phase. The quick 220 would be the retail option to do what you want, in a relatively safe way. Within one room, the sockets are usually wired together on the same circuit, which means you'd need to locate a socket that isn't on that same circuit to utilize the quick 220. If your garage has an electrical service panel in it, then installing a proper 240v socket is the way to go, and possibly cost competitive with the quick 220 in that instance.
If you preserve the neutral, and if one of your outlets has hot and neutral reversed (as did a lot of the outlets in a house I recently bought) then you'll have trouble.
i get from this that 1. a lot of people think "allot" and "alot" are 1 word meaning "a lot". 2. this is a very risky endeavor. Although I do need 220v for a heater I want to buy, I'll just hire an electrician to do things properly. Thanks for the video. I did learn something.
make sure you don't have anything plugged into the adapter when you go to unplug the two cords, or the hot prong on the first plug you unplug will be connected to 120v from the other outlet through whatever's plugged into the adapter.
I worked for a company that installed vehicle lifts, air compressors and other heavy duty electrical machines. I have made over 10 drop cords just like that to test equipment after install. When the equipment tested good we'd run the outlets.
Thx so much for Cleary video. I live on my boat. My marina has two 30 amp 120v lines out of phase for shore power. I love to cook but my 120v induction cooktop is sadly inadequate for boiling large water pot to make a crawfish boil. Your simple system will allow me to use my 220v induction cooktop when I need boiling water fast without screwing around w breaker. Laissez le bon temps roller!
I’ve known about this for a long time as I’ve been an electrician for over 20 years. It can come in handy but in some applications. Just make sure you don’t over draw from your 20 amp breaker
Yes. I figured this out a long time ago when I needed to run a 240v light and didn't want to mess with playing with the panels. I use this method today to run my cnc spindle in my garage which only has two 120v circuits and two outlets. BTW- the electrical inspector hates you! lol
usually it's done at the Main box. You simplified it and "Learned You Some People" yes you can make a 240 volt outlet running it from the main, or doing the same thing by connecting wires behind both outlets... But you better be a good DIY at your own risk or PAY BIG BUCKS to an Electrician without complaining. Great Video. OLE!
Nice video, great job laying this out in layman's terms. I'm an EE and totally understood everything you're doing. I have been trying to come up with a way to do this and had this exactly in mind so it was super nice to find this video. God bless!
@@alvarobarboza5730 not sure but I think it is because for 240V the voltage comes from the out of phase -120 and the + 120 = 240. Vs for a 120V outlet the voltage comes from a single 120 (+ or -) to neutral
@@alvarobarboza5730 AC current doesn't have polarity. And the neutral wire is bonded to the ground bars at the panel. It all goes back to the same source. The neutral is required at 120. But at 240 it just alternates between the wires.
Can I run one side of a cable to a Honda generator 2000 watts and one to a regular 20 amp house outlet. I’m trying to use a harbor freight stick welder 225 model using the 220 volt setting. The 110 volt setting won’t weld good
that works. i did it and im not electricity guy. dnt like to deal with voltage . but its working. and do it by mu self. lucky i dnt burn all my house👍🏼
That is one of the coolest things I've seen on youtube and is gonna be perfect for my welding machine that I only use maybe one or two times a year. The machine comes with a step up 230 v pigtail that I can finally use. Thank you and God Bless!
Personally I think there is a lot to learn about electricity to become an experienced sparky. Here Australia it's about 4 years and you are in an apprenticeship, so it's on the job training. But I also believe that basic electrical connections are common sense and can be done safely and with modern safety switches, even a wrong connection will trip the mcb no worries. God bless
If you do your drawing with each of the 110V legs on the outside of the 3 lines coming in, you'll have a simpler drawing and more visually clear. The central wire will be able to connect outwardly with each of the 2 legs for the 110, and then when needed, you can also draw from each 110V leg and the neutral as well. You can easily draw in the circuit breakers alternately looping over the neutral to catch the opposite phase 110V buss. Also invest in a Blue & Red marker for each phase, and a Black for the Neutral, and a Green for the Ground. Really gets quite simple when the drawing is somplified.
It is not a 3 phase system but a split phase. It is a 240V system with two line voltage, center tap to give 120V. Your method is Ok if there is no earth leakage protection on the receptacles. Furthermore, need to have a procedure when disconnecting. The appliance side (yellow) must be disconnected first, otherwise there will be risk of back energies a plug when the load is connected.
Although I agree with a lot of the comments about not doing it because of the potential of many people screwing it up, I like the video and would do it! Don’t knock the video for showing a viable option for 240. If you do screw it up, then you had no business doing it in the first place and you deserve a Darwin Award.
Hey buddy, I do understand what backfeeding means. Sorry to disappoint you as you try to make yourself feel you are smarter than you most likely are. Come back when you feel better about yourself.
The concept is great and I’m sure to will work fine. The problem comes with the reality of if the wiring was installed with any kind of intelligence the connections of one side of the box will be kept from connections to the other side of the box as much as possible. In other words his garage outlets should all be connected to side A of the fuse panel while most of the house connected to side B to reduce the possibility of anyone getting their self connected to 240 power. I doubt if he would get both sides in his garage.
Granted your comments to be true 90% of the time, but he had already had 2 20amp 120's installed in the garage, in this case you would want a separate line for each of those 20A lines and not daisy chained.
No they send 20 amp service from both phase to help balance the fuse box. Since these look to be dedicated 120 V lines for a washer and possibly other high power machine in the room. Having the house all on one side is unbalanced. and heats up return lines.
I used to live in a trailer home with TOTAL daisy chain wiring. Really bad. True the box was split up, though not really totally evenly. I mean, one side of the box had mostly bedrooms and the other most of the higher load wiring. Like the refrigerator and washer. I rewired some of it and made it have its own separate wire to the outlets used for washer and dryer, but I did not put the washer on one side of the line and the dryer on the other side. That would be too dangerous.
If I'm trying to power a dryer with 240v 30 amp power requirements, would the two cords need to handle 15 a, but the plugs need to handle the full 30 amps? So getting 20 amp cords and a 40 amp plug would do the trick?
Nice video! It's nice to see someone being helpful with life hacks. If you panel is full and it's seldom used; why not! Thanks rwg42985. This is as simple as it gets. If a person doesn't understand this video; they shouldn't try this anyway. rwg42985 said that in the beginning of the video. Thanks again my man. The only person that doesn't like this video is probably an electrician that is worried about their own bottom line!
Elec 101. There are 9 Interconnections in the USA/Canada or better known through the media as power or electric grids. I work for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) better known as the Texas Interconnection. Power generation is anywhere between 10 to 260 GW. Gigawatts measure the capacity of large power plants or of many plants. One gigawatt (GW) = 1,000 megawatts = 1 billion watts. In case you are wondering about the US total, GW is 1,400. A lot of power plants are slowly switching over to interconvert alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) power distribution. This scales back the possibility of two or more different power plants becoming synchronous resulting in a no voltage situation. Feeding on the big high power transmission lines substations step down the current and change DC to AC voltage. Most substations output from 5kV-50kV. 1 kV equals 1,000 volts. This is what goes to the lines on the utility pole. If you walk out of your house and look up at the joint pole, the very top wire is the static/lighting suppression wire, the wires under that are the transmission lines, the wire under that is the MGN (multi-grounded neutral) wire, under that is primary, under that is secondary triplex 120/240 volt, under that is a step down transformer, the distance between the secondary and the next wire is called the safety zone space and is for telecommunications workers for the TELCO, CATV, FIBER wires. Now, this is a general joint pole setup, you may not have a primary, you might have a single transmission line and an MGN wire and a step-down transformer under it. If you live at a busy intersection your pole might have all of that and traffic signal wires under all of the above. This is a basic set up. There are many, many different setups and pole uses out there to cover them on here. If your supplier uses a secondary triplex, your house feed will run directly to that, if not, your house feed will run to a step-down transformer. To prevent a zero voltage situation, the transformer(s) will sync the Hz, Hertz, of the two hot leads 120 degrees apart, or phase-shifted, meaning one lead will be positive + and the other lead will be negative - when the current alternates direction. In your case, if you use one leg of the breaker box to get your 240 from, you run the problem of sync and damage to the welder. Likewise, when the welder contacts close it produces a voltage spike that will damage other load items on the leg. Cross talk is another problem, even if a short circuit develops, using one leg to get 240 from, can result in the breaker not tripping or start phantom tripping. National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and the National Electrical Code (NEC), or NFPA 70, is a regionally adoptable standard for the safe installation of electrical wiring and equipment in the United States. It is part of the National Fire Code series published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a private trade association. And for the most part, the Canadian code is identical. Violation of the code can result in being disconnected, fine and or jail time. You want 240 volts? Do it the correct way. Last I looked a 100 ft. 10/3 wire was less than $130 a Square D 50 amp breaker less than $10. Why risk burning your house down?
