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Yes you can put a 4 prong plug on a 3 prong appliance. A 4 prong plug is designed for 3 phase wiring. a 3 prong appliance is designed for single phase wiring. In the United States, going across two of the hot wires in three phase wiring will give you 208 volts instead of the 240 volts you would get with single phase wiring. Going across one of the wires will give you 104 volts instead of the 120 volts you would get with single phase wiring. Your stove will not be as hot.

On the other hand, if you are trying to run an appliance with a motor, you could burn up the motor. The motor is designed so the wire from one side will be on when the wire from the other side is off. That will not work when they are out of phase. Hopefully, your circuit breakers and fire extinguishers are in good condition. ( The answer above is incorrect and that's why I am leaving it alone, the correct answer follows.) your question probably applies to a residential dryer or cooking unit. Past codes only required three wire cords. The bare wire on this cord acted as ground and neutral. Now the code requires that the metal enclosure of these appliances have a separate grounding conductor and neutral. To convert a dryer to four wire, remove the wiring terminal cover, you will see a terminal block with three wires on it. the center wire is the neutral/grounding conductor, it should also have a copper bonding strap from this block to the frame of the dryer. Remove this strap and discard. Remove the two outside wires and complete removal of old cord. Install the new cord and connect the white wire to the center terminal, the green wire to the dryer frame. Connect the two hot wires to the outside terminals and reinstall the terminal cover. Do not put to much confidence in the original answer as part of his answer reveals to me he is an amateur electrician and shouldn't answer questions he knows nothing about.

You are correct that I knew nothing about that!. On the other hand, I have seen licensed electricians really mess up 3 phase in industrial settings!

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13y ago
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12y ago

If you properly connect a 3 conductor cable to a 4 prong twist lock plug end this can be done.

You must be sure that the grounding conductor and neutral are connected to the right terminals. Then the hot conductor, probably black, will connect to only one of the hot terminals. It wouldn't matter which. In this configuration you have 120v supplied from a 240v twist lock outlet and the cable can be connected to anything that requires just 3 conductors and 120v.

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11y ago

(Note: This answer applies to North American power and color codes)

Normally a 4-pin twist lock connector is used for 220V split power. So a power strip would connect with green (ground) to the (green) ground pin, white / silver to the neutral (usually silver) prong, and black / red / gold / brass to either of the two (usually gold / brass) hot prongs of the four-prong connector. Before plugging anything into the power strip, check that you have 110 across its pins, as 220V in anything you care about can really ruin your day.

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10y ago

No. The reason for this is the plug configurations are different and this is for safety reasons. Back feeding a generator into your home's wiring system is very dangerous and has killed linemen working on downed power lines. The generator will back feed voltage through the pole top Transformers and energize the downed line back up to its primary voltage of 13,200 volts. This is how the linemen get killed thinking that they are working on de energized primary lines.

If you want to have a correct installation installed in your home, call a licenced electrician and he can walk you through the procedure that has to be done and give you a price to do the work. The job when completed will be approved by the electrical inspector and when you connect your generator to the house it will give you peace of mind knowing that you are not going to get someone killed or badly burned.

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18y ago

Yes, but ONLY if the generator is electrically modified and upgraded to accept the 4 prong plug.

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12y ago

It can, but you will not have a ground wire. I have my generator hooked this way for my house for emergency power, but my neutral wire is also bonded to ground by a ground rod.

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Q: How do you connect a 4 prong generator twist and lock plug to a power strip?
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Can you plug a power strip into a generator to run multiple items?

Yes, you can plug a power strip into a generator to run multiple items.


Can you run a 3 ton heat pump with a 7000 watt generator?

No. The heat pump (your outdoor unit) and indoor blower motor will run ok at these power levels, but here is the bad news - if the heat pump can't meet the temperature demand (or it gets below ~ 20F outside), the furnace will attempt to turn on several electric strip heaters (as emergency backup). These strip heaters are rated from ~ 5000W to 20000W, depending on the size of your home. Your generator can't handle that load.


Power strip trips then goe back on is this safe?

If the power strip trips it is trying to tell you something. To much load. If it goes back on by itself then there is a problem with the power strip it is supposed to be a manual reset. If it doesn't trip when you take some of the load off then there is nothing wrong with the power strip. Add up all the load amperages and see what they total. My power bars are rated at 15 amps, if yours are the same any amount of amperage over that will trip them.


