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Author Topic: Adapting 50A California plug to something household  (Read 12090 times)

Justice C. Bigler

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Adapting 50A California plug to something household
« on: November 05, 2018, 10:32:24 PM »

Can you adapt the 50amp California plug to something that is usually available in a regular household service?

The recording truck that I am about to buy includes 50amp service for the studio area with 2 isolated 20 amp circuits for audio and a 20 amp circuit for HVAC and lighting.

I'm going to get new service and a new meter installed at my house from the electric coop, and an electrician friend will wire in a disconnect and 50amp plug for me. But I'm looking for a way to power it when I take it somewhere else to record that isn't a production venue.

Is there any easy way to make it happen?

It comes with cabling with both the California plug and Camlocks.
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Justice C. Bigler
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Corey Scogin

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Re: Adapting 50A California plug to something household
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2018, 11:14:26 PM »

I suspect the most common receptacle for 50A service is the NEMA 14-50. It's the one used for electric ovens and dryers in residential applications as well as some electric car chargers.
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Justice C. Bigler

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Re: Adapting 50A California plug to something household
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2018, 11:57:29 PM »

I suspect the most common receptacle for 50A service is the NEMA 14-50. It's the one used for electric ovens and dryers in residential applications as well as some electric car chargers.
Is that a 3 phase service? I thought those dryer plugs were single phase.


What's the dryer plug with the angled terminals?
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Justice C. Bigler
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David Sturzenbecher

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Re: Adapting 50A California plug to something household
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2018, 12:17:08 AM »

Is that a 3 phase service? I thought those dryer plugs were single phase.


What's the dryer plug with the angled terminals?
50A California’s come in both single and three phase. Which does your truck have?


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Justice C. Bigler

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Re: Adapting 50A California plug to something household
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2018, 12:39:55 AM »

I thought it was 3 phase. It's got the connector with the spike in the middle and the two (of three) blades with the prongs that face outwards. Trying to upload a picture, but it looks like the forum hard drive is full...or something.


Here is the input side of the plug on the truck:


« Last Edit: November 06, 2018, 12:50:19 AM by Justice C. Bigler »
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Tim Hite

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Re: Adapting 50A California plug to something household
« Reply #5 on: November 06, 2018, 02:26:52 AM »

https://hubbellcdn.com/ohwassets/HCI/WiringDevice/Catalog/NEMA/NEMA_2017%20Twist-Lock%20Devices.pdf

http://ecatalog.hubbell-wiring.com/press/catalog/B-57.pdf

Looks like the 3Ø prongs bend inward and the 125/250 prongs bend outward. Looks like you've got the 125/250 version, not 3Ø

http://ecatalog.hubbell-wiring.com/productinformation/specsheets/3A/Live/PDF/CS6365C_cart.pdf

Checking the wiring on the inside to make sure it's actually hooked up the way it's supposed to be is another matter. . .

How many Camlocks are there? 4 for 125/250 and 5 for 3Ø would be a good indicator of what's expected. . .

I thought it was 3 phase. It's got the connector with the spike in the middle and the two (of three) blades with the prongs that face outwards. Trying to upload a picture, but it looks like the forum hard drive is full...or something.


Here is the input side of the plug on the truck:



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Mike Pyle

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Re: Adapting 50A California plug to something household
« Reply #6 on: November 06, 2018, 09:17:28 AM »

The "California" 50a is single phase. 2 lines, one neutral, and the ground on the outer shell. The center post is just a guide, not a conductor.
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TJ (Tom) Cornish

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Re: Adapting 50A California plug to something household
« Reply #7 on: November 06, 2018, 09:50:15 AM »

Is that a 3 phase service? I thought those dryer plugs were single phase.


What's the dryer plug with the angled terminals?
It will probably be pretty difficult for you to get 3-phase power at your house - that requires it being available at your street, new wiring from street to your home, a new meter, and a new breaker panel.  If it's possible at all, it's probably $10,000 worth of work.

That said, as others have pointed out, what most in our industry call a "California" plug is just a nicer version of the NEMA 14-50, which is a single-phase device containing two hots, a neutral, and a ground.

Answering your first question directly - no, it's not particularly easy to feed this with standard house power.  You can make an adapter cable with a 5-15P (standard Edison plug) to a California female where you wire the hot wire from the 5-15P to both hots of the California (would require an enclosure for the Cali female so you can do this in a legal way with wirenuts), but this limits your whole operation to one 20A circuit powering both sides of your distro.  This may be adequate depending on the load you are drawing.  If you're trying to power your air conditioner it's not going to work.  For audio gear, it might be fine as long as your truck didn't come with an ATI Paragon console and isn't filled with tube gear.

A Honda EU7000 generator may be your best bet for remote situations.
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Brian Jojade

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Re: Adapting 50A California plug to something household
« Reply #8 on: November 06, 2018, 11:16:27 AM »

Once you get beyond 20 amp edison plugs, the number of options starts to increase pretty quickly.  Being prepared for everything means a collection of adaptors.

Of you do adapt to a dryer plug, make sure that it is actually wired correctly.  In older installs, dryer plugs were 240 volts only, and did not have a neutral line. The ground line was often under sized as well.  These would typically be 3 blade plugs, which was 2 hots and a ground. Sometimes people swap out that plug with a 4 pin unit and cheat the ground and neutral conductors together.  For a simple dryer that would work, but if you try to pull 110v using the undersized neutral from one leg, you have the potential of overloading the wiring.  Making sure your phases are balanced reduces this risk, but using it in the first place isn't good practice.

Remember that if you lose a neutral line, very bad things can start to happen with your gear.
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Riley Casey

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Re: Adapting 50A California plug to something household
« Reply #9 on: November 06, 2018, 11:19:56 AM »

Justice,  I made a point of setting up both of my trucks back in the day for single phase operation and it paid off repeatedly for instances when we had a client who wanted to record in the comfort of his living room.  The air con draws the most current and even so if you design the truck to shed the electronics heat directly  and only rely on the air con to cool the people that draw can be minimized.  I had no trouble finding trailer sized air con units that worked on single phase since they had to serve a residential building market.  These days with much more efficient electronics the heat generated is even less.  I had to keep two analog 24 tracks , 48 of of dolby and a 40 channel analog console cool in the big truck along with a few racks of analog outboard. 

I also split the power as soon as it arrived at the truck with direct connections to the air handler and thru a transformer with taps for boosting voltage if needed.  I think we changed taps twice in more than ten years of operation so a one to one with a center tapped secondary for audio power would be fine.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2018, 11:24:01 AM by Riley Casey »
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Re: Adapting 50A California plug to something household
« Reply #9 on: November 06, 2018, 11:19:56 AM »


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