50' Extension Cords 14/3 $13.95

[Scott Cockroft]

TEK Supply has 50' cords on sale for $13.95

http://www.teksupply.com/farm/suppli...pgs109677.html

[friskybri]

Menard's has 40 foot cords for 5.99 after 1.00 rebate. The 6' extent ion cords are for 77 cents. Only onsale till tomorrow night.

[jerrymac]

Also check Harbor Freight. until the end of the month 14/3 40 foot is 14.95. 12 and 10 guage are also on sale in lengths from 25 to 100 feet.

[rgardner518]

Home depot, $10.50 for a 50ft.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xie/R-100661433/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

[Randy]

The Home Depot cord is only a 16 gauge cord, while the OP cord is 14...Cords have gotten more expensive lately, it seems....

[rgardner518]

I believe for what we as the LOR community do. I think the 16g is more than OK! Considering, most use spt1 and spt2 or spt3 zip cord. And they are all 18g!

[JBullard]

ny_yankee_25 wrote:

I believe for what we as the LOR community do. I think the 16g is more than OK! Considering, most use spt1 and spt2 or spt3 zip cord. And they are all 18g!

This statement is true for the outputs to the lights, but.......

A 14 AWG is very nice for the input supply TO the controllers

[Mike Manzara]

I tend to agree with jbullard. I think it is essential to carry power via 14 gauge wire to all controllers. I luckily had the opportunity to pick up a 500 ft roll of 14/2 with a black rubber jacket for only $72.00 at our local Home Builder store. Seems they were changing wire vendors and were blowing out all the old stock. Also picked up 500 ft of SPT 2 for $29.00 and a 300 ft roll of 16/2 yellow jacket for $45.00.

[Guest wbottomley]

ny_yankee_25 wrote:

I believe for what we as the LOR community do. I think the 16g is more than OK! Considering, most use spt1 and spt2 or spt3 zip cord. And they are all 18g!

Humm.... let's see.

My subpanel is 6/4 carrying 50 amps on each leg, several 10/3 cords, 12/3 cords, and a couple of 14/3. Most output cords on the controllers are 18g but have some 16g between the controller and the set of lights.

As you can see, it takes some horse power to run my display.

[brownjm74]

It all depends on how your controller is set up and how many amps your drawing per channel.

If your Controller is setup for 2 - 15amp "channel banks (1-8 & 9-16)" or 1 - 15amp "bank (1-16)"

and: each "bank" is drawing less than 11A, then you can use 16 gage extension cord.

otherwise: you need to use 14 gage extension cords.

Note: if your extension cord run is longer that 50 feet, you need to upgrade to the next larger size.

Or: If you do what I did, I converted 3 of my controllers to 2 - 20amp "banks". I had to change the power supply cord to 12 gage and change the fuses. I also use 12 and 10 gage extension cords to power each "bank".

Hope this helps,

Jeremy B