15 Amp Power tools Plasma Cutter

[Adoom]

I just bought myself an expensive toy/tool.
I got a Cut40 BOC Plasma cutter.
It came with a 15Amp plug, they have the wider earth terminals that dont fit normal(10Amp) sockets.
My mig welder came with the same 15Amp plug and I just swapped it for a normal plug and I've had no problems with it for years.

But when I swapped the 15Amp plug on the plasma cutter for a 10Amp plug everything seemed to be fine until I press the button on the cutting torch.
Straight away the thermal overload light comes on. It doesnt matter what power setting I try, the same thing happens and there is no arc/spark/anything but the compressed air from the torch nozzle.

The guy at BOC said because the cutter draws lots of current(more than a mig) I have to have the 15Amp plug. And a 15Amp socket in the garage to use the cutter.....

I would have thought that rather than the cutter not working AT ALL, it would try and draw too much current over the circuit and get hot/burn something out/blow the fuse.........
There was no heat, no smoke, no melting, no fuses blowing.... just that thermal overload light.

Before I go and get a sparky to rewire my garage for a 230volt 15Amp circuit $$$$$. Does anyone have any knowledge in this area?

[johndoe1025]

it can be coming up with the thermal overload cause theres a bad connection somewhere cant it? i seen amps in cars(bit diff i no bt same principle) come up with thermal overload lights because of bad earthing. wire up your garage yourself, it aint that hard! i woulda thought it would jsut trip your circuit breaker though instead of not working...

[Bling]

Sounds pretty cut and dry to me

You are just lucky your mig works I guess on 10A. I'm sure it wouldn't be too expensive to run a wire capable of running 15A.

[Adoom]

Sounds pretty cut and dry to me

You are just lucky your mig works I guess on 10A. I'm sure it wouldn't be too expensive to run a wire capable of running 15A.

I have the feeling you have to pay stupid money just to buy the 15Amp sockets
I think, but I'm not sure that the power cable from the main house fuse box is buried under the concrete footpath to get to the garage.

I'm calling a sparky mate of my brothers after 7 tonight about it. He should be able to shed some light on things.

[Adoom]

And also it means I can't use the cutter anywhere else but in my garage, from that socket. Cause I have never actually seen any 15Amp sockets in anyone elses garage. The ones I have seen pictures of look like 3phase sockets with the huge rotary switch but they have socket that looks almost like a conventional 10Amp socket but with the bigger earth terminal hole. 15Amp
10Amp

[neo]

Are the lights and wall sockets in the garage all on the same fuse (ewww so so wrong if they are)?

I'd say that the wiring to the garage is too small or is the correct size but the run is too long thus your effectively getting voltage drop across the cable when you try to draw mega amps.

How far away is the garage? Time to make a mega-extension cord?

[Bling]

Possible to trench to the garage from the house? Ducting is a good option.

Didn't realise the sockets were quite a bit, but you could always grab something like below if they are stupidly expensive and get it wired to your plasma.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Ki ... 128315.htm

I see the plug shape you posted above on ovens all the time too, so they should be mass produced so possibly a bit cheaper

Extension cord (as mentioned above, serious or not ) may be the cheapest option as you could mount the 15A socket right next to the power board.

[Adoom]

Possible to trench to the garage from the house? Ducting is a good option.

From the corner of the house to the corner of the garage is just over a metre. I think this is where the wire goes across, but there is also a substantial concrete footpath going over the cable.
I'm going to call the sparky mate now and see what he says.

[jondee86]

Sounds a bit like someone is pulling someone's tit !!!

The machine takes whatever current it needs to do its job. It will take
it from a 10 amp socket or from a 15 amp socket. The only diff is that
one socket is rated for less than the other. The wire behind is the same
bit of wire, just connected to a higher rated socket. The socket rating
is to try and stop you putting in a two-way adapter and running two
10 amp heaters off the one socket... and melting the socket

Before you get a sparky in, put the 15 amp plug back on and take the
machine somewhere that has a 15 amp plug. I reckon you have a duff
connection somewhere, or a crook machine.

Cheers... jondee86

[Bling]

The wire behind is the same
bit of wire, just connected to a higher rated socket.

Every new house i've worked on has a wire thicker to the cooker (15A I guess) than the rest of the wiring, they doing it wrong these days?

Why even bother running a thicker wires to a car amp if the wires not going to make a difference?

