Generator Cord Wiring | How To Make Up A Cord | L14-30R 

Absolutely excellent presentation and also shows the value of paying attention to detail, which is critical where safety must be a concern.

You made this really easy to understand thank you so much and the extra information about amps and watts, it made so many other things come clear for me. I really appreciate it.

Missed one test at the end @19:25: Check ohms ACROSS all combinations of male terminals, just to be CERTAIN that there are NO SHORT CIRCUITS. The end-to-end tests and the short-circuit tests should be performed on ANY cable that you buy, have built, or otherwise obtain. You don't want to find out there's a problem with live power energizing your cable!

Simple explanation. In a 4 pin 220 volt male generator plug, the locking terminal (the bent one) is the ground. Opposite that is neutral and the other 2, similar in appearance to each other, are lines 1 & 2. (Power) If you need to run an extension cord to power up a trailer normally fed by 220 volts but not running 220 volt appliances, you can 'cheat' a bit by connecting two wires together. (2.5 mm 3 core flex minimum, 2 core flex may be used but would require bridging out pins 1&2 inside the 220 plug housing) Using the smaller pin on a 2 pin 110 volt male plug, connect two wires. (With a 3 pin 110 plug, the round pin is not used) Then connect those two wires to each of the power pins (lines 1&2) in the locking 220 volt male plug. Next, connect another wire to the remaining large pin in the 110 volt plug and connect that to the neutral pin in the 220 volt male plug. This will safely feed all the 110 volt circuits. Be careful not to overload the system. Remember this is a 'cheat' system so a degree of caution is required. More importantly, be sure to plug in the 220 volt male plug to the 220 volt female receptacle on the trailer *before* plugging in the 110 volt power supply as the prongs on the male plug will be live. I've used this system with great success on a number of trailers and small areas for 'temporary power' when 220 volt power is unavailable.

Appreciate the video and your down to earth explanation! Thanks again

Thank you for your video I have been searching for Videos and watching Videos for about an hour and a half and none of them could help me since they did not explain well or omitted steps to follow yours helped me a lot thanks

this was extremely helpful & useful but i really wish i could see how you determined what wire goes into what hole. other than that this was pretty much what i needed

Great video. I’m dealing with 6kw and 20kw generators with 30 amp 250 volt 3 prong receptacles and need to power 30amp 125 volt RV’s. Have one custom built adapter, but need to build 2 more.

thank you

NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) does not MAKE cables, but some of their members do.

very helpful thank you

I have a four prong 220V generator & a 3-wire 220V condenser. Does this summary make sense? G = ground = green X = L1 = black Y = L2 = red W = neutral = white (unused in this case, as the condenser is single phase)

What happens when someone makes two cords but one cord the red cord in on X and the other cord the red is on Y?

Excellent video

What a good tutorial thanks!!

My generator has a 30a 4 prong female receptacle . I bought a 50 amp inlet plug box by mistake. I plan on using a 30 amp breaker but would like to still use the 50 amp inlet in case I get a larger generator down the road I can swap the 30 amp breaker for a 50 amp. (I’ll use 6 gauge wire when installing the inlet plug). So, how do I wire it up with 30 amp male plug and 50 amp female? What do I do with the extra wire?

Thank you for this very well explained video. I just purchased a champion 10000 watt startup and 8500 watt running generator and also purchased a 30 amp Generlink. My question is can l run my 2 ton ac with this setup along with a freezer, fridge, microwave and some lights. I see some comments explaining that the 30 amp cord could catch fire and that you should use a 50 amp setup.

Hi It’s very Interesting I am a U.K. electrician and I want to understand the USA plugs but the ones I am stuck on are the non-nema California standard wiring what terminals are beurtral ground and the hot wire ? Thnaks

nothing personal but you did not really identify what screw ends were hot and what was the neutral conductor. I see X, Y, and a W. Under normal circumstances I would assume G is ground and W is neutral and x and y are hot legs...but the male plug end I just bought has 3,(three) screws, are all brass colored. All brass !!!. My point is ...I expected a silverish one for neutral ......and it's not... I see a W but with leviton's miscolored screw mistake. leviton is suspect. thanks if you answer. its storm of the century tonight.

How many feet away can you have the Gen. from the inlet box ? how long can the wires be ? 10 gauge . looking to have the wires 100 ft. long to get the Gen. where I want it

What do you do when the outlet on your Generator is 3 wire 120-230-30 in other words you have a 4 wire female plug at the house and 3 wire male at the generator can I simply not hook up the neutral since a3 wire cord would not have a neutral

Hello fellow maritimer. I'm in Halifax. I built a generator shed and insulated it. I have 2 30amp 240 volt cables made ,each at 45 ft. My shed is 90 ft away from the house. I have a Firman 7500 cold start. W My question is, does this cause a problem using 2 cables. They are both 10-4 SOO cables. Cheers

I took mine apart cuz I thought I needed a diff end for my new coffee truck and now I want to put back together but my wires are red black white yellow. I have a W , X , Y, and G Which goes where? Help!

Can you make a cable by shielding THNN cable?

My food truck has a l14-30p that I need to connect to my generator that has a l14-20r could a cord made with these two ends work?

It seem that you don't want us to see wich wire go on wich pin.

What if the cable only has 3 cables on the inside? Green, white, and black.

Slight disagreement about the big box 10-3. Typically, they will give you Romex in which the ground line is NOT included in the description. A piece of 10-3 Romex contains the black, the white, and the red which are all insulated; it also includes the ground which is uninsulated. However, due to the "flat pack" style of Romex, it is not well suited for a generator cable. In a SOW cable, ALL the conductors are insulated.

I just bought a bandsaw and it has 3 prongs, which means 3 wires and it is 240 , and so my generator has a l 14 - 30 30 Amp 4 wire receptacle , I’m off the grid so my choices are limited , got any suggestions?