My one suggestion as an electrical engineer would be to place 20 amp outlet at the end where the line cord enters the first box and put the indicator lamp and hospital outlet at the far end. That would serve two purpose... it would keep the heavier current from passing through extra wiring and connections. Second having the indicator at the far end would indicate that power is actually getting to the farthest end of the unit!
@@amkelle2 - As stated in the video the 15A gfci can handle some overload although that is not ideal. You could usd a 20 Amp, inline gfci unit instead, but that might require you have access to a 20 Amp receptacle as the source power.
@@LarryCoates1948 To be fair, yes, I did not intently watch the whole video, I skipped through a lot of it to get the jist. But still, wouldn’t a 20A pull on a 15A outlet be unsafe? Or even pointless if the breaker is 15A
@@amkelle2 - it could be a problem but most likely not for a short term use. Long term yes ti would be a problem but would trip the breaker if it heated up for too long!
Pro Tip: When you are twisting stranded wire, twist in the opposite direction. You may notice that when you cinch the ground screw it tends to splay the wire. The reverse twist is in the same direction as the cinching of the screw so it actually squeezes the wire in the same direction as the twist making a "better" connection.
Ya know Bob....I would even go further and solider the twists..no freedom wire exposed....easier to insert. Stud man....gotta love that old wire...they made em well 40 to 50 years ago. Also, congrats no blood!
I would go even further here honestly. Over time, a soldered stranded wire end will warp due to heat and pressure when places in a screw terminal. Instead, crimp and solder the wire end in a ring terminal and put the screw through that
Most new breakers have 2 trip methods. One is magnetic which works primarily during a fault. The second is a bimetal coil, similar to an old fashion thermostat, this is the one that handles general overloads. Depending on the manufacturer, age, and use of the breaker it can take time for the coil to heat up and trip. Certain manufacturer like Zinsco and Federal Pacific wont trip and you get the smokey house effect. We hope there isn’t one in the house you’re at. It is perfectly normal to hit a higher amperage on a breaker for a short period of time before the coil snaps. I have seen a 20 amp breaker hit 25 amps and hold for 10 minutes. Ultimately heat is what trips the breaker in an overload and it takes time for the heat to build up and trip the breaker. If you had a thermometer on you at the time of the video, you most likely could have identified the breaker you were using by the amount of heat it would have been producing. How ever I don’t suggest replicating the scenario to try it. Overloading a circuit is never a good thing. The more heat a breaker takes on the easer it trips the next time. Great video! I got out of remodeling to became an electrician. I mis the remodel world. I watch your videos and you guys always have some new concept or product that I have never seen. There are a lot of new products that has come out in the last several years. I really liked the cabinet leveling kit. I switched to air bags just before I got out of the business, but this little gizmos you guys used knocked the socks off the airbags. I can’t wait to see the next video.
@@TopCat2021 I have seen 90 amp on a 15 amp breaker for a second or so to close a F***ing big coil was just a testing rig , normally this was powered by a dc charger and battery but was still surpise it was holding
I was about to say, arent breakers, supressors, etc all supposed to be sacrificial components? I'd definitely consider replacement in multiple scenarios...
Your answer is spot on. There are also trip curves available for almost every breaker except for those horrid Zinsco and Federal Pacific panels. Its pretty interesting to see how long a breaker will hold with a particular breaker. There are also different breaker trip curves, A-F that will determine the In-Rush available. In-Rush is what allows motors and capacitors to charge without tripping breakers constantly.
Zinsco and federal pacific are pretty much known in the inspection world as a no go and always labelled as a must replace. Interesting to see a sparky call it out in the wild.
This was hands down one of the best instructional videos I have ever seen dealing with electricity. Knocked it right out of the park. It is also cool you are a father son team. Lots of guys wish they had that growing up.
Plus you are still using your dad's electrical cords and they will be passed down to your son then his son in the future. The best part you are father and son, passing knowledge is what I truly love to do an teach my family how to fix and build things. I said family because I have an still teach my boys and girls how to do stuff. Teaching them is fun for me and they teach me new things as well. Making memories is what life is about isn't it. An you making videos of you both together is awesome. Better than the old time photo album our parents loved to bring out several times a year to look at.
Pro Tip: When tightening a cord into into a strain relief, press the cord inwards towards the connections on the device to de-strain them while you're tightening it down. This provides some slack inside the device and prevents strain-loading the connections during assembly. And... great video, thanks!
Great Comment!!! (While Stud Pack may have done that by instinct and because of experience, and didn't mention it. That's great information for those of us that don't have that experience to fall back on!!! Thank you.)
The ground wire should be longer than the other two. If stress on the cable causes wires to pull out or break, the hot or neutral will fail first - not the ground.
EXCELLENT VIDEO! My dad was an electrician for 47 years and he taught me to be conservative and cautious in order to keep things safe. It was GREAT to see you carefully use many of the tricks that he taught me as well as many of the tips I’ve developed over the years thanks to his careful training. Cable stripping, strain relief, proper use of tools and adapters… you hit them all. Hats off as well to your commenters, who taught me all sorts of useful and interesting things that even 30+ years of well-informed DIY work had left me wondering about. I’ve subscribed to your channel, and I’m planning a “binge watch” to prep for some upcoming projects!
This video and the comments below reflect one of the things I like most about this channel. Paul is 85%+ for an amazing number of trades, and he presents in a way that is accessible to DIYers without condescending to pros. That means he attracts a very wide range of people, AND he's humble enough to showcase suggestions or corrections. I could hardly be more impressed with Paul. And obviously, thanks to Jordan for making the channel possible and for making the connections/ asking the questions for those of us who aren't as widely competent as Paul is. :) You two are a great team that has built a forum for a very helpful community. *Thank you.*
I used to be impressed. That's why I started watching years ago. Now, it just more contrived and scripted nonsense and it's lost that organic feel of a son helping his talented father. Just take a look at the thumbnail progression... more of the "shocking" and "???" thumbnails that are only used to manipulate and please the algorithms. They lost my subscription!
@@DiffEQ Then move on.. sorry I have seen a few of your comments on here on other peoples comments. If you don't enjoy the channel anymore than don't make those that like it have to listen to your negative narrative.. just unsubscribe and move on, Paul and his son don't owe you anything
@@steve_main What's your point? I already said I have moved on; As have many others. Doesn't mean I can't make the reasons known. Do you live in that world where all comments have to be praise and support? Do you? And you are wrong about people who are soliciting subscribers for profit when you say they don't owe those subscribers anything. This is not an altruist venture, sir. Get a grip. You chose to respond with negativity but others are forbidden to do so without your concurrence? SMH
The super extension cord video was the first video of Stud Pack that I watched. Since then, I have watched every video of yours. I’m hooked. Great content, loads of fun and Paul’s personality has really come thru since your first video. Love the father son interaction and that Jordan is so respectful. I have a few tools of my fathers and grandfathers and really cherish them like you do with your fathers extension cord. Got to give Jordan a shot out. I assume this was his idea and the filming has been terrific. I’m not in the trades so Paul’s ability to clearly explain the work and tricks of the trade is excellent. He has a real gift. Having grown up in northern Florida, the heat and humidity is gruesome. So I know the conditions you are working in. The only video that was hard for me to watch was when you were installing pipe under the patio for a toilet. Paul looked whipped by the heat but he prevailed. I looked and felt the same way when working road construction in the summer in Fla. Thanks for such a fun and interesting channel. Keep it going.
The first video I watched was the first extension cord build. I have watched every video since. All very well done and edited. I consider myself a jack of all trades and a master of none and have learned many things watching this channel.
Me too!! I made something similar to the first ext cord project years ago and watched to see if maybe I could improve it. Then I got hooked on the whole Stud Pack attitude. And I was like, "that guy sounds like people I know." I live in Texas now but I've got family all over SE LA including BR. You guys are awesome and I really appreciate it that you keep a positive happy attitude. Keep up the good work. God bless.
Been doing industrial maintenance like ~6-7 years now and grew up in a home where we did everything DIY. Had literally zero knowledge that there was a stranded and solid side to strippers. Learn something new every single day, as long as you allow yourself to admit when you don't know.
Idk if I would advertise not being aware of super basic details like that. It says more about you as a worker in your trade than it does about the quality of this video 😂😂
@@SlapperGlutesTwice I'm not going to pretend. If you can't admit you don't know something you don't keep yourself open to learning. In any trade, if you keep your eyes and ears open, you learn something new every single day.
Depends on the strippers you use. I prefer the self adjusting jaw strippers or.just do it by feel. Most electricians I've ever come across strip by feel.
I work in industrial electronics at a wire manufacturer, just to inform, the copper size is likely smaller than actual gauge size regardless of solid/strand. do you think they are just giving copper away?
Breaker didn't trip instantly because its being overloaded and not short-circuited. It'll take a few seconds to a minute to trip at only 8 amps of overload current and that's normal. Higher current overloads will trip it faster.
Just something to add to explain it a little better, there’s a strip of metal or a spring inside the breaker. 8A of overload will heat that metal up, making it softer. Over time that metal will deflect or bend, thereby causing the breaker to trip.
@@JeremyPeters Jeremy is correct. The breaker is thermally activated so if you allowed the 28 amps to continue for a period of time (rather than just a few seconds) it would indeed trip.
@@JeremyPeters Just like how turn signals used to work in cars, before they went electronic. The current from the incandescent turn signal bulbs would heat up the bi-metallic strip inside of the signal relay, making it deflect, cool down, and reconnect itself automatically for each flash. It's what causes the clicking sound you hear when you use your blinkers. Though, modern cars use LEDs, and electronic flashers. So the clicking sound you hear now-a-days is faked.
@@northernlightsrenovations1710 Most breakers trip and are able to be reset. Does the metal return to the original shape allowing it to be reset? Does a short just heat the metal to a deformation instantly then? last question, another TH-cam channel explained how an automatic analog rice cooker works using thermal deformation and a magnet like the old dial thermostats, does a breaker work the same way? Thanks for the response and explanation.
I only ever made one electrical item my entire life - but , I still think it's worth sharing with others . Basically , I just used a 100' manual reel and fit 200' on it . Works great just be careful to not twist the cord too much or too little and I let the two ends meet outside of the reel so there's more reel space and easy access without needing to unroll to run a split or whatnot . Thanks for the video . Y'all are awesome .
This thing is incredible! Also love that when viewers suggest improvements, you guys listen instead of getting offended. Leads to an amazing solution like this. Great video as always. Love your channel.
Replete with expensive and completely unnecessary things. See my full comment for details. $15 for an indicator light? 12AWG stranded wire for a ground when even the current carrying conductors only need to be 14AWG solid? This channel was much better when it was just a son helping and documenting his dad doing remodeling work. It's now to contrived and monetized. I have nothing against people making money for their hard work... but I do have a problem with contrived content and "shocking" thumbnails used to manipulate. It ruined the channel for me. Do you think everything they linked to the overpriced McMaster site isn't getting them something at OUR expense? Please.
@@DiffEQ They didn't link anything to McMaster-Carr, they are just part numbers to look up yourself. That uncharitable comment of yours says everything about your heart's intentions. Try to be more kind.
@Richard M Interesting you mention the price Richard. We had thousands and thousands of people pick apart a simple extension cord and tell us how we should've done it. But when we spend the $300 to build it how they want, it's "too expensive". It's still a son helping and documenting and of course it's contrived, like everything we do! Thumbnails are used to get people interested, and none of our thumbnails lie or mislead. If you have a problem with attention grabbing Thumbnails, maybe TH-cam isn't for you bud. We put part numbers up for McMaster and we receive no kickback and we rarely post Amazon links even though we get hundreds of people telling us we need to do so. We don't like to respond to comments bred from negativity, but everything you said is blatantly wrong, and you should know that. - Jordan 😎
@@StudPack To be fair, quite a significant amount of your electrical "guides/suggestions" don't follow electrical code, and are unsafe/hacks that professionals are constantly having to fix. This went from a cool father/son channel to something cringe-worthy when your explanations/excuses for doing things illegally/wrong become video topics. Stick to what you're good at?
I used to drive a truck delivering stud packs to job sites. I really love y'all's channel. My late stepdad who I loved very much was a General contractor like you. He taught me so many cool things that I still think about today. When I watch you and hear your voice explaining stuff, maybe it's the kind tone you have, it just makes me feel like my stepdad is watching with me.
If you look in the datasheets for most circuit breakers, they have the over-current to hold time graph, which is a curve. at a low amount over the rated current it will take quite a while (up to an hour) for the breaker to trip - 15.5 amps in a 15 amp circuit for example. As the draw goes up, the hold time drops. A 60 amp draw would almost instantaneously trip a 15 amp breaker. Mechanically why this happens has been covered in many comments. Why this is a good thing... hasn't. Breakers can be designed to trip instantaneously for any peak over the rated current, but this provides no extra protection, and very well might cause problems with high draw devices like motors, that can draw great amounts of current at startup, but level off very quickly (inrush current). A few seconds above the rated current isn't going to heat the wires in the walls significantly, and since the breaker is only there to protect those wires (....and nothing else), there's no value in making it trip any faster.
Yeah, being able to hold a surge current for even a short amount of time is important. We don't want a circuit to break every time an Air Conditioner brings its outdoor unit online as an example.
electroBOOM on youtube had a video where he put 100 amps through a 20 amp breaker and nothing. he got the data sheet and it said something like it can take anywhere from 60 secs to 5 seconds to trip based on the amps running though it.
@@Styrofo4m GCDIs are made to protect humans. Breakers and fuses are made to protect equipment and prevent structural fires. The main specification for a fuse or breaker is that the circuit breaks before the cable causes a fire, or hopefully break something.
In most countries gcdis and breakers tend to be one and the same. In USA this is not the case often only having ground fault protection to select few rooms.
25:55 My Dad was a Navy man in Vietnam. He learned this fact there and explained to me no less than 100 times. Which in hind sight was good because it took me about 20 to really grasp. When the impeller is able to move fluid linearly in flow, it constantly encounters new, axially stationary, fluid and then has to introduce torque. When the flow stops, the impeller puts torque onto the fluid, which remains linearly stationary, and the system becomes a flywheel. And we all know a flywheel take a lot of energy to get up to speed, but very little to keep at speed. I was probably 4 years old the first time I heard this and 8 before I could finish his story for him. Thanks for the memories, Stud Pack. ☮❤🌈🧘🏽🕉☸☯
A blower with squirrel cage fan also increases in speed when it's blocked on the airflow. The load test with the saws would have seen a very large increase in current draw of they were actually cutting wood rather than just free spinning; it's not very representative of their power draw just by turning them on.
