[OT] "extended " Y cord

[Alma J Wetzker]

David Bandel wrote:
> On 6/19/05, Ronnie Gauthier <ronnieg at chartermi.net> wrote:
> 
>>Make your own. Use SO 16/3 cord and one male and daisy-chain
>>female plugs. Use plugs with some type of screw clamp for
>>holding the cord, not the kind with a round hole as you need
>>to be able to force two cords into all but the last female.
> 
> 
> I have a fair size rack with a number of systems.  I suggest you look
> at how much power you're actually using.  Using P=I*E, you can
> determine how many amps you're drawing.  Many electricians have
> clamp-on amp meters.  Borrow or buy one.
> 
> Look at your amps.  Ensure your wiring is safe to carry that load. 
> The further you are from your electrical source, the larger the line
> needs to be to safely carry the load.
> 
> Part of your problem on large loads is that your house/office gets
> 220v, but you use 110v.  So you're using one side of the line.  You
> should try to get a balanced draw.  If all your heavy loads are on one
> side, your power bill will be noticeably higher.
> 
> In my computer/radio shack I use an isolation transformer that has a
> 220v input, with a 110v output.  Automatically balanced load.

For electrical grid systems, you should only have a continuous draw of 
80% of the rated capacity of the line.  I love isolation transformers.

I have seen a few definitions of "long", how far do you need to go to 
upsize the line?

     -- Alma