Using a 32 feet long cable

Would it matter if I had to connect lets say 600w or 1000w to the cable ?

I made the extension myself with some cable I bought. I know about the thickness of the cable for the watts and amp limitations but is there any rule for the length ?

Longer the run the thicker the wire. What gauge wire is it?

10 gauge would be what I would use. That would be good for at least a 50 ft run.

Not sure what gauge is. The cable is 0.75mm2 so it should be enough for up to 1440 Watts but not sure if that stands for 32 ft of cable.

10 is 2.59mm in diameter, 5.26mm2 cross sectional area. I think you need heavier wire.

.75mm2 is only rated for 6 amps, that will not work for a 32 ft run.

Voltage drops over distance and your lights are sensitive to this so be careful, fires suck

http://www.nooutage.com/vdrop.htm

this will tell you what you need.

Is there any formula or some rule to calculate this ?

Are you sure it needs to be that big ? coz that cable would be for more than 6000W (the details I have is that 4mm2 = up to 6000W)

what you need to be concerned with is amps, not volts.

woodsmaneh! said:

Voltage drops over distance and your lights are sensitive to this so be careful, fires suck

http://www.nooutage.com/vdrop.htm

this will tell you what you need.

Click to expand...

For most 120/240V systems using cables of adequate ampacity, voltage drop is not a concern unless cable lengths are well over a hundred feet.

if that's true then for 32 ft there should be no problem ¿?

wiseguy316 said:

what you need to be concerned with is amps, not volts.

Click to expand...

4mm2 = 25 amps

It's true that 6 amps may not be enough but 10 could be fine, wouldn't it ?

1000 watt light will draw 8.2 amps constant. So no 10 is still not enough, you need a 30 amp cord for that distance.

Here is an example

If you run out over 200 feet of wire for the job in hand, you should jump up a wire size in order to have sufficient voltage at the other end. For example. Let's say you are going to wire and outbuilding for your workshop and you need only 120 volt receptacles at the shop end to run your power tools. Power tools run at the nominal voltage of 120 volts, but they operate within a range, say 108 to 128. This allows for how close your are to your distribution companies source. I don't know what your starting voltage is so that's why the rule of thumb. To your outbuilding you only need #12 to carry 20 amps for your tools and lights etc. If you have to exceed that distance, then you would jump up to #10 in order to have sufficient voltage at the other end. If you are starting at 115 volts at your house, and are running 100 feet, I would still up the wire size. You can't go wrong by going one size bigger on your wire. When in doubt, always consult a qualified electrician.

Where it really counts is in building code.

Wiseguy were talking about the same thing but electrical guys say voltage drop, if the voltage drops so do your amps. But it's amps that kill you not voltage.

Anyway you cut it thicker is better.

Here's a wire site that talks about some interesting aspects of not using the right wire and has a chart with wire size and voltage/amp drop....

http://www.alanwire.com/tech/voltage.html

If voltage drop isn't an issue, is heat? It should be. Trust me the cable you have is not safe to use if this situation.

woodsmaneh! said:

Where it really counts is in building code.

Wiseguy were talking about the same thing but electrical guys say voltage drop, if the voltage drops so do your amps. But it's amps that kill you not voltage.

Anyway you cut it thicker is better.

Here's a wire site that talks about some interesting aspects of not using the right wire and has a chart with wire size and voltage/amp drop....

http://www.alanwire.com/tech/voltage.html

Click to expand...

I agree with you, i was just trying to get my point across to him and I had some cross referencing to do for metric cable sizes.

Your going to try it I know you will so do this plug it in and fire it up, after 10 seconds or so grab the plug where the light plugs in and hold it tight in your hand, if you feel any heat get bigger wire. Check it every 5 min for 15 min if still cool should be ok.

Even if it was a 600 watt light it will draw 5 amps, on a cord rated for 6 amps. Best of luck, hope you listen. Better not plug a 1000 watt up to it.

Woody...."if the voltage drops so do your amps."

If the volts supplied drops don't the amps have to go up. More resistance will create the need for more amps to supply the same voltage. I think you may have typo'd that.

hehe, thanks for the info guys, I was just asking coz I wanted to know about it, the real case is actually 32 ft cable 6 amps and just a water pump connected to it. But I wanted to know about it in case I have to build something like that in the future for some bigger equipment, out of curiosity.

So don't worry about my hands and cables, they won't burn