PHEV: Extension cord

I am going to be doing the PHEV route using eh Enginer.us battery pack.

I want to get a reasonable extension cord that I can use. Any one have recommendations?

I have been looking at the 12/3 25 foot cords and the 10/3 50 foot cords.
Any one have recommendations on where to get the 10/3 cords? I can order them online. But if I can get it locally the price for shipping seems for the extension cord seems to be a wash on price if I can find a place that sells them.

Lows is not bad, they carry the yellow jacket (12/3) $41 that has the end that lights up. But I want to be a little more descreet and not have the plug light up.

Any one else know where to look for a good price?

you could always buy a heavy duty water tight male plug end, cut off the lighted end, and attach your own with no light.

how much wattage does the charger pull?...

I got a nice yellow 25 ft 12/3 without ends that light up at Walmart for $19.99.

In theatre as well as other semi-heavy-duty power applications,
the standard spec is to use 12/3 for anything plugged into a
20A circuit. That's considered safe to carry up to a 2400 watt
load continuous, as is often approached pretty closely in
stage lighting applications. 14/3 is also sometimes used with
the caveat that it should be limited to 15 amps, 1800-ish watts.
.
Your typical 1200 to 1500 watt hair-dryer or other applicance
will make either type of cable a little warm, but stay within
its safety spec. *I* won't run any more than three typical
stage instruments off one circuit, usually 575W apiece and
rounded up to 600 for design calculations.
.
The real vulnerability comes in the plug/socket heads, where
all the current often passes through contact points with less
cross-sectional area than the wire itself. I have melted plugs
on straight-from-the-Despot cables by having them carry a 15A
continuous load, and for any cable I care about [14 or 12] I
generally chop whatever molded piece of crap came on it and
stick *real* heads on -- a nice heavy-duty male at one end whose
contact/blade characteristics I can see when I open it up, and
either a similar single female at the other end or a dual or quad-box
since it'll likely be feeding more than one thing in typical use.
.
This is why stage cable and fittings are big and klunky -- the
stuff can take assloads of nasty, harmonics-rich high currents
and not get particularly warm. Connection points are still likely
to run somewhat warmer than the cables themselves.
.
10/3 is sometimes used for very long runs where less voltage
drop across the wire's resistance is desired, but in construction
apps 10/3 is considered okay for up to 30A, I think.
.
_H*

I have two cords. One in the trunk from Wal-mart 100ft for charging on the go. The other is the 25ft yellow jacket from Lowe's that lights up. It is in my garage where I charge everyday. I love the light-up feature. There have been times I have unplugged the car and have forgotten to flip off the power strip. :dohoh!!

JOANNA

One could eliminate one end of the extension cord altogether by cutting off the male end and connecting it directly to home wiring via copper lugs, or soldered, to make a solid connection. The other end is plugged into the car. This would reduce 50% of the resistance from the plug in points. But I think some locales would prohibit a cord permanently hard wired that was more than 12 inches long...unless perhaps it came from overhead with a roll-up device.

25ft cords can be 12/3. anything over 50ft should probably be 10/3.

as for construction stuff. 10/3 can carry 30amps but it's not recommended over 50 ft. so it gets bigger and bigger and bigger the more length or amps you draw.

I just bought a 12/3 25 foot cord at Lowes. It's dark blue and is made by UtiliTech. Cost $21.74 +tax. It has a velcro strap attached so you can keep it rolled up easily.

I did the same thing for my Plugin 100ft walmart extension cable. What I had at the time. Obvious use the proper Guage / Shortest length for your needs for saftey

&

Man, I think you have 50' of wire to long !!! It's a hazard and an accident waiting to happen.