Bob VandenBoom Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 John Hertig wrote: I've successfully made 'multi'-extension cords. Using 8 conductor, 18 guage wire ($.38 a foot in bulk) and a 6 outlet 'weatherproof' ground stake (around $5 - $8 at the after Christmas sale at Target), I power 6 clustered display elements with only 1 small white cord.Where did you find 8 conductor 18 AWG cable for $0.38/foot. I would be interested in this option if I could find the cable at a reasonable price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardShank Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Here is one source I was able to locate. I'm sure there are more.http://www.ramcorpwire.com/products.php?catname=Direct%20Burial%20Cables&cat=14&pg=4Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Hertig Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Bob VandenBoom wrote: Where did you find 8 conductor 18 AWG cable for $0.38/foot. I would be interested in this option if I could find the cable at a reasonable price.Local electronics supplier (Elliot Electronics). I had to buy the whole spool (about 700 feet left) to get that price. Home Depot has something similar but I couldn't verify that it was rated for 120vac (claims 'low voltage').When I first started looking into this, I found a custom cable manufacturer who will make anything you want (in spool lots). A cable with 8 cond 16ga and 2 cond 14 ga was quoted at about .50 a foot if I remember correctly, so 18 ga should be a bit cheaper. Shipping was annoying tho. I gave up on this option because even the 14ga common return would not handle 15a (bundling wires reduces the current capacity) and because 8 outlet strips are rare and expensive. Let me know if you are interested in this manufacturer and I'll see if I can find my notes on this.I settled for 18 ga and 6 outlets after the 'trauma' (cost, work and appearance) of stringing extention cords for the first 5 display elements I attached to the controllers, and realizing that in almost all cases I only have one thing on each channel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Ingebretsen Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 crazytrain83 wrote: In Minnesota we use a lot of orange cords. We just wait until December 1st and they're hidden under a foot of snow!That's kinda like what we do down here in Florida. :cool: Except we just let the grass grow over them. Can't mow anyway with all those cords laying around Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob VandenBoom Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Most of the low voltage sprinkler stuff at HD is 30V RMS Max specified. Some may be different. On occasion I have to specify cable for work and have contacts at several cable manufacturers. I have had them quote some multi-conductor cables for this purpose, but they did not work out to be that economical compared to clearance after Christmas finds. That was during the run up in copper prices. Might be worth taking another look now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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