How-to Wire 4 way outlet to an extension cord
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- In this video I go step by step showing you how to convert your standard extension cord from a single outlet to a 4 way outlet. Super simple and very easy. Below is a list of all items you'll need plus a list of tools I used in this video. Below THAT I have Links to most of the Items you can purchase from my store on amazon.
List of Items needed:
1 - extension core (25' or 50')
1- Metal Junction Box (2-Device, 2-1/8-Inch Deep, 1/2-Inch Side Knockouts 4-Inch Square Switch Box)
1 - Metal outlet cover
2 - 15amp residential outlets
1 - 1/2" Squeeze Connector
Tools needed:
1 - Side Cutting pliers
1 - flat head screwdriver
1 - Multipurpose tool, Long nose (optional)
1 - long nose pliers
1 - multimeter
Click on this link for the 25' Extension cord:
www.amazon.com...
Click on this link for the 50' Extension cord:
www.amazon.com...
Click on this link for the 2 outlets:
www.amazon.com...
Click on this link for the junction Box:
www.amazon.com...
click on this link for the face plate:
www.amazon.com...
Click on this link for a 5 pack of squeeze connectors to lock in the extension cord to junction box:
www.amazon.com...
Tool links:
Crescent Lineman's Pliers:
www.amazon.com...
Southwire Multipurpose tool, Long nose:
www.amazon.com...
Southwire Multimeter:
www.amazon.com...
Check out my amazon store and help support this channel. Click on the link below:
www.amazon.com...
Thank You for viewing, Subscribe and Like
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![How To Make The Best Extension Cord [Less than $20]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/xcRtwk-W95U/mqdefault.jpg)
Best video on here about making an extension cord, very cool… thank you!!!!
You didn't ground the box. There should be a 10-32 tapped hole in the back of the box for a green grounding screw. A green or bare 12 gauge wire connects there and the other end wire nutted to the other grounds. You'll get some grounding by virtue of the mounting screws, but it's not sufficient, particularly with the painted surface. If there's no threaded hole, you need to create one. You should also add some electrical tape around the screws on each receptacle to protect against shorting.
When dealing with stranded wire on receptacles you should not strip the insulation all the way off. Strip further back so about 3/4 inch of insulation remains. This will keep the strands from fraying or breaking. When you twist the wires together with a wire nut leave the stranded wire about 1/8 inch beyond the other solid wires for a better connection. You could also use a Wago lever nut, works well with solid and stranded wire.
Hey nice tip thanks for sharing
I would also add the following:
(A) consider a ground fault outlet for the first outlet, as installed correctly, will protect itself and the secondary outlet;
(B) add a cable strain relief to the box rather than just pinching the incoming cable, as that eliminates a wear point on the cable; and
(C) tighten down the side screws on the second outlet to prevent potential shorts inside the box.
Stud Pack just posted a video making a very similar 4 way extension cord but they made one of the outlets a GFCI for safety and used a stain relief on the cord. Check it out.
I was just going to respond the same.
Good job!
I watched Studpack video and ended up frustrated because it didnt show how to wire the receptacles. Everyone already knows that right? Not me! But now i do, thanks so much! And for the Black Gold and Wide White. helps so much!
Awesome video. Well explained. On the very last 2 seconds i realized how relieved you were. 💣
😁 I'm not shy and rarely do people watch the complete video. I forgot about that till I was editing and I even laughed so what the heck we need a smile now and then......Thank for watching the whole vid, what a relief....
You are the best here. After I saw the behind the cameras scene I watched several more looking for a extra laugh. Your facial expression was priceless. I guess we all make one. Perhaps you found the way to get more viewers if you add some bloopers in the end or even during the video so people don’t go straight to the last seconds. Thank you for posting .
Great video Rick!
This is the motivation I needed to finnaly ditch my adapters.
Chris J fantastic when you finish you'll have a handy dandy functional extension cord. Thanks for viewing.
I like the way he used solid wire pigtails to connect incoming ground to the two outlets. This method avoids having stranded wire under a screw. He could have done the same with black and white wires and had no stranded wire under any screws.
Wire nuts can be reliably used to connect solid and stranded together. As long as the stranded is the right length stripped and not too short.
I build mine with stranded cable and crimp connections.
Biggest safety issue with video is not connecting a ground wire between the box and the incoming ground wire. All metal boxes must have a ground wire attached. This is not a small error.
If there is any chance that this cord might be plugged into an outlet that is not gfci protected, and this cord is used outside or in a wet location, it might be useful to have a gfci outlet in the box shown rather than a standard outlet. This gfci could also protect the second outlet.
