Owning several Festools, when I take them to a site, I generally bring only one PLUGIT and leave it attached to my CT22. I went to plug in my TS55, and the plug would not go in. Upon further review, I found that this Plug It, the left one in the picture, had a small protrusion on top of the contact ares that the PluIt on the right does not have. The TS 55 did not have a corresponding groove, so the plug would not go in & I got to drive 25 miles through Houston traffic to get an un protruded plug. What is the purpose for this? Does anyone know? Be sure to check before you pack up.
Plug It diferences.
- Thread starter Monju123
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Monju123 said:
There are two types of Plug-It cords, 15-amp and 20-amp. The 15-amp is keyed to prevent using it on a 20-amp tool.
Bob Marino
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Monju123 said:
Just be sure to take the larger (16 ga) cable, as that will work with all the tools, while the smaller (18 ga) will not work with the higher amp tools.
Bob
Jerry Work
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Hi all,
A couple of the responses here could be misleading.
For the most common types of wire and insulating materials used in electrical cords in the US, an 18ga wire can handle up to a 10 amp or 1200 watt load, a 16ga wire a 12.5 amp load, a 14ga wire a 15 amp load, and a 12ga wire a 20 amp load. These are based on the insulation covering the conductors being able to handle a defined temperature rise. If the insulation can only safely handle less temperature rise, the wire would be rated to handle only smaller amp loads. But, lets use these figures for our purposes here.
Receptacles in the wall are sized for amp load as well and use wire sized accordingly. Plus, those circuits are protected by a circuit breaker which will not allow more than the rated amp load to pass for any protracted period of time. They will allow greater amp loads to pass for short periods of time, time short enough that the insulation on the wire will not melt.
As Bob points out correctly, the two plug-it cords use 18ga and 16ga wire. The 18ga wire is only sized to handle a maximum of a 10 amp load (1200 watts at 120 volts) while the 16ga wire can handle a maximum 12.5 amp load (1500 watts at 120 volts). The male plug on both will connect to a plug in the wall (receptacle) capable of handling a maximum of 15 amps (1800 watts at 120 volts) but the wire in each cord will only safely handle the amp load noted so that is all the current that can be safely passed through that cord. The "larger" 16ga cord can safely handle the current draw from any of the plug-it equipped tools (all of which have a less than 1500 watt draw). The smaller 18ga cord can only handle the current draw of the smaller tools (those with less than a 1200 watt draw) and not the larger amp draw tools like saws and large routers. The notch in the plug-it end of those cords makes it possible to plug the larger 16amp cord into any plug-it tool while the smaller 18ga cord will only plug into the smaller amp draw tools.
Bottom line, just because the cord is capable of being plugged into a 15amp receptacle at the wall does not mean the wire in the cord can safely carry a 15 amp load, hence the need to prevent the user from inadvertently plugging the wrong (smaller) wire cord into the larger amp draw tools.
On a related note, the dust collectors come with much larger 12ga wire in their cords so they can handle a total of 2400 watts (20 amps times 120 volts) combined between the wattage required by the DC itself plus whatever is plugged into it. Most household receptacles in the US are wired with 14ga wire capable of only handling 15 amps or 1800 watts total load. Those receptacles have two vertical flat slots for carrying power and one round ground slot. That is the plug which is on the end of the cord for the dust collectors. A second, less common household receptacle has one vertical and one horizontal slot for carrying power plus the round ground slot. Those are wired with 12ga wire and are capable of carrying a 20 amp or 2400 watt load. The auxillary cord that comes with the dust collectors has a male end with one of those 20 amp style plugs and a female end with the 15 amp style plug so you can connect the DC to either a 15 or a 20 amp receptacle (since the wire itself can handle either load) depending on the total power draw required for both the DC itself plus whatever is plugged into it.