My dad, also a Navy Man in Vietnam, went on to civic life as an electrical engineer, though his tradecraft was as Master Electrician. Mom was a public school teacher. A proud union family we were! When I was a kid I was "asked" to crawl around under houses (spiders, snakes, rats, even bats!) and in attics (either bitter cold or abominably hot...plus vermin and insects of every kind. Wasp bites were especially fun while rolling around in fiberglass in July heat.) But he made working hard fun. I got to swear like an actual sailor, trade barbs, take a ribbing and had lots of laughs. So cool to see Stud Pack guys as father/son team. That is rare! Like your pops, I paid a passive ear to his 'splainin as a kid. And though he's passed now, I can still recall hundreds of rhyming schemes, anecdotes and shorthand! I literally apply those mnemonic devices in physics, math, chemistry and weekend handyman projects now, As an adult who's also an engineer (of a different flavor), I'll always fall back on Dad's sage advice in tricky situations. @StudPack you guys do fantastic work! Love the channel!
The vacuum part surprised me, I hadn't really thought about it before but I assumed when it was clogged that it would be pulling harder to overcome the clog therefor drawing more current, turns out I was wrong. Every day I learn something new!
Yep, the vacuum draws less power due to the partial vacuum it creates behind the impeller. The motor has less drag since there's no more air to move and it starts spinning faster (hence the louder noise). One thing to keep in mind though is that since the vacuum is not moving any air through the filter it's also not moving any air through the motor. This means that the motor won't get cooled anymore and it may overheat.
The blades in a fan are like airplane wings -- when you have a proper angle of attack, the wing produces lift to support the plane's weight, which also produces drag (load). As a plane slows, the angle of attack between the wing and the air increases until the air no longer flows smoothly over the wing; when that happens (a "stall"), both lift and drag are decreased. So, like the airplane wing, the blower blades stall, not moving air, and not loading the motor as much because, as others have said, little energy is being used to do work. That floored me for the longest time, too, until I became a pilot and thought of the lift / drag in that context.
In Ham Radio we often add meters to our panels to monitor voltage and amps on our rigs. This is especially helpful on mobile setups where you might be operating from a battery. Having a small LED display about the size if your green light would be handy to make sure you don't overload the circuit.
@@henderson1914 I get mine from Temu, AliExpress, Banggood or Ebay, whichever is cheapest. Make sure you verify their readings, sometimes the cheap ones will be inaccurate by 10% or so, but as long as you know, you can compensate. They have voltage ones, and ones which will display voltage and current both. Even ones which will display voltage, current and frequency if you are running off a generator.
When I was a kid, I remember my Dad and Grandpa trying to teach me stuff like this all the time. But I was to young to understand and appreciate it. Just ranomdly today TH-cam decided to share your videos with me and it's been great.
These Stud Pack how-to videos are quite possibly the BEST of their kind on You Tube.!!! They are at once instructional, understandable, complete and detailed without being pedantic or arcane, humorous and fun to watch, and the camera work is outstanding!!!!!! Count me as a Number One FAN!!!👍👍👌👌😁 😄
Hi Stud Pack , I am a electrician in Quebec Canada , I love your videos keep it up. The reason it didn't trip right away, is it wasn't a short circuit , try it again but wait longer so the breaker heats up and goes on overload , it should trip . But there are lots of old panels like commander and FPE panels that are notorious for not tripping on overload conditions. Electrical panels do need to be tested after 20-25 years .
My dad passed away in March, of this year. He had the same type of extension cords you have, heavy duty black, and even one with the double outlet on the end (no GCFI tho). Seeing this, I'm now going to re-purpose his cords, for the ultimate extension cord, and memory. Made my day sirs. Ty. -George
I would mount the last grey outlet turned 180 degrees. You see at 23:30 how a right angle plug blocks the second outlet. Reverse the outlet, and you can use a right angle plug in the lower, or outer spot, and leave the other outlet available if needed. Great video!
For some reason this video speaks to me. My Father is like a God from what everyone says when it comes to home improvement and I've been around it my whole life so when you mentioned your son records you it touched me man. I love it
Of course you knew you were going to get comments on your ultimate extension cord. Before you paint with the flex drill 2 holes in the top of the board 16" on center. When you're at a job site with open bays, you can fasten it right up to the wall and the holes will be premade in your wood to mount on the stud's. Even without it's a fantastic device!
Well, I'm not an electrician and I don't even play one on TV so I thought it was an awesome build and I applaud you guys for teaching a newbie like me how to be safer. All of the commenters that are telling you that you're doing it wrong can pound sand for all I care!
Not only was this a great video it also showed items that many of us most likely never knew existed. The receptacle with the USB option not only saves counter space it eliminates the necessity for the little “brick” transformers which are just clutter once you’re done charging an item. The plug end gfi was another bonus.
This is a good point and as someone who does their own electrical it is not a big deal for me to install the USB charging receptacles in my house. The issue I have, is that the USB charging standards keep evolving. i.e., they used to be 5w, then 10w, now some phones are upwards of 100w charging capabilities. Also the underlying protocol used (ex one of the newest is PD3.0 with PPS) keeps changing for optimal fast charging. So in the end, I prefer to swap bricks than to keep swapping receptacles. That being said, I think its a great addition to this extension cord where you want less clutter.
@@glennda5id my son is a six year Tesla employee and he says fast charging harms a battery and slower is better. Using those cars as an example charging at home is far better than repeatedly using the supercharger stations. I have new/newer apple products and they came with larger wattage bricks but opt for the slower one as there is no need to rapid charge them. It’s personal choice.
Love you guys thanks for all you do. I'm a retired electrician from Children's Hospital of Phila. And electrical Instructor. Suggest when using stranded wire under a screw terminal, twist the strands in the opposite direction so strands won't come out from under the screw head. God bless.
As a retired electrician I complement you on the extension cord. However I must throw a word of caution about the paddle connections. For this application it probably wouldn't be a problem but having years experience in the oilfield electrial equipment and vibrations having a tight twist on the stranded wire under the paddle connectors will become a loose connection. The natural twist of the wire is good. The tight twist over time will relax.
It explain why we needed to re-screw connections of breaker box and terminals after a day or 2, to be sure the wire werent loose. Solid wires needed little tighting, but stranded wire where the always loose. So, we twisted too much ! Thanks !
Also a retired wireman. Whenever I would find stranded wires under a screw in this manner, the thought that would come to mind is that the guy who wired it was just plain lazy.
I have been wiring devices all my life. With few alterations I think this was spot on. As usual I would personalize it for my own particular needs...but it was the best homeowner instruction level one yet. I did a 240 volt 50 amp one off of a range plug and a small subpanel. It had 240v, 120v and gfi protection. DEFINITELY not water resistant or OSHA approved. I can weld with it and run anything 120v ..with full breaker protection. Not pretty either.
That has got to be the most awesome extension cord of all time. Reminds me of the ones we built when I was in trade school in sixties. We had the auto shop weld up some stands. We then attached two eight inch square boxes and wired in two duplex receptacles in each with thirty feet of 12/3 stranded cable. Great job site cords but know where near yours. Of course it was 1966.
I see one improvement I would make. I would have the cord wrap BELOW the outlet boxes. That way I could use the boxes with unwrapping just a few feet of wire. The way it is now, you have the wire blocking the boxes. BTW, this is my first time watching your videos and I liked / subscribed.
@@jamesalles139 While certainly true, it is not really a factor in this application because the things being plugged in are generally motor-driven devices which already create a lot of line "noise," fluctuating magnetic fields, etc. If your application is so sensitive to these minor data points, you would engineer it to a much tighter standard. They already "over" engineered using the hospital-grade receptacle.
Ha ha…you are giving code enforcement and fire marshals across the world heartburn for sure with this project. Love it. I guessed right on the USB outlets, but you left out my second device. I was expecting a load sensing circuit to power up your shop vac whenever you started your saw. Maybe video three. Final comment is solid wire inside would be fine. Nothing should be moving inside these boxes. The stranded wire just made it harder to wire up like on that ground screw. Thanks for the entertainment.
I'd add a power monitor to the rig that can display the voltage, current, and power factor. They're available for a very low price and will let you see at a glance if you're approaching the limits. Basically a small panel display with a current sensor that you run the feed wire through. It'll add a Kill-A-Watt function to make it more ultimate. 😉
I do a lot of DYI cords and repairs. I take additional steps on the wire ends after stripping. I solder the ends of the wires before clamping. Never had a problem with loose screws. Just the way I do it.
Hey man thank you. I binge watched this channel the past 2 weeks on my free time. I love this. My dad past away oh cancer 6 years ago. He was a handy man and showed me these tricks. But I’m learning so much more.
Sorry for your loss. Paul is a great father figure and his interaction with his son shows a really good dynamic where he's passing on wisdom without being arrogant or elitist. Especially when his son (or the internet) has ideas different from what years of experience has taught him.
I like it! The one change I will make is a spool because wrapping cords around static cord storage twists them. I like a detachable cord (from the board), with one of those sunk-in cord sockets, which helps with the spool being simple as well as allows any extension-cord to be use. Thanks guys!
When you said NEMA 6-20 receptacle you meant to say NEMA 5-20 receptacle. The 5-20 is for 120 V 20 A, whereas the 6-20 is for 240 V 20 A. The plugs are different and are not interchangeable, so you can't accidentally plug a 120 V appliance into a 240 V outlet.
@@williamriven Nema 5-15 plug can go into a 5-20 receptacle. Allowing this extension cord to work in a 5-15 or 5-20 receptacle. The 5-20 receptacle is switched, but has no indicator. This probably would have been a good place for a switch with a pilot light (illuminated when on). Is the deal up to code, since it lets you plug a 20A device into a 15A circuit? Probably not, but you can make a hell of a useful extension setup based off this idea.
A breaker is a Thermo-Magnetic over current protection device. The '' Thermo'' portion of the breaker consist of a bi-metallic* strip of metal that is heated by a resistor in series with the load *( two dissimilar metals fused together, each having their own thermal expansion coefficient, thus creating a curve in the metal strip when subjected to a heat source. ). this flexion of the bi metallic strip of metal is used to trigger the breaker opening mechanism. the bigger the overload, the faster it heats up, the quicker it trigger. On the other hand, in the event of a pure short circuit, the Amps drawn can easily climb to 1000 amps on a 15 amps line in a fraction of a second, too fast for the bi-metallic system to react in order to prevent the wires from glowing red. This is where the ''Magnetic'' portion of the breaker comes into play, inside the breaker the load/amps have to pass thru a coil of wire that act as an electro-magnet, but just when huge amount of current pass thru it, so when a pure short is present with thousands of amps, the electro-magnet pulls the triggering mechanism of the breaker and opens the circuit. Simple design, very effective.
I would say the ohms resistance on this build extension cord is one of the best in the industry compared against other multiple outlets connectors. which is why others burn up. I believe the breaker is set to an average resistance for the regular consumer and bc this was diy built the breaker did not trip. but thats not a real world test bc nothing like that is ever that close each tool is usally in its own area so may be adding some 25 ft to 50 ft extension cords would really load test the breaker and and and the load when cutting is higher so may be performing an actual cut for testing will pull more than 28 amps for sure
@@randacnam7321 That is very true and hospitals and other more health related places have thermal protection and magnetic action as does homes or residential. Canadian standards now do not accept any breakers that do not have at minimum Thermal and magnetic trips.
Love this! I was gonna buy an expensive power strip bar with led lights and USB built-in for my shop, but now I'm inspired to build a custom one and add an auxiliary twist-lock whip and breaker for my generator. Thanks Stud Pack!
Your typical circuit breaker has two trip modes, a magnetic and a thermal. The magnetic will trip instantly for high currents like a dead short, while the thermal portion can handle brief overloads to allow motors and other high inrush devices to start. The datasheet for the breaker will have the curves, but typically most will handle 200% for about 10 seconds, 150% for 100 seconds.
Jordan, I've got to say great camera work. You do a fantastic job filing your Dad as he's doing the work. I think you could pitch a show to the Home Channel on TV, you guys are way better than some of the other Home Improvement DIYers channels out there.
Probably comes from long experience of holding a flashlight. Similar activity: Point and keep steady on the work, predict what the next activity is so you can point to where the attention should be. I must say that I got plenty of that training as a wee young kid, myself.
You may or may not believe this, but since I saw your original video I've been using your trick to remove the outer covering for a power cord. No nicks in any of the conductors. I can personally attest that it works for cords up to 10awg, 4 conductors. One of the best things I ever learned off TH-cam.
Although I don't remember exactly how long ago it was but somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 years ago I was faced with an extension cord with a bad female end. I didn't have a replacement handy but I did have a metal two gang box and some receptacles, so I put them on the end of the cord and still have that cord today. It makes a pretty versatile extension cord where I can actually plug in four different things. It's really handy when you're working on a job and you're using a drill and a saw and a light and God knows what else and you can plug them all into the one cord so you don't have to unplug something to plug something else in every time you want to switch tools. Anyway, great video that is an awesome ultimate extension cord.
Watching your videos reminds me of working with my dad, God rest his soul. Bud, cherish these days of working with the old man. You will never forget the life lessons weaved throughout his common sense work ethics and skills. Love your Stud Pack videos, thanks. Oh, and I have some old heavy duty cords from my Dad, I know what I'm doing with em this weekend.
The breaker didn't trip because it's not supposed to. Generally, home breakers will allow you to pull between 100% and 125% of the rated current indefinitely. The more over the rated current you are, the faster it will trip, so you can draw about 200% to 300% of the rated current for about 10 seconds. A dead short is far less than a second. I would link a breaker trip curve example, but youtube sometimes flags comments with links as spam. If you look one up, you'll see there are 2 lines, and the area between them is the "might trip, might not trip" zone (and is commonly shaded), so when you're sizing breakers for larger equipment, you need to make sure that your load will always stay to the left side of the left curve, including during startup, otherwise you'll hate yourself or other people will hate you. This might seem terrible, but it's actually a very good thing. When you turn on an inductive load (like an air compressor or saw), you get an insanely high current spike on startup, and the breaker tripping would make it completely useless. Yes, this is completely safe, copper has a lot of thermal mass so it takes a while to actually get hot and be a danger. Also I'm an electrical engineer, not an electrician :P
I made up a cord and box exactly like yours minus the USB plugs ( it was before everyone needed a USB plug to survive the day) I made mine using 12G SO cord, 100 feet long and it’s laid out in sun light, rain, snow, ice and anything Mother Nature can throw at it and it’s still working great, with hardly no voltage drop too
I built version one a couple of months ago and I love it. I will probably build a simpler version of this super ext cord, but I’m not a fan of that huge yellow GFI box. Love the built-in mount/cord wrap and love that it’s rubberized. The point is you guys pointed out that the bus bars we build are far better than the ones sold in the big box stores. They are also customized to our needs.
I know it was just a throwaway comment, but I had to say this; a set of Felo automatic strippers made my workflow so much better. I build a lot of custom electronics and AV/data systems. Stripping wires to the proper length in 2-5 seconds rather than 15-30 can turn a 16 hour day into 10 hours.
