Extension Cords, Who Has 'em?

[txbonds]

It's crazy but I don't find much need these days for my long cords. I have one of the yellow 12 ga contractor cords from lowes that is 100 foot and personally I find everything about it to be a pain in the ***. It's heavy, it's bulky and it's hard to store in a small garage.

In my garage shop I mounted a 50' reel with 12 ga in it that I got from Northern Tool. It reaches my entire garage and out my drive way.

If buying again I would probably rather have 3 or 4 cords that were 25' than another 100 footer though because I just don't need it these days.

 

[Sonorous]

I really like it. Eagle Scout FTW!!

Clove hitches have there place but I think a clove hitch reversed with a half/double half to lock it in place might be better.

I'll admit somewhat reluctantly that I'm not a knot expert. I blame it it on the ratchet straps. One day...

I attached a few pics so people good see in more detail what it looks like *******. I think the smaller radius one is too tight for a 50' cord, but understandably that product was wrapped that way for shipping. Yes - apparently you can now buy these things pre-made. See here and here and I'm sure elsewhere. For $70 those are MUCH better cords than you'll find at home depot!

Tie line is very cheap - $13.99 for 300' here - and you'll start using for everything once you get a roll. You want the 'unglazed' or uncoated stuff like what is linked, which is specially designed to be easily untied. The 'glazed' stuff is meant to hold tight. Both are braided and won't really ever fray - just cut to size and that's it.

Anyone who puts the effort into neatly wrapping their cords will find the finishing touch of the tie-line oh-so-satisfying. And it won't come apart until you want it to. I'm a pretty 'messy' person and hate wrapping presents of any kind whatsoever, but for some reason I'm very OCD about wrapping cables!

Once you move from thermoplastic big-box cord with molded ends to rubber SJO or SO cord with Hubbell plugs/receptacles you'll never want to go back. I'll never buy another extension cord from a big box for as long as I live, and with my current collection my great grandchildren shouldn't need to either.

To put it in GJ terms, it's like going from junky air hoses that kink if you stare at them and have terrible 'coil memory', to a flexzilla or similar. It'll lay flat when you roll it out, resist abrasion and chemicals while in use, and then wrap up effortlessly when you're done. It's only slightly more stiff in the winter, where thermoplastic cords almost become rigid.

For those getting cord envy, SJO and SO cord is available for much better prices online than in many stores. Even Zoro has it for under $1 a foot shipped, and if you get it on one of Zoro's promotions you're getting down to almost 50 cents a foot for 12/3 SJOOW. See this thread for thoughts on cord ends: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4039504.

the biggest issue I see is customers returning the cords with any knots.

we rent out vynl space walks, water slides, etc...

You can't believe the knots people bring back. There is a specific tool box for "Knaughty Stuff" that includes needle nose, dikes, needles, a fishing hook dehooker, and sewing equipment. all to get 1 knot out!!

For rentals to the public in the production business, any cord that comes back wrapped improperly is usually subject to a charge per cord for rewrapping. Every shop has a LARGE notice to this effect, also stating that lessons on how to wrap cables are free! Similarly, cords that come back with duct tape adhesive residue are considered to have been purchased buy the user and charged accordingly. At one time I required people to purchase a roll of proper gaffers tape that could be returned with the rental equipment. Very few were returned because like everything else I've mentioned, once you start using good gaffers tape nothing else will do.

Even if you can't fix the naughty customers, maybe you could find some cordage that is less knotty?

 

[jfd]

An extension cord on a reel can act as a simple transformer, even when it's not powering anything, so heat is still generated.


Tommy

How do the shop reels overcome this?

 

[BellyUpFish]

An extension cord on a reel can act as a simple transformer, even when it's not powering anything, so heat is still generated.





Tommy

Mine wasn't on a reel. It was stretched out across a wooden back porch. Shorted in the middle of the cord..

Left us with this:

 

[jeffmoss26]

I'll admit somewhat reluctantly that I'm not a knot expert. I blame it it on the ratchet straps. One day...

I attached a few pics so people good see in more detail what it looks like *******. I think the smaller radius one is too tight for a 50' cord, but understandably that product was wrapped that way for shipping. Yes - apparently you can now buy these things pre-made. See here and here and I'm sure elsewhere. For $70 those are MUCH better cords than you'll find at home depot!

Tie line is very cheap - $13.99 for 300' here - and you'll start using for everything once you get a roll. You want the 'unglazed' or uncoated stuff like what is linked, which is specially designed to be easily untied. The 'glazed' stuff is meant to hold tight. Both are braided and won't really ever fray - just cut to size and that's it.

