How to wire a house with an extension cord guts?

[severin20]

Hey Fam,

So let's say I buy a giandel 2200w pure sine wave inverter. It's got a few places to plug in extension cords, but no place with +- terminals to actually wire a house with outlets. Can I just plug an extension cord into the inverter and then cut the extension cord open and attach the normal yellow/white house wires to go around and wire a little off-grid cabin? Has anyone done this?

 

[Bud Martin]

Hey Fam,

So let's say I buy a giandel 2200w pure sine wave inverter. It's got a few places to plug in extension cords, but no place with +- terminals to actually wire a house with outlets. Can I just plug an extension cord into the inverter and then cut the extension cord open and attach the normal yellow/white house wires to go around and wire a little off-grid cabin? Has anyone done this?

What do you mean by the + -? Are you talking about DC or AC? Or are you talking about Line and Neutral?

 

[severin20]

I'm talking about alternating current. Hot, neutral and ground. Do those wires exist in an extension cable... or could be created some how? Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Northernchateau]

You can feed a 110 vac breaker box from the inverter. 12ga will handle 20 amps but I would use 10 ga to give you a safety factor plus that will allow for the inverter some distance away. The only other thing I would recommend is you pound a ground rod into the ground and connect it to your inverter and breaker box.

 

[Steve_S]

Extension Cords are DUBIOUS so you have t be extra careful with that. I would just buy a Plug End, 10 gauge Stranded Copper with Heavy Duty sheathing and run that into a Small AC Subpanel and then run regular AC Wire from that panel to your plugs & switches.

For AC Wire: 14/2=120V/15A Max, 12/2=120V/20A Max, 10/2-120V/30A Max.





QO4L100S (linked)

​

 

[newbostonconst]

Is there wiring already in this cabin? or just extension cords?

 

[John Frum]

Nema 5-15 receptacles are rated for 15 amps.

 

[stienman]

As long as you include a strain relief at the entry point of the cord into the electrical box or panel you'll be connecting into, you will be fine. An electrical inspector would rather see a better solution, though, for instance a male receptacle:

https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-5278-CWP-Straight-Flanged-Receptacle/dp/B003ATXIBG/

Then you can use a short extension cord to go from inverter into the building wiring without modifying the electrical cord.

 

[HRTKD]

If the inverter does not support a hard wired connection, I would not use it power outlets.

 

[newbostonconst]

If the inverter does not support a hard wired connection, I would not use it power outlets.

Agree...anything you wire into a house should be UL listed for this application...

 

[MrNatural22]

Been following this, so just to be clear, if you have an inverter ,say in your RV you could connect it into the RVs breaker box via the outlet plug on the inverter connecting to the breakers boxes main hot, neutral and ground to power the RV outlets when not connected to shore power?
In my cargo trailer conversion,
(i have 2 15a breakers feeding 3-15a outlets (1 GFI 1st in a line of 2) with 14/2 inside wiring)
1500w PSW inverter. (not hardwire capable)
I'm currently using a separate power strip for inverter but would be nice to eliminate and use the outlets instead.

Is there any issue with back feed into the inverter when plugged into shore?
Would turning on the inverter accidently while connected to shore make smoke?
Smoke very bad

 

[MrNatural22]

???

 

[HRTKD]

Been following this, so just to be clear, if you have an inverter ,say in your RV you could connect it into the RVs breaker box via the outlet plug on the inverter connecting to the breakers boxes main hot, neutral and ground to power the RV outlets when not connected to shore power?
In my cargo trailer conversion,
(i have 2 15a breakers feeding 3-15a outlets (1 GFI 1st in a line of 2) with 14/2 inside wiring)
1500w PSW inverter. (not hardwire capable)
I'm currently using a separate power strip for inverter but would be nice to eliminate and use the outlets instead.

Is there any issue with back feed into the inverter when plugged into shore?
Would turning on the inverter accidently while connected to shore make smoke?
Smoke very bad

Looks like you're really wanting a response and your questions weren't rhetorical. So here goes...

I did NOT tie my inverter into my RV's electrical system. My puny 1000 watt MSW inverter DOES have a hard wire port and I used that to get 120Vac to a single standalone outlet. I played it safe.

