110/220 Plug for PowerPro

fredsheldon · Post by **fredsheldon** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 8:47 pm

[attach]17936[/attach]

Ok, before I blow up my new PowerPro let me get your advice about power requirements and plugs. This is a 220 plug from Lowes where I have wired three wires from the cut off male end of a 110 power cord. I wired the green wire to ground, the black and white wires to the flat connectors.

I plan on plugging this extension cord into my new 220/240 20 amp outlet and then plugging in the standard 110 plug on the SS into the female end of the modified extension cord. See the picture below.

Will this work without burning out my new PP.

Thanks,
Fred

[attach]17937[/attach]

timsturnings · Post by **timsturnings** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 9:44 pm

From what I can see you are trying to plug a 110 volt plug on your shopsmith to a 220 volt outlet. I am no electrician but I am pretty sure you will burn up your motor and/or wiring.

Edit: If the power pro is designed to accept both voltages without re-wiring, as stated later in this post, it may be ok. But if anything that is not wired for both voltages of power would burn up, as stated below. The modification of the power cord just looks unsafe to me. YMMV.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:33 pm

fredsheldon wrote:....
I plan on plugging this extension cord into my new 220/240 20 amp outlet and then plugging in the standard 110 plug on the SS into the female end of the modified extension cord. See the picture below.

Will this work without burning out my new PP.

Thanks,
Fred

IMHO yes this will work - I would do the same thing. Since your wiring and the modified extension cord work on 110/115 they will also work on 220. 220 will use less amps than 110/115 and wiring will handle that. This should not be any different than moving the Mark V over to the new 220 outlet and plugging in without an extension cord. The PowerPro is designed to work on 220 without any modification other than a 220 plug on the end of the power cord.

fredsheldon · Post by **fredsheldon** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:55 pm

Ok, 1 no and 1 yes. I better wait until I get a few more votes counted

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 11:28 pm

Ignore the nay.

Tis unusual for motors of this size(hp), but the PP truely will run on either voltage. The design includes a voltage sensing(more likely a voltage tolerance?)power supply and the controller applies dc pulses to the motor. I am sure the power supply is a 'switching' type that is designed to run on 230V, but will supply the dc output at a reduced power capacity at 115v.

i.e. the motor does not run on 'AC' and is not directly connected to the power source(115/230).

P.S. One caveat! You must realize the possibility of someone not realizing the unique 'function' of the modified extension cord could plug a 115v tool . . . into the '115v' end and the plug end into 230v and the 115v tool is potentially damaged as described in the 'nay' response.

I like the short, secured to the pp plug adapter cord that could prevent that as described by Paul(?) in another thread.

The only concern I would have is the length and wire size of the modified extension cord. That concern is greatly reduced than if it was being used at 115v and the original induction motor.

If that plug matches the receptacle installed by your electrician, he should have installed a 20A 230v branch connected to a 2 pole 20A breaker.

GO!

:)

fredsheldon · Post by **fredsheldon** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 12:51 am

JPG40504 wrote: The only concern I would have is the length and wire size of the modified extension cord. That concern is greatly reduced than if it was being used at 115v and the original induction motor.

If that plug matches the receptacle installed by your electrician, he should have installed a 20A 230v branch connected to a 2 pole 20A breaker.

GO!:)

It's a 15 foot 14/3 15amp, whatever that all means. I think the guy at Lowes said it's 14 gauge and should be good enough for what I want to do.

Fred

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 5:03 am

fredsheldon wrote:Ok, 1 no and 1 yes. I better wait until I get a few more votes counted

I have the PowerPro and had an electrician make the cable you are trying to make and mine works fine (you can also use the plug to power your laptop, razor and any other universal power device).

I have no idea which wire went where internally, but if you are worried I could check it later today with an ohm meter.

If your concern is can I just build an extension cord with 110 female on one end and 220 male on the other the answer is 100% yes. If you are asking did I make the extension correctly, sorry I have no idea. The licensed electrician who installed the 220 outlet made it for me and said he would deny any knowledge of it since as JPG said it could cause a big problem if misused.

http://teknatool.com/dvrm/WhatIs.htm good article explaining DVR motor.

Another very interesting photo http://teknatool.com/dvrm/Products.htm

lightnin · Post by **lightnin** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 6:59 am

I have two 220 Volt 50 Amp outlets in my garage for welding. If I do get the power pro would I be better off making ... oh lets call it an adapter box
that I could plug in the outlet with a 20 Amp breaker and 20 Amp type outlet or does the power pro have internal breakers or whetever?

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 7:57 am

timsturnings wrote:From what I can see you are trying to plug a 110 volt plug on your shopsmith to a 220 volt outlet. I am no electrician but I am pretty sure you will burn up your motor and/or wiring.

The PowerPro will operate safely when plugged into either 110vac or 220vac. The concern here is that with the adapter that is being proposed plugged into a 220vac outlet, there is a standard 110vac receptacle that is hot with 220vac.

If nothing other than the PowerPro ever, ever gets plugged into that receptacle there is no harm done.

But if something other than the PowerPro, something like an electric drill or soldering iron, gets plugged in there - it will be toast. Not good.

There is a reason why Shopsmith will not sell you an adapter that does what is being discussed here. It is a safety hazard and a code violation. Yes, it works great as long as no one makes a mistake or uses it wrong.

I would not think of doing this unless I was inclined to use my PowerPro today as a 220vac device and tomorrow as a 110vac device and the next day as a 220vac device, etc, etc.

If you got 220vac in the shop, put a 220vac plug on the cord and use it that way. If not, don't.

wa2crk · Post by **wa2crk** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 8:27 am

I would not use a long cord for the adaptor. Use a two or three foot long cord as the adaptor and clearly label it as such. As JPG said someone might get a nasty surprise if they use the cord as a regular extension cord.
Dusty also made a good point in that if you are going to use the PP in your shop as a 220 device then wire it as such. I am surprised that an electrician would make up such an adaptor 'cause in most instances they are illegal because of the confusion factor. Not to mention the liability factor for the electrician.
Bill V