Anyone who puts the effort into neatly wrapping their cords will find the finishing touch of the tie-line oh-so-satisfying. And it won't come apart until you want it to. I'm a pretty 'messy' person and hate wrapping presents of any kind whatsoever, but for some reason I'm very OCD about wrapping cables!

Once you move from thermoplastic big-box cord with molded ends to rubber SJO or SO cord with Hubbell plugs/receptacles you'll never want to go back. I'll never buy another extension cord from a big box for as long as I live, and with my current collection my great grandchildren shouldn't need to either.

To put it in GJ terms, it's like going from junky air hoses that kink if you stare at them and have terrible 'coil memory', to a flexzilla or similar. It'll lay flat when you roll it out, resist abrasion and chemicals while in use, and then wrap up effortlessly when you're done. It's only slightly more stiff in the winter, where thermoplastic cords almost become rigid.

For those getting cord envy, SJO and SO cord is available for much better prices online than in many stores. Even Zoro has it for under $1 a foot shipped, and if you get it on one of Zoro's promotions you're getting down to almost 50 cents a foot for 12/3 SJOOW. See this thread for thoughts on cord ends: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4039504.



For rentals to the public in the production business, any cord that comes back wrapped improperly is usually subject to a charge per cord for rewrapping. Every shop has a LARGE notice to this effect, also stating that lessons on how to wrap cables are free! Similarly, cords that come back with duct tape adhesive residue are considered to have been purchased buy the user and charged accordingly. At one time I required people to purchase a roll of proper gaffers tape that could be returned with the rental equipment. Very few were returned because like everything else I've mentioned, once you start using good gaffers tape nothing else will do.

Even if you can't fix the naughty customers, maybe you could find some cordage that is less knotty?

That is one beautiful cord!

 

[sberry]

When I see that I got to wonder,,, what went wrong with the fault protection?

I been doing this for a long time, way before I had any clue or understood most of the details. I have a couple work benches going to get some re wire before my bucket date if I can help it as well as a couple other code violations I resolve, I certainly now fix them when I get a chance.

I have a dozen 16x25, half a dozen 50 with a couple of them being 14 we use. I love light and factory molded ends,,, cord and all connectors UL listed for 7$ or maybe less. I had a sparkie work for me for a while, I had to take the ends away, was super hard for him to grasp I didn't want to put 20$ worth of premium ends on an old cord I buy on sale for 5.

I agree there is a place for premium cords, for most on this forum the use would be typical though, as one just said, it hangs and is so cumbersome its impractical and most have very little use.

 

[Syberia]

If it shorted and made an arc, that could have been enough to start a fire before the breaker tripped. A hot to neutral arc will not trip a GFCI either, as there is no leakage.

 

[BellyUpFish]

When I see that I got to wonder,,, what went wrong with the fault protection?
.

I dunno.. All I'm saying is, for those of us who might have them as "temporarily-permanent" installations, think it over..

 

[Sonorous]

An extension cord on a reel can act as a simple transformer, even when it's not powering anything, so heat is still generated.

I'm not sure I follow.

If a simple AC transformer is 'plugged in', the primary side is a closed circuit. But an extension cord is completely open if nothing is plugged into it. Because it's open there's no potential difference and no electrons will 'flow'.

Even if you have flow, you've got both legs twisted in the same wire. The magnetic field produced by one is cancelled out by the other. I understand that the cancellation may not be perfect or absolute, but any net inductance will be insignificant.

For example, a clamp meter acts just like a secondary winding in a transformer. The measured current corresponds perfectly with the magnetic field of the conductor. If you clamp a single wire of on open circuit, there's no current because there's no magnetic field. Similarly, even if you put a load on the extension (and close the circuit) if you try to measure both conductors the measurement will always be zero because they cancel each other out.

This is not true of single conductor wiring, like cam lock feeder cable. In that case you have one conductor for each leg, neutral and ground. These cables must be put in a figure eight pattern so that the magnetic waves cancel each other out. Some insist on figure-eighting all excess cabling, but that's purely because it's easier to say "do it ALL this way" than trying to explain magnetic flux to the hungover stage hands.

I think most of the concern about cable reels is related to the limited heat dissipation where cabling is tightly bundled. That, of course, is a real issue. I've seen chinese IEC (i.e. computer style) cables fry up from being used on high demand appliances.

 

[Sonorous]

If it shorted and made an arc, that could have been enough to start a fire before the breaker tripped. A hot to neutral arc will not trip a GFCI either, as there is no leakage.

+1 - Exactly. Breakers are really there to prevent wire from overheating. They are surprisingly slow acting and can allow currents many times the rating for short periods.

Look at the following chart:

All sorts of stuff can happen within those time frames.