Depending on your local code with run UF or wires in conduit, 14 AWG for a 15 amp circuit, 12 AWG for a 20 amp circuit, 10 AWG for a 30 amp circuit, 8 AWG for a 40 amp circuit etc. Purchase the appropriate receptacle and fuse or circuit breaker for the rated current. Do it the correct way.
I had this same idea the problem can be is feedback. If you join 2 120 vac lines then start you tool it can feedback to that line 220 vac when it is joined and used so if you use something else 220 vac could run threw both your welder and anything else on that line . Using duo 120 vac plugs amperage must be right because you can create a dangerous surge . Your outlets must be standalone and not used as a 120 vac unless you disconnect your 220 vac tool from it every time you use each line for 120 vac to be safe.
Great video ! I was looking for how to do this and I found your video. Clean, clear, and precise ! Awsome job ! Thanks. God bless you and yours in Jesus Name ! Amen
Just run a 12/2 and hook white to a 240. That’s why they sell split breakers to add more breaker space. Or if it’s that stuffed take two breakers and put another 100A sub next to it. Use aluminum so it’s 3$ 😂 prob get the piece for free from an electrician doing a service nearby. We throw the aluminum away.
Would this work if plugged into 2 separate 12v dc to 120v ac power inverters. 12v solar battery bank to 2 separate 120v power inverter, going into a Panel. 120v on each terminal. Neutral bar tied to ground in panel? Ground tied to copper rod going into earth. I know the panel could provide 120v to single breakers, but could it handle a double pole breaker at 240? Assuming I had a large enough battery bank and power inverters size to handle the load. The two 120v power inverter running of same battery bank.
Has anybody mentioned the fact that now he's got an unbalanced hot in each circuit feeding his adapter that's inducing who-knows-what kind of currents to flow in any adjacent wires?
So my problem is this: I have a very nice AC unit that runs on 240. There was only one outlet in my apartment to plug it in and that was the old baseboard heater in my living room below the window. The maintenance people have since switched out the old ones in the whole unit and replaced them with newer energy efficiency baseboard heaters and there is no outlet to run it. I went to an electrical supply and bought a male and female plug and about 20’ of the right wire from Home Depot to make an adaptor so I could run from the outlet where I plug my stove in. The AC unit turns on, but nothing else happens like I can’t get the fan or motor turned on. I don’t know what to do. I’m not an electrician so I’m a little lost. The AC unit works and I have used it before. Is there something I’m doing wrong?
Need clarification: wires running from the main panel to both outlets are not the right gauge. should be #10 if i recall correctly. So these wires would get hot. Isn’t it a fire hazard?
I believe the wires from the panel running to the outlets are only 120v. It doesn’t reach 240vs until they’re joined together by what he made. That’s where you’d need a bigger gauge. Anyone correct me if I’m wrong. Don’t want anyone to burn their house down
I saw this video when I was at a place in time where I needed 220 and had no access to circuit panels or anything. I did what he said and it worked like a charm and I ran some induction heaters and a steam boiler and all kinds of stuff and it never caused a problem. 💯💯💯
Thanks ,my application is for the oven it’s 220 v operating when I on the micro power it’s getting off due to less voltage than 220 V,when I plug in other greater than 220 v it’s working fine can u guide
@@murali5041 I am no expert, I would think that you should get 2×110 minimum. and sometimes get 2x120. But I can't give you an answer for your situation, I don't know anything that's why I watched his video lol
I need a commercial product for a crypto miner. Miners require immense power, and thus it requires 220V. So, I suppose I need a power splitter where you have a 220V female outlet and has 2 male 110V plugs. Can I just buy this from Lowes? I don't have a 220V outlet in wall. I live in an apartment.
First I'm not an electrician. I would like to install a switched subpanel to switch between utility power and an off-grid solar system. I understand how to do all that, I've done it before, but now my challenge is I also need to run a 240v 1hp well pump. My question is that since the solar inverter is only 120v, is there anyway that I can pull 240v power from this using some creative wiring so the phase is correct? My initial thought is to pull two 120v feeds from the inverter and feed the subpanel 240v buss lugs with each one. So I guess the real question would be: are the two 120v lines coming in from the separate solar inverter outlets and connected to the two lugs on the subpanel hot buss going to produce the correct phase alignment for 240v in the subpanel? I know I could just get a step up transformer but I'm trying to save the money.
OK, I’m not an electrician (actually an M.E.) and when I wire something I put it like I found it, or carefully study a handbook to get it right. But I’ve never seen this before and it could be very handy. Thanks!
So can i piggy back a 110 outlet on my generator with the 220 outlet? They both have split breakers. The 220 has its own designated 30amp breaker and the 110 has a 20amp breaker. I ask this because i use my inverter stick welder alot and would like to have it portable. With no power running the 220 shows 46amps havnt checked the 120. But if i piggy back the two and make a dog bone plug with an inline 40amp breaker is that feasible? Thanks for sharing your video
1. You would be limited to 30(maybe 40) amps max. 2. If you put a 220v breaker inline, you could potentially save yourself some trouble. 3. Wire up a sub panel and be safe.
it would be limited to the current rating of the smallest breaker, not 2x, it's weakest link. and when that weakest link does go, aka one breaker trips, the other probably wont. big unexpected problems are possible.
Can you go into detail about the risks/mitigations of one of the outlets having a bad ground? My concern with trying this has always been that if one outlet has a bad ground the full two phases will be grounding over a single 120v rated line. I have theorized that DIY replacement plugs should be used for both 120v plugs(LP-31?) so that both of the neutral & ground pairs (blue&green) can be ganged per line so that there is double the copper coming from the splitting socket's (6-20p) ground terminal going to the ground terminal on each of the 120v plugs. This however still worries me because I'm not sure that either wall socket can alone safely handle 240v going over its ground. Furthermore I don't think there is any sumsuch overvolt breaker tripping of grounds in standard setups. Thoughts/corrections, I'm all ears?
It's not the volts that would be a concern, but the amperage. Either leg is at most 120v from the ground/neutral. The 220v is referenced from each other not from ground/neutral. And the ground is rated to carry the 15A from either outlet. You should rate your ground for the biggest breaker in that circuit.
nope. It would be like 2 different phased circuits sharing a neutral. If the same load is on each circuit, the neutral sees no current. If one phase pulls 10amps, and the other is pulling 15, the neutral only sees 5 amps. If the 2 circuits are in-phase and sharing a neutral the neutral would see 25 amps. Ground is literally the same as neutral in this situation. Think of it as 2 hydraulic cylinder connected together with a hose and a T in the middle. If you push one cylinder close the fluid would flow out the T. If you pulled the other cylinder open at the same time, the fluid would flow through the T and the hose and be sucked in the other cylinder. Nothing would flow out the T.
@@paulcamalin5236 Definitely not, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, if your dryer vibrates and somehow dislodges one of the plugs, the exposed prong will now have 110v running to it live. Second, your breaker will be overdrawn by a dryer. Third, the 'computer cord' used is the incorrect gauge for that kind of load.
considering the neutrals are not connected it seems like you would need a fuse I can't see how the existing breakers could still be functional this concerns me I'm doin this to do a little welding in my vehicle and i hope i'm not gonna burn my house down
@@timnemeth6555 that’s ok I got my brain working for my 220v problem to my garage. I mounted and external water tight plug box outside my garage then I mounted a regular one in my garage. Then I mounted another water tight box out the side of my house where my breaker panel is and drilled a hole into the inside of the house and ran wire into a 50 amp breaker I put in my panel. Then I bought two plug ends and made an extension cord that I run from the side of my house to the side of my garage when I need my welder. It beat trying to run wire through the ceiling of my basement to the garage. I would have wrecke the stucco ceiling. This was an easy cheap remedy.