If the inverter was tied into the RV's electrical system and it was on when shore power or the generator was active, I suspect something less than ideal would happen. Smoke, melty stuff, sparks, etc. For this reason, I will not be implementing any inverter that does not expect the shore power/generator circuit to go through the inverter. It's just simpler that way.

 

[severin20]

Is there wiring already in this cabin? or just extension cords?

No wiring in the cabin yet. Seems a plug end wired to a electrical box and then wire a cabin as usual is my best bet.

 

[severin20]

As long as you include a strain relief at the entry point of the cord into the electrical box or panel you'll be connecting into, you will be fine. An electrical inspector would rather see a better solution, though, for instance a male receptacle:

https://www.amazon.com/Leviton-5278-CWP-Straight-Flanged-Receptacle/dp/B003ATXIBG/

Then you can use a short extension cord to go from inverter into the building wiring without modifying the electrical cord.

Yes the male receptacle is exactly the type of product I need. Thank you.

 

[MrNatural22]

? Simple questions and a simple answer ?
I guess one could unplug from the inverter when on shore power and cover/protect the male prongs as they would be hot on shore power so no oops moments. Probably not the best, safest or wisest way but simple.?

Edit:
I reckon my main question/interest was concern on back feed into the inverter
If the inverter is turned off. ?



Looks like you're really wanting a response and your questions weren't rhetorical. So here goes...

I did NOT tie my inverter into my RV's electrical system. My puny 1000 watt MSW inverter DOES have a hard wire port and I used that to get 120Vac to a single standalone outlet. I played it safe.

If the inverter was tied into the RV's electrical system and it was on when shore power or the generator was active, I suspect something less than ideal would happen. Smoke, melty stuff, sparks, etc. For this reason, I will not be implementing any inverter that does not expect the shore power/generator circuit to go through the inverter. It's just simpler that way.

 

[stienman]

I guess one could unplug from the inverter when on shore power and cover/protect the male prongs as they would be hot on shore power so no oops moments. Probably not the best, safest or wisest way but simple.?

No.

No no no no no.

Just... no.

Just use a transfer switch. You can even get an automatic one if you don't want to have to select your power source manually.

But please, please, please don't ever make live wires accessible, and don't allow for the possibility of two unsynchronized power sources connecting to the same bus simultaneously.

There's a reason double male cords for generator backfeeding are called suicide cords. You'd be doing essentially the same thing.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

A transfer switch. Good. Best.

24’ RV trailer.
I have a 12ga 3-conductor cord plugged into my properly grounded 1200W inverter. The other end has crimped terminal rings that are connected inside an electrical box to a 20A GFCI outlet. A 30A RV cord is plugged into an adapter (15A?) that plugs into the GFCI outlet.
RV cord feeds the breaker panel.

Granted, the RV cord hasn’t been unplugged in three years. However, if I were to connect to grid - as if grid was nearby- I would simply unplug the RV cord from the GFCI outlet and send it out the cord fitting.

Nothing ever has a chance of mixing that way. No transfer switch required.

in your circumstances a 30A outlet from a 30A breaker in your panel could be provided next to a 30A subpanel. 30A subpanel would have a heavy RV male plug that would normally into the grid outlet- or unplugged and plugged into an inverter-powered outlet.
(above my not meet code in some areas due to certain jurisdictions ruling on “extension cords as a permanent means of electrical power” from NFPA and NEC but often this can be utilized with code-blessed hardware for backup power <=30A

Hardwired transfer switch removes all doubt.

 

[time2roll]

Transfer switch? This would be used to switch between two power sources. OP has one power source as far as I can tell.

I would use 10/3 cord and a quality plug put on the end such as Hubbell brand. In the box connect to #12 Romex to rope the cabin. No need for breakers as the inverter will shut down from overload before #12 gets warm.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

Transfer switch? This would be used to switch between two power sources. OP has one power source as far as I can tell.

I would use 10/3 cord and a quality plug put on the end such as Hubbell brand. In the box connect to #12 Romex to rope the cabin. No need for breakers as the inverter will shut down from overload before #12 gets warm.

I read it as he would be alternating between shorepower and inverter.
Maybe I was wrong?