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Power cord thickness

#41
catcauphonic said:
A few years ago i picked up a used Genz Benz Shuttle 6.2 that came with it's original power cord (the thicker one), & i just recently acquired a GB Streamliner 900 from a TB'er that i only now noticed has come with what appears to be a substitute power cord (the skinnier one.)

When i first received the SL, I just set it under the Shuttle and have been using it's power cord. It wasn't till i packed it up for a gig on Saturday that i noticed the one it came with was thinner, so i took the fat one. Haven't even used the thin one yet.

My mind is telling me don't worry, it's probably not going to make a diff in any way, but i figured I'd run it by the collective wisdom here (calling @agedhorse!:) ) just to see what the consensus is on thick vs thin.

Appreciated!

View attachment 1175429 View attachment 1175430
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Nice setup.
 
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#44
FenderB said:
Nice setup.
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Thanks, I'm very happy with both of these amps! the GB Neo212 is newish to me as well (while using my Spector exclusively.)

This is for home practice, and it's what goes out to gigs these days. Meanwhile, I'm currently on a payment plan with my drummer to officially own his '76(?) Ampeg v4b, w/410 (90's) that I've been using for like 3 years for at the rehearsal space and for gigs ... till i got them Genz setups! (Tho I still want the v4b for its classic appeal :cool: )

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@Killed_by_Death > dude, I'm telling you ... the technical side of bass gear is where you shine! Look into repair of geary things if you want a new path :)
 
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#45
agedhorse said:
No, that cable did not come with your Shuttle originally. It will work fine, but be kind of stiff and unwieldy with small, lightweight amps.
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Thx for setting that straight. The Shuttle wuth the thicker cable i purchased used online from GC. Ill likely keep that cable for home use, and pack the thinner one in the to-go case ... worry free :thumbsup:
 
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#46
catcauphonic said:
Thanks, I'm very happy with both of these amps! the GB Neo212 is newish to me as well (while using my Spector exclusively.)

This is for home practice, and it's what goes out to gigs these days. Meanwhile, I'm currently on a payment plan with my drummer to officially own his '76(?) Ampeg v4b, w/410 (90's) that I've been using for like 3 years for at the rehearsal space and for gigs ... till i got them Genz setups! (Tho I still want the v4b for its classic appeal :cool: )

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@Killed_by_Death > dude, I'm telling you ... the technical side of bass gear is where you shine! Look into repair of geary things if you want a new path :)
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I dig that strap. Ever beat a drummer with it?

I looked at your profile earlier and we like spookily similar music. Same music. If you are in your 50's, you could be my separated at birth twin I never knew about... in your early 30's you could be that long lost child I never knew I had. You're not half Thai or Korean are you?
 
#47
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#48
catcauphonic said:
Thanks fellas. I know about gauges, but don't really have much understanding of how all the other numbers work together to make sense. But basically, it's saying I'm ok with this 18.

So these are essentialy the same on the inside, but the thicker cord is just a little more durable because of it's protective wrap? Is my takeaway correct?
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Correct. The heavier gauge conductor allows for higher current flow through the cable with less resistivity. So if you were pouring it on with x-number of amperage through the heavier (larger cross-section) cable, with less resistance to current flow it will generate less heat than the smaller cable, but as mentioned by others earlier there is a lower limit to what size conductor can be used without starting to turn the cable into a toaster filament. Outer cable sheathing is for protection only.
 
#51
I usually build my own power cables with IEC connectors. I have always used a 12-3 sj rubber jacket cable. Unlike the factory molded cables you can repair these with nothing more than a screw driver if your cable ever gets cut or ran over by a road case. They are more flexible and the amp head is never starving for power .
 

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#52
Tron55 said:
I usually build my own power cables with IEC connectors. I have always used a 12-3 sj rubber jacket cable. Unlike the factory molded cables you can repair these with nothing more than a screw driver if your cable ever gets cut or ran over by a road case. They are more flexible and the amp head is never starving for power .
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How do you get 12/3-SJ to fit the strain relief?
 
#55
agedhorse said:
...overall diameter is not a good indicator of conductor size.
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Sounds like a good line to use at a bar............. :D

agedhorse said:
UF cable is not suitable, nor is it listed for any kind of portable cable. It's a building wire intended for burial applications.
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I sure hope they use that when I go. :laugh:
 
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#56
It would be interesting to get some data on how much power your amp is using. For example my markbass cmd 121p only draws an average of 30-60 watts (that was up to a medium volume), 150w is loud (out of its useable range) and max is around 230w (speaker farting, totally beyond normal operating parameters)

This gives around 120 - 650mA of current through any normal use (although Im on 240v), so just about any lead should be fine.

All fine right? Well not quite. It pays to test your leads out. Especially if they are cheaper chinese ones. I have cut open some of them to find wire that definitely isn't copper (copper clad something) and I have measured resistances of 1.9 ohms combined L&N wires, in leads only ~1m long. Even worse some of these leads have 10A stamped on the connectors, but the wire would have significant I^2 R losses if you tried pushing several amps through them.

So with a loud powerful amp, run constantly you could dissipate a few watts of power as heat in the lead.
 
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#57
They make clamp meters that you can put around your power cable, but the problem is you need to put it around either the live or neutral wire, not both.
You can also set them to record the highest amps measured, so you can check it after a performance & see how much juice you were using at your peak.

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I used one of these to revamp all the wiring in my home, with breakers & wire gauge to match what I was using.
At the same time I put in three ground rods & a thermal magnetic breaker for the main switch.
no more problems with lightning destroying our equipment after that

BTW, the reason I used this meter instead of just reading the label on my appliances was that our voltage would drop from 220v down to 180 or 160 at night, which threw off the amp readings
 
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#58
I could make up a junction box test rig for leads, and have the current of one conductor go through my data logging multimeter, but having high time resolution measurements of current probably isn't too useful as its the average heating power of the current that will be of most concern. (the mass of the lead acting like a thermal low pass filter). That, and I wouldn't think an instantaneous voltage drop would be a big deal for a modern active power supply.
 
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#59
Tron55 said:
I use a Marinco IEC plug and a hubbell 5266cm2. They have a big opening and fasten down really well. I was seeing some of the bigger high end companies using a larger guage cable and charging a ton for them. When you can basically buy everything needed for a fraction of the cost
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I like overkill myself, but that's still a pretty expensive power cable -unless you really need it.
 
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