LOL, I seen a guy do this with a 1000 Watt car amp, that amp puts out about 65 volts AC lets just say he couldn't taste anything for a few months, his tongue was really black very well done. And OMG did he let out a yelp. Yep the amp was working is was a blown speaker and a burnt salesman. This guy now owns a high end Home Audio company. I seen him about 2 years ago after about 15 years and asked how his tongue was, he didn't think it was funny. too soon! Now mop up your drink!
This is not a long term solution, either hire a guy to do the work who knows what he's doing or install a pony pannel or sub panel. You should only use this very short term, and disconnect all of when not in use. If for some reason you have an electrical fire, the insurance adjuster might try and blame you for this and not pay the claim. They will do anything to get out of paying claims do not give them a reason. And I believe this does not meet code! I made up a dryer adaptor cord with 10/2 machine cord less than 50' long for welding in my garage with twist lock plugs This is a much better option or from the stove depending on your amperage requirements. It's only plugged in when I need it. The Sooj cable will carry more current then standard house wiring but you have to know the limits of the wire and distance you can extend it. the 30 amp dryer circuit works for a short time welding with a arc welder don't be surprised if you trip the breaker, if you do let it cool off and rest for a wile chances are your welder got hot anyway and needs to rest too. That cable is about 1" in dia you can drill a hole in the floor or a wall and feed the wire to your work area, this is also temporary. A permanent solution should be done that meets code and is inspected don't forget to pull a permit. You can hire out the work or do it yourself. If you hire somone make damn sure he's insured get a copy of his insurance card and his Electrical license. The insurance has to be under his business name.
I'm trying to do this same work you show here however I would like to know the reason for not hooking up the neutral wires from both cables which come from the walls to make 240 volts since my laundry dryer cord has 3 prongs (1 hot, 1 Neutral and 1 ground) will the dryer work fine by just connecting it to this 240v line you made? just Hot Wires and Ground without the neutral wire? Thank you
So did it work? What amps does your welder draw? In my mind any welder that draws more than 30amps would not work and would be dangerous to run like this.
@@ZenithClarity This option ended up not working for me because turns out the 2 separate outlets I was gonna use for this had a shared neutral wire (a separate issue I'm not thrilled with). I ended up running a real 220v line for the welder.
shared neutral is fine. very little current flows on that wire, if any at all, when you have a strictly 240 volt load. that being said, don't hack together shit like this, it's a bad idea.do it properly and you'll be happy with the result.
It wouldn't be strictly 240 though, that's the thing. One of them is 120 circuit for the whole garage (with all the outlets gfci's, which could be another issue for hacking a welder circuit out of this). The other one is a separate circuit which goes off to a shed (it's a switch). And then these 2 circuits share the neutral. In any case, it's doesn't matter, I wired a proper 240, so I'm good.
This does work in a pinch and only for temp use, however it is very dangerous. Also the male end you used on the end of your mill is not a 240 v connection, it’s a 120v 20amp connection, note that it would plug into either of the 20amp 120v outlets you have on either side of your water heater. A 240v 20amp connection would have both of the hot connections turned sideways. Also, 15 amp cords are not suitable for the 20amp suicide circuit you just built.
No, that male end is a NEMA 6-20p, 240V 20A. NE MA 6-15,240 V 15 A would have two horizontal prongs. NEMA 5-20, 120 V 20A would have one horizontal and one vertical prong but they would be reversed compared to the one shown here. If a 20A plug is held with the ground at the bottom the blade which will enter the right slot will be vertical for 120 V and horizontal for 240V. The left hand blade will be rotated 90 degrees relative to this. This will be the neutral blade on a 120 V plug. In the US 20A receptacles have one T shaped slot so they can accept 15 A or 20 A plugs, but I don’t think this is the case in Canada. I’m from the UK, and thankfully we don’t have anything like this in our electrical system, though we do have other problems which you don’t.
Question . Could the same theory work for example If I’m out camping , and I have a tool that requires 2500w but I only have 3 , 1000w inverters. Could I use the ends and out one in each in dryer to pull approx 833.33w per inverter? How can I be sure that they pull evenly ?
+rwg42985 3 points I think worth making (pin the comment maybe?) :- a) Electrical safety risk here mostly comes if one of the pair of 120v plugs becomes un-plugged, BECAUSE the unplugged 'hot' pin becomes live, through the appliance (load) from the 'other' 120v feed. This system would be significantly safer, by mounting the 240v-socket on a project-box containing a 240v-coil contactor in a NVR (No Volt Release) arrangement with a 'start' button, so that either source circuit loosing power causes the contact to drop-out, isolating the 120v plugs' hot-leads from each other. b) I don't think the differing Current ratings on either breaker matter, all that matters is both circuits have enough spare-capacity to supply the load in question. If either circuit breaker trips, you can back-feed the other-circuit with 120v 'in series with your load'. Good design of the NVR circuit (e.g. coil that drops out below 180v or so) again would mitigate this risk. c) Key point of note is this arrangement will not work if either circuit has any kind of GFCI (breaker, socket, or upstream-socket) because as soon as you try to pull load in this manner, the GFCI will just trip!, and again you can have cross-feed problems if you do not have a disconnect-circuit set-up. Hope that helps informatively!. p.s. John Wards' video on NVR [you would need double-pole 240v disconnection though]:- th-cam.com/video/6dKwOsrnkb4/w-d-xo.html
Not being negative, but I'm wondering if all the plugs for the Lord are because of the dangers of electrocution. Watt ever amps you up so long as you stay grounded. Ohm my this video has reenergized my interest in electricity.
Question. If 2 different outlets are in 3 different 20amp circuit breaker, and the appliance that needs to be plugged in requires 30amp, will it be sufficient? Converting 2 different 120v outlets to 1-240v outlet.
Lol. Well put. Relax fellas. I need to weld a project for 5 min. Not paying 500 to get a 220 installs in a philosophical and theoretical code standards. Sometimes Macgyver improvisation is required.
All it takes is one of the circuit to blow and because it’s fed by another circuit it may not blow and instead overheat. If you’re running a massive draw in addition to the already existing 2 lines it’s possible the lines each go over the 15 or 20 amp rating. The line blows and is back fed by the other overheating both. Seriously it’s bad! Don’t do it for 5 min. Hire someone to weld for that 5 min one off job. Scares me that anyone would entertain this nonsense.
@@One-Crazy-Cat - You're absolutely correct. The rest of you ...please pay attention to what this man wrote. The boy in the video claims it was a quick job. Just remember it takes just a second to start a fire. I'd bet that hack doesn't store flammables properly, either. Either way, it's ignorance at its worse.
Are those computer cables rated at 15 amps, or are the connectors rated at 15 amps? The cable rating is stamped on the cable length, while the connector rating is stamped on the ends of the connector. From the video it’s hard to tell what size those wires are.
Please only do this in dedicated outlets because if they are not and you hook up a high consuming equipment you risk overloading the two circuit and overheat the AWG12 wires. If you really want a 240-vac circuit and play it safe, just take a dedicated circuit and in the breaker box, find the white wire for that circuit, remove from ground and hook it up to an empty breaker that on the other split phase.
