Recent content by offroadsteve

Agreed with the guys above, at work anything 40-200 amps is pin and sleeve, anything over that is individual conductors with can locks, but you are talking 350 mcm cable or bigger at that point. Not stuff that is affordable for homeowners. The affordable solution for a home shop is hard wiring...

The challenge is that the two welding processes GMAW/MIG and GTAW/TIG use fundamentally different power supplies. MIG is a "constant voltage" power supply, while TIG/stick is a "constant current" power supply. There are machines that can do both. A Longevity / Everlast import machine on the low...

simple=better had it most of the way there, but it seems he didn't see your second post. 4536 watt-hrs / 48V = 94.5 amp-hours of storage required. Deep-cycle batteries like to cycle between about 40% charge and 90% charge, so you need to spec out 2x the battery capacity of what you actually...

This. While the code may not always be the easiest thing to read, the intent is clear. For fixed and semi-fixed, high power equipment (anything more than 20A / 120V), dedicated circuits are the requirement. There are no exceptions for a "one man shop" or any other such thing. This is why...

Looks vaguely military, or military related. Without a wiring diagram its not going to be very useful. The use of 6 pin connectors for the motor connections is interesting, and suggests something other than regular old DC motors. I'd have bought it for $5 too, but mainly just to strip parts...

Yes, that receptacle can be used for both of your A/C units, and both receptacles must be wired with 12 AWG and connected to a 20 amp breaker. Regarding the "standard". "preferred" or "professional" products at HD, I usually like to use at least the "preferred", the minor extra cost only hurts...

if you haven't already bought the wire, you can run the UF the whole way, it is allowed inside the building. UF has to be protected anywhere it is exposed just like NM-B, so from the attic to the ground it has to be in conduit if on the outside of the building. Actually answering your original...

or you could use this.... http://www.intermatic.com/en/Products/TimeSwitches/MechanicalSwitches/24Hour/T100Series.aspx?bcsi_scan_2c45a089a9d9a8fd=9KagjQfBVChH/sOIaQPLAehn0cEBAAAADaEmAA==&bcsi_scan_filename=T100Series.aspx they are available from the Orange box store for ~$70. Contacts are...

I've always wondered why the 50 amp 120/240V twist-locks were different compared to basically everything else... thanks for the info all. I learned my new thing today. To the OP - No, I've never seen anything that could be classified as "affordable" for locking plugs / receptacles above 30...

Short answer is no, you do not have to abandon the travelers and associated 3-way switch in the house. The caveat is that the power for the outside flood light must come from a circuit in the new barn electrical panel, and the switch in the house be connected only to wires originating in the...

I agree with theoldwizard, its probably good as extension cord material, if the ground is stranded. southwire still makes the stuff, and they indicate in that size it would have 3 x 14 awg ground wires in the spaces between the main conductors. If all the conductors are fine-stranded, I'd have...

All sounds about right for the main panel. To do this level of work, you cannot reuse the 3 wire feed to the garage subpanel. At the very least you need to add a ground wire, but I seriously doubt you'll be able to pull that through the existing conduit. If it is conduit all the way from...

I recently completed a very similar conversion on a similar age 3-phase unisaw, mine was only 2 HP instead of 3. I built up my saw to keep rather than try to resell, so I went with a TECO VFD from Factorymation.com and could not be any happier with the setup. I pulled all of the original...

I'm not in the business, but my gut says $7500 is a little high for just the pre-wire, unless they are including a lot of the actual speakers and such in that cost because they need to mount the housings. I would get a detailed list of what exactly that quote covers, and what the final cost...

In this case no, because the 2/0 is more than enough to carry the 100 amps. You had to upsize to 3/0 because of the length of wire run and the resistance inherent to the wire. A short pigtail of 2/0 won't significantly increase the overall resistance of the circuit.