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Can I run a 250 ft. extension cord to power about 500 watts of musical equipment?

B

BJ_Selman

Jan 1, 1970
0
I keep getting mixed messages about this. Basically, we got a storage
shed to have band practice in, but the outlet for power is about 100
yards away....my question is even if we ran two long extension cords,
would it fry the cord or our equipment? we are pulling about 400-500
watts with our amps. is this possible? is there something we can put
in between to amplify the signal?
thank you,
[email protected]
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
BJ_Selman said:
I keep getting mixed messages about this. Basically, we got a storage
shed to have band practice in, but the outlet for power is about 100
yards away....my question is even if we ran two long extension cords,
would it fry the cord or our equipment? we are pulling about 400-500
watts with our amps. is this possible? is there something we can put
in between to amplify the signal?
thank you,
[email protected]

What it will do is the resistance of the extension cord will reduce the
available voltage, albeit not by a whole heck of a lot. You can get heavy
duty long extension cords, but they're kinda pricey. Go to your local
home handyman warehouse store and find the oldest salesguy there and ask
him this question.

You can look up how much wire loss there will be for various sizes of
conductors - if you can afford #10, do it, and it should run pretty
good. 500 watts at 120V line voltage isn't quite 5 amps; for a 6-foot
cord, #16 would be fine. For 50, I'd go to #14, for 100, #12. But these
numbers are just off-the-cuff stuff - the numbers are probably printed
on the cardboard sleeve the cord comes in at the store.

Be sure to use 3-conductor wire, so you have a good safety ground.

(I once made 115V 60Hz come out a speaker amp, on a damp concrete
floor barefoot. It got there by way of the guitar strings and my
hand. BZZZAT!)

Good Luck!
Rich
 
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