Please don’t follow this idiots install. It’s absolutely against code and dangerous. He’s a fucking moron for posting this and encouraging others to do this. He’s going to get someone killed with his incompetence
God bless you too Russ. I was thinking about doing just this earlier in the week. And yes I'm and electronics guy too and have a meter and all that too.
hey Russ i got a crazy question about the power voltage i saw on Amazon for $19.99 a converter box that just plugs in and gives you a 220 and a 110 plug on the face it said it was good in Countriesthat have either 110 or220 voltage i thought the price was rediculously low and that really suprised me i’m a Woodworker a dive alwayshired a electrician to put plugs in where i needed them and sometimes i would do parts of the install but he would do my final hookups i’m looking at new table saws and because of aTraumaticBrainInjury i suffered 10 years ago that changed everything in my life so i have to start everything over again does that 20 dollar box really do what they say it does ? it seams way too easy to do it that way but heck if it’s safe and works it’s way cheaper than paying a Electrician to do his thing of course i’ll go that way
A few people mentioned issues doing this with GFCI outlets. Has anyone found a work around for this? My thought is that the GFCI is tripping because the neutral is clipped. So since the neutral for a 240V circuit is essentially the off phase of the other hot leg, what if you wire the opposite neutral together with each hot leg in the 240V receptacle? Figure this will either work or start a fire. Would appreciate it if someone with more knowledge would chime in. Background: trying to get my dust collector running in a garage at a place I'm renting. Would like to avoid running a dedicated line because it's more holes in the wall to patch when I move out. I know I could also delete the GFCI by unprotecting the outlets but I figure if I'm going to go through all that work I may as well run a dedicated line.
Do you have the multi meter plugged up wrong the the little plug the little spice in the Alec goes to the black wire and out in the red wire goes into the big slide on the outlet
dan wells if you want to get 220v from a 2110v power converter from a 212 volt battery I recommend you wire the primary winding of a transformer 2110 times and wire the secondary winding 225 times. Then enjoy.
Also you usually don’t know to do a continuity test on the wires to find the hot. On all cords the hot wire is the wire with the markings/numbers. If it doesn’t then you you’ll have to do a continuity test
Alot have said what really needed to be done instead of what you did. 1) A 2 pole breaker was needed....or at the very least 2) an additional dedicated 240v electrical box to the side of electrical panel box to do it properly from the existing breakers. 3) Then it would also be properly grounded to the ground bar also. So no fire hazard. Or --4) Also an electrical junction box for the way you tried to do it because of many issues...the least being you never screw 2 wires into each screw for white,black,ground. Never. 5) To be clear: do NOT screw 2 white wires to the white (silver) screw & 2 black wires to (brass) screw & 2 to ground. You need electrical box for doing that. You knock out 2 opposite end "knockouts" on electrical box & use proper fittings to hold wires properly into both holes of the box...then tie the wires with "large red plastic wire nut" sized for proper amperage. 20 amp (12 ga.wire) & 30 amp (10 ga. wire) & install pigtail wires to each group of 2 same color wire. Twisting a red plastic wire nut onto all 3 wires. So then 3 groups of 3 wires (1 pigtail tied to each group of 2 wires). Then take each end of pigtail tova new 240v receptacle on top of electrical box. Wire accordingly. Both hots (1) red or white, (1 ) black as both being hot... and the ground (green). a clean "single" wire coming from each group of doubles wires.7) It's proper & per code to use plastic wire nuts to tie all the 2 wire groups together with the 3rd jumper "pigtail" & safer as you do NOT want one of the 2 wires screwed to a single screw (silver) or (brass) to come off & cause short or fire. That's the way you also inproperly did it. 8) When in doubt look it up in a Black & Decker "complete guide to home wiring book" or other similar book.
bobbg you can get as many amps as you want ... normal house have 200 amp panel But electric compagnie can supply as many as you need just gotta change your electrical component to match what you need
this is a very interesting vid. i swear that diagram looks like a pregnant woman delivering a baby, because this is electrical work that should never be done.
😅 no, I came here because ima bout to do it 🤩 but you are factually correct, it shouldn't be done 😉 unfortunately our world is full of incompetent idiots from top to bottom and it's becoming necessary to do what you shouldn't
i like the idea, But the 120V power in US is 60 Hz and the standard 240V in Euro is 50 Hz, you are making a 240V 60Hz power, if the machine designed to run 240V will all be 50Hz, i wonder if the machine run loader than usual under 60Hz.
Awesome video. I so want to do this in my garage, but safely. So I understand correctly, if the two circuits in the same area are on the left and the right of the breaker box, this would work. If they circuits are on the same side (left or right), then this wouldn't work. Left is one phase. Right is the other? Thank you again for this content. Awesome work.
Amazing trick thank you so much and the biggest blessing was when you told people read the word of God-made the Lord continue to bless you brother
Thank God, for people (like this fine man) still willing to think for themselves 🙏🏽
This video was a real lifesaver for me. My central ac went out and its 100 humid Florida degrees outside and it looked to be weeks to get it replaced so I had a monster 22,000 btu 220 volt wall unit but no 220 plugs and the panel had no spaces left for a new circuit so I tried this fix and wham problem solved my window unit is roaring away with no problems at all not even a gfi blew BTW I followed your instructions right down to using computer cords so I don't know if variations will work as well.
I was worried about what would happen if one of the cords was pulled by accident would the ac unit be damaged by only 120 volt current but then I realized if one cord was pulled it simply broke the circuit and you ended up with no power not 120 volts so the ac unit is safe
Thank you so much for this well-done post !
The commercially available version of this is called a "quick 220", which uses an arrangement of three relays for safety. Which ensures you never have any live prongs when one end of the adapter is plugged in and the other isn't. A version without relays but which preserves neutral is sold for RV usage.
@crashk6 Do you have a link to the RV version?
@@jeffreff2000 You can find them on amazon, search "Conntek - 14995"
@@crashk6 Is this something I can use to safely connect a 240v woodworker's power-saw in my garage which only has two 120v power outlets?
@@tvm2209 That very much depends on the electrical requirements of your saw, and if your two 120v sockets are on different halfs of the split phase. The quick 220 would be the retail option to do what you want, in a relatively safe way. Within one room, the sockets are usually wired together on the same circuit, which means you'd need to locate a socket that isn't on that same circuit to utilize the quick 220. If your garage has an electrical service panel in it, then installing a proper 240v socket is the way to go, and possibly cost competitive with the quick 220 in that instance.
If you preserve the neutral, and if one of your outlets has hot and neutral reversed (as did a lot of the outlets in a house I recently bought) then you'll have trouble.
This actually works great!! As long as your 2 120v outlets are on different poles coming from the panel and they are on the same amps!!
i get from this that 1. a lot of people think "allot" and "alot" are 1 word meaning "a lot". 2. this is a very risky endeavor. Although I do need 220v for a heater I want to buy, I'll just hire an electrician to do things properly. Thanks for the video. I did learn something.
make sure you don't have anything plugged into the adapter when you go to unplug the two cords, or the hot prong on the first plug you unplug will be connected to 120v from the other outlet through whatever's plugged into the adapter.
This is true.
120v gave me a multiple pinches fixing a light fixture woke me up.
That’s the disadvantage
I was about to make one of these but that discourages me
I worked for a company that installed vehicle lifts, air compressors and other heavy duty electrical machines. I have made over 10 drop cords just like that to test equipment after install. When the equipment tested good we'd run the outlets.
Thx so much for Cleary video. I live on my boat. My marina has two 30 amp 120v lines out of phase for shore power. I love to cook but my 120v induction cooktop is sadly inadequate for boiling large water pot to make a crawfish boil. Your simple system will allow me to use my 220v induction cooktop when I need boiling water fast without screwing around w breaker. Laissez le bon temps roller!
I’ve known about this for a long time as I’ve been an electrician for over 20 years. It can come in handy but in some applications. Just make sure you don’t over draw from your 20 amp breaker
Yes. I figured this out a long time ago when I needed to run a 240v light and didn't want to mess with playing with the panels. I use this method today to run my cnc spindle in my garage which only has two 120v circuits and two outlets. BTW- the electrical inspector hates you! lol
Excellent explanation, thanks for your transparency of teaching how to get 220 v from 110 v from two different phase
Lot's of EV car gurus who don't want to pay an electrician will like this video. God bless you and may God help us all from starting electrical fires!
