Location: Oakville, Ontario Corvettes were built to be driven...not trailered
Dave, most manufacturers say you can use an extension cord but they warn against the use of your garden variety type...like the white or brown extension cords you use for an indoor lamp for example. They want to make sure the extension cord being used can handle the juice being pumped through it
Unless yours specifically says "DO NOT USE..." you should be OK
Battery tenders/chargers draw very little juice, so extention cords are OK, as long as they aren't 100' long!!
If you use an extention cord with a higher draw item, like say, a power washer, then you'll likely have a little trouble as they generally have really long cords to begin with, and say right in the instructions not to use an extention cord....
I believe I've seen on the package of some of these devices that they say NOT to use an extension cord?
What do you guys think?
Dave
I believe that if you used the heavy-duty type like say the one on your block heater you should be fine. Those are typically over-insulated and and the gage is much greater therefore more resistant to heat from a high draw of current. My Schumacher and Battery Tender Plus both mention that. You should be fine.
Mostly a manufacturer thing---liability!!---these are little transformers remember---while they are converting AC to DC through the coils they generate quite a bit of heat. If they are plugged into a wall recepticle they have all 5 sides exposed for disepation of heat. If they are plugged into an extension cord--generally one side is laying on the ground somewhere--thus causing the coil to build up more heat an possibly creating a fire hazard (in extreme cases!!) As per Mo these units draw .4 -.5 amps tops. Most house current sizing is 15 amps--so power consumption should not play any factor in use of an extension cord. But as Mo pointed out--always use a good extension cord--not your dad's one that is 100 feet long and taped up every 3 feet--and will not lay flat (stretched inner wires)--Here endeth the lesson!!!
I believe I've seen on the package of some of these devices that they say NOT to use an extension cord?
What do you guys think?
Dave
If an extension cord can handle say 10amps like every typical awg wire that you find on a cord, then the secondary is... for ease of talking is 10 times less voltage therefore the current could be ten times higher from the device SO in short no battery tender ever outputs 100amps and thus any cord on an extension will handle any current that a tender would draw.
In short no trouble with an entension cable ....just don't use say a 300 foot extension cord which has exceptionally small wiring to power the tender as losses will be large in the cable feeding the tender.
Short extension less than 30feet = no problem.
Hope this helps ..
Ian
Location: Whitby..... proud member of the East End Posse, looking for an RFE!
Quote:
Originally Posted by JUSTAKAR
If an extension cord can handle say 10amps like every typical awg wire that you find on a cord, then the secondary is... for ease of talking is 10 times less voltage therefore the current could be ten times higher from the device SO in short no battery tender ever outputs 100amps and thus any cord on an extension will handle any current that a tender would draw.
In short no trouble with an entension cable ....just don't use say a 300 foot extension cord which has exceptionally small wiring to power the tender as losses will be large in the cable feeding the tender.
Short extension less than 30feet = no problem.
Hope this helps ..
Ian
Battery tenders/chargers draw very little juice, so extention cords are OK, as long as they aren't 100' long!!
If you use an extention cord with a higher draw item, like say, a power washer, then you'll likely have a little trouble as they generally have really long cords to begin with, and say right in the instructions not to use an extention cord....
One concern...garage floors are wet. So I draped my cord so that it couldn't possibly hit the floor. And I don't use the one I might have run over with the electric mower.
Corvette Store
Is it OK to use an extension cord with a battery tender?
