PowerCon inside a floor box

[AlexDonkle]

On a renovation job site recently I came across a floor box with 2 powercon jacks installed inside. It was an ACE backstage box, and after going on their website I confirmed that they do indeed sell PowerCon as an option on their floor boxes for 120V power. Since PowerCon is only UL Recognized, not UL Listed, I believe they can only be installed inside of a UL Listed assembly such as an LED light fixtures. This is the first I've seen one in a floor box though, which is UL Listed, however floor boxes are somewhat modular by nature and seem distinctly different than connectors installed on equipment.

Has anyone run across this before?

 

[derekleffew]

Dat's what da man said:

The PowerCon and True1 are both UL-recognized as appliance connectors--they must be installed inside a piece of listed equipment. They are not suitable for field installation in wall plates, according to their listing.

I don't see any advantage in having a PowerCon receptacle in a floor pocket. How does one get around the "make/break under load" prohibition?

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

I don't see on the web site where it says a box with nuetrik connectors is listed. Not real clear.

 

[techieman33]

Dat's what da man said:


I don't see any advantage in having a PowerCon receptacle in a floor pocket. How does one get around the "make/break under load" prohibition?

Maybe if it's only installed with relay modules in a dimming system? I agree with you though, it would make much more sense to have a much more universal plug like edison available.

I don't see on the web site where it says a box with nuetrik connectors is listed. Not real clear.

If you click on "connectrix" under the picture of the box it gives connector options, powercon is one of them.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Maybe if it's only installed with relay modules in a dimming system? I agree with you though, it would make much more sense to have a much more universal plug like edison available.



If you click on "connectrix" under the picture of the box it gives connector options, powercon is one of them.

I saw that but I didn't see it was necessarily a listed piece of equipment if it had nuetriks in it. Their UL note says "Specific Products UL Listed", not all. Pretty common tactic. For instance, Bilco says their roof vents are listed, but if you look in the fine print for options they offer, some options void the listing.

 

[Footer]

We have power cons mounted in gang boxes all over the place in our larger room. They were all installed in 2002 when our PA went it. They power all our our front/side/rear fills. Not saying it is right, but it is out there. Now at the same time all of our isolated 120v stage power is on L620's, so I'm not really going to say that the installer that did the work and speced it did it right. I'm still not sure how that L620 thing happened.

 

[tjrobb]

Footer - could be worse. Three of our company switches run 480Y/277V and aren't labeled for voltage. After smoking a rental group's gear we now have two portable 300kVA transformers.

 

[Footer]

Footer - could be worse. Three of our company switches run 480Y/277V and aren't labeled for voltage. After smoking a rental group's gear we now have two portable 300kVA transformers.

What is even weirder is we have doghouses made that take L620 in and spit out edison. No if it was done onsite or they convinced someone to build them. I have called LEX before to get a few more made and have been laughed at... Even weirder is I have a decent amount of L5-20's around but they are not on isolated power. If we ever get the rig re-done and get distrubuted moving light power one of the things that will have to happen is all the audio power gets moved over to L5.\

Guess I should not be too suprised, the company who wrote out spec also does all of their touring racks with L21-30... but they wire them with 2 hots, 2 neutrals, and a ground.

 

[llburg]

A venue I work at frequently has all its stage stringers (120v string of conduit boxes with 2 duplex receptacles) on L16-30 connectors. Which are supposed to be 480v 3 phase w/o neutral. Instead they have 2 120v phases with neutral and ground. Makes me hope there isn't an actual 480v outlet somewhere.

 

[AlexDonkle]

Just to update anyone who was curious, I heard back from ACE today (they had to call UL to get the answer) and they confirmed that the PowerCon connector is not part of their UL Listed assembly. So essentially, they sell the all components, but legally speaking SpeakOn cannot be installed in their floor boxes.

 

[STEVETERRY]

Dat's what da man said:


I don't see any advantage in having a PowerCon receptacle in a floor pocket. How does one get around the "make/break under load" prohibition?

"Inside a listed piece of equipment" can mean a box or connector strip with terminal strips for contractor connection.

ST