Darn you, I just made your SUPER extension cord now you show me an ULTIMATE extension cord. I can't keep up with your great ideas. I'm retired and no longer take on the scale of projects you so easily tackle, so I guess I'll live with my SUPER extension cord. It was a fun project. You both produce great videos that are so great to watch. Keep up the great work. Stay safe.
Love it! On mine, I’m going to put the high capacity receptacle closer to the cord and not at the end of two sets of 12g jumpers so it gets first dibs on current coming into the boxes. I’ll switch a 15a receptacle instead of the 20a since that’s more likely where I’ll be plugging in lights, and I think I’ll mount the indicator light on the side of the last box. Since I have to drill a hole anyway it may as well be on the side. That’ll free up a position for another receptacle. If you wrap the cord in a figure ‘8’ pattern for storage it won’t put twists in the cord.
Technically, your 28 amp load would have never overheated or damaged the wiring. #12 wire is designed to carry 30 amps without heating beyond 90 degrees Celsius. Most wire insulation won't melt until beyond 105 degrees Celsius. Look up the NEC wire ampacity table. We are limited to using #12 romex at 60 degrees Celsius (20 amps) because it's best not to push the limits of the cable when risking fires. Many inexperienced DIYers tend to push the limits of electrical wiring. The #12 triplex wire you used inside the boxes is indeed rated for 25 amps, as it is only limited to 75 degrees Celsius.
You also have to realize that that wire may be in place for 50 years or more and the insulation may degrade. Also the abuse it may be subject too, so yeah you want a lot of room before you would hit the limits.
The #14 Awg that's probably feeding this outdoor receptacle rated for 15A but has a 20A at 75 degrees Celsius and 25A at 90 degrees Celsius carrying capacity on a 15A breaker disagrees. :P
@@hawk5602 I'm not encouraging anyone to draw 28 amps on a 15 amp circuit, just pointing out that the device they made up would survive a 28 amp load for a significant period of time.
A small suggestion: The strain relief as mounted at the end of that little extending pipe (instead of being mounted through a plain hole in the panel wall of the box) could snap off if it gets tugged sideways really hard. You could reinforce it by adding a U-shaped 2-hole conduit or pipe strap, screwed to the board near the end of the strain relief.
The thing you are speaking of is properly called a "gland nut" as a strain relief is actually what he showed on the first version of the extension cord from the previous video. And I agree, the cord should be fastened to the plywood before that point.
I love that y'all keep things as "live" as possible. Can't remove insulation on the first try? Tamper resistant receptacle being difficult? - Leave it in :)
As a 20 year contractor I found your video to be very entertaining, educational, and useful. My OCD flared up when you mismatched the colors on the plates and plugs, but AL in all, a great vid guys as usual. Thanks for representing the construction field so well. Keep up the awesome vids.
You can also use a seam ripper (used for removing stitches in clothes) to cut the wire shield off, it works for automotive wire harnesses good. Love the videos!!
I worked with a retired AVCM (Don Noise) for a short time; who told me he also used a seam ripper to cut “spot tie” on on wiring harnesses. He was absolutely correct works much better than dykes, knife or scissors. Thanks for the tip.
Yes, wago connectors, nice to see them being used. Actually my favourite takeaway was the mounting board with cable wrapping ears and a carrying handle, that’s a neat idea
Nice job as always guys, love your videos! Not an electrician, just a DIY enthusiast, but a couple things stuck out to me: 1. You only need stranded wire if the wire can be moved around (e.g. the extension cord bit, or in a flexible conduit) - internal to the boxes between devices can be solid without issue, and would be easier to connect. 2. Seems to me if you have a 20-amp receptacle, I think technically you'd need a 20 amp plug on the supply end to physically prevent you from using a 15-amp outlet. I suspect that inline GFCI is only rated for 15 amps. 3. It's a shame the strain relief on this one didn't have the flexible spring to prevent hard angles at the connection. Keep killing it! :D
@@TheDarthJesus All the portal power tools I have are only 8a. Most 20a tools have some weight to them and will not be carries from job site to job site, such as a drill press, bandsaw, or a lathe.
@@gn02020202 oh absolutely. I was simply saying that using the 20a plug on this "super extension cord" for a 20a tool, while plugging it into a standard 15a receptacle (which is rated for 12a continuous current as per the 80% rule) would cause the breakers to trip.
Years ago, I was at a safety meeting. A picture was shown of an extension cord wrapped around a "cord keeper" and had over heated overheated and caught fire. That impressed upon me so much that to this day 40 some years later, I always completely uncoil the extension from any "keeper" so the cord can have air circulate around it. My kids were small at that time and I instilled upon them and my wife to completely remove the cord, irregardless the length so it can "breathe". Granted the picture at the safety meeting was a worse-case scenario. I do like your complete idea, and am thinking about building my version, but I will have to unwrap the cord every time just because of that safety meeting picture. Thanks for the new cord.
@@PhilDeGuzman I fried a nice Belden retractable cord when I used a Milwaukee heat gun and failed to pull the cord all the way out. Pulled out about 5', plugged in the heat gun and about 5 mins later... smoke and the smell of melting insulation!
Awesome job! Those screws on the sides of electrical outlets are very interesting. I used to think they were a combination of Slotted and Phillips, but I was wrong. Slotted screwdrivers don’t work well as they can slide around too easily. Phillips head screwdrivers in those screws work better, but these screws are not designed for Phillips drive. You can see in the middle of the screw a square hole (not a pointed Phillips hole). This is called a Robertson drive (square drive). It fits perfectly (no sliding) and allows you to easily drive them even in odd positions. You can buy Robertson drivers at most tool outlets, but there is an even better solution that I recently discovered. Milwaukee makes an ECX driver that is specifically for electrical work (insulated down to the tip). The ECX driver is a combination of Slotted and Robertson drives. It’s been great for my amateur electrical work. It comes in two sizes - #1 is for normal stuff. (Jordan - Father’s Day is coming).
klein also makes screwdrivers labeled c1 and c2 for combination screws it is on my 15 in 1 ratcheting screwdriver from them it is starting to show up in newer assorted screwdriver tips packs also
Small suggestion that I’ve seen on British plugs. They leave a bit of slack on the neutral and a little more on the ground so that, if something pulls the cord out of the plug, they detatch in a specific order - live 1st & ground last.
Good idea.. almost makes up for centuries of the British empire terrorizing most of the globe with rape and pillage. We wouldn't want the king's fancy little fingers getting the zap zap.
Rotate the boxes 90 degrees. The wire on plugs that point down will tangle up across the other plugs. Having them point out instead of along the unit. Great job. Loved the hospital plug info. Great for heavy use and heavy load.
I really love this project. I have been meaning to make a couple of boards like that to coil my extension cords, but I didn't think to integrate the receptacle boxes like that. Instead, I built a steel box to hold a 20A 120V duplex and a 50A-style 240V receptacle (for my welder and grinders). There was no way that I'd find the right combo cover plate for that at the home center! I like the idea of the separate 2-gang boxes, I think I'll rebuild my breakout box this summer and add the board, too! Thanks guys!
Great job guys. I too am an Electrician, but i think the overload has been well explained as to what's happening. Loved your super extension. Thanks for sharing 😃
You thought the 12AWG stranded falling of the ground screw was something to "love"? No 15A receptacle is designed to hold a 12AWG stranded conductor on a ground as it is NOT a current carrying conductor and is actually sized smaller than the requisite 14AWG. He's two gauges too large and that screw is NOT holding it as he claims.
Lol, I understand it's a older video and this is my second time watching it. But, I couldn't help but smile remembering your opening statement about how you got bombarded with "you did that wrong" "my cousins uncles brother does it differently and he has been doing it for thirty years so he knows" so you produce a follow up video to address all of those keyboard warriors concerns. Couple of points, thank you for the shop vac explanation, I had no idea. Second I really enjoyed seeing some of the pieces that as a DIY person we do not normally see. Thanks for another great video brother.
Love the build. One thing I would be concerned about is the life span of those cover plates. Corners have a good chance of snagging. A frame around the boxes so they have something to sit on should be an easy fix.
The next thing I’d like to see is an extension cord that allows for 240 volt input and has a built in breaker panel on the board, that way you can run a really high power device like a table saw or a planer. You also get a nice advantage if you use 240 for the cord, because by adding one more wire and using a 4 conductor cord you can either run a 240 volt tool or you can split the phases and have twice as much power for 120 volts. You could also add one of those little voltage and current readout displays that way you know how much power you are drawing. And as for why the breaker didn’t trip at almost 30 amps, if it’s a 20 amp breaker it is expected to hold at 100% of its capacity (20A) and thermal trip at 125% of its rated capacity, and magnetic trip (short circuit) at 200% it’s rated capacity, thermal trips usually take a while, because when you have a current surge on say a saw it can often pull over 20 amps, and you don’t want the breaker to trip every time you start your saw. ElectricianU has a good video on that subject
I think your point is twice the current when you split the 240v into 2 120v circuits. However, technically Power = Watts (unit of measure in the US) = Volts * Current (for DC anyways, AC is more complicated than what I'd do in youtube comments). When you halve the voltage from 240 to 120 and double the current, the power is exactly the same. 120v * 20A = 240v * 10A = 2400W. Though when talking about power tools, air compressors, and such with electric motors, from what I understand, the 240v motors tend to be more efficient and run on less power, but now the argument changes to apples to oranges.
@@jimparker5185 His point is that you can run twice the amount of current through such extension cord. Either expressed in watts or amperes is irrelevant, it boils down to the same conclusion as the line voltage doesn't change. Two phases with the same wire diameter as they would have done at single phase means that you can draw twice the power from it. But i think this project was already a little bit shortsighted over the top (but perhaps fun if you have lots of time and materials left over), and they have proven that they can run 3 saws and a vacuum cleaner simultaneously on the current setup, so making it two phase is really something for when you're into your tenth year of retirement bored and really don't know anymore what to do.
How often do you find a 240 circuit available? How many portable table saws or planers use 240? Those are usually shop equipment that might even be hard wired to their individual circuits.
@@idadho dryer and range outlet are 120 /240v Compressor welder pvc heat box and large circular saw are the most likely to be 230v on a job site People usually use spider box in those instance
@@patricelebrasseur5649 In the US, tools are 110 unless they are shop mount grade/not portable. Nobody takes a 220-230-240v compressor to the job site. A portable welder would have a gas engine to run a generator and probably be 50 amp, at least 30 amp. A 220v saw is a shop saw. They use 220 vs 110 to save on electricity costs. They are a bit cheaper to run. The Teenage Engineer does not know what he is talking about. A 30 amp 240 circuit only has 30 amps per leg. No power tool uses 30 amps on 110. Finding an available 240 circuit is not likely on a job site.
Awesome video guys! I’ve done some wiring as well, totally within my wheelhouse to tackle something like this. Also, I like how you didn’t “dismiss” the safety “Karens” out there, but actually incorporated their suggestions! Very cool!
I had a great time watching this video. I’m a novice, just getting started working on the farm. Sixteen years old. I learned so much. And there’s even more information in the comments.
Definitely using this idea at work. I do the same type of work as you 2 and love watching your content to see how you guys do things down south as I'm up in Vermont. This will definitely help on the jobs when we're packing places to plug in and keep the cord from getting tangled when it's in the job trailer. Keep up the great work 😁 👍
I would make it more like a regular distro box where the extension cable would plug into a male outlet at the top. That way if the cable gets cut you don’t have to rewire everything. And you can choose the length you need for the job so you don’t have all this extra heavy cable. And you can take the main part with you end of day and leave the cable. And have two 20 amp legs. And have small gfci breakers at the top to turn in each leg. To top two would be one 20 amp circuit. Next would be another 20 amp circuit. And the third I would put in 240v 20amp outlets. And outside covers on all outlets that allow you to keep a wire plugged in while closed. Covers with windows. Those covers are gonna break so fast. Also a small spd at the top might be a good idea being a job site with temp power and a bunch of high draw startup tools going off and on. Oh and put a nightlight electrical outlet on it so you can find it at night. Light sensor ones that turn on in the dark. That way even if you’re inside a dark area you’ll have light. And have it be modular.
Really usefull idea! For better safety always make the protective wire longer than hot and cold wire, so that it's the last wire that can be drawn loose in the case of a loosen clamping plate.
The most amazing part of this is that you decided to film it to show those that haven’t been doing the same for years how to do it…one doesn’t realize that everyone else doesn’t already know this…👍👍👍🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Great video, i made one based on this video except one change. I used an outdoor box with a cover over the outlets when stuff is plugged in. I did that for the rare times one of my kids grab it to power their campsite in the rain. It is great.
Awesome as ever! Shouldn't the highest current receptacle be the first one on the daisy chain? The lightest load (the USB chargers) at the the far end. That way, the high current load doesn't have to go through a half dozen interconnects. It makes sense to put the high load socket and the pilot light in the first box so the high current is first on the line and the lamp let's us know power is coming in at the source. Though improbable, one of the connections in the middle of the boxes might fail. You still know the cord is hot. Keep up the great work, boys. If your video pops up in my recommendations, I get a piping hot cup of Joe, sit back and enjoy the show!
It makes no difference the order of receptacles, just because one device is able to pull 20 amps, doesn’t mean the rest of the devices are getting “high current”. Kitchens are required by code to be fed with 12 gage wire and 20amp breaker. It makes no difference if you are running several high amp appliances on a certain plug and then have your phone plugged into a different outlet…your phone isn’t going to fry with high current just because you other appliances are pulling 20amps. You also probably don’t even know the order the receptacles were wired anyway because it’s not an issue.
@@JSH1 We watched him wire it so we know its one box to the next meaning the switch and 20 amp outlet are at the end of the chain. I think you missed the point of his question because it had nothing todo with the wire being able to handle the current, your explanation may be valid but didn't answer the question. wires in the wall or box are unlikely to fail, especially when there is never stress on the wire, that's why code has them clamped to the box and within a certain distance of the box to a stud. His point was a physical connection is always going to be weaker than a solid wire. logic would say that the highest power should have the fewest possible disruptions to the current which leads to his question. Science or testing may show that the logic is incorrect, or does not have a significant difference to how it is wired.
@@trekie30122 I’m simply saying that it doesn’t matter on the order of 20 amp vs 15 amp plugs…note that 15amp duplex’s are rated for 20amps. There is no stress from box to box the way it’s installed. If he was connecting box to box with SO cord and not secured to a backer board then that would be a valid statement that the wires would be more stressed than a typical install.
@@JSH1 absolutely it does matter. If you have the 20amp receptical at the end and plug a device in that is pulling 20amps, then that middle 15amp receptacle has been overloaded as the power has to pass through that one first.
I really like this idea. I inherited several cans on flex seal from my brother-in-law. He was an electrician by trade; not sure if he used it for this trick; but he loved the stuff. He bought it by the case. But I certainly think he would approve of your build. I am going to build something very similar out of spares in my shed and some scrap plywood. I will have to put my own little flare on it.
