Folks, I'm wiring up some 10/3 cable to male and female plugs for powering a new 5000W element. There is, of course, a black, white, and green wire. In the receptacle/plug, there is (are) an X terminal, Y terminal, and blank terminal. I'm guessing green (ground) goes to the blank terminal, but I'm not positive. But even if that is right, how do I know to which terminals the black and white wires go? No info on this (that I can find) on the brew hardware website. Thanks in advance!
Which wires go to X and Y terminals?
- Thread starter reuliss
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What NEMA type plugs/receptacles are you using? Green goes to the unmarked terminal. For 240V use, the ends of the white wire should have red electricians' taped wrapped around them, so that anyone looking will know that white is a hot wire (white is neutral in a 120V system.) Doesn't really matter which hot goes to X and which hot goes to Y. Just to keep anything odd from happening, I would chose to pick a consistent color code vs. hot leg. If you mix them up and connect hot 1 to hot 2, without a load between them, you will be doing a quick circuit breaker test, likely including copious sparks and smoke. As part of that color scheme, you would always connect hot 1 to X and hot 2 to Y (or vice versa, as long as they are all the same.)
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This is what I'm using:What NEMA type plugs/receptacles are you using? Green goes to the unmarked terminal. For 240V use, the ends of the white wire should have red electricians' taped wrapped around them, so that anyone looking will know that white is a hot wire (white is neutral in a 120V system.) Doesn't really matter which hot goes to X and which hot goes to Y. Just to keep anything odd from happening, I would chose to pick a consistent color code vs. hot leg. If you mix them up and connect hot 1 to hot 2, without a load between them, you will be doing a quick circuit breaker test, likely including copious sparks and smoke. As part of that color scheme, you would always connect hot 1 to X and hot 2 to Y (or vice versa, as long as they are all the same.)
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https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/nemal630p.htm
So if I understand you correctly, I can choose to put the white and black onto either the X or the Y, so long as I keep that choice consistent on the male and female end. Is that right?
Thank you!!Yes.
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the nec doesn't technically require white conductors in a flexible cord used in this application to be marked with a different color but it doesn't prohibit it either so it is up to individual preference. i personally did not color mine for my heating elements.
Just to throw a wrench into the works: What happens if you are wiring a plug like reuliss purchased into the premade twist lock plug and wire like Brew Hardware sells? There is no way you can disassemble the premade unit in order to find out which position the black and white wires are in to match to the side you are adding the plug to. What do you do then? That is what I did in the past and I had no issues. Did I happen to just get lucky in guessing the position of the white and black wires?
Just to throw a wrench into the works: What happens if you are wiring a plug like reuliss purchased into the premade twist lock plug and wire like Brew Hardware sells? There is no way you can disassemble the premade unit in order to find out which position the black and white wires are in to match to the side you are adding the plug to. What do you do then? That is what I did in the past and I had no issues. Did I happen to just get lucky in guessing the position of the white and black wires?
Continuity check with an ohm meter. At least, that's the solution to what I think you're asking.
Electrically, the black and white wires are the same in a 240V (US) system. Keeping the colors matched is to help prevent a really rare type of mistake, and also my OCD.
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doug293cz: isn't it a case where it is does not matter which pole you connect the white and black wires to as it is twist lock connecting into the breaker panel which in configured into 2 110v "legs". Sorry my electrical speak is not that good.
Yes, that's pretty much what I was trying to say. Normally it doesn't matter which wire is "line 1" and which is "line 2." The only time you need to worry about it is if you have multiple power feeds into a unit, and the feeds are connected together inside the unit. This is a very unusual situation. I had a high temp resistance furnace once that was fed with multiple 000 or 0000 AWG welding cables, very low voltage, but very high current. In a case like this you don't want to accidentally connect line 1 to line 2 by mixing up the cables. Keeping a consistent color scheme helps prevent getting things mixed up (although on my furnace, all the cables were black.)
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augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
I did on mine only because the lady at home depot had me second guessing myself when I went there to buy more wire telling me the inspector might not like it even if its marked with tape...
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
cheap but effective multimeters are like $5 at harbor freight, they even come with batteries in them... they will go a long way in checking and testing things are ok BEFORE you possibly damage them.. I know this from experience.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
this cable and plug can only rated for two different voltages 120v in which case the white goes to the neutral and black goes to hot.. or 240v where black can got to black and white can go to red or vs versa... on the plug the screw terminal for hot are usually gold and the ground is usually green, neutral is usually silver.Just to throw a wrench into the works: What happens if you are wiring a plug like reuliss purchased into the premade twist lock plug and wire like Brew Hardware sells? There is no way you can disassemble the premade unit in order to find out which position the black and white wires are in to match to the side you are adding the plug to. What do you do then? That is what I did in the past and I had no issues. Did I happen to just get lucky in guessing the position of the white and black wires?
Augiedoggy: The plugs from Hubbell and others for 240v no longer have gold or silver screws but are both silver and are labeled as X or Y. I called their customer service and the rationale was that for 240, it does not matter.
