Plugged Power Amps Into 30 Amp Circuit And Sparks Stared Flying

Re: Plugged Power Amps Into 30 Amp Circuit And Sparks Stared Flying

Mark Dawson said:
I'll jump in and add to this, always remember to meter between ALL pins. Not just a voltage test between a single phase and an earth. This will assist in detecting things like reversed phase/neutral. The two phase and earth variant of outlet you guys have in the states seems to be a common point of errors. A simple meter to earth kinda looks like the power you're hoping for. +1 to use a meter instead of a second amp!
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Very good point! So obvious now that I look back on the situation and understand it a bit better.
 
Re: Plugged Power Amps Into 30 Amp Circuit And Sparks Stared Flying

RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS said:
I am betting it was an L5-20 to Edison adapter jammed into the 30 amp 250 volt recepticle. Yes, the spider box would have had a 250 volt outlet. Two hots and ground, no neutral.
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That is definitely what I did, although I don't recall it being hard to put the L5-20 adapter into the L6-30 receptacle. Would I have had to put a lot of muscle into it to get the L5-20 adapter into the L6-30? Thanks!
 
Re: Plugged Power Amps Into 30 Amp Circuit And Sparks Stared Flying

Bill Garvin said:
That is definitely what I did, although I don't recall it being hard to put the L5-20 adapter into the L6-30 receptacle. Would I have had to put a lot of muscle into it to get the L5-20 adapter into the L6-30? Thanks!
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Yes. The spacing of the prongs and the tabs on the prongs don't match.
 
Re: Plugged Power Amps Into 30 Amp Circuit And Sparks Stared Flying

Thanks Tim! Interesting to see what other uses there are for the 30 amp 250 volt receptacle. Next time if I can find the right adapter I'm bringing my washer and dryer and multitasking by doing some laundry...
 
Re: Plugged Power Amps Into 30 Amp Circuit And Sparks Stared Flying

Bill Garvin said:
Thanks Tim! Interesting to see what other uses there are for the 30 amp 250 volt receptacle. Next time if I can find the right adapter I'm bringing my washer and dryer and multitasking by doing some laundry...
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Don't forget your plumbing hookups and dryer exhaust....
 
Re: Plugged Power Amps Into 30 Amp Circuit And Sparks Stared Flying

Bill Garvin said:
Thanks for the reply! I'm ashamed to say before now I didn't know what Nema numberrs meant, so I can't confirm this. According to the link below, it looks like a female L6-30R would be a bigger receptacle than a female L5-20R, and have a different spacing on the lugs, or am I mistaken on this? I don't recall having any problem plugging the male 20 amp, 125 volt pigtail into the female 30 amp 250 volt receptacle at the spider. Should I be able to plug a male L5-20R pigtail into a female L6-30R receptacle at the spider? I'm definitely confused!!!!

NEMA Plug and Receptacle Configurations
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Might I respectfully suggest that if you were not familiar with the NEMA designations, perhaps the person making the adapter wasn't familiar with them either? Maybe somebody grabbed an L6-30P instead of an L5-30P at assembly time? That would allow you to easily plug in and fry gear. Mark C.
 
Re: Plugged Power Amps Into 30 Amp Circuit And Sparks Stared Flying

I have seen so many crazy things over the years that I believe just about any incorrect situation to have been the culprit. I've seen the bent tabs on locking plugs ground away so they would fit a different plug. I've seen a very large generator supplier use male to male 50 amp 6/4 cables to plug into their spider boxes...that's right, don't touch that plug, it will hurt plus it still leaves the male plug on the spider bad energized for extra safety, NOT! I've seen stuff jammed into receptacles that they clearly were not made to fit it. I've seen kids put paper clips into outlets. Anything is possible but someone, somewhere made a plug that it no the 250v receptacle that was terminated with a 120v receptacle.
 
Re: Plugged Power Amps Into 30 Amp Circuit And Sparks Stared Flying

Mark Cadwallader said:
Might I respectfully suggest that if you were not familiar with the NEMA designations, perhaps the person making the adapter wasn't familiar with them either? Maybe somebody grabbed an L6-30P instead of an L5-30P at assembly time? That would allow you to easily plug in and fry gear. Mark C.
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That could be a possibility...
 
Re: Plugged Power Amps Into 30 Amp Circuit And Sparks Stared Flying

Kemper Watson said:
It's not that you plugged into a 30 amp circuit. I have a cheater (dryer) plug broken down into a four gang Edison box and use it often. It's that you plugged into a 250 volt 30 amp circuit
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This. It's the voltage that would blow the amp, not the trip current of the circuit.
 
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