It used to be. Now it's all just contrived content and clickbait. It was much better when it was organic. It's what got people watching and then they sold out. It's cringy, now. At best. I revoked my subscription when I started realizing it was all for profit, now.
@@DiffEQ So what if they make more money? That's the dream we all have, isn't it? We watch two down to Earth guys with some great skills for free, anytime; you don't have to pay anything. Plenty of time for plenty of more content that's more your style.
@@literallymyusername8291 I didn't say there was anything wrong with making more money. And, no, that is not "the dream we all have." If it was, none of us would have served in the military or decided to teach in the public school system. What you didn't respond to is what I actually stated as my reasons for no longer enjoying/supporting the channel.
My 3 guesses why the breaker didn’t trip: 1) the wire takes a little longer to heat up with only 8 amps over. The breaker will trip, it’ll just be a little bit. 2) the breaker will not trip because the manufacturer designed the breaker’s tripping mechanism to have a bit of leeway. 3) the breaker is faulty, and could be stuck in the on position. Just guesses. Can’t wait to see the actual explanation! Love your videos!
The breaker has what's called a "trip curve", and actually trips based on heat and not the amount of current. It will take a certain amount of time at a certain number of amps for the wire to heat up enough to trip the breaker. At higher currents, it'll heat up faster and trip faster. Each manufacturer publishes their trip curve graphs so you can try and estimate how long it should take the breaker to trip. It'll trip before the wire gets hot enough to start a fire.
Annoyingly, old breakers can even trip at currents BELOW their rating if you draw the current for a long enough time. I lived in an old apartment for a while that had very few outlets so ALL of my entertainment center and computer(s) were plugged into outlets on the same breaker. If I was playing on the computer and my gf was watching TV at the same time, the circuit would eventually trip after a few hours. I tested how much current was being drawn, and it was 13-14 when everything was on and pulling at full power. (Gaming computers take lots of power apparently.) I eventually made a huge, long power cord from 10 gauge wire (that wire was like 3/4 of an inch thick in total) and plugged half of the things over in the other room (which ran on a different breaker.) Non ideal, sure, but it worked.
@@reeepingk ... just remember that a 15 amp circuit is only rated to carry 80% load continuous, or about 12 amps. At 14 amps it will trip in a few hours.
@@TheDarthJesus ... there are a few older brands out there where some sparkies claim you can weld things and the breaker wont trip because they seem to fall out of spec with age. Ambient temp doesn't seem to change things much. It's the internal temp from current draw that's supposed to do the deed.
@@rupe53 oh I've seen it. Massive arcing and breakers not tripping. Sadly some people who are unqualified think its a feature for a 15a-20a breaker to not trip. Despite the fact its a fire and safety hazard.
Good video, Stud pack. Randomly came cross this older video of yours, i have been watching the new carage build videos like grazy everytime a new episode comes out! One thing i may add about the cord: here in Finland, i was taught in school to always make the cords ends connected so that the 3 wires inside the cable would be so that the ground is the longest wire, then the neutral the second longest and finally the hot to be the shortest cut of all the wires. This is so that even if the strain relief fails, the hot wire is the one that gets yanked out of the connection first, so that it would disconnect first in case of a fault. Neutral second because if the neutral would be the first to disconnect, it may in some cases destroy some appliances with the hot still connected. i think its because the electricity sometimes finds a other route inside the device and it can potentially be very bad for the device, like frying circuit boards and etc. Ground finally the longest so that the device is always grounded in case of something ripping the cable straight out of the cord. Happens more often than you think.
Just FYI there are tons of products out there which will charge devices via USB-C, but the part where you're referring to being able to charge an iPhone 12 from 0% to 100% in ~1hr is because of Power Delivery. This IS proprietary to USB-C, but not all USB-C chargers feature Power Delivery. If you want this kind of high speed charging you need to make sure that your device is capable of charging with Power Deliver, and you charger is specifically designed to do Power Delivery, (often called USB-C PD accompanied by a wattage rating like 18W, 20W, 30W, etc...). If you don't see any mention of Power Delivery on a charger you're thinking about buying, then it does not have it. They are more expensive, but well worth it.
Also QC 3.0 is usually around 15-18w and higher voltage than typical 5v USB. There's getting to be way to many variations. I got a nice little USB volt/amp tester that tells ya exactly what it's at. I also recently got a multi port 60w PD and QC3.0 supply that tells you volts and amps of each port when a device is activated. You can see the power curve as the device gets charged. Kinda cool.
Was typing out the thermal trip function, and just saw @Riles223 explanation, which is perfect. One thing I noticed though: You went to a lot of effort to select equipment that would be water tight, from the fantastic GFCI plug to the water resistant strain relief with the o-ring seal for the cord going into the first box. But then you used standard plates instead of seal-tight plates, which would help keep moisture out of the boxes from the front. Which is fine, you'll most likely have the unit in a garage most of the time, so it's not like you need water-resistant dome covers or anything, but I thought at least seal the box edges. It surprised me. One suggestion you could do, IF you had to have the box out in the elements, is to caulk the box edges and then re-secure the plates. Kind of a makeshift solution, but it does seal the box itself. Just a thought. But I love the idea, I have a power unit in my wood shop with a variety of connections, I love it. And I love that you made yours portable, I love the cable wrap and handle (very clever adaptation), you guys clearly put a lot of thought into it. VERY user friendly. Good stuff. Great video.
A 20 amp breaker is rated to run 20 amps basically forever without tripping. As you increase the amps, the TTT (time to trip) decreases linearly. This means that you can draw 28 amps but some period of time before it trips. Probably 5 to 10 minutes would be my guess.
@@TheDarthJesus wow you're the same guy being an a-hole above and you are wrong. they literally showed in this video that 21 amps will not trip immediately. look at trip curves or just think about how a table saw, washing machine etc works.
This is a fantastic project. Real men improve shit and prove they are secure in their self worth by listening to feedback instead of getting defensive. Love it!
Made 2 of the first cords. now I'll add this, as a custom cabinet builder these cords help big time onsite. I've seen them on jobsite but your video pushed me to finally make them, thank you.
I love it! The only concern I have is the cover plates extending beyond the edges of the boxes. They are probably going to catch on something and break, but I understand using them from a convienence aspect. You could build a plywood face to go around the boxes to give them some protection, or make custom plates from a flush fit cover. As for the automatic wire strippers, Harbor Freight has some in their new Doyle lineup that so far are just as good as my much more expensive brands.
I was at a family gathering and I saw a similar type of extension cord however they figured out how to recess the boxes into the plywood and I think it was two layers, it was really slick.
All those water tight parts and joints, and does not protect the receptacles from water intrusion. IP41 at best for water resistance. More likely IP30.
Paul and Jordan you guys are next level. I am currently finishing a media room that includes 11 speakers and a 47" direct vent zero clearance gas fireplace. When i get a break i really enjoy watching and learning from your content!!!!
26:16 Okay, last Dad comment (on this video :-) for you. When you wrap a cord in a loop as you are doing, you are introducing a twist. The conductors inside are twisted, and the strands of each conductor are also twisted. This compounding effect is what causes old cords to the get the "umbilical cord" damage. However, with the quality of cord you are using here, that is never going to become apparent (as evidenced by the age of this 3 generation cord). Even so there is still a good reason to use my Dad's Navy wrap method. The Navy wrap is to make a figure eight on the side opposite the handle. This has 1 immediate benefit of not obstructing the outlets. But also each pair of wraps is a 1/2 twist minus a 1/2 reverse twist. Here's an exercise: If you extend the cord only 1 foot because that is all you need at first but then later decide to take out the rest of the cord to move your tool farther away, you can do so without unplugging anything. The cord will be straight. No twists. Try that exercise both ways. It's mind blowing.
My recommendation is to use a 10 Guage extension cord. If you are going to buy one, especially a 100', get the bigger wire. The bigger wire does not heat up as fast as a 12 or 14. Don't even think about a 16 ga cord for this. I could see you running a table saw and a vacuum together and both drawing about 9 amps, so a the 10 ga will handle the draw for a longer time. Also when I wired my dad's wood shop, I made sure to run a separate circuit for lighting. If the breaker trips, the last thing you want is a saw running in the dark. I would run the lights by themselves on a separate extension cord on a separate breaker if at all possible for safety. If you want to make 2 50 footers, buy 1 100' cord and cut it in half, it is cheaper. Of course if you go to an electrical supply, they may have it on a roll and you can buy it by the foot, you are going to cut the ends off anyways. I love this idea, the handle and mounting was a great idea, the hole to hang it on.
note about vacumn cleaner, the motor needs the air flow to cool itself. Free spinning clogged vacumn is overheating the motor. Great Video guys, Love the channel
Would like to see the electrical panel and the manufacture and age of the breakers. Older breakers are prone to not sensing the overload as quickly as newer style ones. Depending on the manufacture of the breakers and manufacture date, there was a time when a few manufacturers had quality issues with maintaining the tolerance requirements for an overload condition.
Great team you guys are on camera. I live in SF Bay Area It's good to see you and your son working together. Most of the kids out here don't work in the trades or with their parents. They are lazy! I grew up working with my dad times never forgotten.
You are a brave man. Electricians are the biggest “know it all” as you know. They will critique you guys like crazy. Well, i enjoyed the video. You guys are naturals on camera.
Yes, when the vacuum is blocked up and the motor whines at a higher pitch it is actually doing less work so draws less current (and thus uses less power). But those vacuums usually cool the motor with the air that is flowing through them (that's why the exhaust on them is warm when it has been run for a while). By blocking the air-flow you are blocking the cooling, potentially allowing the motor to overheat. I don't know how long it will take to damage the vacuum cleaner by running it with the airflow blocked. It would either take some experimentation or thermodynamic calculations that I don't know the formulas to. But quick little blockages are probably not going to harm anything because the vacuum cleaners are designed with the expectation that will happen occasionally. But I wouldn't want to run the vacuum cleaner for long periods of time w/o any airflow. I just don't know the definition of "long periods of time" in this instance. 5 minutes or more? Multiples of 10s of minutes? Hours? So, no you don't need to run to the vacuum and kill the power as soon as you hear it getting blocked. But don't let it go too long.
ill say this i use my rigid 16 gallon vac to excavate in basments once the slab is opened up. and is an absalote trouper for removing 22 full vaccum loads of sand and is so much less messy or risk of sending a shovel blade thru old soft conduit or casr sewer mains areno longer an issue
A high quality vac will stand a fair amount to that. The cheapo ones, not so much. Running the thing for a long time with a clogged filter is what shortens the life and makes them die after only a few dozen hours of use
Couple of suggestions. When you cut off the plug end of a cord (to turn it into just cable) bend over the pins on the cut off plug so it can't be plugged into a wall. When you cut a cable for the screw clamps, cut the white wire slightly shorter than the other two.
Some would say not to vary the length of the wires, but that depends on the configuration of the terminals in the plug. From a safety engineering perspective, you would want the hot/live wire to be the shortest, followed by the neutral, and finally the ground being the longest. That way if the strain relief failed, the first wire to pull free would be the hot but maintain the grounded and grounding path integrity. Course, this is a bit of a "argument" point because if the tails are sufficiently different in length such that they cannot touch as they are pulled out of the strain relief, there would not be a short-circuit created that would trip your ground-fault protection leaving an energized, open wire. Some would say its six of one, half-dozen of the other. Depends on which is more important to you, convenience of assembly or safety of usage.
The breaker didn’t trip cuz the thermal bimetal in the breaker didn’t reach cutoff temp yet. But if you would have kept using it, it would have soon enough.
Since you're clamping stranded like you do solid core, you could tin the exposed ends of the stranded wire with solder. Not even a thorough flow would be needed. Just enough at the tip to keep the strands together. It won't harm flexibility since you're not compressing it in a wire nut and it's contained within hard plastic strain relief.
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My one suggestion as an electrical engineer would be to place 20 amp outlet at the end where the line cord enters the first box and put the indicator lamp and hospital outlet at the far end. That would serve two purpose... it would keep the heavier current from passing through extra wiring and connections. Second having the indicator at the far end would indicate that power is actually getting to the farthest end of the unit!
except they used those wago bus bars to distribute the electrons, so each outlet was effectively the same distance from the main wire.
Can you explain the purpose of a 20A outlet when that GFCI plug is only rated for 15A?
@@amkelle2 - As stated in the video the 15A gfci can handle some overload although that is not ideal. You could usd a 20 Amp, inline gfci unit instead, but that might require you have access to a 20 Amp receptacle as the source power.
@@LarryCoates1948 To be fair, yes, I did not intently watch the whole video, I skipped through a lot of it to get the jist. But still, wouldn’t a 20A pull on a 15A outlet be unsafe? Or even pointless if the breaker is 15A
@@amkelle2 - it could be a problem but most likely not for a short term use. Long term yes ti would be a problem but would trip the breaker if it heated up for too long!
Pro Tip: When you are twisting stranded wire, twist in the opposite direction. You may notice that when you cinch the ground screw it tends to splay the wire. The reverse twist is in the same direction as the cinching of the screw so it actually squeezes the wire in the same direction as the twist making a "better" connection.
Ya know Bob....I would even go further and solider the twists..no freedom wire exposed....easier to insert.
Stud man....gotta love that old wire...they made em well 40 to 50 years ago. Also, congrats no blood!
I would go even further here honestly. Over time, a soldered stranded wire end will warp due to heat and pressure when places in a screw terminal. Instead, crimp and solder the wire end in a ring terminal and put the screw through that
Without that extra step, the "contact resistance" will continue to increase over time and can cause a fire
I'll give it a try!🙂
@@codewonderland-gaming Just crimp it, no solder
Most new breakers have 2 trip methods. One is magnetic which works primarily during a fault. The second is a bimetal coil, similar to an old fashion thermostat, this is the one that handles general overloads. Depending on the manufacturer, age, and use of the breaker it can take time for the coil to heat up and trip. Certain manufacturer like Zinsco and Federal Pacific wont trip and you get the smokey house effect. We hope there isn’t one in the house you’re at. It is perfectly normal to hit a higher amperage on a breaker for a short period of time before the coil snaps. I have seen a 20 amp breaker hit 25 amps and hold for 10 minutes. Ultimately heat is what trips the breaker in an overload and it takes time for the heat to build up and trip the breaker. If you had a thermometer on you at the time of the video, you most likely could have identified the breaker you were using by the amount of heat it would have been producing. How ever I don’t suggest replicating the scenario to try it. Overloading a circuit is never a good thing. The more heat a breaker takes on the easer it trips the next time.
Great video! I got out of remodeling to became an electrician. I mis the remodel world. I watch your videos and you guys always have some new concept or product that I have never seen. There are a lot of new products that has come out in the last several years. I really liked the cabinet leveling kit. I switched to air bags just before I got out of the business, but this little gizmos you guys used knocked the socks off the airbags. I can’t wait to see the next video.
