? Electrical experts - which twist lock plug?

[Doyle Alley]

Which brand of twist lock plugs and recepticals is best? I'll be using the L6-20 size. I see Levitron and Hubbell as the primary suppliers and perhaps a few others also. In addition to the quality of the plugs and recepticals, I would also need good availability of plate covers.

[tod evans]

doyle, both are good brands. go to your local electrical supply house and buy what they support...02 tod

[Dick Latshaw]

If you prefer to shop online, try fruitridgetools.com. They have a rather complete selection of Leviton and other locking plugs and receptacles at reasonable prices. I used mostly Leviton when I wired my gar... er, shop.:)

[Jim Becker]

I never looked at the brand of my twist locks...it was whatever the store I was buying from had...I was more concerned with the type. That said, I think most, if not all I have are Leviton.

[Ken Garlock]

Doyle, when I installed my saw, joiner, and cyclone, I bought the Cooper brand twist locks at Lowes. They are in the $14 range, a whole lot cheaper than than the equivalent at Home Depot.:(

Go over to the Lowes website, and drill down building products, electrical products, wiring devices, and finally electrical plugs, connectors & locking devices. The plugs and connectors I bought are what I judge to be good quality.:) Don't pay $30 for a plug at HD, when you can get the equivalent for half that. Cooper tools have been around a long time, so they are not a 'nocturnal aviation' operation. ;)

[Jim Becker]

Ken, mine were only about $18 at HD...

[Frankie Hunt]

I've been in the computer industry for 28 years. I have seen a lot of Hubbell plugs and receptacles, both single phase and 3 phase. They seemed to be the industry standard at one time. I've never seen one cause problems. I will admit that they live a pretty comfortable life under a raised tile floor though. That is what I would use just because of my experience, however they both are probably good.

Frankie

[Ken Garlock]

Ken, mine were only about $18 at HD...

You got a deal, they were in the mid 20s when I looked for them. Perhaps we were looking at different rated plugs & connectors.:)

[Rob Russell]

I bought all Hubbell plugs and receptacles for my 3-phase stuff. eBay is a good place to look for that sort of stuff if you don't need the plugs today and can be a bit patient. You could get your plugs and receptacles for $5-10 each that way.

[Doyle Alley]

Let me further muddy the water and hope for some clarity. Suppose I were to wire a 240v 20A outlet with 12/3 wg and use an L14-20R receptical. L14s have all 4 wires connected at the receptical. Could I this one receptical to power both 240v and 120v tools? Obviously, the L14-20 plug on the 240v machine would be hooked up with two hots and a gound (and the neutral plug left unconnected) and the L14-20 plug on the 120v machine would be wired with only one hot plus the neutral and ground (with the other hot plug unconnected). This seems like an efficient and safe way to draw a 120v tap off of a 240v line.

[Rob Russell]

Doyle,

What you're proposing is to transform the circuit from a straight 240v circuit to a 120v "multiwire" circuit. The multiwire just means that opposing phases (more accurately, "legs" in this case) share a common neutral.

Just make sure that you use a 2-pole breaker (vs. [2] single pole breakers) - you need a common disconnect for the hot legs when those legs land on the same yoke. The yoke is the metal strap that receptacles are mounted to. A common way of using multiwire circuits is when you have the potential for a lot of current draw in a small footprint (think of a home theater system). You splitwire a receptacle so the top outlet is using 1 hot leg of the circuit and the bottom outlet is using the other hot leg. That effectively gives you 30 or 40 amps of current available through that 1 duplex receptacle (15*2 or 20*2, depending on whether you ran a 15 or 20 amp circuit).

The code requirements for multiwire circuits are in article 210.4 if you care to read them, but the gist of it for you means use a 2-pole common trip breaker so both hot legs are disconnected at the same time if you flip the breaker handle and both legs are opened if you have an overload on 1 leg.

Rob
Addy protocol - unlicensed, but experienced homeowner electrician

[Doyle Alley]

Thanks Rob. That means I don't have to worry about whether a particular tool is going to be 120v or 240v. It does increase the cost of the plugs on the tools themselves, but that will be more than offset by the number of recepticals that I no longer have to have.

[Rob Russell]

Doyle,

There is a "yeah-but" here.

If your shop is in an unfinished basement or a garage, the 120v receptacles must be GFI protected. GFI 240v breakers tend to be expensive, so you'd be better off running regular circuits for the 120v because of the GFI requirement. That also means if you want to take your circular saw or jigsaw somewhere else, it'll still have the regular (NEMA 5-15) 120v/15A plug on it.

Rob
Addy protocol - unlicensed, but experienced homeowner electrician

[Doyle Alley]

This is for a finished detached shop. The tools I would be placing on this type of connector would all be large stationary tools. For instance, my current bandsaw is 120v only. When I replace it, I will undoubtedly buy one that is either 240v or convertable. If I can use the L14-20R recepticals, then I can simply unplug the old one and plug in the new one without having to worry about rewiring the outlet or the circuit.

I'll still have a good supply of "normal" 120v outlets for all of the various portable tools.

[Steven Wilson]

Someday you will sell the house - try explaining your reasoning to a realestate agent. It's best to keep it simple. If you run 12/2 or 10/2 (wg of course) to the box then just swap out the breaker and the receptical if you need to. Keep it simple, the wire only cares about amperage not voltage