That’s because electricians are rip off AHs. One told me it would be $500 for an 3 to 4 prong adapter. Amazon had one for $15.
usually it's done at the Main box. You simplified it and "Learned You Some People" yes you can make a 240 volt outlet running it from the main, or doing the same thing by connecting wires behind both outlets... But you better be a good DIY at your own risk or PAY BIG BUCKS to an Electrician without complaining. Great Video. OLE!
I think he kind of spelled out the fact that his breaker box was already full. 00:57
Nice video, great job laying this out in layman's terms. I'm an EE and totally understood everything you're doing. I have been trying to come up with a way to do this and had this exactly in mind so it was super nice to find this video. God bless!
hello Adam,
do you know why the neutrals at 110V are not necessary ?
@@alvarobarboza5730 not sure but I think it is because for 240V the voltage comes from the out of phase -120 and the + 120 = 240. Vs for a 120V outlet the voltage comes from a single 120 (+ or -) to neutral
Do electrical engineers not study the NEC/CEC codebook?
Edit: not trying to be an ahole
@@alvarobarboza5730 AC current doesn't have polarity. And the neutral wire is bonded to the ground bars at the panel. It all goes back to the same source. The neutral is required at 120. But at 240 it just alternates between the wires.
@@hemi4722 Well the ones that work in the power field would .
Can I run one side of a cable to a Honda generator 2000 watts and one to a regular 20 amp house outlet. I’m trying to use a harbor freight stick welder 225 model using the 220 volt setting. The 110 volt setting won’t weld good
Make sure you don't try this with GFCI outlets or they will trip. One of mine blew out and now I have to replace the outlet.
that works. i did it and im not electricity guy. dnt like to deal with voltage . but its working. and do it by mu self. lucky i dnt burn all my house👍🏼
There is still time for it to burn.
Great video- thanks for your clear explanation of why you get get 240V across the two 120V wires due to phasing.
That is one of the coolest things I've seen on youtube and is gonna be perfect for my welding machine that I only use maybe one or two times a year. The machine comes with a step up 230 v pigtail that I can finally use. Thank you and God Bless!
this guy is over the top; if nothing else -- great entertainment; he's a genius !!
Personally I think there is a lot to learn about electricity to become an experienced sparky. Here Australia it's about 4 years and you are in an apprenticeship, so it's on the job training. But I also believe that basic electrical connections are common sense and can be done safely and with modern safety switches, even a wrong connection will trip the mcb no worries. God bless
If you can dream it, u CONDUIT!!
🤩 I see what you did there 😍
If you do your drawing with each of the 110V legs on the outside of the 3 lines coming in, you'll have a simpler drawing and more visually clear. The central wire will be able to connect outwardly with each of the 2 legs for the 110, and then when needed, you can also draw from each 110V leg and the neutral as well. You can easily draw in the circuit breakers alternately looping over the neutral to catch the opposite phase 110V buss. Also invest in a Blue & Red marker for each phase, and a Black for the Neutral, and a Green for the Ground. Really gets quite simple when the drawing is somplified.
can you have the next video on what amps are drawn through that cable to the mill machine?
It is not a 3 phase system but a split phase. It is a 240V system with two line voltage, center tap to give 120V.
Your method is Ok if there is no earth leakage protection on the receptacles. Furthermore, need to have a procedure when disconnecting. The appliance side (yellow) must be disconnected first, otherwise there will be risk of back energies a plug when the load is connected.
Although I agree with a lot of the comments about not doing it because of the potential of many people screwing it up, I like the video and would do it! Don’t knock the video for showing a viable option for 240. If you do screw it up, then you had no business doing it in the first place and you deserve a Darwin Award.
I have news for you: if you do it in the first place you have no idea what you're doing.
@@gitrpicker If you had a clue, I would try to describe it to you. Based on your reply, I can tell it would be just a waste of my time.
Hey buddy, I do understand what backfeeding means. Sorry to disappoint you as you try to make yourself feel you are smarter than you most likely are. Come back when you feel better about yourself.
@@mgpvii agreed
@@gitrpicker people who work with electrical know this is safe. it is unsafe to the newbie. Not the experienced
The concept is great and I’m sure to will work fine. The problem comes with the reality of if the wiring was installed with any kind of intelligence the connections of one side of the box will be kept from connections to the other side of the box as much as possible.
In other words his garage outlets should all be connected to side A of the fuse panel while most of the house connected to side B to reduce the possibility of anyone getting their self connected to 240 power. I doubt if he would get both sides in his garage.
Granted your comments to be true 90% of the time, but he had already had 2 20amp 120's installed in the garage, in this case you would want a separate line for each of those 20A lines and not daisy chained.
No they send 20 amp service from both phase to help balance the fuse box. Since these look to be dedicated 120 V lines for a washer and possibly other high power machine in the room. Having the house all on one side is unbalanced. and heats up return lines.
I used to live in a trailer home with TOTAL daisy chain wiring. Really bad. True the box was split up, though not really totally evenly. I mean, one side of the box had mostly bedrooms and the other most of the higher load wiring. Like the refrigerator and washer. I rewired some of it and made it have its own separate wire to the outlets used for washer and dryer, but I did not put the washer on one side of the line and the dryer on the other side. That would be too dangerous.
If I'm trying to power a dryer with 240v 30 amp power requirements, would the two cords need to handle 15 a, but the plugs need to handle the full 30 amps? So getting 20 amp cords and a 40 amp plug would do the trick?
I’m running into the same issue. Please let me know
Nice video! It's nice to see someone being helpful with life hacks. If you panel is full and it's seldom used; why not! Thanks rwg42985. This is as simple as it gets. If a person doesn't understand this video; they shouldn't try this anyway. rwg42985 said that in the beginning of the video. Thanks again my man. The only person that doesn't like this video is probably an electrician that is worried about their own bottom line!
Elec 101. There are 9 Interconnections in the USA/Canada or better known through the media as power or electric grids. I work for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) better known as the Texas Interconnection. Power generation is anywhere between 10 to 260 GW. Gigawatts measure the capacity of large power plants or of many plants. One gigawatt (GW) = 1,000 megawatts = 1 billion watts. In case you are wondering about the US total, GW is 1,400. A lot of power plants are slowly switching over to interconvert alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) power distribution. This scales back the possibility of two or more different power plants becoming synchronous resulting in a no voltage situation. Feeding on the big high power transmission lines substations step down the current and change DC to AC voltage. Most substations output from 5kV-50kV. 1 kV equals 1,000 volts. This is what goes to the lines on the utility pole. If you walk out of your house and look up at the joint pole, the very top wire is the static/lighting suppression wire, the wires under that are the transmission lines, the wire under that is the MGN (multi-grounded neutral) wire, under that is primary, under that is secondary triplex 120/240 volt, under that is a step down transformer, the distance between the secondary and the next wire is called the safety zone space and is for telecommunications workers for the TELCO, CATV, FIBER wires. Now, this is a general joint pole setup, you may not have a primary, you might have a single transmission line and an MGN wire and a step-down transformer under it. If you live at a busy intersection your pole might have all of that and traffic signal wires under all of the above. This is a basic set up. There are many, many different setups and pole uses out there to cover them on here. If your supplier uses a secondary triplex, your house feed will run directly to that, if not, your house feed will run to a step-down transformer. To prevent a zero voltage situation, the transformer(s) will sync the Hz, Hertz, of the two hot leads 120 degrees apart, or phase-shifted, meaning one lead will be positive + and the other lead will be negative - when the current alternates direction. In your case, if you use one leg of the breaker box to get your 240 from, you run the problem of sync and damage to the welder. Likewise, when the welder contacts close it produces a voltage spike that will damage other load items on the leg. Cross talk is another problem, even if a short circuit develops, using one leg to get 240 from, can result in the breaker not tripping or start phantom tripping. National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and the National Electrical Code (NEC), or NFPA 70, is a regionally adoptable standard for the safe installation of electrical wiring and equipment in the United States. It is part of the National Fire Code series published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a private trade association. And for the most part, the Canadian code is identical. Violation of the code can result in being disconnected, fine and or jail time. You want 240 volts? Do it the correct way. Last I looked a 100 ft. 10/3 wire was less than $130 a Square D 50 amp breaker less than $10. Why risk burning your house down?