Excellent response to the question about the trip time, also the trip time is delayed for the inrush current of high inductive loads.
@@TopCat2021 I have seen 90 amp on a 15 amp breaker for a second or so to close a F***ing big coil
was just a testing rig , normally this was powered by a dc charger and battery
but was still surpise it was holding
I was about to say, arent breakers, supressors, etc all supposed to be sacrificial components? I'd definitely consider replacement in multiple scenarios...
Your answer is spot on.
There are also trip curves available for almost every breaker except for those horrid Zinsco and Federal Pacific panels. Its pretty interesting to see how long a breaker will hold with a particular breaker. There are also different breaker trip curves, A-F that will determine the In-Rush available. In-Rush is what allows motors and capacitors to charge without tripping breakers constantly.
Zinsco and federal pacific are pretty much known in the inspection world as a no go and always labelled as a must replace. Interesting to see a sparky call it out in the wild.
This was hands down one of the best instructional videos I have ever seen dealing with electricity. Knocked it right out of the park.
It is also cool you are a father son team. Lots of guys wish they had that growing up.
Plus you are still using your dad's electrical cords and they will be passed down to your son then his son in the future. The best part you are father and son, passing knowledge is what I truly love to do an teach my family how to fix and build things. I said family because I have an still teach my boys and girls how to do stuff. Teaching them is fun for me and they teach me new things as well. Making memories is what life is about isn't it. An you making videos of you both together is awesome. Better than the old time photo album our parents loved to bring out several times a year to look at.
Pro Tip: When tightening a cord into into a strain relief, press the cord inwards towards the connections on the device to de-strain them while you're tightening it down. This provides some slack inside the device and prevents strain-loading the connections during assembly.
And... great video, thanks!
Great Comment!!! (While Stud Pack may have done that by instinct and because of experience, and didn't mention it. That's great information for those of us that don't have that experience to fall back on!!! Thank you.)
That sounds like something learned from experience! An "Ask me how I know" bit of knowledge. Thanks!
Also, cut the hot wire a little shorter than the other two wires, so, if the strain relief does fail, hot wire is the first to get disconnected.
The ground wire should be longer than the other two. If stress on the cable causes wires to pull out or break, the hot or neutral will fail first - not the ground.
EXCELLENT VIDEO! My dad was an electrician for 47 years and he taught me to be conservative and cautious in order to keep things safe. It was GREAT to see you carefully use many of the tricks that he taught me as well as many of the tips I’ve developed over the years thanks to his careful training. Cable stripping, strain relief, proper use of tools and adapters… you hit them all.
Hats off as well to your commenters, who taught me all sorts of useful and interesting things that even 30+ years of well-informed DIY work had left me wondering about.
I’ve subscribed to your channel, and I’m planning a “binge watch” to prep for some upcoming projects!
This video and the comments below reflect one of the things I like most about this channel. Paul is 85%+ for an amazing number of trades, and he presents in a way that is accessible to DIYers without condescending to pros. That means he attracts a very wide range of people, AND he's humble enough to showcase suggestions or corrections. I could hardly be more impressed with Paul.
And obviously, thanks to Jordan for making the channel possible and for making the connections/ asking the questions for those of us who aren't as widely competent as Paul is. :) You two are a great team that has built a forum for a very helpful community.
*Thank you.*
I used to be impressed. That's why I started watching years ago. Now, it just more contrived and scripted nonsense and it's lost that organic feel of a son helping his talented father. Just take a look at the thumbnail progression... more of the "shocking" and "???" thumbnails that are only used to manipulate and please the algorithms. They lost my subscription!
@@DiffEQ Then move on.. sorry I have seen a few of your comments on here on other peoples comments. If you don't enjoy the channel anymore than don't make those that like it have to listen to your negative narrative.. just unsubscribe and move on, Paul and his son don't owe you anything
@@steve_main What's your point? I already said I have moved on; As have many others. Doesn't mean I can't make the reasons known. Do you live in that world where all comments have to be praise and support? Do you? And you are wrong about people who are soliciting subscribers for profit when you say they don't owe those subscribers anything. This is not an altruist venture, sir. Get a grip. You chose to respond with negativity but others are forbidden to do so without your concurrence? SMH
People who show their mistakes on camera are good people. It’s how everyone learns faster
I’ve been a DIYer all my 74 years and I learn something new from each video on your channel. Thanks, Keep up the good work.
The super extension cord video was the first video of Stud Pack that I watched. Since then, I have watched every video of yours. I’m hooked. Great content, loads of fun and Paul’s personality has really come thru since your first video. Love the father son interaction and that Jordan is so respectful. I have a few tools of my fathers and grandfathers and really cherish them like you do with your fathers extension cord. Got to give Jordan a shot out. I assume this was his idea and the filming has been terrific. I’m not in the trades so Paul’s ability to clearly explain the work and tricks of the trade is excellent. He has a real gift.
Having grown up in northern Florida, the heat and humidity is gruesome. So I know the conditions you are working in. The only video that was hard for me to watch was when you were installing pipe under the patio for a toilet. Paul looked whipped by the heat but he prevailed. I looked and felt the same way when working road construction in the summer in Fla. Thanks for such a fun and interesting channel. Keep it going.
Same here!
The first video I watched was the first extension cord build. I have watched every video since. All very well done and edited. I consider myself a jack of all trades and a master of none and have learned many things watching this channel.
Yep, same here. Glad I found your channel!
Me too!! I made something similar to the first ext cord project years ago and watched to see if maybe I could improve it. Then I got hooked on the whole Stud Pack attitude. And I was like, "that guy sounds like people I know." I live in Texas now but I've got family all over SE LA including BR.
You guys are awesome and I really appreciate it that you keep a positive happy attitude. Keep up the good work. God bless.
Same!
Been doing industrial maintenance like ~6-7 years now and grew up in a home where we did everything DIY. Had literally zero knowledge that there was a stranded and solid side to strippers. Learn something new every single day, as long as you allow yourself to admit when you don't know.
Idk if I would advertise not being aware of super basic details like that. It says more about you as a worker in your trade than it does about the quality of this video 😂😂
@@SlapperGlutesTwice I'm not going to pretend. If you can't admit you don't know something you don't keep yourself open to learning. In any trade, if you keep your eyes and ears open, you learn something new every single day.
Me too, I just learned it today! I love these videos Thanks !
Depends on the strippers you use. I prefer the self adjusting jaw strippers or.just do it by feel. Most electricians I've ever come across strip by feel.
I work in industrial electronics at a wire manufacturer, just to inform, the copper size is likely smaller than actual gauge size regardless of solid/strand. do you think they are just giving copper away?
Breaker didn't trip instantly because its being overloaded and not short-circuited. It'll take a few seconds to a minute to trip at only 8 amps of overload current and that's normal. Higher current overloads will trip it faster.
Just something to add to explain it a little better, there’s a strip of metal or a spring inside the breaker. 8A of overload will heat that metal up, making it softer. Over time that metal will deflect or bend, thereby causing the breaker to trip.
@@JeremyPeters Jeremy is correct. The breaker is thermally activated so if you allowed the 28 amps to continue for a period of time (rather than just a few seconds) it would indeed trip.
@@JeremyPeters Just like how turn signals used to work in cars, before they went electronic.
The current from the incandescent turn signal bulbs would heat up the bi-metallic strip inside of the signal relay, making it deflect, cool down, and reconnect itself automatically for each flash.
It's what causes the clicking sound you hear when you use your blinkers.
Though, modern cars use LEDs, and electronic flashers. So the clicking sound you hear now-a-days is faked.
@@northernlightsrenovations1710 Most breakers trip and are able to be reset. Does the metal return to the original shape allowing it to be reset? Does a short just heat the metal to a deformation instantly then? last question, another TH-cam channel explained how an automatic analog rice cooker works using thermal deformation and a magnet like the old dial thermostats, does a breaker work the same way?
Thanks for the response and explanation.
@@trekie30122 good questions. I hope someone answers.
I only ever made one electrical item my entire life - but , I still think it's worth sharing with others . Basically , I just used a 100' manual reel and fit 200' on it . Works great just be careful to not twist the cord too much or too little and I let the two ends meet outside of the reel so there's more reel space and easy access without needing to unroll to run a split or whatnot . Thanks for the video . Y'all are awesome .
This thing is incredible! Also love that when viewers suggest improvements, you guys listen instead of getting offended. Leads to an amazing solution like this. Great video as always. Love your channel.
Replete with expensive and completely unnecessary things. See my full comment for details. $15 for an indicator light? 12AWG stranded wire for a ground when even the current carrying conductors only need to be 14AWG solid?
This channel was much better when it was just a son helping and documenting his dad doing remodeling work. It's now to contrived and monetized. I have nothing against people making money for their hard work... but I do have a problem with contrived content and "shocking" thumbnails used to manipulate. It ruined the channel for me. Do you think everything they linked to the overpriced McMaster site isn't getting them something at OUR expense? Please.
@@DiffEQ They didn't link anything to McMaster-Carr, they are just part numbers to look up yourself. That uncharitable comment of yours says everything about your heart's intentions. Try to be more kind.
@@DiffEQ just because your name is Richard, doesn’t mean you have to be a Dick.
@Richard M Interesting you mention the price Richard. We had thousands and thousands of people pick apart a simple extension cord and tell us how we should've done it. But when we spend the $300 to build it how they want, it's "too expensive". It's still a son helping and documenting and of course it's contrived, like everything we do! Thumbnails are used to get people interested, and none of our thumbnails lie or mislead. If you have a problem with attention grabbing Thumbnails, maybe TH-cam isn't for you bud. We put part numbers up for McMaster and we receive no kickback and we rarely post Amazon links even though we get hundreds of people telling us we need to do so. We don't like to respond to comments bred from negativity, but everything you said is blatantly wrong, and you should know that.
- Jordan 😎
@@StudPack To be fair, quite a significant amount of your electrical "guides/suggestions" don't follow electrical code, and are unsafe/hacks that professionals are constantly having to fix. This went from a cool father/son channel to something cringe-worthy when your explanations/excuses for doing things illegally/wrong become video topics.
Stick to what you're good at?
I used to drive a truck delivering stud packs to job sites. I really love y'all's channel. My late stepdad who I loved very much was a General contractor like you. He taught me so many cool things that I still think about today. When I watch you and hear your voice explaining stuff, maybe it's the kind tone you have, it just makes me feel like my stepdad is watching with me.
Love how this guy took the “know-it-all” suggestions and added ALL of them to the project. GENIUS!
If you look in the datasheets for most circuit breakers, they have the over-current to hold time graph, which is a curve. at a low amount over the rated current it will take quite a while (up to an hour) for the breaker to trip - 15.5 amps in a 15 amp circuit for example. As the draw goes up, the hold time drops. A 60 amp draw would almost instantaneously trip a 15 amp breaker. Mechanically why this happens has been covered in many comments. Why this is a good thing... hasn't. Breakers can be designed to trip instantaneously for any peak over the rated current, but this provides no extra protection, and very well might cause problems with high draw devices like motors, that can draw great amounts of current at startup, but level off very quickly (inrush current). A few seconds above the rated current isn't going to heat the wires in the walls significantly, and since the breaker is only there to protect those wires (....and nothing else), there's no value in making it trip any faster.
Yeah, being able to hold a surge current for even a short amount of time is important. We don't want a circuit to break every time an Air Conditioner brings its outdoor unit online as an example.
electroBOOM on youtube had a video where he put 100 amps through a 20 amp breaker and nothing. he got the data sheet and it said something like it can take anywhere from 60 secs to 5 seconds to trip based on the amps running though it.
@@Styrofo4m GCDIs are made to protect humans. Breakers and fuses are made to protect equipment and prevent structural fires. The main specification for a fuse or breaker is that the circuit breaks before the cable causes a fire, or hopefully break something.
In most countries gcdis and breakers tend to be one and the same. In USA this is not the case often only having ground fault protection to select few rooms.
@@Styrofo4m two different names around the same thing. It depends on which country you live in which is standard
25:55 My Dad was a Navy man in Vietnam. He learned this fact there and explained to me no less than 100 times. Which in hind sight was good because it took me about 20 to really grasp. When the impeller is able to move fluid linearly in flow, it constantly encounters new, axially stationary, fluid and then has to introduce torque. When the flow stops, the impeller puts torque onto the fluid, which remains linearly stationary, and the system becomes a flywheel. And we all know a flywheel take a lot of energy to get up to speed, but very little to keep at speed. I was probably 4 years old the first time I heard this and 8 before I could finish his story for him.
Thanks for the memories, Stud Pack. ☮❤🌈🧘🏽🕉☸☯
Good explanation 👍
A blower with squirrel cage fan also increases in speed when it's blocked on the airflow.
The load test with the saws would have seen a very large increase in current draw of they were actually cutting wood rather than just free spinning; it's not very representative of their power draw just by turning them on.
My dad, also a Navy Man in Vietnam, went on to civic life as an electrical engineer, though his tradecraft was as Master Electrician. Mom was a public school teacher. A proud union family we were!
When I was a kid I was "asked" to crawl around under houses (spiders, snakes, rats, even bats!) and in attics (either bitter cold or abominably hot...plus vermin and insects of every kind. Wasp bites were especially fun while rolling around in fiberglass in July heat.) But he made working hard fun. I got to swear like an actual sailor, trade barbs, take a ribbing and had lots of laughs.
So cool to see Stud Pack guys as father/son team. That is rare!
Like your pops, I paid a passive ear to his 'splainin as a kid. And though he's passed now, I can still recall hundreds of rhyming schemes, anecdotes and shorthand! I literally apply those mnemonic devices in physics, math, chemistry and weekend handyman projects now,
As an adult who's also an engineer (of a different flavor), I'll always fall back on Dad's sage advice in tricky situations.
@StudPack you guys do fantastic work! Love the channel!
The vacuum part surprised me, I hadn't really thought about it before but I assumed when it was clogged that it would be pulling harder to overcome the clog therefor drawing more current, turns out I was wrong. Every day I learn something new!
Yep, the vacuum draws less power due to the partial vacuum it creates behind the impeller. The motor has less drag since there's no more air to move and it starts spinning faster (hence the louder noise). One thing to keep in mind though is that since the vacuum is not moving any air through the filter it's also not moving any air through the motor. This means that the motor won't get cooled anymore and it may overheat.
Same going to change my way how i look at that not to much stress then
Exactly my thinking and logic too prior to this video
The blades in a fan are like airplane wings -- when you have a proper angle of attack, the wing produces lift to support the plane's weight, which also produces drag (load). As a plane slows, the angle of attack between the wing and the air increases until the air no longer flows smoothly over the wing; when that happens (a "stall"), both lift and drag are decreased. So, like the airplane wing, the blower blades stall, not moving air, and not loading the motor as much because, as others have said, little energy is being used to do work. That floored me for the longest time, too, until I became a pilot and thought of the lift / drag in that context.
