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Don't plug your subwoofer into a cheap power strip or surge protector

Lavane said:
Yup. I keep several extention cords around. 12ga, 14ga, and 16ga.
People don't always think about the gage of the wire when buying extention cords, especially the long ones.
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Typically, ignorantly lowest purchase price driven !
I was able to educate a construction framing, roofer crews on why their circler saws were burning up frequently while I was a security guard on the site from 4:00PM to 12;00AM. in 1974 in South Miami, FL. while teaching myself electronic repair
They were typically blaming various brand circler saws as not holding up.
I pointed out that 2 saws being used simultaneously while a 120 v compressor was running were drawing too much current through the 16 gage 100 ft. extension cord causing the saws to receive very low voltage causing the saw`s motor under load to draw excessive current and burn up !

I eventually befriended and finally convinced 2 fellow pot smoking roofers to purchase a 12 gage 100 ft. replacement extension cord since they were also running a compressor for their nail guns along with the circler saws !

They were dubious until I promised to buy the extension cord if it failed to end their various issues with the 120 v compressor running sucking down the extension cords endpoint line voltage slowing down the saws motor while excessively heating them up.
After around a month of no more roofer saws burning up and their nail gun`s air compressor charging back up muck quicker, the sites rough framers started noticing and I explained to them what to do about replacing their under wire gaged extension cord with a more expensive 12 gage one.
 
Lavane said:
You really don't want 16ga for 100' cords anyway. The only 16ga cord I have is 25'.
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It really depends what it's used for because the gauge, length, and current all factor into what's generally going to be OK and what might cause a material degredation of performance.

5A load on the end of that cord results in a little over 3V drop. That's not going to impact much of anything.

A 15A load would cause about 12V drop and probably would cause noticeable performance loss of a power tool or whatever (not to mention 15A slightly exceeds the nominal rating of 13A for the typical cord type @16ga@86F)

From a use case, in a relatively stationary situation a big thick cord isn't a big deal. But, if you have to move around a lot pulling that heavy cord is sorta a PITA. OTOH, given the quality of cordless tools these days, the times of dragging a cord around on the end of your drill or screw gun have largely gone the way of the Dodo bird.
 
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whoaru99 said:
It really depends what it's used for because the gauge, length, and current all factor into what's generally going to be OK and what might cause a material degredation of performance.

5A load on the end of that cord results in a little over 3V drop. That's not going to impact much of anything.

A 15A load would cause about 12V drop and probably would cause noticeable performance loss of a power tool or whatever.

From a use case, in a relatively stationary situation a big thick cord isn't a big deal. But, if you have to move around a lot pulling that heavy cord is sorta a PITA. OTOH, given the quality of cordless tools these days, the times of dragging a cord around on the end of your drill or screw gun have largely gone the way of the Dodo bird.
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I agree. But since my cords are used for various things at various times, I tend to just keep 14ga and 12ga cords around. I think the green colored short 16ga cord was bought years ago for a string of Christmas lights.
I don't use extention cords for my air compressor. It's kept in a corner close to one of the only two 120v outlets in my garage thst were there when I bought the house. That was a other reason I had the 20 amp line put in.
I plan to move my compressor over to the other side of the garage and plug it into that outlet. It's a larger compressor and pulls some current at startup.
 
Lavane said:
I agree. But since my cords are used for various things at various times, I tend to just keep 14ga and 12ga cords around. I think the green colored short 16ga cord was bought years ago for a string of Christmas lights.
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Yes, that's exactly why I have some cheap, long extension cords; so I don't have to tie up the good stuff for low draw applications that tend to stay hooked up for a while. Seasonal outdoor lighting, battery maintainers for boat and my old beater truck, etc.
 
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