ELECTRIC CORD REPAIR: How to Install Replacement Ends

Sooner or later, the ends of most electric cords fail, and the problem usually has to do with an end that goes bad.  But replacing the bad end with a new end is simple, inexpensive and sensible. Watch this 90-second video to see how it’s done. Always UNPLUG any cord before working on it. That should go without saying, but please don’t forget. Video transcript below.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

In this video, I’m going to show you how to replace the end of an electrical cord. This is a screwdriver, wire cutters, and a utility knife. You’ll need all three of these tools for the repair. These are the replacement cord ends. This is the female cord end, that’s usually what goes wrong in extension cords. This is a male replacement cord end, it’s usually the problem on appliances. You’ll want to get good ones that come in two halves with a build in cable clamp, as you’ll see.

Here’s the female cord has been pulled apart showing the two halves. These three screws here have been loosened underneath so that it can come apart, exposing the three terminals. This one here is gold in color, the other one is silver, these colors matter, and this final one is green. It lines up with the different colors of wires that you’ll see next. Here the cable has been pushed through into the outer covering, that’s the cable. Here about half-an-inch of the outer husk of the cable’s been removed, exposing the wires. The insulation on those wires has been removed too, exposing about a quarter-of-an-inch of wire.

Here you can see the wires plugging into the end. The white wire connects to the silver terminal. The black wire connects to the gold color terminal right here. The green wire, which is a ground wire, connects to the green terminal that you saw earlier. Finish all this up by pushing the two halves of the replacement cord in together and tightening up the three screws that hold the end together, then you’re all done.

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– Steve Maxwell