Pro Tip: Making Extension Cords

[sparkyrick]

Something I learned as an apprentice years ago.

 

[John120/240]

one of those awesome "tricks" of the trade. Was never taught this and never gave it a thought. It always was difficult to follow the length of conductor instructions those times (that I now know) I was working at the "wrong" end of the cord. Hopefully, I'll never forget it.

Thanks for sharing this.

It would be cool if we had a "tricks of the trade" section of the forum.

I'll second that motion and add that it should be a closed, secret, EYES ONLY section of the forum so it can't be parsed by google or homeowners

That would be real helpful. Have the Moderators locate this thread in Campfire Chat, It is only available to Mike Holt members.

 

[Strathead]

Great, now that you've spilled the secrets.....

I don't think I ever was taught this, just one day said, "Hmm, why do I have to cross over sometimes?" and took a look. Then I think some twistlocks I got at least 10 years ago had an instruction sheet showing the color rotation.

OTOH, I do very little with MC so probably won't have occurred to me which direction to pull.

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'
---Isaac Asimov

And, ya- please follow the strip guides and actually tighten the screws. I've got a small pile of melted connectors from people that obviously didn't.

The same stands true for flex. And for flex it is very helpful if pushing wires in to do it from the end that the internal rolls aid the push. But I admit to being another one who has never know there was a right and and a wrong end to make up a cord cap.

 

[ggunn]

It's one of those things I hadn't considered before but now it's "obvious". Thanks!

 

[Strathead]

So, now the question is, do all manufacturers twist the wire in the same color order, and to all manufacturers of cord caps orient their screw terminations in the same rotation? It just never occurred to me that they would. Does this same phenom stand true for more complex plugs like three phase four wire etc.?

 

[ggunn]

So, now the question is, do all manufacturers twist the wire in the same color order, and to all manufacturers of cord caps orient their screw terminations in the same rotation? It just never occurred to me that they would. Does this same phenom stand true for more complex plugs like three phase four wire etc.?

Think about it. There are only two possible color orders for three conductors and for a given piece of cable, one end has one order and the other end has the other order. If you look at a three prong wall receptacle with the ground on the bottom, the larger slot is always on the left, so yes, there is a standard rotation for plugs.

 

[Sierrasparky]

Think about it. There are only two possible color orders for three conductors and for a given piece of cable, one end has one order and the other end has the other order. If you look at a three prong wall receptacle with the ground on the bottom, the larger slot is always on the left, so yes, there is a standard rotation for plugs.

I guess that works is all cords are manufactured the same way. I think I came across some that were not some time ago.

For the most part this works. I never gave it much thought though. By nature just looked at the end and switched it around if necessary.

 

[iwire]

So, now the question is, do all manufacturers twist the wire in the same color order, and to all manufacturers of cord caps orient their screw terminations in the same rotation? It just never occurred to me that they would. Does this same phenom stand true for more complex plugs like three phase four wire etc.?

I look at it this way, only the green and sometimes the white have code required terminal positions.

You can use any remaining colors in any position and of course you would duplicate it on the other end of the cord.