Help with AC cable rewiring please

[Fred75]

Just want to check to make sure I have everything in order.

I have an amp that currently is wired with a 20amp NEMA 5-20 plug. And it states that the amp requires a 20amp circuit.

There is no way that I will ever drive the amp to anywhere near it's maximum draw without my ears bleeding, heart palpatations etc.

So I would like to put a NEMA 5-15 plug on the amp so I can use it on a normal 15A circuit/receptacle. There shouldn't be any problems with this correct? If I do end up being stupid and driving it too hard I will just trip the breaker.

Now for the second part of the question, the neutral blade on the NEMA 5-20 plug is the one that is rotated 90 degrees? and would have to correspond the the wide blade on the 5-15 plug in changing the plug (left blade on plug looking from the wire-connect side with the ground down)?

Thanks a lot.
Fred

[mickeymoose]

Type "nema connector" into google to get the answer.
120V x 20A x 60% = >1400W of audio. Wow!
E

[cbdb]

Your only problem may be tripping the breaker on power up.

[Fred75]

Thanks,

My main concern is doing damage to the amp, a tripped breaker I can deal with. If it trips on power up I will just have to have a 20amp circuit wired in, hopfully I can avoid it though as I am currently renting.

I did check with google on the NEMA plugs, I just wanted to double check with someone who might have direct experience doing it. I don't want to get ahead of myself on this one, in case there is something I have overlooked.

[simon7000]

Originally Posted by Fred75

Thanks,

My main concern is doing damage to the amp, a tripped breaker I can deal with. If it trips on power up I will just have to have a 20amp circuit wired in, hopfully I can avoid it though as I am currently renting.

I did check with google on the NEMA plugs, I just wanted to double check with someone who might have direct experience doing it. I don't want to get ahead of myself on this one, in case there is something I have overlooked.

A 20 amp circuit should have lower resistance than a 15 amp circuit. This according to some folks will slightly change the sound.

It is possible the amplifier may trip the 15 amp breaker sometimes when it power up due to the starting surge. In that case you should see if you can find a 15 amp "Motor Rated" circuit breaker to fit your panel. They allow surges better and still provide protection.

The likely reason why your amplifier has a 20 amp plug is to comply with safety organization ratings. (U.L. for example)

I have seen people twist the 90 degree terminal to fit a standard 15 amp outlet. I have also seen adapters made that use a 20 amp outlet with a 15 amp cord. If these are used in an institutional setting that would incur significant liability.

You may wish to check the gauge of the wire going to the outlet. 14 gauge would have been used to be cheap, but sometimes 12 gauge is used to feed multiple 15 amp outlets. In that case there is an actual exception to code to allow a 20 amp breaker to power the outlets even thought they are only 15 amp per outlet.

As to your concern about doing damage to the amplifier. It actually is possible. I have seen an amplifier that latched up on power up if the AC line was "soft" or had too high of a resistance, of course I returned it as defective and the manufacturer repaired it. Of course even with the defective amplifier it did no damage to anything else. It just sometimes did not work. So that is one amplifier out of the thousands I have used.