Splitting A 240v Plug Into 2 120v Plugs?

NO

Nope.
Has to be done at the circuit panel/breaker box

Yes it can if you know what you are doing

It can be done but is not advised. If you have two hots and a ground you can pull 120 volts off that line. I had never seen this until I crawled under an old rental house and discovered the past owner had created a 120 volt branch circuit for the washing machine off the 10 gauge 10/2 line that was run/dedicated for the dryer. No way in hell its up to code.

I am pretty sure powerbox makes a 240 plug that splits it into 2 120 plugs. Looks like a ballast with a 240 pigtail and 2 120 duplex on it.

No neutral, no way! And how do you get plugs with extra power on them? That's an extra cigarette in the pack.

Anyways no neutral noway

Yes you can get dirty and move the wires around in the panel to get a neutral, please remark your wires with phasing tape.

As I understand it, the existing 240V outlet would need to be served by "three conductors plus ground" wiring to be any safe at all. Otherwise, your 120V circuit would use the equipment (green wire) ground as the return conductor.

thx for the replies...well my 240v it only 2 hots and a ground, so i wont be able to split it...but i founf a step down voltage converter than will do the same thing....

eventually i need to rewire my whole house...im just trying to avoid it right now because that would mean taking down my grow for a few months

well you could make the 240 outlet 120v by changing the breaker and recepticle,then jump off that to add another 120v so your runing 2 x 120 duplex off a single pole breaker.you will also have a spare slot in your panel when your done if you wanted to add more 120v outlets in conduit with a surface mount power run.

sixstring said:

well you could make the 240 outlet 120v by changing the breaker and recepticle,then jump off that to add another 120v so your runing 2 x 120 duplex off a single pole breaker.you will also have a spare slot in your panel when your done if you wanted to add more 120v outlets in conduit with a surface mount power run.

Click to expand...

if i had access to my breaker box i would do that, but its at the other end of the sea of plants...so i dont have access.....to top it off the electric panel is such a mess, like i said my entire house electrical needs to be redone

In the US, in most residential services the common and ground are bonded together. Your service entrance only has 2 120 volt feeds and a ground their is no common coming or leaving your home.

MidwestToker said:

In the US, in most residential services the common and ground are bonded together. Your service entrance only has 2 120 volt feeds and a ground their is no common coming or leaving your home.

Click to expand...

ya i know that, but figured the neutral had to serve some purpose....i mean in the panel all the ground wires are wired to one spot, and all the neutrals are wired to a long metal plate...but comming in the house from the main feed your right there is only 2 hots @ 120v each ...no ground and no neutral, but the box panel is grounded to the ground obviously, but what about the neutral, where does it go from the panel?nowhere?

You have Line, Neutral and Ground be it 120V or 240V. Electrical potencial is always between L and N with current running from L to N. G is a safety bypass in case something goes wrong and L gets in contact with it be it a casing of a device, plumbing ... Finding yourself between will kill you if you don't have a FID circuit breaker installed right. L is the hot wire which you can check with electric phase/line tester. Finding yourself between L and N will also fry you no matter having FID installed or not. The electeical current in this case is limited by your 10A or 20A circuit breaker. FID has a triggering time of 0.5ms so you won't be harmed if touching a grouded part and L, but you will be killed touching for example L with one hand and N with the other, letting the current run through your heart and forcing it to run with mains frequency of 50/60Hz which will give you at least a decent heart attack if not boil your blood and cook your body from inside out.

Splitting 240V into 2X 120V isn't as simple as hanging each wire to one load and connect the other one somewhere in between. You need a transformer rated for sufficient power consumption.

So don't fuck with electricity if you don't know exactly what you're doing!

Keep it safe

If your not comfortable with electricity don't do it. But it can be done, and I myself have done it many times but I am familiar with electricity.