Is it possible to take a standard L14-30 amp 4 prong plug, 240v and make 1 balance load L5-20 amp standard double outlet receptacle.

ie. instead of tying into one side of the 120v, tie both sides somehow to balance the load across the generator windings instead of one winding.


Thanks

 

If you wire it correctly it should work. 240 is two 120 legs.
Wire leg 1 to the hot side of the 120 out let, Wire the neutral to the ground.
Same with second leg.
Run ground to frame ground of the generator..

Good luck and be careful

 

are you talking in a single gang box or a double gang?
the two outlets in a single gang box are internally wired together,
you would have to use a double gang box with two sets of outlets, one on each leg with a common neutral.

 

Fronty, single gang, duplex receptacle 20 amp.

ok, I think I got it.

1. on the 240v plug, run both "X" black hot wire, and "Y" red hot wire to the hot sides of the duplex receptacle..

2. run a neutral "W" white wire from the 240v to the 120v receptacle neutral side

3. Then run a ground wire from 120v neutral to 120v ground, then another wire from 120v ground to frame

Why I'm asking, the idea is If i run something heavy like a mitre saw, I don't want 1/2 the generator windings (or whatever its called) to take the load, I would think it would be better for it if both windings took the load.


Oh, fyi. I'm putting two 20 amp breakers between the two 30 amp feeds.

 

Oh, can the same idea be done with that 4 prong L14-30 plug?

Can a person run a jumper wire from "X" Black to "Y" red both are hot 120v.

All neutrals are connected to "W".

Ground is connected to frame and neutral.

There is two 30 amp breakers I plan to put in before it hits the L14 plug.

Again, the reason for this thinking is I put a "Reliance" transfer switch in the house, it has 6 circuits, its split up in 1/2, 3 circuits on left, 3 on right, each side runs off each 120v hot wire from the L14 plug. I have both sides balanced, but if the freezer kicks on, and fridge is off on the other side, its not balanced.

 

you need two duplex plugs.
one for each leg of the 240.
If your really concerned about it, use a transformer to get your voltage down. the two plugs in the duplex plug is connected internally.

 

Actually they are connected together by a little tab between the two screws on either side of the plug, these are made to break off for this reason, seperation of the two plugs.

 

shows how closely I have looked at my recepticals...

 

This is what I'm working with, its a panel off a pto driven generator.

I just got done with the wiring (theoretically)

The generator has 2 black hots and 2 white neutrals coming out of it, both 10 gauge, the rest is what i make of it. I called the factory to see if I could make a 240 plug, they were ok with it.

No room for another gang outlet. Thats why I'm wanting to have things loaded properly. I'd rather not want to break that tab either, just more wires to run inside.

So is it ok to run a jumper between X and Y hots on the L14-30 receptacle to load balance my transfer switch? There after the fuse. So if X would trip I would think Y would trip as well?

If this can't be done, I'll just remove the jumper and go with that 120v recept on one side. Its not a big deal.

Just seems to make sense like a car battery all the same voltage, just double the amps with two wires. Kinda like our trucks.

Thanks

 

Ok, so youre wanting to run one 120V item yet have the load shared by both windings? And at the same time still have this generator supply 240V?

This may be a hard deal to come by if you have 2 separate internal windings.

Lets say you have a winding with one lead labelled X and the other lead from that winding labelled W. From X to W you have 120V

Then you have another winding with one lead labelled Y and the other lead from that winding labelled W. From Y to W you have 120V.

If you connect the two W's together you have 240V from X to Y, yet still have 120V if you connect Y to W and X to W.


If what I describe above is what you have now then it would not be a good idea to jumper between X and Y (provided both of those white wires are still connected together). There youve got a straight 240V fault. If you get the generator to crank then you're going to trip the breaker.


There is a way to do this but you sure dont want to directly connect X and Y together and have those white wires connected together.

 

Yes thats exactly how its wired now. I'll remove the jumper.

Straight 240v fault? hmm.... I was afraid this wouldn't work, never heard of such a thing, thats why I'm asking here best to ask first i figure. Instead of damage the internals on this thing. I was thinking about it more last night, I guess that would screw up the hertz and no up/down sinewave would be incorrect?


Thank you

 

Heres some pictures of my frame I welded together, cut pto shaft to fit and everything running on the original wiring setup. The factory wired both receptacles so they were "load balanced" across both windings.

The original schematics, one 3 prong 30amp plug, 1 20 amp receptacle.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jlipskoc/images/man_s20w_receptpanel_schematics.pdf


Pictures.

















Transfer Switch I installed on the house:

 

jlipskoc, that's a really nice setup.

The current you are dealing with is AC not DC so you can't just parallel the windings.

If I recall correctly, on a generator, the one leg of the 240VAC is 180 degrees out of phase with the other leg. This is what will cause the fault.