Rv Extension Cords

Hello everyone,I have a question about a forklift battery charger i bought. Ok,its an exide forklift battery charger 36 volts. It weighs a ton so i am having to run a 25 foot extension cord to it. My question is,my 220 wall outlet has three holes so i went to lowes and made a 220 extension cord. Now i get to the ac cable coming out of the charger that hooks to the extension cord(plug was cut off),there are 4 wires coming out of the cable green,white,red, and black......the guy at lowes said i could buy a 3 prong plug for it to plug into the female end of the extension cord because one of the 4 wires is probably neutral and i wouldnt have to hook up but the green,white and either the red or black.....is he right? Inside the charger the red,white and black all go to big fuses and green to ground. Also above the fuses it says "factory set to 480 volts ac". I guess my question is,will this charger only work using a 4 prong wall outlet(mine only has 3) and with 4 prong plug hooked to cable coming out of the charger itself or is the guy at lowes right in saying that only the red OR black wire has to be used? Sorry if this is confusing but ive searched and searched online for 3 days and havent found anything. Thanks in advance for any help-Kevin
      

I bought a Lincoln ac-225-S arc welder from someone and he gave me a 30' 10/3 extension cord with it.  The specs on the welder panel call for 50 amps max input on 20% duty cycle.  Is the 10 ga. wire really sufficient for this welder?  I will also be installing a receptacle for the welder, will a 30 amp breaker on 10/3 do the job or do I need to move up to 8 ga. on 40amp or 6 ga. on 50 amp?  If I go up to a 40 or 50 amp breaker can I even use that extension cord?  I doubt I would ever weld anything thicker than 3/16" to 1/4" max.
      

I spend alot of time outdoors and use my power tools or air compressor alot and use a 12 gauge contractors cord.  One problem I always have is that with my outdoor receptacle being above my deck sometimes the cord slips between the boards and hangs up and really causes a problem if the storm door is opened as it also catches the cord sometimes, and already damaged my other cord.



I am wondering if there are any issues with running the cord through pvc along the edge of the house and to the receptacle to protect it.



I am also wondering, since my old cord is damaged at one end, if rather than trying to repair it, if there is any code violation of running it into a weatherproof box and wiring it to a GFCI receptacle, reason I wonder this is that I have one on hand and have had no other use for it as I rent the house and cannot do any wiring to it, but it has no GFCI outlet which concerns me at times.
      

I was given a table saw from about 1960 - actually a very good machine - it would cost a fortune nowadays, but a friend who felt he owed me one gave it to me before he moved to Florida. It has a 1 HP motor that has always worked fine and has worked fine for me in tests, but the cord is an old 2-wire version, and I want to replace it with a new cord.



The manual says to use a 10 gauge wire (the cord is about 6' long). I want to replace it with a 3-wire, grounded cord. Do I simply run the neutral wire on the new cord where the old white wire was, the black wire to where the old black wire was, and connect the ground to the chassis?



The switch is a single throw, double pole switch, by the way.



Here's a link to the manual, if that helps anyone: http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=2007
      

Hi.  This is not exactly home-improvement-related, but I'm hoping some of the electrical gurus out there can answer my question.  I am building an underwater fishing light.  It will basically be a sealed green acrylic tube with LED bulbs in it, powered by a 12V DC battery.  It will be submerged between 2-5 feet.  I imagine it will be used approximately between 2-6 hours at a time, so the cable will not be submerged in water or a wet area permanently. 



Obviously I am doing this to save $$ (they are expensive otherwise), and I find myself wondering why I can't buy an inexpensive extension cord (lamp-cord-style) and use it for the power from battery to light.  I started looking at garden lighting wire, but that stuff is very expensive.



Would auto electrical wire (with shrink tubing) be sufficient (though I'm not sure I can find shrink tubing with enough length)?  Speaker wire?  LOL. 



Any suggestions would be appreciated!



Edit: One thing I forgot to mention is that I don't want the power cord to be heavy at all.  Nice and light is the key!
      

The guy who wired my shop didn't leave me any slack to be able to move the outlet around on the stud. I need to move it out and down some to add the drywall.



I added a little extension and pigtailed it in with the original wire. Is this acceptable?  Is it within code?  I'll post a pic. Do I just need to rewire with a longer wire instead of the extension?  I don't know much about wiring so I appreciate any ideas.
      

Hello,

We're installing a steam shower unit & need to run new electrical wiring.  We have a few questions & hope someone can help!



We have three power cords (water pump, heat pump, steam generator) & none of them currently have plugs.  The specs are as follows:  3000W steam generator 110v - 30 amp GFCI breaker, 12 v lighting, 1.2 hp water pump 110 v - 30 amp GFCI breaker, & a 1500W heat pump 110v 12.5 amps.  It says you can run the heat pump off the same circuit as the rest of the unit.



Ok, so.. we're wondering what the easiest & cheapest way of going about this is.  We want it to be SAFE first & foremost, but also want to keep expense at a minimum.



Thank you for any advice you have!




      

Hi all

I'm renovating a rental home I bought. It has the original 90 year old fuse panel  and I'd like to replace it with a modern panelboard. Here's a picture of the current setup:







I'd like to demo the inset fuse box cabinet and then mount a new panel on the wall to the left.

The service conduit goes inside the stucco into the building. I'd like to cut it, put in junction box, and a sweep and extend the service to the left to the new panel



I called our electric co. to get the power disconnected and strangely the rep told me "Oh, people usually just work on it hot". Is this true/feasible??



Your advice is appreciated
      

I have a 220v Microwave, and a 220v dryer, that came with a four prong plug cords attached (they were used in newer homes).



The current outlets are three prong outlets and there is absolutely no way to run new wiring.





Just need to change the cords on the microwave and dryer to the old style three prong ones?









Opinions?
      

In a previous thread (Wire suitable for underwater usage), I enquired about what cord types would be suitable for underwater usage because I was building a submersible fishing light to attract baitfish.  Well, the light is done, and the bulb "farthest away" from the battery is by far the brightest in the chain (I hesitate to say chain since they are wired in parallel). 



Attached image "photo 1" is a picture of the light I made.  Notice the bulb all the way to the left is far brighter than the rest.



All bulbs used are the same spec, and look like this:



To wire the bulbs, I cut the flange off with a Dremel tool so that they would fit in the tube.  Two pair of them have their terminals soldered together (neg to neg, pos to pos...that's the "gap" you see in the lighting), and the first bulb in line is upside down, with it's terminals facing the incoming wiring.  The first bulb receives the wiring from the main line, then hookup wire is used to jump from those terminals to the next set, etc. 



There IS one anomaly with the final/far left bulb.  When I was cutting off the flange, I accidentally cut too far on that piece, basically severing the terminals from the bulb.  So, when wiring it into the circuit, I had to improvise and soldered the hookup wire directly into the solder points located on the bulb itself (instead of the underside).  Hopefully you can see what I'm talking about in attached "photo 2."



I have no idea why this anomaly would make the bulb brighter though.  Can anyone think of any other reason the bulb would be brighter?  Unfortunately, I cannot do any readings on the individual bulbs because I did not notice this until everything was soldered into place and the lamp sealed/waterproofed).