I also thought this!
In Ham Radio we often add meters to our panels to monitor voltage and amps on our rigs. This is especially helpful on mobile setups where you might be operating from a battery. Having a small LED display about the size if your green light would be handy to make sure you don't overload the circuit.
This is great!
Any ideas where to source or find one of the led displays?
"Jameco" Electronics company
@@henderson1914 I picked up a 5 pack of mini DC volt meters off Amazon for less than $10, I have seen the AC versions for about the same price.
@@henderson1914 I get mine from Temu, AliExpress, Banggood or Ebay, whichever is cheapest. Make sure you verify their readings, sometimes the cheap ones will be inaccurate by 10% or so, but as long as you know, you can compensate. They have voltage ones, and ones which will display voltage and current both. Even ones which will display voltage, current and frequency if you are running off a generator.
When I was a kid, I remember my Dad and Grandpa trying to teach me stuff like this all the time. But I was to young to understand and appreciate it. Just ranomdly today TH-cam decided to share your videos with me and it's been great.
All that stuff is filed away in your brain somewhere. Watching these videos will bring it back.
These Stud Pack how-to videos are quite possibly the BEST of their kind on You Tube.!!! They are at once instructional, understandable, complete and detailed without being pedantic or arcane, humorous and fun to watch, and the camera work is outstanding!!!!!! Count me as a Number One FAN!!!👍👍👌👌😁
😄
Hi Stud Pack , I am a electrician in Quebec Canada , I love your videos keep it up. The reason it didn't trip right away, is it wasn't a short circuit , try it again but wait longer so the breaker heats up and goes on overload , it should trip . But there are lots of old panels like commander and FPE panels that are notorious for not tripping on overload conditions. Electrical panels do need to be tested after 20-25 years .
As a bit of trivia for you - the current recommendation in the UK at the moment is every 10yrs, but we do have the madness of ring final circuits!
i agree with this statement
Nice was also going to say this I am a Sparky in Texas
My dad passed away in March, of this year. He had the same type of extension cords you have, heavy duty black, and even one with the double outlet on the end (no GCFI tho). Seeing this, I'm now going to re-purpose his cords, for the ultimate extension cord, and memory. Made my day sirs. Ty. -George
I would mount the last grey outlet turned 180 degrees. You see at 23:30 how a right angle plug blocks the second outlet. Reverse the outlet, and you can use a right angle plug in the lower, or outer spot, and leave the other outlet available if needed.
Great video!
For some reason this video speaks to me. My Father is like a God from what everyone says when it comes to home improvement and I've been around it my whole life so when you mentioned your son records you it touched me man. I love it
Of course you knew you were going to get comments on your ultimate extension cord. Before you paint with the flex drill 2 holes in the top of the board 16" on center. When you're at a job site with open bays, you can fasten it right up to the wall and the holes will be premade in your wood to mount on the stud's. Even without it's a fantastic device!
That is a fantastic addition T L. I bet we will see that in the next episode
Well, I'm not an electrician and I don't even play one on TV so I thought it was an awesome build and I applaud you guys for teaching a newbie like me how to be safer. All of the commenters that are telling you that you're doing it wrong can pound sand for all I care!
Not only was this a great video it also showed items that many of us most likely never knew existed. The receptacle with the USB option not only saves counter space it eliminates the necessity for the little “brick” transformers which are just clutter once you’re done charging an item.
The plug end gfi was another bonus.
This is a good point and as someone who does their own electrical it is not a big deal for me to install the USB charging receptacles in my house. The issue I have, is that the USB charging standards keep evolving. i.e., they used to be 5w, then 10w, now some phones are upwards of 100w charging capabilities. Also the underlying protocol used (ex one of the newest is PD3.0 with PPS) keeps changing for optimal fast charging. So in the end, I prefer to swap bricks than to keep swapping receptacles. That being said, I think its a great addition to this extension cord where you want less clutter.
@@glennda5id my son is a six year Tesla employee and he says fast charging harms a battery and slower is better. Using those cars as an example charging at home is far better than repeatedly using the supercharger stations.
I have new/newer apple products and they came with larger wattage bricks but opt for the slower one as there is no need to rapid charge them.
It’s personal choice.
Love you guys thanks for all you do. I'm a retired electrician from Children's Hospital of Phila. And electrical Instructor.
Suggest when using stranded wire under a screw terminal, twist the strands in the opposite direction so strands won't come out from under the screw head.
God bless.
As a retired electrician I complement you on the extension cord. However I must throw a word of caution about the paddle connections. For this application it probably wouldn't be a problem but having years experience in the oilfield electrial equipment and vibrations having a tight twist on the stranded wire under the paddle connectors will become a loose connection. The natural twist of the wire is good. The tight twist over time will relax.
I was thinking the same. We always tinned the conductor with a little solder to strengthen the mechanical connection.
It explain why we needed to re-screw connections of breaker box and terminals after a day or 2, to be sure the wire werent loose. Solid wires needed little tighting, but stranded wire where the always loose. So, we twisted too much ! Thanks !
@@donfrost9457 Solder will cold-flow under compression. I was taught to use copper ferrules.
I never twist strand wire much
Also a retired wireman. Whenever I would find stranded wires under a screw in this manner, the thought that would come to mind is that the guy who wired it was just plain lazy.
I have been wiring devices all my life. With few alterations I think this was spot on. As usual I would personalize it for my own particular needs...but it was the best homeowner instruction level one yet. I did a 240 volt 50 amp one off of a range plug and a small subpanel. It had 240v, 120v and gfi protection. DEFINITELY not water resistant or OSHA approved. I can weld with it and run anything 120v ..with full breaker protection. Not pretty either.
Please show me how to make one. I travel a lot doing repairs anything from roofing to repairing/welding damaged hand railing.
That has got to be the most awesome extension cord of all time. Reminds me of the ones we built when I was in trade school in sixties. We had the auto shop weld up some stands. We then attached two eight inch square boxes and wired in two duplex receptacles in each with thirty feet of 12/3 stranded cable. Great job site cords but know where near yours. Of course it was 1966.
I see one improvement I would make. I would have the cord wrap BELOW the outlet boxes. That way I could use the boxes with unwrapping just a few feet of wire. The way it is now, you have the wire blocking the boxes. BTW, this is my first time watching your videos and I liked / subscribed.
for a variety of reasons, it is better to not have current carrying conductors coiled up. (heat build-up, magnetic coupling & noise)
@@jamesalles139 While certainly true, it is not really a factor in this application because the things being plugged in are generally motor-driven devices which already create a lot of line "noise," fluctuating magnetic fields, etc. If your application is so sensitive to these minor data points, you would engineer it to a much tighter standard. They already "over" engineered using the hospital-grade receptacle.
@@TwilightxKnight13 un-wrapping the cord is not 'over-engineering', it is simply a good habit for high-current loads.
Ha ha…you are giving code enforcement and fire marshals across the world heartburn for sure with this project. Love it.
I guessed right on the USB outlets, but you left out my second device. I was expecting a load sensing circuit to power up your shop vac whenever you started your saw. Maybe video three.
Final comment is solid wire inside would be fine. Nothing should be moving inside these boxes. The stranded wire just made it harder to wire up like on that ground screw.
Thanks for the entertainment.
I'd add a power monitor to the rig that can display the voltage, current, and power factor. They're available for a very low price and will let you see at a glance if you're approaching the limits. Basically a small panel display with a current sensor that you run the feed wire through. It'll add a Kill-A-Watt function to make it more ultimate. 😉
I do a lot of DYI cords and repairs. I take additional steps on the wire ends after stripping. I solder the ends of the wires before clamping. Never had a problem with loose screws. Just the way I do it.
Hey man thank you.
I binge watched this channel the past 2 weeks on my free time. I love this. My dad past away oh cancer 6 years ago.
He was a handy man and showed me these tricks. But I’m learning so much more.
Sorry for your loss. Paul is a great father figure and his interaction with his son shows a really good dynamic where he's passing on wisdom without being arrogant or elitist. Especially when his son (or the internet) has ideas different from what years of experience has taught him.
Im sure your dad is proud of you. God bless you.
I like it! The one change I will make is a spool because wrapping cords around static cord storage twists them. I like a detachable cord (from the board), with one of those sunk-in cord sockets, which helps with the spool being simple as well as allows any extension-cord to be use.
Thanks guys!
That's a great idea actually, the retraction mechanisms in those tend to be quite bulky/heavy but it seems perfect for an application like this
When you said NEMA 6-20 receptacle you meant to say NEMA 5-20 receptacle. The 5-20 is for 120 V 20 A, whereas the 6-20 is for 240 V 20 A. The plugs are different and are not interchangeable, so you can't accidentally plug a 120 V appliance into a 240 V outlet.
Thank you, at least someone else besides me saw this.
**magic smoke escapes**
I came to the comments for this. The plug he popped up on screen was a 6-15 too.
@@williamriven I was wondering that.
@@williamriven Nema 5-15 plug can go into a 5-20 receptacle. Allowing this extension cord to work in a 5-15 or 5-20 receptacle. The 5-20 receptacle is switched, but has no indicator. This probably would have been a good place for a switch with a pilot light (illuminated when on). Is the deal up to code, since it lets you plug a 20A device into a 15A circuit? Probably not, but you can make a hell of a useful extension setup based off this idea.
A breaker is a Thermo-Magnetic over current protection device. The '' Thermo'' portion of the breaker consist of a bi-metallic* strip of metal that is heated by a resistor in series with the load *( two dissimilar metals fused together, each having their own thermal expansion coefficient, thus creating a curve in the metal strip when subjected to a heat source. ). this flexion of the bi metallic strip of metal is used to trigger the breaker opening mechanism. the bigger the overload, the faster it heats up, the quicker it trigger.
On the other hand, in the event of a pure short circuit, the Amps drawn can easily climb to 1000 amps on a 15 amps line in a fraction of a second, too fast for the bi-metallic system to react in order to prevent the wires from glowing red. This is where the ''Magnetic'' portion of the breaker comes into play, inside the breaker the load/amps have to pass thru a coil of wire that act as an electro-magnet, but just when huge amount of current pass thru it, so when a pure short is present with thousands of amps, the electro-magnet pulls the triggering mechanism of the breaker and opens the circuit. Simple design, very effective.
I would say the ohms resistance on this build extension cord is one of the best in the industry compared against other multiple outlets connectors. which is why others burn up. I believe the breaker is set to an average resistance for the regular consumer and bc this was diy built the breaker did not trip. but thats not a real world test bc nothing like that is ever that close each tool is usally in its own area so may be adding some 25 ft to 50 ft extension cords would really load test the breaker and and and the load when cutting is higher so may be performing an actual cut for testing will pull more than 28 amps for sure
great explanation by the way!
Not all breakers are thermomagnetic. The breakers in a lot of power strips and inverters are usually thermal only.
@@randacnam7321 That is very true and hospitals and other more health related places have thermal protection and magnetic action as does homes or residential.
Canadian standards now do not accept any breakers that do not have at minimum Thermal and magnetic trips.
There is also GFCI, AFCI, and so on, but for the sake of simplicity i talked about the most common house panel model.
Love this! I was gonna buy an expensive power strip bar with led lights and USB built-in for my shop, but now I'm inspired to build a custom one and add an auxiliary twist-lock whip and breaker for my generator. Thanks Stud Pack!
I just added some heavy duty in wall outlets with USB and C ports in my shop. Made a huge difference.
So much better 😂
Your typical circuit breaker has two trip modes, a magnetic and a thermal. The magnetic will trip instantly for high currents like a dead short, while the thermal portion can handle brief overloads to allow motors and other high inrush devices to start. The datasheet for the breaker will have the curves, but typically most will handle 200% for about 10 seconds, 150% for 100 seconds.
Or its a challenger breaker lol.
Jordan, I've got to say great camera work. You do a fantastic job filing your Dad as he's doing the work. I think you could pitch a show to the Home Channel on TV, you guys are way better than some of the other Home Improvement DIYers channels out there.
I second that. You have good attitude. Chipper. Ppl love to watch your videos. I would watch u on satellite for sure.
Probably comes from long experience of holding a flashlight. Similar activity: Point and keep steady on the work, predict what the next activity is so you can point to where the attention should be. I must say that I got plenty of that training as a wee young kid, myself.
You may or may not believe this, but since I saw your original video I've been using your trick to remove the outer covering for a power cord. No nicks in any of the conductors. I can personally attest that it works for cords up to 10awg, 4 conductors. One of the best things I ever learned off TH-cam.
Although I don't remember exactly how long ago it was but somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 years ago I was faced with an extension cord with a bad female end. I didn't have a replacement handy but I did have a metal two gang box and some receptacles, so I put them on the end of the cord and still have that cord today. It makes a pretty versatile extension cord where I can actually plug in four different things. It's really handy when you're working on a job and you're using a drill and a saw and a light and God knows what else and you can plug them all into the one cord so you don't have to unplug something to plug something else in every time you want to switch tools. Anyway, great video that is an awesome ultimate extension cord.
Watching your videos reminds me of working with my dad, God rest his soul. Bud, cherish these days of working with the old man. You will never forget the life lessons weaved throughout his common sense work ethics and skills. Love your Stud Pack videos, thanks. Oh, and I have some old heavy duty cords from my Dad, I know what I'm doing with em this weekend.
The breaker didn't trip because it's not supposed to. Generally, home breakers will allow you to pull between 100% and 125% of the rated current indefinitely. The more over the rated current you are, the faster it will trip, so you can draw about 200% to 300% of the rated current for about 10 seconds. A dead short is far less than a second. I would link a breaker trip curve example, but youtube sometimes flags comments with links as spam. If you look one up, you'll see there are 2 lines, and the area between them is the "might trip, might not trip" zone (and is commonly shaded), so when you're sizing breakers for larger equipment, you need to make sure that your load will always stay to the left side of the left curve, including during startup, otherwise you'll hate yourself or other people will hate you.
This might seem terrible, but it's actually a very good thing. When you turn on an inductive load (like an air compressor or saw), you get an insanely high current spike on startup, and the breaker tripping would make it completely useless. Yes, this is completely safe, copper has a lot of thermal mass so it takes a while to actually get hot and be a danger.
Also I'm an electrical engineer, not an electrician :P
Wrong
@@dontworryaboutit3281 care to explain? I generally work on electronics so I haven’t done much with this since college
@@wcvp I wouldn't worry about it. Just a random troll 🙃
I made up a cord and box exactly like yours minus the USB plugs ( it was before everyone needed a USB plug to survive the day)
I made mine using 12G SO cord, 100 feet long and it’s laid out in sun light, rain, snow, ice and anything Mother Nature can throw at it and it’s still working great, with hardly no voltage drop too
I built version one a couple of months ago and I love it. I will probably build a simpler version of this super ext cord, but I’m not a fan of that huge yellow GFI box. Love the built-in mount/cord wrap and love that it’s rubberized. The point is you guys pointed out that the bus bars we build are far better than the ones sold in the big box stores. They are also customized to our needs.