There is another test that should ALWAYS be performed on a new circuit which the video doesn’t show. That is a voltage drop test under load. Using a hair dryer or space heater that draws near the max rated load of the device, test for voltage using the multimeter before and after the load is turned on. Compute the difference in volts. That’s the voltage drop. Do the same test both through the new device and without the device, ie the upstream outlet. Then determine if the drop of the new device is normal or exceeds allowable range.
If you wired as shown in the video and all but one strand of the wire came loose from the screw you’d still have good continuity but the voltage drop would be excessive.
Great video.
Black to gold and white to silver always. You mentioned that everyone has their own way of doing it, but that is a mistake. There's only one safe way (fortunately, that happens to be your way), but I don't want viewers to think there are other correct answers. Also, as mentioned before, that box must, must, must be grounded. That is a shock (or worse) waiting to happen. If there is contact with the box to the hot side, the whole box will be electrified, and you will be the ground. You will not have a good day. I provide zero content, so I appreciate the effort - I don't want someone getting hurt thinking these things don't matter.
framptonesq thank you I totally understand but I meant people have a way to remember thing their way. me I relate to black hill gold just helped me do it right. I think most would use plastic but I've had plastic and didn't last. this metal has been around for 15 plus years and stood up to the abuse. Great comment thanks for viewing.
I am finish carpentr to keep tack of all the tools in a snake pit,, is this the miter saw. This the table saw,,I bought a Power strip when cold have to fight the cord.
Not an election I have wired ceiling fans and garbage disposal.
Had a 75 ft cord decided to make a quad box drop cord.
Only run one tool at a time plus battery charger.
The cord is 10 gage I may shorten it to 50 ft.
Thanks for your tips and video.
What life is about teaching another and to help them out you've done just that.
Need to ground metal boxes, insulate the receptacles with electrical tape and use a better cord strain relief. This particular box is an accident waiting to happen.
Why wouldn’t you use a clamp connector?
You Didnt Ground The Box
It’s like same thing, put with a Switch.
Landstroms for me. And you?
Hello,
I don’t know how many people are not aware of OSHA rules and regulations!
They may be potentially unsafe to the users
These kind of modifications are a major Fine if caught on a job site.
These fines are not cheap! Resulting in Hundreds of dollars fined to the user
Please keep this in mind
Black brass
Forgot to ground to the metal box...
P.S.- Buy yourself a phillips screwdriver.
Not grounding the box is a big no no!
As some have said, this is NOT the best way to build a multiple outlet extension cord, even for homeowners, not even considering commercial use. StudPack just did a video on this subject, and while his suffers from issues too, his selection of boxes is better, with rounded corners, and he used a strain relief which is mandatory for any longevity at all. No GFCI, which should be at the end of the extension that plugs into the wall, so the entire cord is protected. If you are going to make a video of how to do a project, why not do it right? You state, for example, and you would normally tin the stranded wires, but then you don't. And while tinning seems a good idea, it will create another set of problems when putting those ends on the screws. And always, always, always ground the metal box! And let's not even get into wire size, haha. You do a disservice with this video. Anyone watching who doesn't know better should take a look at StudPack's video and read the comments there for even more information, you can buy safe and legal multiple outlet boxes for this purpose.
I'm surprised your cord is still only a 15 amp cord.
The reason I clicked on this was because I was wondering if you'd recommend a more capable cord due to the 4 outlets.
Watts divided by volts equals amps.
I keep seeing neighbors here at the rv park using a space heater on an extension cord to bypass their circuit breaker. A "known" fire hazard.
1500w heater÷120v=12.5 amps. Already too much for "15amp" cords.
That only gives you 2.5 amps to split with the other 3 outlets.
Something to consider if you're making one of these.
I'm sorry but your logic is completely wrong. To be clear though, nothing about this video is right. No one that knows anything electrical compliance would use a cord like this.
@@geminye79 what part is completely wrong?
My interest in this is because people keep doing it anyway. By "it" I mean using a 15 amp cord, often light duty, and powering a 1500w space heater.
I have a burn mark on my floor and melted outlets on my power strip from back when I had no other option, and didn't learn about the fire hazard until after I got lucky.
I've repaired several melted extention cords for people here. Not just from heaters but 30amp rv's plugged into the 15amp outlets on the power pedestals, and people using adapters to plug 15amp cords into the 30amp outlets.
That's why I like the notion of having a gang box that isn't going to melt, but don't like the multiple outlets that enable someone to draw too many amps through a cord that can't handle it.
