cheater box question

[DROdio]

Question about cheater boxes like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009STRJS/002-8931968-8270466?v=glance&n=15684181

If I ONLY have one 20 or 30 amp 115v socket available, can I connect just 1 leg of this cheater box into it in order to get *some* amount of power?

Or can I only use it if I have two outlets available?

[JackConrad]

I think using one side of this adapter would only energize 1 leg of your 50 amp load center (which leg depends on which of the 2 crods on this adapter you plug in..  If you want to connect your 50 amp to a single 20 or 30 amp recepticle, use a 50 amp female to 30 amp male and if neccessary a 30 amp female to 20 amp male.  Jack

[Len Silva]

Yes, it will work if you can find two outlets that close together. Generally, if the site box only has a one 20 amp and one 30 amp outlet, they are both fed from the same source and probably limited to 30 amps total.  In other words, they are there to give you a choice of connections but not both.

Sometimes you can steal borrow from an adjacent site if it's vacant but I don't think that adapter would reach.

You can probably make up your own for less money.

Len

[DrivingMissLazy]

I have used one of these cheater boxes in the past with relatively good success.
First, if you only have one 20 or one 30 amp outlet available, I would suggest, as Jack does, to use the adapter designed to do this. You really need to have three or four different adapters available to cover all situations.

Regarding the dual adapter, I have found that adjacent 20 and 30 amp outlets at the power pole are generally on different phases of the 240 volt service and you can actually get 240/120 volts. You can pull approximately 50 amps total generally. If there are ground fault protection outlets installed, they will trip and you can not use the cheater box.
Richard

Yes, it will work if you can find two outlets that close together. Generally, if the site box only has a one 20 amp and one 30 amp outlet, they are both fed from the same source and probably limited to 30 amps total.  In other words, they are there to give you a choice of connections but not both.

Sometimes you can steal borrow from an adjacent site if it's vacant but I don't think that adapter would reach.

You can probably make up your own for less money.

Len