[Shop-talk] Extension cord length vs. wire gauge

[John Innis]

Depends on what you are going to do with it.  300' of 16awg drawing 4a will
drop about 9.5v.  Most things won't care about that low of a voltage drop.
But consider that you are loosing about 8% over that distance.  Also
consider surge loads like motors starting and such.  Powering a few lights,
no problem.  Starting a motor (like a drill or fridge compressor), might be
an issue.  If the motor start current is double the running current, you
now have a drop of over 19v this is a big hit.  By contrast, moving up to
14 gauge will get you down to about 6v drop or only 5% loss steady state
and 12v drop surge.  Might be worth it if you have larger surge loads and
equipment that cares.

On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 7:57 PM Scott Hall <scott.hall.personal at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Guys,
>
> I need about 300 get of extension cord. 16 AWG was fine at 100 ft. Can I
> string 3 of those together without a problem, or should I go up a size?
> Draw is 4 amps.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Scott
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