On my ceiling there's a single 20amp outlet, like for an ac unit or something.
I like that, or a 20amp gfci +30amp cord if I were to make one.
I don't like the liability issue for making one for a neighbor, but don't like the existing fire hazards I see either.
Cords like this have a job site intent on providing power for utilization equipment such as small drills, maybe some lighting, maybe a few battery chargers. They aren't designed or created from the factory for that matter to provide power for max wattage loads for an extended or almost indefinite amount of time. They're for convenience or lightweight work. Appliances especially space heaters for that matter should never be plugged into an extension cord. Using extension like this no matter the gauge create hazards. I completely understand that "there's a real world out there" and that people who have limited options will do what they have to. But it's bad information that's disseminated to people who have absolutely no background or even a handy bone in their body to put things like this together that create more problems. Some people will watch this video and this k this guy did an amazing job, then make an attempt at mimicking his work but unsuccessfully and to a lesser degree thinking that his work was so great that I'm sure mine is considered adequate, and so on and so on. When in reality the work is so bad and people eventually get hurt. There's a reason that electrical code book is thicker than a phone book from the 80s and with tiny print written by teams of experts and lawyers. Because at some point somewhere, multiple times either property was damaged or people were killed. Unfortunately people are free to do as they wish, some succeed and some don't. But if you think it's silly to think no one has ever died from a faulty cord, lmao your mistaken. It happens sometimes.
@@geminye79 I never said it was silly, or safe.
I said what I've been seeing around here is unsafe, and even this video with 4 outlets on the cord has potential to be a problem if all were in use at the same time by say, my neighbors who'd likely be like, "cool, now I can plug 2 heaters in, and this, & this". Ha! Nooooo!
If I make one at all it will have 1 maybe 2 outlets at the most.
I don't really like it, but it seems safer than what's been going on already with all the melted cords I've seen here.
Perhaps I should buy people fire extinguishers for Christmas instead.
I guess I'm in the middle on this one. Because the first thing I consider when I think about what I need to power is what is the size of the conductor and what is the length of the cord that's really what matters here. To be honest I have no idea what you mean when you say a 15 amp cord. With my logic that means absolutely nothing. Videos like this need to come with a 5-minute disclaimer. Because unfortunately common sense is nowhere to be found. This is the same type of argument around power strips. Because people are too stupid to realize you can't just fill everything up everybody looks at powerstrips like an evil demon when in reality they are perfectly safe as long as used appropriately. Again the most important thing as far as I'm concerned when I pick out what cord I'm going to use is awg and the length. You know the same thing electricians use when they plan out the circuitry of every house ever.
Box steel is danger . Used pvc box is the best
Take a couple of seconds to wrap it in electrical tape
Extension cords are required to be tested and listed. You voided the listing when you cut the cord. Also, you are using parts that are absolutely not listed for what you did. If someone gets hurt using your illegal cord and sues you, you will lose in court.
That's a metal box. You NEED to ground the box itself....
This is fine for personal use but it isn't legal for commercial use. OSHA requires a pendant type box for portable use.
This guy spends so much time testing continuity with meter set in ohms mode. Most meters have a continuity mode where it beeps for continuity. The difference between the two modes is that the beep is nearly instantaneous, whereas the display update has a significant delay. If you have a bad intermittent connection you WILL hear an intermittent beeping. But you may miss the display changes due to the delay.
I commend you on your continuity testing. That being said as a Retired IBEW electrician I'd like to say you made a video that could kill someone or burn down their house. I'm not going to get into the errors you made ie the stranded wire under the screws, not grounding the box, etc, etc. Nothing is stopping you from making these contraptions and using them in your own home, but they are a huge OSHA violation on a job site. The video was entertaining but fellow viewers PLEASE do not do this. Don't be lazy, use two cords or a splitter. To "The Shack" these things are a pet peeve of mine. It's not personal. I've cut up hundreds of unsafe cords on jobsites over a 30+ year career. Thank you and best of luck.
Nothing about this video is compliant as far as wiring goes. Leave it to the pros.
hello bro, i know electricity
Hello Steve, well did I do ok? I'm not an electrician but can do basics, let me know if i did something wrong. I've been using it and works great thus far. Hope you've been staying busy.
It doesn't make sense to cut off a working extension cord end because you can just wire the receptacle to a male NEMA plug and plug it in to the extension cord.
I believe you missed the entire point here
Phillipeva Evansphi
You grossly missed the point of the video by 4 😂🤦♂️