I have a (25FT) heavy duty extension cord rated at a maximum of 600V and 14 AWG. Given to me from a friend while moving I think he used it for a generator. Can I still use it for small stuff like a computer or drill or lamp or fan? Just thinking about a voltage loss because of thicker wire or would this not make enough of a noticeable loss if any ? Trying to see if I would ever even use it.
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The 600V parameter is about the insulation protecting the user from the dangerous voltages in the wires. Your cord is rated at 600V, so the insulation should protect you from the danger of 600V wires. You’ll find 600V wires hard to find, most power is 120 or 220 volts, so this cord has a margin of safety. It’s intended to be used at lower voltages, including a safety margin, rather than at the edge of danger in a higher voltage situation.
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The maximum is a safety limit: the manufacturer doesn’t guarantee the cable and insulation will be safe beyond that limit.
Below the limits, it’s just a conductor between two points
Thicker wire will actually create *less* voltage loss.
Since V=IR (voltage = current * resistance), when you have a current traveling through a resistance (in this case, your extension cord) then a voltage will develop across the resistance.
Say you have a 120V outlet, and .01Ohm extension cable, and your device happens to draw 1 Amp. Then the voltage across your extension cord is .01Ohm * 1A = .01V. So actually you have 120 – .01 = 119.99V at your device. This is negligible and nothing to worry about. But the larger your conductor, the small the resistance, the lower the voltage drop.
Your good for what you want to use it for.larger awg is better then smaller.#14 awg carries a maximum of 15 amps.should really only load ccts to 80 percent so 12 amps.
The cords themselves don’t have a lower limit, but the devices that run them might. If your extension cord has too much resistance, there could be too much voltage drop over it and therefore not enough to power the appliance at the end.
One thing to note, a thicker wire would actually be less resistant than a thinner wire; it’s longer wires that have more resistance than shorter wires.
There is no minimum. If there was, we would need to leave them plugged in all the time. When a cord is just sitting unplugged, it has 0V. You can’t get less than 0. (A negative voltage is the same as a positive one, it’s just going the other direction)
The voltage is gonna be about the same regardless of what you do with it: whatever your electricity provider pumps into your home. The voltage printed on the wire likely refers to non “extension cable” uses, which are obviously irrelevant to your use case because it’s an extension cable
You won’t really encounter a situation where a wire has a minimum voltage.
Your cord is a standard cord.
600v is the max but you shouldn’t even see something that is 600v with that sort of connector.
The max amperage is 15-20 amp and that depends on a few things like if it’s a sustained load or something that won’t run constantly (example a microwave can pull more but since they usually only run for a few minutes it’s allowed)
Most breakers in the us are 15 amp anyway so you likely won’t have to worry about it.
Tldr. You are fine using the cord for virtually anything if it fits. The only real fear is daisy chaining splitters. It’s very hard to pull 15 amps from a couple things. Outside of major appliances like a washing machine/clothes dryer.
Yes no problem.
Be careful that some industrial extensions are really long, people tend to let them in an one piece big spiral and just use few meters. But if you do that with a 50m extension, and connect something around 2000watt and above, the spiral part can’t cool, there’s too much hot wire covered in hot wire, insulation may melt and you have a danger of electrocution and fire.
That’s the real danger. It’s not your case but you need to know it. Put the whole wire around in a way it can cool.
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