Building an extension cord.

[justinking060310]

I need to get power for my welder(Lincoln 175amp MIG) on my RV pad which is about 75 ft away from the garage. I would like to provide myself with both 240v and 120v receptacles on the end of an extension cord, SAFELY.

I already have an 80' length of 6/4 SOOW cable. I am thinking of hooking this to an outlet in the garage (4 prong 30 amp dryer recept) as I already have all of my machinery on this same type of plug.
Now on the other end I was envisioning getting 2 metal quad boxes and 1 small subpanel with a main breaker in it. The idea is to run the 6/4 cable into the subpanel controlled by the main breaker, then feed both 1 240v recept on one quad box, and a pair of 120 recept's on the other quad box.

I was hoping to attach the three boxes together to have a bulky, yet mobile power station. What better suggestions/ideas might you guys have? I would like to come up with a way to have it weather-resistant as well, which is not a huge issue here in Phoenix, but it is still important.

-Justin

 

[mrb]

dont hardwire the 80ft of 6/4 into the panel, have a pigtail with a male plug and make a male to female cord assembly out of the long cord.

Weld up a frame from some 1in box tubing. A rectangle base with two vertical posts rising from the center of each of the long sides of the rectangle. Join these at the top with a cross piece, this will act as the handle. On one side of this mount a 3R breaker panel, on the other side mount a pair of cross rails spaced apart for the mounting tabs on WP double gang boxes. 90 out the bottom of the panel with sealtite and 90 into the bottom of each WP box.

While this is not a proper UL listed (UL1640) portable power distribution equipment, it will serve your needs and be safe if properly assembled. -but never to be used on a jobsite or anywhere other than your own home.

For your GFCI protection, do not use GFCI breakers or GFCI receptacles -these do not have open neutral protection and are no good in portable power distribution. Use inline pigtail GFCIs (and make sure you use them EVERY TIME) or buy Hubbell GFM-20A modules and another box to install a pair of them in.

Obviously your 240v and 120v receptacles would be supplied by appropriately sized breakers in the subpanel.

 

[Torque1st]

Check with your local RV parts distributor. They have all kinds of "adapters" available.

 

[rsanter]

look for a construction site electrical job box
they are the yellow things with different outlets on the side of them
you will install a dedicated heavy duty cord and recepticle that you will attach to. these units have their own breaker and all

bob

 

[justinking060310]

Thank you for the suggestions, Gents. I will post up when I accomplish the mission!

-Justin

 

[ForceFed70]

I don't see a problem. Just make sure that each receptical/circuit has an appropriate sized breaker (no more than 20amp for 120V). Sounds like that's the plan anyway.