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Any way to "measure" wire gauge in power cord?

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Any way to "measure" wire gauge in power cord? blueman 09-02-2008
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Posted by blueman on September 2, 2008, 2:21 pm


To avoid voltage drop (and power loss) at startup, I want to make sure
that the power cord to my 15 year old Craftsman table saw is 12 gauge
(or upgrade it if it is not).

There are no markings on the cord and no reference in the manual. The
saw is long discontinued so Sears is no help.

So is there any simple way of determining whether cord is 12 gauge or
not?

Thanks

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Posted by dpb on September 2, 2008, 2:33 pm


blueman wrote:
> To avoid voltage drop (and power loss) at startup, I want to make sure
> that the power cord to my 15 year old Craftsman table saw is 12 gauge
> (or upgrade it if it is not).
...
> So is there any simple way of determining whether cord is 12 gauge or
> not?

12 AWG --> ~0.081"
14 AWG --> ~0.064"

So, 12 is a little over 1/16", 14 is about 1/16" diameter. Enough
difference if the connection at either end is visible to tell easily.

That said, what horsepower is the motor rated/current draw on the motor
plate? If the cord is the OEM-supplied one, it's unlikely it's so
undersized as to be discernible difference in changing it out...

Assuming it's a dual-voltage motor, you could always go to the 240V
connections and cut current draw in half...

--

Posted by blueman on September 2, 2008, 2:55 pm



> blueman wrote:
>> To avoid voltage drop (and power loss) at startup, I want to make sure
>> that the power cord to my 15 year old Craftsman table saw is 12 gauge
>> (or upgrade it if it is not).
> ...
>> So is there any simple way of determining whether cord is 12 gauge or
>> not?
>
> 12 AWG --> ~0.081"
> 14 AWG --> ~0.064"
>
> So, 12 is a little over 1/16", 14 is about 1/16" diameter. Enough
> difference if the connection at either end is visible to tell easily.

Do these numbers apply to stranded too? (I believe the power cord is stranded)
>

> That said, what horsepower is the motor rated/current draw on the
> motor plate? If the cord is the OEM-supplied one, it's unlikely it's
> so undersized as to be discernible difference in changing it out...

My concern was just that at startup (or when bogging down) it will
draw more than the rated 13A/1.5HP so that maybe moving to 12 gauge
would help me out given that the total cord length is about 15 feet.

> Assuming it's a dual-voltage motor, you could always go to the 240V
> connections and cut current draw in half...

I would like to do that but the manual says "It is wired for
operation on 120 volts, 60 Hz alternating curent. IT MUST NOT BE
CONVERTED TO OPERATE ON 230 VOLTS". Now someone mentioned in another
thread that this may just be due to the fact that the switch only
switches one leg and that everything would be ok if I swapped in a
DPDT switch to switch both phases.

But I don't have any manual for the motor itself and don't know what
needs to be rewired.


Posted by dpb on September 2, 2008, 3:06 pm


blueman wrote:
...

> Do these numbers apply to stranded too? (I believe the power cord is stranded)

Yes, gauge is gauge...

...

> My concern was just that at startup (or when bogging down) it will
> draw more than the rated 13A/1.5HP so that maybe moving to 12 gauge
> would help me out given that the total cord length is about 15 feet.

Not really as somebody else already said, in 15-ft the difference in
voltage drop between the two is going to be in the mV range.

See other response for more likely things that could actually make some
difference.

...

> But I don't have any manual for the motor itself and don't know what
> needs to be rewired.

Any dual-voltage motor will have lead diagram with it on the motor or in
the connection box or similar. If it doesn't it's not likely it is.
Even if it were, it wouldn't provide more power, only cut the current draw.

If there were anywhere in the circuit that was a limiting factor, it
would be the overall circuit being 15A and 14ga therefore. If you're
running it on a 20A/12ga supply circuit, again the short length of power
cord just isn't going to be enough to make any discernible/practical
difference.

--



Posted by Mark Lloyd on September 2, 2008, 6:39 pm



>blueman wrote:
>...
>
>> Do these numbers apply to stranded too? (I believe the power cord is stranded)
>
>Yes, gauge is gauge...
>

Then with stranded there's less copper to make up for the extra air.
Air will be present because of the (space-filling) inefficiency of
ROUND things.

[snip]
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"The government of the United States is not, in
any sense, founded on the Christian religion."


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