Finally, for really large power draw tools like the 2200 router, the cord supplied would have to be 12ga wire and the plug shaped with the one horizontal and one vertical posts for power plus the one round ground post to be able to plug into a 20 amp receptacle sized to handle the full 2200 watts of continuous power the motor is able to handle safely. The wire on the version of the 2200 sold in the US is 14ga and uses the 15amp variety plug which has two vertical and one round posts so it can be plugged into a receptacle rated only to handle 1800 watts. Hence, it must could only draw more than 1800 watts for a short period of time before the circuit breaker tripped. It can draw the full 2200 watts the motor is capable of, but only for a short period of time. That is lots of power for an efficient tool like the 2200. The name plate lists it as a 15 amp maximum draw tool in US configuration.
All the large routers sold in the US which claim to be 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 HP are also sold with 14ga wire cords and 15 amp plugs. Since one HP electrical is defined as a 746 watt draw, then 3.25 hp would be a 2425 watt draw or slightly over 20 amps at 120 volts. Hummmmmmm. How can that be? Answer must be that those manufacturers rate HP only for the brief period of time the motors draw more than 15 amps before the circuit breaker trips or they are internally limited to 1800 watts continuous draw or 2.41 HP.
Hope this somewhat clears up what can be a confusing topic, but one that is very important for all of us who use power tools to understand.
Jerry
A couple of the responses here could be misleading.
For the most common types of wire and insulating materials used in electrical cords in the US, an 18ga wire can handle up to a 10 amp or 1200 watt load, a 16ga wire a 12.5 amp load, a 14ga wire a 15 amp load, and a 12ga wire a 20 amp load. These are based on the insulation covering the conductors being able to handle a defined temperature rise. If the insulation can only safely handle less temperature rise, the wire would be rated to handle only smaller amp loads. But, lets use these figures for our purposes here.
Receptacles in the wall are sized for amp load as well and use wire sized accordingly. Plus, those circuits are protected by a circuit breaker which will not allow more than the rated amp load to pass for any protracted period of time. They will allow greater amp loads to pass for short periods of time, time short enough that the insulation on the wire will not melt.
As Bob points out correctly, the two plug-it cords use 18ga and 16ga wire. The 18ga wire is only sized to handle a maximum of a 10 amp load (1200 watts at 120 volts) while the 16ga wire can handle a maximum 12.5 amp load (1500 watts at 120 volts). The male plug on both will connect to a plug in the wall (receptacle) capable of handling a maximum of 15 amps (1800 watts at 120 volts) but the wire in each cord will only safely handle the amp load noted so that is all the current that can be safely passed through that cord. The "larger" 16ga cord can safely handle the current draw from any of the plug-it equipped tools (all of which have a less than 1500 watt draw). The smaller 18ga cord can only handle the current draw of the smaller tools (those with less than a 1200 watt draw) and not the larger amp draw tools like saws and large routers. The notch in the plug-it end of those cords makes it possible to plug the larger 16amp cord into any plug-it tool while the smaller 18ga cord will only plug into the smaller amp draw tools.
Bottom line, just because the cord is capable of being plugged into a 15amp receptacle at the wall does not mean the wire in the cord can safely carry a 15 amp load, hence the need to prevent the user from inadvertently plugging the wrong (smaller) wire cord into the larger amp draw tools.
On a related note, the dust collectors come with much larger 12ga wire in their cords so they can handle a total of 2400 watts (20 amps times 120 volts) combined between the wattage required by the DC itself plus whatever is plugged into it. Most household receptacles in the US are wired with 14ga wire capable of only handling 15 amps or 1800 watts total load. Those receptacles have two vertical flat slots for carrying power and one round ground slot. That is the plug which is on the end of the cord for the dust collectors. A second, less common household receptacle has one vertical and one horizontal slot for carrying power plus the round ground slot. Those are wired with 12ga wire and are capable of carrying a 20 amp or 2400 watt load. The auxillary cord that comes with the dust collectors has a male end with one of those 20 amp style plugs and a female end with the 15 amp style plug so you can connect the DC to either a 15 or a 20 amp receptacle (since the wire itself can handle either load) depending on the total power draw required for both the DC itself plus whatever is plugged into it.