This is completely unholy so, I approve. Thank you.
No it's not, he said, "Read the Bible more" at the end haha
Depending on your local code with run UF or wires in conduit, 14 AWG for a 15 amp circuit, 12 AWG for a 20 amp circuit, 10 AWG for a 30 amp circuit, 8 AWG for a 40 amp circuit etc. Purchase the appropriate receptacle and fuse or circuit breaker for the rated current. Do it the correct way.
Do it right
Bro...this is useful. There are many applications where u just need to get it done in real world situations
Is it safe to run 12 AWG for a 30 amp circuit! Only load being a compressor that draws 22 amps
Ohhhhhhh I finally understand what you are doing. That's clever sir! Well deserved like.
Can I use 250 volt power cable in 220 volt gadget..
I had this same idea the problem can be is feedback. If you join 2 120 vac lines then start you tool it can feedback to that line 220 vac when it is joined and used so if you use something else 220 vac could run threw both your welder and anything else on that line . Using duo 120 vac plugs amperage must be right because you can create a dangerous surge . Your outlets must be standalone and not used as a 120 vac unless you disconnect your 220 vac tool from it every time you use each line for 120 vac to be safe.
Great video !
I was looking for how to do this and I found your video. Clean, clear, and precise ! Awsome job !
Thanks.
God bless you and yours in Jesus Name !
Amen
Bro every one at Home Depot said it would not work I did then found your video which is reassurance.😅
Problem is what’s your amperage on those lines? What do they go to? If your uzi g 10a on one leg your still restricted like his 20/15A config. 🎉
Just run a 12/2 and hook white to a 240. That’s why they sell split breakers to add more breaker space. Or if it’s that stuffed take two breakers and put another 100A sub next to it. Use aluminum so it’s 3$ 😂 prob get the piece for free from an electrician doing a service nearby. We throw the aluminum away.
Would this work if plugged into 2 separate 12v dc to 120v ac power inverters.
12v solar battery bank to 2 separate 120v power inverter, going into a Panel. 120v on each terminal. Neutral bar tied to ground in panel? Ground tied to copper rod going into earth.
I know the panel could provide 120v to single breakers, but could it handle a double pole breaker at 240? Assuming I had a large enough battery bank and power inverters size to handle the load.
The two 120v power inverter running of same battery bank.
Has anybody mentioned the fact that now he's got an unbalanced hot in each circuit feeding his adapter that's inducing who-knows-what kind of currents to flow in any adjacent wires?
Shit I just Commented on The very same wish I should have kep reading first lol
So my problem is this: I have a very nice AC unit that runs on 240. There was only one outlet in my apartment to plug it in and that was the old baseboard heater in my living room below the window. The maintenance people have since switched out the old ones in the whole unit and replaced them with newer energy efficiency baseboard heaters and there is no outlet to run it. I went to an electrical supply and bought a male and female plug and about 20’ of the right wire from Home Depot to make an adaptor so I could run from the outlet where I plug my stove in. The AC unit turns on, but nothing else happens like I can’t get the fan or motor turned on. I don’t know what to do. I’m not an electrician so I’m a little lost. The AC unit works and I have used it before. Is there something I’m doing wrong?
Need clarification: wires running from the main panel to both outlets are not the right gauge. should be #10 if i recall correctly. So these wires would get hot. Isn’t it a fire hazard?
I believe the wires from the panel running to the outlets are only 120v. It doesn’t reach 240vs until they’re joined together by what he made. That’s where you’d need a bigger gauge. Anyone correct me if I’m wrong. Don’t want anyone to burn their house down
I saw this video when I was at a place in time where I needed 220 and had no access to circuit panels or anything. I did what he said and it worked like a charm and I ran some induction heaters and a steam boiler and all kinds of stuff and it never caused a problem. 💯💯💯
I tired this but I dint get the 220 v ,voltage getting dropped and it’s came only 210 v what might be the reason
@@murali5041 it is alternating current, it fluctuates from 210 to 220. If you're getting over 200 volts you're doing it right and it's working :)
Thanks ,my application is for the oven it’s 220 v operating when I on the micro power it’s getting off due to less voltage than 220 V,when I plug in other greater than 220 v it’s working fine can u guide
Kyle B in our home we have 2 120 v AC ,but when I check the two hit wire m getting 210 v ac only ,I want above 220 wat might be the problem
@@murali5041 I am no expert, I would think that you should get 2×110 minimum. and sometimes get 2x120. But I can't give you an answer for your situation, I don't know anything that's why I watched his video lol
Thank you, you save my life, my job and $150 USD
This answered every question I had about home wiring, Thanks.
Just to make sure; in the female connector you have two 120 volts prongs and one earth prong? Right?
I need a commercial product for a crypto miner. Miners require immense power, and thus it requires 220V. So, I suppose I need a power splitter where you have a 220V female outlet and has 2 male 110V plugs. Can I just buy this from Lowes? I don't have a 220V outlet in wall. I live in an apartment.
First I'm not an electrician. I would like to install a switched subpanel to switch between utility power and an off-grid solar system. I understand how to do all that, I've done it before, but now my challenge is I also need to run a 240v 1hp well pump. My question is that since the solar inverter is only 120v, is there anyway that I can pull 240v power from this using some creative wiring so the phase is correct? My initial thought is to pull two 120v feeds from the inverter and feed the subpanel 240v buss lugs with each one.
So I guess the real question would be: are the two 120v lines coming in from the separate solar inverter outlets and connected to the two lugs on the subpanel hot buss going to produce the correct phase alignment for 240v in the subpanel? I know I could just get a step up transformer but I'm trying to save the money.
OK, I’m not an electrician (actually an M.E.) and when I wire something I put it like I found it, or carefully study a handbook to get it right. But I’ve never seen this before and it could be very handy. Thanks!
So can i piggy back a 110 outlet on my generator with the 220 outlet? They both have split breakers. The 220 has its own designated 30amp breaker and the 110 has a 20amp breaker. I ask this because i use my inverter stick welder alot and would like to have it portable. With no power running the 220 shows 46amps havnt checked the 120. But if i piggy back the two and make a dog bone plug with an inline 40amp breaker is that feasible? Thanks for sharing your video
1. You would be limited to 30(maybe 40) amps max. 2. If you put a 220v breaker inline, you could potentially save yourself some trouble. 3. Wire up a sub panel and be safe.
it would be limited to the current rating of the smallest breaker, not 2x, it's weakest link. and when that weakest link does go, aka one breaker trips, the other probably wont. big unexpected problems are possible.
No. You are limited to the smaller breaker @ 240v.
Can you go into detail about the risks/mitigations of one of the outlets having a bad ground?
My concern with trying this has always been that if one outlet has a bad ground the full two phases will be grounding over a single 120v rated line.
I have theorized that DIY replacement plugs should be used for both 120v plugs(LP-31?) so that both of the neutral & ground pairs (blue&green) can be ganged per line so that there is double the copper coming from the splitting socket's (6-20p) ground terminal going to the ground terminal on each of the 120v plugs.
This however still worries me because I'm not sure that either wall socket can alone safely handle 240v going over its ground.
Furthermore I don't think there is any sumsuch overvolt breaker tripping of grounds in standard setups.
Thoughts/corrections, I'm all ears?
It's not the volts that would be a concern, but the amperage. Either leg is at most 120v from the ground/neutral. The 220v is referenced from each other not from ground/neutral. And the ground is rated to carry the 15A from either outlet. You should rate your ground for the biggest breaker in that circuit.
Correct me if I'm wrong but if both phases are shorting to ground it could easily pass 30 amps?
nope. It would be like 2 different phased circuits sharing a neutral. If the same load is on each circuit, the neutral sees no current. If one phase pulls 10amps, and the other is pulling 15, the neutral only sees 5 amps.
If the 2 circuits are in-phase and sharing a neutral the neutral would see 25 amps. Ground is literally the same as neutral in this situation.
Think of it as 2 hydraulic cylinder connected together with a hose and a T in the middle. If you push one cylinder close the fluid would flow out the T. If you pulled the other cylinder open at the same time, the fluid would flow through the T and the hose and be sucked in the other cylinder. Nothing would flow out the T.
