15A vs. 20A power cord questions

Yes...many of us use configurations where the dedicated circuit is 20 amp and there is a mix of 20 and 15 amp power cords and components in use.  If you wind up in a situation where you have either a 15 amp or 20 amp cord you need to use and the component takes the opposite, check out Shunyata's high-end C20C15 or C15C20 converter plugs; they weigh about pound a piece and are a bit pricey ($130-$150 depending upon source) but they are incredibly good, over-built, don't seem to introduce any negative sonics at all, and definitely can belong to any mid to high-end system when need be. 

zephyr24069
 " ... If you wind up in a situation where you have either a 15 amp or 20 amp cord you need to use and the component takes the opposite, check out Shunyata's high-end C20C15 or C15C20 converter plugs ... definitely can belong to any mid to high-end system ..."

I've seen these before, but putting a 15A connector on a component that really needs 20A current is ill-advised, at best. That's how fires start.

To be fair, some components use 20A plugs even though the component draws much less than 20A, or even 15A. In that case, there should be no problem using the adapter.

jea48
 "As for the current handling ability of a NEMA 5-15P 15 amp plug vs. a NEMA 5-20P 20 amp plug there isn’t any. If you look at the size of the hot and neutral blades they look exactly the same ..."

Quite so. But the issue is not the safety of the connector itself. It simply isn't safe to use an adapter to plug a device that requires 20A of current into a 15A outlet.

" A manufacture can build, and does, a power cord that has an IEC 20 amp female connector on one end and a 5-15P plug on the other end. "

Quite so. And, if the device itself draws 15A of current or less, that's perfectly safe.

Some manufacturers use 20A connectors - even though the component draws less than 15A of current - because the 20A connector is likely to make a tighter fit with the receptacle. ARC has done this.

Absolutely true,..by the same token though, all manufacturers of power cords sold to audiophiles have one version of that power cord and then offer 15amp or 20amp plugs as an option. They don't wire the cord any differently for 15 versus 20 amp applications; they all seem to 'overbuild' a bit for 20amp as a likely outcome.  As pointed out above, there is no difference in the connectors themselves in terms of current handling; my comments above were assuming that people know not to plug a 20amp component into a 15-amp circuit if that component truly draws well above 15 amps 'steady state'; that is how fires start, not due to the connector itself from what a couple of electricians have told me. All that assuming of course that the breaker in the box is faulty and does not trip in the first place...

If I've got any of this wrong, please let me know. I'm working off what a couple of electricians and high-end cable experts have mentioned over the years.