Finally, for really large power draw tools like the 2200 router, the cord supplied would have to be 12ga wire and the plug shaped with the one horizontal and one vertical posts for power plus the one round ground post to be able to plug into a 20 amp receptacle sized to handle the full 2200 watts of continuous power the motor is able to handle safely. The wire on the version of the 2200 sold in the US is 14ga and uses the 15amp variety plug which has two vertical and one round posts so it can be plugged into a receptacle rated only to handle 1800 watts. Hence, it must could only draw more than 1800 watts for a short period of time before the circuit breaker tripped. It can draw the full 2200 watts the motor is capable of, but only for a short period of time. That is lots of power for an efficient tool like the 2200. The name plate lists it as a 15 amp maximum draw tool in US configuration.
All the large routers sold in the US which claim to be 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 HP are also sold with 14ga wire cords and 15 amp plugs. Since one HP electrical is defined as a 746 watt draw, then 3.25 hp would be a 2425 watt draw or slightly over 20 amps at 120 volts. Hummmmmmm. How can that be? Answer must be that those manufacturers rate HP only for the brief period of time the motors draw more than 15 amps before the circuit breaker trips or they are internally limited to 1800 watts continuous draw or 2.41 HP.
Hope this somewhat clears up what can be a confusing topic, but one that is very important for all of us who use power tools to understand.
Jerry
nickao
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Good point Jerry.
In short always check the AMP(current draw) when wanting to know the true of a tool.
HP specifications are meaningless. Even the continuous HP specifications are meaningless. Jerry is correct in that always
I(current) x V(voltage) equal P(power in watts). Then use the total continuous wattage times the standard 746 watts is 1 HP to calculate.
One clarification in Jerry's note.
Power does not draw anything. Current known as Amps or Amperage draws. Power(watts) is nothing more than a unit of measurement for current(amperage draw or the amount of electric charge per second) times voltage(the potential difference between two points). The power(watts) are equal to one joule of energy per second. Just a clarification that power really is not drawing anything and is not a single characteristic like volts or amps.
Nickao
In short always check the AMP(current draw) when wanting to know the true of a tool.
HP specifications are meaningless. Even the continuous HP specifications are meaningless. Jerry is correct in that always
I(current) x V(voltage) equal P(power in watts). Then use the total continuous wattage times the standard 746 watts is 1 HP to calculate.
One clarification in Jerry's note.
Power does not draw anything. Current known as Amps or Amperage draws. Power(watts) is nothing more than a unit of measurement for current(amperage draw or the amount of electric charge per second) times voltage(the potential difference between two points). The power(watts) are equal to one joule of energy per second. Just a clarification that power really is not drawing anything and is not a single characteristic like volts or amps.
Nickao
Programmergeek
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For the price we pay just one cord! Just include 16g cords with all tools I had the same thing last night it took me 30 min because I couldn't find the 16g cord to make one cut with my router I had about 10 of the 18g cords laying around. Finally gave up and just cut the tab off for the 6" cut I had to do.
I could see if the cord was alot smaller and ligher for functionally but it is about the same. How much money could this save anyhow $3 on a tool. The time I have lost becuase of several cords now is not worth it.
I could see if the cord was alot smaller and ligher for functionally but it is about the same. How much money could this save anyhow $3 on a tool. The time I have lost becuase of several cords now is not worth it.
Michael Kellough
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Programmergeek said:
In a pinch, this is the simplest (only) thing to do (I know from personal experience). Keep a 16g cord with the vac and you won't have to worry about compatibility. Half of my cords have never been untied.
The risk when using an undersized cord is overheating, which is easy to monitor. And if you only need run the tool for a few cuts...
Programmergeek
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Funny thing is that was the problem the cord that came with the tool instead of being in the systainer I intragrated to the vac hose. That vac was not near where I was working. Guess I should go buy some extra high current cords.
Sam Murdoch
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A keyed plug came with the Domino and an unkeyed plug came with the TS 55. My unkeyed plug is all tiewrapped to my vacum hose and so that's the one I use for both tools. The keyed plug stays in the box. Am I in trouble?
Sam
Sam
Michael Kellough
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Sam Murdoch said:
Nope! That's the way to go.
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