W
Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\
- Jan 1, 1970
- 0
Peter A Forbes said:Yeah, true. You 220VAC and 240VAC guys think you got it bad, we have
four times as much of a problem here in 120VAC land. ;-)
Those poor souls that put a hundred feet or so of 18GA (about 1mm sq)
extension cord on their weed wackers soon find that not only does it run
slow, but the motor overheats. So we have extension cords that are 16
or 14 gauge, and can handle the extra current. But people are too cheap
to pay double for the heavy duty extension cord, so they end up eating
their money up in burned out motors.
And then when they get tired of doing that, they go out and buy a weed
wacker with the gas engine. This is on the end of a long pole, so the
engine is right up next to their face, so they go deaf from all the
engine noise. And they put the weed wacker in the garage, where the gas
from the tank runs out and catches on fire!
Why use anything as small as 1mm sq cable???
For 30metres I'd want to see 2.5mm sq at least, if not 4mm sq.
If not for the volt drop or lack of, for the mechanical strength and resistance
to damage.
Hey, a hedge trimmer will cut the cable cleanly in half, no matter what
size it is! Ask one of the ladies at work, she has first-hand
experience!
As for heavier cable, I know that, but the average consumer doesn't.
She uses an 18 gauge extension cord with the cast plastic socket from
the wall to her ironing board, and wonders why she smells melted plastic
when she irons! "Gee, I swear that when I plugged it in, the socket
wasn't all brown and charred." Doh!
The guy has what's at hand and just plugs three 25 footers together to
wack his weeds. The plugs and sockets also drop some voltage because of
their resistance, so he ends up with a burned out motor after it ran a
couple hours at 85 to 90VAC. Doh.
Peter