Extention Lead as Power Injection

cdjazman

cdjazman

Full time elf
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
Messages
427
On a trip to Bunnings yesterday for unrelated matters I came across a 25m Heavy Duty Extension Lead (10 AMP) for a bargain of $10.

Needing one I grabbed one anyways.

Started thinking about running long power injection leads and was wondering of anyone has used, or know why I should not use, an extension lead?

At $10 it works out cheap at 0.40c per meter......
 

Attachments

  • 25m ext lead.jpg
    25m ext lead.jpg
    3.2 MB · Views: 56
I've used the same extension cords for power injection. I have also used the white extension cables from Bunnings for my data cables (just to differentiate between the two), as I got a few of them on special a few years ago. I had no issues using either of them. I think the longest power injection cable I used was about 6 metres long. As the extension cables are 3 core, I doubled cables for v- as advised by ACL members at the time.
 
No reason you couldn't.
I just keep my eye out for twin core going cheap. I managed to pick up 4 rolls from Masters before they shut for good, worked out about 20c/m So I was quite happy.
Also put a search in your local gumtree, I also got 4 rolls of alarm cable really cheap from a bloke that closed down his business and had it left over.
After struggling last year to stretch the budget and find more cable, now I have enough to keep me going for a few years 8)
 
I also mostly use extension cord for most cables. 2016 was my second year with RGB, so using two cores for +ve only filtered through my noggin for this Christmas past. (It's a thick noggin!). 2016, I did have a little trouble with signal getting from one element to the next, though, even on ones that worked perfectly in 2015 with the same cables. I think I did read somewhere bigger is not always better for signal wires.
 
Normally the good thing about using extension cable for power injection is that it normally has a thicker copper wire than alarm cable and can work very well for power injection applications. Generally though it normally costs a lot more than using something like alarm cable
 
Would work great as much thicker wire (usually).


Only thing I would say is make sure you cut the original plugs off and use the waterproof connectors that we get from Ray or elsewhere. You do not want to be able to accidently plug your 12V power injection into a 240V power point, or accidently plug the 240V lead for your control box into your power injection point.


Might pay to buy different coloured leads for the 240V and the 12/5V just to be 100% certain even if changing plugs.


Regards,
Rowan
 
Rowan, funny you should say that. Christmas 2015, I had rather a long run for power injection on my roof. I'd cut the socket end off, and was on the roof, and getting the assistance of my 18 year old to work out exactly where to cut the other end, so the cable would reach, but not have excessive spare. "Run the other end to where the control boxes are and mark where it can be cut off" I said.

A minute or so later a muffled voice mumbles "Do you want me to plug it in?"

Went absolutely cold at the thought of how close to the Pearly Gates I may have been!

ALWAYS cut both ends off at the same time!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top