You are trying to change a 3 prong cord to a 4 prong your new dryer has two green cables attached to the inside of the dryer?

Dryer plug three to fourOpen up the electrical access panel on the back of the dryer. You will see a terminal block with three wires going into it from the plug cord assembly. A red and black and white are now connected to the terminal strip. Look at the position and colours of the existing 3 prong cord and how it is connected. Make a diagram. Coloured wires on the outside terminals white in the center. From the center wire terminal you will see a jumper strap that goes to the frame of the dryer. When installing the four prong plug this jumper is removed completely. The kit should have with it a grounding lug that connects to where the removed grounding strip attached to the frame of the dryer. This is the attachment point for the fourth green ground wire from the new dryer cord assembly.


What does a 15 amp continuous duty rating mean for a power strip?

USA homes are wired with wiring to sustain 15 amps continuous duty per outlet this is the rating is the same for a power strip.

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Can you plug a power strip into a generator to run multiple items?

Yes, you can plug a power strip into a generator to run multiple items.


Do you need a 110 v power strip to plug into 110 v outlet?

Nominally 110 to 120 volt power strip is okay to connect to a standard outlet.


What is the white strip in the chicken tenderloin?

Tendons, they connect muscle to bone


What are the purposes of the indicator strip and the gas generator in the GasPak system?

This system is used to generate an environment that is anaerobic for microorganisms. The strip will let you know when the oxygen has been used up.


How do you create a homemade power supply for a tattoo gun?

Just find a 12v charger cable from an old ethernet router wireless home phone or something else prob around 250 ma but the important thing is the 12v. just cut the wire strip it and connect it to the tattoo machine screws and insulate with electrical tape. I connect mine to a power strip so i can turn it on and off with my foot. Hope this helps someone out and happy tattooing! :)


What benefits from being plugged into a power strip?

The Smart Strip Power Strip features advanced circuitry that not only offers excellent power surge protection and line noise filtering, but is actually able to 'sense' the flow of electrical current through the strip's control outlet. Because of this unique ability, the Smart Strip can turn off selected equipment when its not in use -- creating benefit that no other power strip on the market today can offer.


How do you hook up 4 prong cord to 3 prong dryer?

To adapt a three prong range cord?æto a four prong outlet you need to remove the screws from the back plate to open the electric access panel. Then, pull out the copper grounding strip attached to the middle terminal. Next, remove the green ground screw from under the terminal block and attach it to the four prong outlet.?æ


Were do connect neon lights on a pocket bike?

Get l.e.d strip and a battry charge comes with it.


A narrow strip of dense connective tissue that connects muscle to bone?

Tendons connect muscles to bone.


Can you run a 3 ton heat pump with a 7000 watt generator?

No. The heat pump (your outdoor unit) and indoor blower motor will run ok at these power levels, but here is the bad news - if the heat pump can't meet the temperature demand (or it gets below ~ 20F outside), the furnace will attempt to turn on several electric strip heaters (as emergency backup). These strip heaters are rated from ~ 5000W to 20000W, depending on the size of your home. Your generator can't handle that load.


Can a bass guitar cause an electric shock?

Yes. If it does, that means you are plugged into a bass amplifier that is not grounded. You may also hear a buzzing noise coming from your amplifier, which is another sign that your amplifier is not grounded. "Grounding" has to do with electricity. In the US, your power chord should plug three prongs into the outlet, two flat ones and a round one below those. If your power chord is missing the third, round prong, then you should replace the power chord with one that has it. Also check your outlet to make sure it has three prong holes, and if you are using an extension chord or power strip, make sure that they all have three prongs on one end and three prong holes on the other. Sometimes you will be in situations where you only have two prong holes in an outlet. Check to see if there are any other outlets nearby. If not, you may need to use a three-prong-to-two-prong converter which helps with grounding. Other times even with three prongs all along the system. This means either your power chord is partially broken and needs to be replaced, or the overall electrical current in the wall is not properly grounded. If this is the case, don't worry too much. All it will do will cause a buzzing in your amp and occasionally shock you. Both of these things are annoying, so you should do your best to avoid them. This can also happen with an electric guitar.


Does a power strip use any power in the off position?

If the power strip has an indicator light it uses a very minimal amount of power, especially if it's a neon or LED indicator. If the power strip uses either of those, the power use is effectively unmeasurable. Incandescent indicator lights use a very small amount of power. But in reality, indicator lights are off when the power is off, so actually power strips use no power when they are off.