For small loads like a UK radio I might do this but for heavy or inductive loads not a chance.
why not? can this method not be used to power a 5400 watt dryer?
@@paulcamalin5236 Definitely not, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, if your dryer vibrates and somehow dislodges one of the plugs, the exposed prong will now have 110v running to it live. Second, your breaker will be overdrawn by a dryer. Third, the 'computer cord' used is the incorrect gauge for that kind of load.
@@kworldcorp Do you mean that it draws 22.5 amp current?
been waiting for years for this D.Y.I. info.... than you 👍
Ikr
Henry Cagle 👍
considering the neutrals are not connected it seems like you would need a fuse I can't see how the existing breakers could still be functional this concerns me I'm doin this to do a little welding in my vehicle and i hope i'm not gonna burn my house down
Perfect. Thank you for the lesson and hack on 120 to 240 .
I need to find those long extensions prongs for the volt meter so I can check the nearest outlet from one to another!
Or you could get an extension chord.
Never really thought of this found it very interesting not sure I would ever do it versus just using a 240 plug but it was good information
I don’t have a 220 plug in my garage for my welder so this was very interesting lol
@@oneangrycanadian6205 it won't work
@@timnemeth6555 that’s ok I got my brain working for my 220v problem to my garage. I mounted and external water tight plug box outside my garage then I mounted a regular one in my garage. Then I mounted another water tight box out the side of my house where my breaker panel is and drilled a hole into the inside of the house and ran wire into a 50 amp breaker I put in my panel. Then I bought two plug ends and made an extension cord that I run from the side of my house to the side of my garage when I need my welder. It beat trying to run wire through the ceiling of my basement to the garage. I would have wrecke the stucco ceiling. This was an easy cheap remedy.
Good job bro. This will come in handy for my brand new plasma cutter that they lied to me when they said it was 110V and 220V.
I just changed the plug to convert mine to 110v
Only in a dire pinch would I use this but have definitely considered making one in case I need to use my everlast welder in a location without 220v
Those are great welders.
aaaaahhhaa!!! I think now I know how to power up my solar panels! Great video dude, catchya on the flip side!
Power up solar panels? You don’t power your solar panels. The panels power other things.
@@RB-xv4si it was a joke dude....geez
You're great bro! this is a wonderful video you made for the world and is gonna help so many people. Blessings to you.
Thank you
And make sure the wires are working by testing with your tounge.
LOL,
I seen a guy do this with a 1000 Watt car amp, that amp puts out about 65 volts AC lets just say he couldn't taste anything for a few months, his tongue was really black very well done. And OMG did he let out a yelp.
Yep the amp was working is was a blown speaker and a burnt salesman.
This guy now owns a high end Home Audio company.
I seen him about 2 years ago after about 15 years and asked how his tongue was, he didn't think it was funny. too soon!
Now mop up your drink!
This is not a long term solution, either hire a guy to do the work who knows what he's doing or install a pony pannel or sub panel. You should only use this very short term, and disconnect all of when not in use.
If for some reason you have an electrical fire, the insurance adjuster might try and blame you for this and not pay the claim. They will do anything to get out of paying claims do not give them a reason.
And I believe this does not meet code!
I made up a dryer adaptor cord with 10/2 machine cord less than 50' long for welding in my garage with twist lock plugs
This is a much better option or from the stove depending on your amperage requirements.
It's only plugged in when I need it. The Sooj cable will carry more current then standard house wiring but you have to know the limits of the wire and distance you can extend it. the 30 amp dryer circuit works for a short time welding with a arc welder don't be surprised if you trip the breaker, if you do let it cool off and rest for a wile chances are your welder got hot anyway and needs to rest too.
That cable is about 1" in dia you can drill a hole in the floor or a wall and feed the wire to your work area, this is also temporary. A permanent solution should be done that meets code and is inspected don't forget to pull a permit.
You can hire out the work or do it yourself. If you hire somone make damn sure he's insured get a copy of his insurance card and his Electrical license. The insurance has to be under his business name.
I'm trying to do this same work you show here however I would like to know the reason for not hooking up the neutral wires from both cables which come from the walls to make 240 volts since my laundry dryer cord has 3 prongs (1 hot, 1 Neutral and 1 ground) will the dryer work fine by just connecting it to this 240v line you made? just Hot Wires and Ground without the neutral wire? Thank you
Man thanks!!!! I need 220 in the garage for a welder and there's just no easy way to get 220 in there. This is gonna work!
So did it work? What amps does your welder draw? In my mind any welder that draws more than 30amps would not work and would be dangerous to run like this.
@@ZenithClarity This option ended up not working for me because turns out the 2 separate outlets I was gonna use for this had a shared neutral wire (a separate issue I'm not thrilled with). I ended up running a real 220v line for the welder.
shared neutral is fine. very little current flows on that wire, if any at all, when you have a strictly 240 volt load. that being said, don't hack together shit like this, it's a bad idea.do it properly and you'll be happy with the result.
It wouldn't be strictly 240 though, that's the thing. One of them is 120 circuit for the whole garage (with all the outlets gfci's, which could be another issue for hacking a welder circuit out of this). The other one is a separate circuit which goes off to a shed (it's a switch). And then these 2 circuits share the neutral. In any case, it's doesn't matter, I wired a proper 240, so I'm good.
Please, Can i use this way to operate spilt conditioner unit working on 220v from two 110v phases ?
The problem I've found, is that most outlets in the same room are on the same circuit/phase.
Thank you,good lesson, great wisdom...
nop!
If you have only one male outlet plugged in would the other male outlet be live ? Like if you touch it are you getting zapped?
yah your right but if the wire guage is small you gonna burn the wire before even it will trip the breaker..
only hack together things like this in the winter, so you can stay warm in your house fire.
This does work in a pinch and only for temp use, however it is very dangerous. Also the male end you used on the end of your mill is not a 240 v connection, it’s a 120v 20amp connection, note that it would plug into either of the 20amp 120v outlets you have on either side of your water heater. A 240v 20amp connection would have both of the hot connections turned sideways. Also, 15 amp cords are not suitable for the 20amp suicide circuit you just built.
No, that male end is a NEMA 6-20p, 240V 20A. NE MA 6-15,240 V 15 A would have two horizontal prongs. NEMA 5-20, 120 V 20A would have one horizontal and one vertical prong but they would be reversed compared to the one shown here.
If a 20A plug is held with the ground at the bottom the blade which will enter the right slot will be vertical for 120 V and horizontal for 240V. The left hand blade will be rotated 90 degrees relative to this. This will be the neutral blade on a 120 V plug.
In the US 20A receptacles have one T shaped slot so they can accept 15 A or 20 A plugs, but I don’t think this is the case in Canada.
I’m from the UK, and thankfully we don’t have anything like this in our electrical system, though we do have other problems which you don’t.
Question . Could the same theory work for example If I’m out camping , and I have a tool that requires 2500w but I only have 3 , 1000w inverters. Could I use the ends and out one in each in dryer to pull approx 833.33w per inverter? How can I be sure that they pull evenly ?
Cruising for Christ, love it! Great video! Do they sell pre-made converters, instead of building one the way you have?
+rwg42985
3 points I think worth making (pin the comment maybe?) :-
a) Electrical safety risk here mostly comes if one of the pair of 120v plugs becomes un-plugged, BECAUSE the unplugged 'hot' pin becomes live, through the appliance (load) from the 'other' 120v feed.
This system would be significantly safer, by mounting the 240v-socket on a project-box containing a 240v-coil contactor in a NVR (No Volt Release) arrangement with a 'start' button, so that either source circuit loosing power causes the contact to drop-out, isolating the 120v plugs' hot-leads from each other.
b) I don't think the differing Current ratings on either breaker matter, all that matters is both circuits have enough spare-capacity to supply the load in question. If either circuit breaker trips, you can back-feed the other-circuit with 120v 'in series with your load'. Good design of the NVR circuit (e.g. coil that drops out below 180v or so) again would mitigate this risk.
c) Key point of note is this arrangement will not work if either circuit has any kind of GFCI (breaker, socket, or upstream-socket) because as soon as you try to pull load in this manner, the GFCI will just trip!, and again you can have cross-feed problems if you do not have a disconnect-circuit set-up.