I know it was just a throwaway comment, but I had to say this; a set of Felo automatic strippers made my workflow so much better. I build a lot of custom electronics and AV/data systems. Stripping wires to the proper length in 2-5 seconds rather than 15-30 can turn a 16 hour day into 10 hours.
Darn you, I just made your SUPER extension cord now you show me an ULTIMATE extension cord. I can't keep up with your great ideas. I'm retired and no longer take on the scale of projects you so easily tackle, so I guess I'll live with my SUPER extension cord. It was a fun project. You both produce great videos that are so great to watch. Keep up the great work. Stay safe.
Love it! On mine, I’m going to put the high capacity receptacle closer to the cord and not at the end of two sets of 12g jumpers so it gets first dibs on current coming into the boxes. I’ll switch a 15a receptacle instead of the 20a since that’s more likely where I’ll be plugging in lights, and I think I’ll mount the indicator light on the side of the last box. Since I have to drill a hole anyway it may as well be on the side. That’ll free up a position for another receptacle. If you wrap the cord in a figure ‘8’ pattern for storage it won’t put twists in the cord.
Technically, your 28 amp load would have never overheated or damaged the wiring. #12 wire is designed to carry 30 amps without heating beyond 90 degrees Celsius. Most wire insulation won't melt until beyond 105 degrees Celsius. Look up the NEC wire ampacity table. We are limited to using #12 romex at 60 degrees Celsius (20 amps) because it's best not to push the limits of the cable when risking fires. Many inexperienced DIYers tend to push the limits of electrical wiring. The #12 triplex wire you used inside the boxes is indeed rated for 25 amps, as it is only limited to 75 degrees Celsius.
You also have to realize that that wire may be in place for 50 years or more and the insulation may degrade. Also the abuse it may be subject too, so yeah you want a lot of room before you would hit the limits.
The #14 Awg that's probably feeding this outdoor receptacle rated for 15A but has a 20A at 75 degrees Celsius and 25A at 90 degrees Celsius carrying capacity on a 15A breaker disagrees. :P
@@hawk5602 I'm not encouraging anyone to draw 28 amps on a 15 amp circuit, just pointing out that the device they made up would survive a 28 amp load for a significant period of time.
A small suggestion: The strain relief as mounted at the end of that little extending pipe (instead of being mounted through a plain hole in the panel wall of the box) could snap off if it gets tugged sideways really hard. You could reinforce it by adding a U-shaped 2-hole conduit or pipe strap, screwed to the board near the end of the strain relief.
You can get strain reliefs that glue right into the box. That's probably a better solution than extending the strain relief further from the box.
The thing you are speaking of is properly called a "gland nut" as a strain relief is actually what he showed on the first version of the extension cord from the previous video. And I agree, the cord should be fastened to the plywood before that point.
I love that y'all keep things as "live" as possible. Can't remove insulation on the first try? Tamper resistant receptacle being difficult? - Leave it in :)
As a 20 year contractor I found your video to be very entertaining, educational, and useful. My OCD flared up when you mismatched the colors on the plates and plugs, but AL in all, a great vid guys as usual. Thanks for representing the construction field so well. Keep up the awesome vids.
You can also use a seam ripper (used for removing stitches in clothes) to cut the wire shield off, it works for automotive wire harnesses good. Love the videos!!
I worked with a retired AVCM (Don Noise) for a short time; who told me he also used a seam ripper to cut “spot tie” on on wiring harnesses. He was absolutely correct works much better than dykes, knife or scissors. Thanks for the tip.
Suggestion - get your own ripper, don't use your wife's
Been there Done That Now Divorced with holes in my pants@@randydewees7338
Yes, wago connectors, nice to see them being used. Actually my favourite takeaway was the mounting board with cable wrapping ears and a carrying handle, that’s a neat idea
Nice job as always guys, love your videos!
Not an electrician, just a DIY enthusiast, but a couple things stuck out to me:
1. You only need stranded wire if the wire can be moved around (e.g. the extension cord bit, or in a flexible conduit) - internal to the boxes between devices can be solid without issue, and would be easier to connect.
2. Seems to me if you have a 20-amp receptacle, I think technically you'd need a 20 amp plug on the supply end to physically prevent you from using a 15-amp outlet. I suspect that inline GFCI is only rated for 15 amps.
3. It's a shame the strain relief on this one didn't have the flexible spring to prevent hard angles at the connection.
Keep killing it! :D
I was wondering that, myself: what happens when you try to plug a 20a tool into that extension cord that is plugged into a 15a wall outlet.
I would have used solid wire inside there, especially on the ground.
@@monkeysuncle2816 It'll always trip, the 20a tool is goign to use more than 12a (nuisance trip threshold for a 15a breaker)
@@TheDarthJesus All the portal power tools I have are only 8a. Most 20a tools have some weight to them and will not be carries from job site to job site, such as a drill press, bandsaw, or a lathe.
@@gn02020202 oh absolutely. I was simply saying that using the 20a plug on this "super extension cord" for a 20a tool, while plugging it into a standard 15a receptacle (which is rated for 12a continuous current as per the 80% rule) would cause the breakers to trip.
Years ago, I was at a safety meeting. A picture was shown of an extension cord wrapped around a "cord keeper" and had over heated overheated and caught fire. That impressed upon me so much that to this day 40 some years later, I always completely uncoil the extension from any "keeper" so the cord can have air circulate around it. My kids were small at that time and I instilled upon them and my wife to completely remove the cord, irregardless the length so it can "breathe". Granted the picture at the safety meeting was a worse-case scenario.
I do like your complete idea, and am thinking about building my version, but I will have to unwrap the cord every time just because of that safety meeting picture. Thanks for the new cord.
So I'm guessing you don't use one of those automatic cord retractors in your workshop. Or do you pull all the cord out when you use it?
@@PhilDeGuzman I fried a nice Belden retractable cord when I used a Milwaukee heat gun and failed to pull the cord all the way out. Pulled out about 5', plugged in the heat gun and about 5 mins later... smoke and the smell of melting insulation!
Awesome job! Those screws on the sides of electrical outlets are very interesting. I used to think they were a combination of Slotted and Phillips, but I was wrong. Slotted screwdrivers don’t work well as they can slide around too easily. Phillips head screwdrivers in those screws work better, but these screws are not designed for Phillips drive. You can see in the middle of the screw a square hole (not a pointed Phillips hole). This is called a Robertson drive (square drive). It fits perfectly (no sliding) and allows you to easily drive them even in odd positions. You can buy Robertson drivers at most tool outlets, but there is an even better solution that I recently discovered. Milwaukee makes an ECX driver that is specifically for electrical work (insulated down to the tip). The ECX driver is a combination of Slotted and Robertson drives. It’s been great for my amateur electrical work. It comes in two sizes - #1 is for normal stuff. (Jordan - Father’s Day is coming).
klein also makes screwdrivers labeled c1 and c2 for combination screws it is on my 15 in 1 ratcheting screwdriver from them it is starting to show up in newer assorted screwdriver tips packs also
It's nice to see more and more devices moving away from the stripping Phillips
Small suggestion that I’ve seen on British plugs. They leave a bit of slack on the neutral and a little more on the ground so that, if something pulls the cord out of the plug, they detatch in a specific order - live 1st & ground last.
Not a bad theory
Very smart 🤓
Good idea.. almost makes up for centuries of the British empire terrorizing most of the globe with rape and pillage. We wouldn't want the king's fancy little fingers getting the zap zap.
Rotate the boxes 90 degrees. The wire on plugs that point down will tangle up across the other plugs. Having them point out instead of along the unit. Great job. Loved the hospital plug info. Great for heavy use and heavy load.
If you rotate those plastic boxes then the conduit connections become more complicated with tees and would not be inline as they are in that build.
@@user990077 No changing the device direction doesn't change conduit.
I really love this project. I have been meaning to make a couple of boards like that to coil my extension cords, but I didn't think to integrate the receptacle boxes like that.
Instead, I built a steel box to hold a 20A 120V duplex and a 50A-style 240V receptacle (for my welder and grinders). There was no way that I'd find the right combo cover plate for that at the home center! I like the idea of the separate 2-gang boxes, I think I'll rebuild my breakout box this summer and add the board, too!
Thanks guys!
How do you get 240v to your panel?
Great job guys. I too am an Electrician, but i think the overload has been well explained as to what's happening. Loved your super extension. Thanks for sharing 😃
You thought the 12AWG stranded falling of the ground screw was something to "love"? No 15A receptacle is designed to hold a 12AWG stranded conductor on a ground as it is NOT a current carrying conductor and is actually sized smaller than the requisite 14AWG. He's two gauges too large and that screw is NOT holding it as he claims.
It's simply an old breaker, failing to trip.
@@DiffEQ He should be fine, because in case of a ground fault it would just trip the GFCI.
Lol, I understand it's a older video and this is my second time watching it.
But, I couldn't help but smile remembering your opening statement about how you got bombarded with "you did that wrong" "my cousins uncles brother does it differently and he has been doing it for thirty years so he knows" so you produce a follow up video to address all of those keyboard warriors concerns.
Couple of points, thank you for the shop vac explanation, I had no idea.
Second I really enjoyed seeing some of the pieces that as a DIY person we do not normally see.
Thanks for another great video brother.
Love the build. One thing I would be concerned about is the life span of those cover plates. Corners have a good chance of snagging. A frame around the boxes so they have something to sit on should be an easy fix.
I came to the comments specifically to find this. It was the first thing I thought of as well.
Being a tin bender, AKA metal fabricator, I immediately started to design the enclosure in my head. It's a character flaw!
The next thing I’d like to see is an extension cord that allows for 240 volt input and has a built in breaker panel on the board, that way you can run a really high power device like a table saw or a planer. You also get a nice advantage if you use 240 for the cord, because by adding one more wire and using a 4 conductor cord you can either run a 240 volt tool or you can split the phases and have twice as much power for 120 volts. You could also add one of those little voltage and current readout displays that way you know how much power you are drawing. And as for why the breaker didn’t trip at almost 30 amps, if it’s a 20 amp breaker it is expected to hold at 100% of its capacity (20A) and thermal trip at 125% of its rated capacity, and magnetic trip (short circuit) at 200% it’s rated capacity, thermal trips usually take a while, because when you have a current surge on say a saw it can often pull over 20 amps, and you don’t want the breaker to trip every time you start your saw. ElectricianU has a good video on that subject
I think your point is twice the current when you split the 240v into 2 120v circuits. However, technically Power = Watts (unit of measure in the US) = Volts * Current (for DC anyways, AC is more complicated than what I'd do in youtube comments). When you halve the voltage from 240 to 120 and double the current, the power is exactly the same. 120v * 20A = 240v * 10A = 2400W. Though when talking about power tools, air compressors, and such with electric motors, from what I understand, the 240v motors tend to be more efficient and run on less power, but now the argument changes to apples to oranges.
@@jimparker5185 His point is that you can run twice the amount of current through such extension cord. Either expressed in watts or amperes is irrelevant, it boils down to the same conclusion as the line voltage doesn't change. Two phases with the same wire diameter as they would have done at single phase means that you can draw twice the power from it. But i think this project was already a little bit shortsighted over the top (but perhaps fun if you have lots of time and materials left over), and they have proven that they can run 3 saws and a vacuum cleaner simultaneously on the current setup, so making it two phase is really something for when you're into your tenth year of retirement bored and really don't know anymore what to do.
How often do you find a 240 circuit available? How many portable table saws or planers use 240? Those are usually shop equipment that might even be hard wired to their individual circuits.
@@idadho dryer and range outlet are 120 /240v
Compressor welder pvc heat box and large circular saw are the most likely to be 230v on a job site
People usually use spider box in those instance
@@patricelebrasseur5649 In the US, tools are 110 unless they are shop mount grade/not portable. Nobody takes a 220-230-240v compressor to the job site. A portable welder would have a gas engine to run a generator and probably be 50 amp, at least 30 amp. A 220v saw is a shop saw. They use 220 vs 110 to save on electricity costs. They are a bit cheaper to run. The Teenage Engineer does not know what he is talking about. A 30 amp 240 circuit only has 30 amps per leg. No power tool uses 30 amps on 110.
Finding an available 240 circuit is not likely on a job site.
Awesome video guys! I’ve done some wiring as well, totally within my wheelhouse to tackle something like this. Also, I like how you didn’t “dismiss” the safety “Karens” out there, but actually incorporated their suggestions! Very cool!
I had a great time watching this video. I’m a novice, just getting started working on the farm. Sixteen years old. I learned so much. And there’s even more information in the comments.
Definitely using this idea at work. I do the same type of work as you 2 and love watching your content to see how you guys do things down south as I'm up in Vermont. This will definitely help on the jobs when we're packing places to plug in and keep the cord from getting tangled when it's in the job trailer. Keep up the great work 😁 👍
I would make it more like a regular distro box where the extension cable would plug into a male outlet at the top. That way if the cable gets cut you don’t have to rewire everything. And you can choose the length you need for the job so you don’t have all this extra heavy cable. And you can take the main part with you end of day and leave the cable.
And have two 20 amp legs. And have small gfci breakers at the top to turn in each leg. To top two would be one 20 amp circuit. Next would be another 20 amp circuit. And the third I would put in 240v 20amp outlets. And outside covers on all outlets that allow you to keep a wire plugged in while closed. Covers with windows. Those covers are gonna break so fast.
Also a small spd at the top might be a good idea being a job site with temp power and a bunch of high draw startup tools going off and on.
Oh and put a nightlight electrical outlet on it so you can find it at night. Light sensor ones that turn on in the dark. That way even if you’re inside a dark area you’ll have light. And have it be modular.
Really usefull idea! For better safety always make the protective wire longer than hot and cold wire, so that it's the last wire that can be drawn loose in the case of a loosen clamping plate.
The most amazing part of this is that you decided to film it to show those that haven’t been doing the same for years how to do it…one doesn’t realize that everyone else doesn’t already know this…👍👍👍🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Great video, i made one based on this video except one change. I used an outdoor box with a cover over the outlets when stuff is plugged in. I did that for the rare times one of my kids grab it to power their campsite in the rain. It is great.
Awesome as ever! Shouldn't the highest current receptacle be the first one on the daisy chain? The lightest load (the USB chargers) at the the far end. That way, the high current load doesn't have to go through a half dozen interconnects. It makes sense to put the high load socket and the pilot light in the first box so the high current is first on the line and the lamp let's us know power is coming in at the source. Though improbable, one of the connections in the middle of the boxes might fail. You still know the cord is hot. Keep up the great work, boys. If your video pops up in my recommendations, I get a piping hot cup of Joe, sit back and enjoy the show!
