Question on welding leads.

Cord type SOOW (Rubber Insulation) makes a good indoor & outdoor power cord for all types of machines.

A 100 Ft. roll of 10/3 gauge rated @ 600 volts with max. current of 30 amps cost $115 or less. I would not go with used cord it can have cracks and other damage.

However, I went the route of just getting longer welding cable (for the output/stinger leads) and two sets of them Lenco connectors. Found a case of Lenco connectors dirt cheap on Ebay (not expensive anyways). The benefit of the longer welding leads is that I can drag the cables to anywhere in the yard (like places out there where I couldn't wheel a heavy welder, like gravel areas, mud, dirt, etc.) Another advantage is I can leave the long output etension cables out there if it starts raining and you need to run for cover.

But only needs to be "10/2",(with ground) right ? (2 hots + ground )

From a voltage drop and heating up the cables standpoint, you are correct that longer 240 volt cord is much preferred. But Steve has a very valid point that keeping your welder tucked out of the way (picture working on construciton equipment!) is a good thing. I have a couple of extension cords (25' and 50') that work with both the welder and my big 5hps planer.

The welder is typically positioned just inside the garage door so almost the full length of the cables are available to work on projects in the driveway as well as covering all of the garage floor.

I also have half a spool of standard welding wire in the store room. I haven't made it up into extension cables yet, no great need to spend the money on the Tweako fittings.

The 110 welder really likes to be plugged > Everything I have read prefers long extension cord to the welder over

2 hots + 1 ground = 3 conductors, hence 10/3

Hmmm ... I'm confused. Whenever I've bought Romex (sp?), the number after the slash does NOT include the ground wire; thus, for example,

14/2 actually has 3 wires -- 2 conductors plus a ground wire. Does the kind of cable you are talking about use a different labelling system?

I believe it should say 12/2 w ground, etc. Therefore, you can look for 10/3 or 10/2 w/ ground -- provided we are referring to a groundING conductor that will serve ONLY as an equipment ground. Either way you are looking at THREE conductors though they will have different colors and the /ground may even be an UNinsulated conductor.

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Andy Wakefield wrote:

I think Romex is 12/2 because the ground wire is not insulated. The SOOW type has three insulated conductors.

Shawn

For some arcane reason, Lumex and other fixed wiring cable is rated as working conductors (not including the ground) e.g. cable for wiring to an electric stove outlets is marked as 8-3 in spite of having three #8's plus a smaller, bare ground.

Ruber covered "extension" types such as SOOW is labeled with the total number of conductors and they (at least the ones I've seen) are all the same size.

Go figure.

Ted

Ahah! I learn something new every day on this NG ...

I can't speak from a book or such [have several ] - just what I mentally determined - we need a Master or such to say - or Fitch who is in the throng of this now - :-)

to me - the 2+1 is 2 real gage wrie and a safety line - under gage but useful for protection...

the 10/3 means three lines with all to 10 gage.

That is my best thought of it.

at work - prior life - we use to use 00/5 that is - 5 wire all double-aught. It was a three phase 'star' wye (3) - center neutral and safety ground

We used a pallet jack to move the spool. :-)

The system used a 4" i.D. chilled water line also.

Martin

Yeah, that was my bad - SO/SJ jacketed wire is the same numbering scheme as Romex. 10/2 = 2 hots + ground.

lengthening

Your existing leads, 25' of #4, have a resistance of .0062 ohms, and 50' of #2 would have .0078 ohms, or 126% as much. Can you live with that? The leads would get 26% hotter than the existing ones, and not much else should change, unless the inductance of the loop figures into it somehow, but that's regardless of wire gauge anyway.

Good Luck! Rich

wire is marked 10/3 with g, gis bare grd all others should be insulated. this is standard marking in electrical trade-rl