Electrical – 20/240 Outlet split to 2 16/120 PDUs

electrical

I have an L6-20R outlet that is rated at 20-amp 240volt. The circuit breaker is a 2-pole 20/120.

I have 2 16-amp 120v power distribution units with L5-20P ends.

Could I run an L6-20P to 2X L6-20R and then convert the L6-20R to L5-20p and safely run 1.5Kw off each split without any power issues?

Best Answer

L6-20 outlets do not carry a neutral, just two hots and ground and provides 240 volts only. As such, you cannot safely get 120 volts out of it without using a step-down transformer.

Using ground as neutral is not safe and is not allowed by the electrical code.

If you had a 240/120 volt outlet such as a 14-20, then you could safely make a splitter to two L5-20 using one hot and the neutral to each (as well as ground, of course).