L5-30 to 5-20 Question

[lightingguy3710]

Hi all,


A venue recently asked me if I could simply build adapters (with no breakers, fuses, etc.) to convert from a L5-30 to 5-20 Edison. The L5-30s are currently permanently wired into an electrical panel with 50' of 10/3 SOOW and are protected with 30 amp breakers.

I told the venue I could not make such adapters because the female 5-20 (Edisons) need to have a 20 amp breaker upstream of them to protect the load further downstream. I told them that the way to do it is to have an electrician come out and change the ends from L5-30s to 5-20s and to ALSO change the breakers in the panel to 20 amp ones for the changed cords.

In a nutshell, I'm assuming you cannot make a L5-30 male to 5-20 female adapter without any sort of breaker protection for the 5-20.

Is my thinking correct on this or am I being overly cautious?

 

[Footer]

Your spot on correct. I would buy some doghouses to provide the 5-20 outlets or do what you told them to do. No point in wasting oversized copper in the walls.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[JD]

Short answer is no. 5-20 has to have upstream protection of a 20 amp breaker. If you simply made a L5-30 to 5-20 with a breaker box inline, the adapter would have no certification. Is there such a thing? You might try Lex products.

 

[BobHealey]

Motion Labs actually makes what you want in a 2U form factor. http://motionlabs.com/c-77-l5-30-in-thru.aspx I've used their L21-30 and L5-20 distros in assorted amp racks before.

 

[lightingguy3710]

Thank you all for the input! I thought I was right, but wanted to be sure.

@BobHealey - Thank you for the Motion Labs link. I knew that if they didn't list it as a normal model I could definitely custom order one. Glad to see it's an off the self model.

I'm very greatful for the vast amount of knowledge on this board!

 

[MikeJ]

For the price, and if there is room in the panel, I would just add the 2 circuits, rather than replacing the ones you have. Obviously there was a purpose for them. Are they still used?

 

[lightingguy3710]

No they are not. I go through this every year with them. They were installed to meet the needs of one lighting company they used to rent from years ago.

We will see what they decide.... Money is tight, so it may be the same story next year.

 

[MikeJ]

If its a Square D box, and it probably is, breakers are only like $5 and new connectors are pretty cheap as well. Motion labs rack-paks are really nice, but they are spendy. You can have the breakers replaced for less than the price of a motion labs box.