Just doesn't make sense to me. keen to learn something tho

[johndoe1025]

agree with bzg bling. wires have to be rated for 15 amp youll risk burnign them out otherwise. we're upgrading the wiring to 15 amp at work at the moment, having to run new wires to make it 15

[Adoom]

I havent been able to get hold of the sparky yet.
But I have checked the power isolator switch thingy in the garage. There is a big wire going to it from the house.
Inside there are two fuses(the ones with the bit of wire in them) One is 5Amps for the lights and it has some skinny wires coming from that to the light switch. Then there is a 15Amp fuse for the sockets, it has a bigger wire coming out of it but not as big as the main supply wire.
The power outlet I was using was the furtherest away from the isolator box. So I tried the power outlet right next to the isolator box. Same deal, the thermal overload light comes on.

I am guessing that the small wires are so long they are creating a lot of resistance and there isnt enough current to make an arc???
I would have though that the plasma cutter would still work at low power unless its smart somehow? Maybe there is a 'computer' in it that is all like"$&#$% off I want more power than that... I'm not going to work...."?

[Dr J]

im priddy sure you can get adaptors to so you can plug them into 10 amp plugs. Yes you could burn out you wiring but only if you use it at full noise for prolonged lengths of time.

[Caribeena]

most spa pools run off a 15a circuit....
normal 2.5mm TPC wire can be used providing it is on its on circuit.
You'll need to run a new circuit from your board with a 20a breaker to a dedicated 15a plug. Just because a circuit has a 15a breaker on it does not mean it will handle 15a, its only there to "break" the circuit if there is an overload.

thats my 2c from the limited 15a wiring i've done on various cashies

[Adoom]

im priddy sure you can get adaptors to so you can plug them into 10 amp plugs. Yes you could burn out you wiring but only if you use it at full noise for prolonged lengths of time.

Yeh yeh. I have already changed the plug on the plasma cutter to a 10Amp plug. I would have thought it would just work or blow the fuse. But it is just turning on the thermal overload indicator light which is supposed to mean its hot. Its NOT HOT!!!! ITS $&#$% COLD AS!!!!
God damn! I need to talk to someone at BOC who knows something.
I wonder if I can test it at my mechanics, surely he has 15Amp outlets in the workshop......just so I can make sure its not faulty.

[AE92blktop]

check your plug is wired right and try it in another outlet if its still no go take it back.
Just because it has a 15amp plug on it does not mean it will draw the full 15, perhaps at full noise but not for the lower settings.
Your garage wiring could be able to handle a 15amp outlet with out any upgrades, BUT I would get it checked first, and if you pick the right brand and design a 15 amp outlet is about the same price as a standard 10 amp one

[d1 mule]

as stated a "normal" 10 amp socket outlet is generally (now days IS) 2.5mm2 wiring, which is rated to 20 amps.
1.5mm2 (commercial lighting, some old plug circuits) is rated to 16A and 1mm2 wiring (residentail lighting) is rated to 10A.

now assuming when you are using your plasma cutter you wont be using any other tools on that same circuit, apart from lights (im going to assume that the garage is on its own circuit, if not it should be) it will be fine, assuming the wire feeding that garage is 2.5mm2 wiring.

so yes def does sound like someone is pulling your tit.

there will be a KW rating on the side of the plasma cutter and from that you will be able to work out that max current draw.

1KW (1000w) is 4.3 Amps
2Kw (2000w) is 8.6 Amps

etc etc etc

[evil_si]

i just trim down the earth terminal on the 15amp plugs on my welders,
never had an issue, and i have checked the current draw during operation and its fine for me,

check the fittings on the cutting torch, the lincoln plasma we had use to play up if they were dirty or loose that use to bring up the thermal overload straight away,

[Jdawg]

I've got a BOC40.
The old man went to Bunnings or Frasers, can't remember which and bought a 15amp wall socket, swapped out for the 10 amp no problem.
The wiring should be enough to take it without getting warm as you are not going to be drawing 15 amp constantly
Take it easy with your handset, my trigger has already broken so it is on fulltime which gives the compressor a hard time.
I found I had to take the guide off to get close enough to the metal before it would spark, basically drag the tip then pull back, bit like stick welding.

[pidge]

Most "heating" outlets use 2mm^2 cable, which is rated for 20A.

Each outlet is only rated for 10A since there is (usually) more than one outlet on the same circuit. Except for Spas, which will have a 20A circuit to themselves - 10A for the heater, 10A for the pump.

You could just go get the 15A outlet from Frasers (unlikely to be from Bunnings, but I'd like to be wrong about that.)

Or just get a Stove/Range/Hob plug, and unplug the stove when you want to do some cutting or welding - the wiring for a stove normally has 3mm^2 cable - for 30A. At least, that's what my dad did for the single phase, 15A MIG welder he got.