It makes no difference the order of receptacles, just because one device is able to pull 20 amps, doesn’t mean the rest of the devices are getting “high current”. Kitchens are required by code to be fed with 12 gage wire and 20amp breaker. It makes no difference if you are running several high amp appliances on a certain plug and then have your phone plugged into a different outlet…your phone isn’t going to fry with high current just because you other appliances are pulling 20amps. You also probably don’t even know the order the receptacles were wired anyway because it’s not an issue.
@@JSH1 it's like when you use the receptacle installed on your oven to power other stuff.
@@JSH1 We watched him wire it so we know its one box to the next meaning the switch and 20 amp outlet are at the end of the chain. I think you missed the point of his question because it had nothing todo with the wire being able to handle the current, your explanation may be valid but didn't answer the question. wires in the wall or box are unlikely to fail, especially when there is never stress on the wire, that's why code has them clamped to the box and within a certain distance of the box to a stud. His point was a physical connection is always going to be weaker than a solid wire. logic would say that the highest power should have the fewest possible disruptions to the current which leads to his question. Science or testing may show that the logic is incorrect, or does not have a significant difference to how it is wired.
@@trekie30122 I’m simply saying that it doesn’t matter on the order of 20 amp vs 15 amp plugs…note that 15amp duplex’s are rated for 20amps. There is no stress from box to box the way it’s installed. If he was connecting box to box with SO cord and not secured to a backer board then that would be a valid statement that the wires would be more stressed than a typical install.
@@JSH1 absolutely it does matter. If you have the 20amp receptical at the end and plug a device in that is pulling 20amps, then that middle 15amp receptacle has been overloaded as the power has to pass through that one first.
I really like this idea. I inherited several cans on flex seal from my brother-in-law. He was an electrician by trade; not sure if he used it for this trick; but he loved the stuff. He bought it by the case. But I certainly think he would approve of your build. I am going to build something very similar out of spares in my shed and some scrap plywood. I will have to put my own little flare on it.
You guys are just the absolute best channel on TH-cam. Everything you do is gold!
It used to be. Now it's all just contrived content and clickbait. It was much better when it was organic. It's what got people watching and then they sold out. It's cringy, now. At best. I revoked my subscription when I started realizing it was all for profit, now.
@@DiffEQ So what if they make more money? That's the dream we all have, isn't it? We watch two down to Earth guys with some great skills for free, anytime; you don't have to pay anything. Plenty of time for plenty of more content that's more your style.
@@literallymyusername8291 I didn't say there was anything wrong with making more money. And, no, that is not "the dream we all have." If it was, none of us would have served in the military or decided to teach in the public school system. What you didn't respond to is what I actually stated as my reasons for no longer enjoying/supporting the channel.
My 3 guesses why the breaker didn’t trip:
1) the wire takes a little longer to heat up with only 8 amps over. The breaker will trip, it’ll just be a little bit.
2) the breaker will not trip because the manufacturer designed the breaker’s tripping mechanism to have a bit of leeway.
3) the breaker is faulty, and could be stuck in the on position.
Just guesses. Can’t wait to see the actual explanation! Love your videos!
The breaker has what's called a "trip curve", and actually trips based on heat and not the amount of current. It will take a certain amount of time at a certain number of amps for the wire to heat up enough to trip the breaker. At higher currents, it'll heat up faster and trip faster. Each manufacturer publishes their trip curve graphs so you can try and estimate how long it should take the breaker to trip. It'll trip before the wire gets hot enough to start a fire.
Annoyingly, old breakers can even trip at currents BELOW their rating if you draw the current for a long enough time. I lived in an old apartment for a while that had very few outlets so ALL of my entertainment center and computer(s) were plugged into outlets on the same breaker. If I was playing on the computer and my gf was watching TV at the same time, the circuit would eventually trip after a few hours. I tested how much current was being drawn, and it was 13-14 when everything was on and pulling at full power. (Gaming computers take lots of power apparently.)
I eventually made a huge, long power cord from 10 gauge wire (that wire was like 3/4 of an inch thick in total) and plugged half of the things over in the other room (which ran on a different breaker.) Non ideal, sure, but it worked.
@@reeepingk ... just remember that a 15 amp circuit is only rated to carry 80% load continuous, or about 12 amps. At 14 amps it will trip in a few hours.
@@rupe53 Unless the breaker is extremely old, and doesnt trip right away.
@@TheDarthJesus ... there are a few older brands out there where some sparkies claim you can weld things and the breaker wont trip because they seem to fall out of spec with age. Ambient temp doesn't seem to change things much. It's the internal temp from current draw that's supposed to do the deed.
@@rupe53 oh I've seen it. Massive arcing and breakers not tripping. Sadly some people who are unqualified think its a feature for a 15a-20a breaker to not trip. Despite the fact its a fire and safety hazard.
Good video, Stud pack. Randomly came cross this older video of yours, i have been watching the new carage build videos like grazy everytime a new episode comes out! One thing i may add about the cord: here in Finland, i was taught in school to always make the cords ends connected so that the 3 wires inside the cable would be so that the ground is the longest wire, then the neutral the second longest and finally the hot to be the shortest cut of all the wires.
This is so that even if the strain relief fails, the hot wire is the one that gets yanked out of the connection first, so that it would disconnect first in case of a fault. Neutral second because if the neutral would be the first to disconnect, it may in some cases destroy some appliances with the hot still connected. i think its because the electricity sometimes finds a other route inside the device and it can potentially be very bad for the device, like frying circuit boards and etc. Ground finally the longest so that the device is always grounded in case of something ripping the cable straight out of the cord. Happens more often than you think.
Just FYI there are tons of products out there which will charge devices via USB-C, but the part where you're referring to being able to charge an iPhone 12 from 0% to 100% in ~1hr is because of Power Delivery. This IS proprietary to USB-C, but not all USB-C chargers feature Power Delivery. If you want this kind of high speed charging you need to make sure that your device is capable of charging with Power Deliver, and you charger is specifically designed to do Power Delivery, (often called USB-C PD accompanied by a wattage rating like 18W, 20W, 30W, etc...). If you don't see any mention of Power Delivery on a charger you're thinking about buying, then it does not have it. They are more expensive, but well worth it.
Also QC 3.0 is usually around 15-18w and higher voltage than typical 5v USB. There's getting to be way to many variations. I got a nice little USB volt/amp tester that tells ya exactly what it's at. I also recently got a multi port 60w PD and QC3.0 supply that tells you volts and amps of each port when a device is activated. You can see the power curve as the device gets charged. Kinda cool.
Was typing out the thermal trip function, and just saw @Riles223 explanation, which is perfect.
One thing I noticed though: You went to a lot of effort to select equipment that would be water tight, from the fantastic GFCI plug to the water resistant strain relief with the o-ring seal for the cord going into the first box. But then you used standard plates instead of seal-tight plates, which would help keep moisture out of the boxes from the front. Which is fine, you'll most likely have the unit in a garage most of the time, so it's not like you need water-resistant dome covers or anything, but I thought at least seal the box edges. It surprised me. One suggestion you could do, IF you had to have the box out in the elements, is to caulk the box edges and then re-secure the plates. Kind of a makeshift solution, but it does seal the box itself. Just a thought.
But I love the idea, I have a power unit in my wood shop with a variety of connections, I love it. And I love that you made yours portable, I love the cable wrap and handle (very clever adaptation), you guys clearly put a lot of thought into it. VERY user friendly. Good stuff. Great video.
A 20 amp breaker is rated to run 20 amps basically forever without tripping. As you increase the amps, the TTT (time to trip) decreases linearly. This means that you can draw 28 amps but some period of time before it trips. Probably 5 to 10 minutes would be my guess.
No, they're only rated to run at 80% (16A) capacity or below forever without tripping. 21 amps would trip it instantly.
@@TheDarthJesus wow you're the same guy being an a-hole above and you are wrong. they literally showed in this video that 21 amps will not trip immediately. look at trip curves or just think about how a table saw, washing machine etc works.
@@TheDarthJesus You are thinking fuses not breakers.
@@daltonzoletta it applies for both
@@daltonzoletta
Either way best practice is to not load any circuit beyond 80 percent
This is a fantastic project. Real men improve shit and prove they are secure in their self worth by listening to feedback instead of getting defensive. Love it!
Absolutely FANTASTIC camera work! Super close shots of every thoroughly explained step. What a GREAT team.
Made 2 of the first cords. now I'll add this, as a custom cabinet builder these cords help big time onsite. I've seen them on jobsite but your video pushed me to finally make them, thank you.
I love it! The only concern I have is the cover plates extending beyond the edges of the boxes. They are probably going to catch on something and break, but I understand using them from a convienence aspect. You could build a plywood face to go around the boxes to give them some protection, or make custom plates from a flush fit cover. As for the automatic wire strippers, Harbor Freight has some in their new Doyle lineup that so far are just as good as my much more expensive brands.
Regular 1900 boxes would have worked fine here
I was at a family gathering and I saw a similar type of extension cord however they figured out how to recess the boxes into the plywood and I think it was two layers, it was really slick.
You can put those box covers on a table sander and shape down to size of the boxes and radius the corners too.
don't look water proof.
All those water tight parts and joints, and does not protect the receptacles from water intrusion. IP41 at best for water resistance. More likely IP30.
I’m so sorry. People think they know better. Your videos are great. Thank you. Very educational.
Paul and Jordan you guys are next level. I am currently finishing a media room that includes 11 speakers and a 47" direct vent zero clearance gas fireplace. When i get a break i really enjoy watching and learning from your content!!!!
26:16 Okay, last Dad comment (on this video :-) for you. When you wrap a cord in a loop as you are doing, you are introducing a twist. The conductors inside are twisted, and the strands of each conductor are also twisted. This compounding effect is what causes old cords to the get the "umbilical cord" damage. However, with the quality of cord you are using here, that is never going to become apparent (as evidenced by the age of this 3 generation cord). Even so there is still a good reason to use my Dad's Navy wrap method. The Navy wrap is to make a figure eight on the side opposite the handle. This has 1 immediate benefit of not obstructing the outlets. But also each pair of wraps is a 1/2 twist minus a 1/2 reverse twist. Here's an exercise: If you extend the cord only 1 foot because that is all you need at first but then later decide to take out the rest of the cord to move your tool farther away, you can do so without unplugging anything. The cord will be straight. No twists. Try that exercise both ways. It's mind blowing.
My recommendation is to use a 10 Guage extension cord. If you are going to buy one, especially a 100', get the bigger wire. The bigger wire does not heat up as fast as a 12 or 14. Don't even think about a 16 ga cord for this. I could see you running a table saw and a vacuum together and both drawing about 9 amps, so a the 10 ga will handle the draw for a longer time. Also when I wired my dad's wood shop, I made sure to run a separate circuit for lighting. If the breaker trips, the last thing you want is a saw running in the dark. I would run the lights by themselves on a separate extension cord on a separate breaker if at all possible for safety. If you want to make 2 50 footers, buy 1 100' cord and cut it in half, it is cheaper. Of course if you go to an electrical supply, they may have it on a roll and you can buy it by the foot, you are going to cut the ends off anyways. I love this idea, the handle and mounting was a great idea, the hole to hang it on.
note about vacumn cleaner, the motor needs the air flow to cool itself. Free spinning clogged vacumn is overheating the motor. Great Video guys, Love the channel
Would like to see the electrical panel and the manufacture and age of the breakers. Older breakers are prone to not sensing the overload as quickly as newer style ones. Depending on the manufacture of the breakers and manufacture date, there was a time when a few manufacturers had quality issues with maintaining the tolerance requirements for an overload condition.
you must be talking about the Federal No-Arc panels and some Push-matics of the 50s and 60s.
Great team you guys are on camera. I live in SF Bay Area It's good to see you and your son working together. Most of the kids out here don't work in the trades or with their parents. They are lazy! I grew up working with my dad times never forgotten.
Loved this build! I think I'll make a smaller one but I'll use the outdoor boxes with the lids attached.
You are a brave man. Electricians are the biggest “know it all” as you know. They will critique you guys like crazy. Well, i enjoyed the video. You guys are naturals on camera.
Thx Ken 😂👍
Yes, when the vacuum is blocked up and the motor whines at a higher pitch it is actually doing less work so draws less current (and thus uses less power). But those vacuums usually cool the motor with the air that is flowing through them (that's why the exhaust on them is warm when it has been run for a while). By blocking the air-flow you are blocking the cooling, potentially allowing the motor to overheat. I don't know how long it will take to damage the vacuum cleaner by running it with the airflow blocked. It would either take some experimentation or thermodynamic calculations that I don't know the formulas to. But quick little blockages are probably not going to harm anything because the vacuum cleaners are designed with the expectation that will happen occasionally. But I wouldn't want to run the vacuum cleaner for long periods of time w/o any airflow. I just don't know the definition of "long periods of time" in this instance. 5 minutes or more? Multiples of 10s of minutes? Hours? So, no you don't need to run to the vacuum and kill the power as soon as you hear it getting blocked. But don't let it go too long.
ill say this i use my rigid 16 gallon vac to excavate in basments once the slab is opened up. and is an absalote trouper for removing 22 full vaccum loads of sand and is so much less messy or risk of sending a shovel blade thru old soft conduit or casr sewer mains areno longer an issue
A high quality vac will stand a fair amount to that. The cheapo ones, not so much. Running the thing for a long time with a clogged filter is what shortens the life and makes them die after only a few dozen hours of use
Couple of suggestions.
When you cut off the plug end of a cord (to turn it into just cable) bend over the pins on the cut off plug so it can't be plugged into a wall.
When you cut a cable for the screw clamps, cut the white wire slightly shorter than the other two.
Some would say not to vary the length of the wires, but that depends on the configuration of the terminals in the plug. From a safety engineering perspective, you would want the hot/live wire to be the shortest, followed by the neutral, and finally the ground being the longest. That way if the strain relief failed, the first wire to pull free would be the hot but maintain the grounded and grounding path integrity. Course, this is a bit of a "argument" point because if the tails are sufficiently different in length such that they cannot touch as they are pulled out of the strain relief, there would not be a short-circuit created that would trip your ground-fault protection leaving an energized, open wire. Some would say its six of one, half-dozen of the other. Depends on which is more important to you, convenience of assembly or safety of usage.
The breaker didn’t trip cuz the thermal bimetal in the breaker didn’t reach cutoff temp yet. But if you would have kept using it, it would have soon enough.
Since you're clamping stranded like you do solid core, you could tin the exposed ends of the stranded wire with solder. Not even a thorough flow would be needed. Just enough at the tip to keep the strands together. It won't harm flexibility since you're not compressing it in a wire nut and it's contained within hard plastic strain relief.