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The red and black wires are "hots" across them you will read 240v with a meter. The white wire is a netural, common, or system ground, as it is variously known. Most electricians call it a netural. The green wire is a ground or earth, and is there to carry shorts to the chassis to the earth so you don't get zapped, and to provide a grounding path to earth so the circuit breaker or fuse will trip or blow when there is a short to the chassis. If you measure from either "hot" to the netural, you will see 120v. The green wire is NOT a netural or common and should NOT be used to rotinely carry electricity in the circuit. The three prong 240v plug used on most 240v windown airconditioners is a NEMA 6-20 (20 amp) or 6-30 (30 amp) and these do not use a netural/common wire. They have two hots, and a green earth ground, and NO netural/common wire. Some 240v equipment uses blower motors and such that work on 120v. Your air conditioner might. You will probably need to tie the green gound and the netural together at the end of the cord, where you are plugging the A/C unit in. You will want to make some sort of adapter box to mount the receptacle in and plug into your generator cord. That way you don't mess with the connections on the generator cord. Follow the link to some good pics of NEMA 5-15 and 5-20 plugs/receptacles (both are 120volt, and the NEMA 6-15 and 6-20 plugs and receptacles (both are 240volt and are the bottom two pics on the link page). Charles
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