Hope that helps informatively!.
p.s. John Wards' video on NVR [you would need double-pole 240v disconnection though]:-
th-cam.com/video/6dKwOsrnkb4/w-d-xo.html
I agree, but the keyword is here, know what you are doing.
Not being negative, but I'm wondering if all the plugs for the Lord are because of the dangers of electrocution. Watt ever amps you up so long as you stay grounded. Ohm my this video has reenergized my interest in electricity.
Question. If 2 different outlets are in 3 different 20amp circuit breaker, and the appliance that needs to be plugged in requires 30amp, will it be sufficient? Converting 2 different 120v outlets to 1-240v outlet.
Lots of angry electricians in the comments losing work!
He says do it at your own risk. Relax guys. Good video Russ 👍
Lol. Well put. Relax fellas. I need to weld a project for 5 min. Not paying 500 to get a 220 installs in a philosophical and theoretical code standards. Sometimes Macgyver improvisation is required.
All it takes is one of the circuit to blow and because it’s fed by another circuit it may not blow and instead overheat. If you’re running a massive draw in addition to the already existing 2 lines it’s possible the lines each go over the 15 or 20 amp rating. The line blows and is back fed by the other overheating both. Seriously it’s bad! Don’t do it for 5 min. Hire someone to weld for that 5 min one off job. Scares me that anyone would entertain this nonsense.
@@One-Crazy-Cat - You're absolutely correct. The rest of you ...please pay attention to what this man wrote. The boy in the video claims it was a quick job. Just remember it takes just a second to start a fire. I'd bet that hack doesn't store flammables properly, either. Either way, it's ignorance at its worse.
@@ArtesianDistillers then your not a welder , your a hack like him .
Knows just enough to be dangerous! He is not wrong, but it's not right! 🔥🚒
Are those computer cables rated at 15 amps, or are the connectors rated at 15 amps? The cable rating is stamped on the cable length, while the connector rating is stamped on the ends of the connector. From the video it’s hard to tell what size those wires are.
It seems like common sense now thanks brother man
Please only do this in dedicated outlets because if they are not and you hook up a high consuming equipment you risk overloading the two circuit and overheat the AWG12 wires. If you really want a 240-vac circuit and play it safe, just take a dedicated circuit and in the breaker box, find the white wire for that circuit, remove from ground and hook it up to an empty breaker that on the other split phase.
Thank this is exactly what I needed for my new Metal Bandsaw
Please don’t follow this idiots install. It’s absolutely against code and dangerous. He’s a fucking moron for posting this and encouraging others to do this. He’s going to get someone killed with his incompetence
and what about amperage whats the draw on each leg I would assume that mill has a high amperage draw ?
God bless you too Russ. I was thinking about doing just this earlier in the week. And yes I'm and electronics guy too and have a meter and all that too.
I understand this video was done 6 years ago. Does this still work?
hey Russ i got a crazy question about the power voltage i saw on Amazon for $19.99 a converter box that just plugs in and gives you a 220 and a 110 plug on the face it said it was good in Countriesthat have either 110 or220 voltage i thought the price was rediculously low and that really suprised me i’m a Woodworker a dive alwayshired a electrician to put plugs in where i needed them and sometimes i would do parts of the install but he would do my final hookups i’m looking at new table saws and because of aTraumaticBrainInjury i suffered 10 years ago that changed everything in my life so i have to start everything over again does that 20 dollar box really do what they say it does ? it seams way too easy to do it that way but heck if it’s safe and works it’s way cheaper than paying a Electrician to do his thing of course i’ll go that way
bye bye
5:40
Are there sewing consumables in that box?
A few people mentioned issues doing this with GFCI outlets. Has anyone found a work around for this?
My thought is that the GFCI is tripping because the neutral is clipped. So since the neutral for a 240V circuit is essentially the off phase of the other hot leg, what if you wire the opposite neutral together with each hot leg in the 240V receptacle? Figure this will either work or start a fire. Would appreciate it if someone with more knowledge would chime in.
Background: trying to get my dust collector running in a garage at a place I'm renting. Would like to avoid running a dedicated line because it's more holes in the wall to patch when I move out. I know I could also delete the GFCI by unprotecting the outlets but I figure if I'm going to go through all that work I may as well run a dedicated line.
Sooo, can you randomly plug into sockets or will it explode?? Is nuff to charge ev??
Do you have the multi meter plugged up wrong the the little plug the little spice in the Alec goes to the black wire and out in the red wire goes into the big slide on the outlet
how do i get 220 from 2 110 volt power converters off my 2 12 volt batteries. will this work also
dan wells if you want to get 220v from a 2110v power converter from a 212 volt battery I recommend you wire the primary winding of a transformer 2110 times and wire the secondary winding 225 times. Then enjoy.
Also you usually don’t know to do a continuity test on the wires to find the hot. On all cords the hot wire is the wire with the markings/numbers. If it doesn’t then you you’ll have to do a continuity test
Alot have said what really needed to be done instead of what you did.
1) A 2 pole breaker was needed....or at the very least
2) an additional dedicated 240v electrical box to the side of electrical panel box to do it properly from the existing breakers. 3) Then it would also be properly grounded to the ground bar also. So no fire hazard.
Or --4) Also an electrical junction box for the way you tried to do it because of many issues...the least being you never screw 2 wires into each screw for white,black,ground. Never.
5) To be clear: do NOT screw 2 white wires to the white (silver) screw & 2 black wires to (brass) screw & 2 to ground. You need electrical box for doing that. You knock out 2 opposite end "knockouts" on electrical box & use proper fittings to hold wires properly into both holes of the box...then tie the wires with "large red plastic wire nut" sized for proper amperage. 20 amp (12 ga.wire) & 30 amp (10 ga. wire) & install pigtail wires to each group of 2 same color wire. Twisting a red plastic wire nut onto all 3 wires. So then 3 groups of 3 wires (1 pigtail tied to each group of 2 wires). Then take each end of pigtail tova new 240v receptacle on top of electrical box. Wire accordingly. Both hots (1) red or white, (1 ) black as both being hot... and the ground (green). a clean "single" wire coming from each group of doubles wires.7) It's proper & per code to use plastic wire nuts to tie all the 2 wire groups together with the 3rd jumper "pigtail" & safer as you do NOT want one of the 2 wires screwed to a single screw (silver) or (brass) to come off & cause short or fire. That's the way you also inproperly did it. 8) When in doubt look it up in a Black & Decker "complete guide to home wiring book" or other similar book.
In America most home are 220v 1ph service drop to the panel..
yes but what's the Max amperage rating?
bobbg you can get as many amps as you want ... normal house have 200 amp panel
But electric compagnie can supply as many as you need
just gotta change your electrical component to match what you need
Top notch video. What you suggest is sound and human error is the real risk lol 😂
this is a very interesting vid. i swear that diagram looks like a pregnant woman delivering a baby, because this is electrical work that should never be done.
What kind of scary wife do you have? ;-)
😅 no, I came here because ima bout to do it 🤩 but you are factually correct, it shouldn't be done 😉 unfortunately our world is full of incompetent idiots from top to bottom and it's becoming necessary to do what you shouldn't
i like the idea, But the 120V power in US is 60 Hz and the standard 240V in Euro is 50 Hz, you are making a 240V 60Hz power, if the machine designed to run 240V will all be 50Hz, i wonder if the machine run loader than usual under 60Hz.
What if I have 2x200amp service coming in and I use a plug from each breaker?
Awesome video. I so want to do this in my garage, but safely.
So I understand correctly, if the two circuits in the same area are on the left and the right of the breaker box, this would work. If they circuits are on the same side (left or right), then this wouldn't work.
Left is one phase.
Right is the other?
Thank you again for this content. Awesome work.
incorrect. breakers can be on same side of panel next to each other. the real test is with a multimeter should read 240 V.
Thank you brother that is great just what I was looking for. God bless you 🙏