Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Cable Asylum ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

The cord is a firetrap just waiting to happen.

Posted by jea48 (A) on February 3, 2015 at 11:56:37

In Reply to: RE: Held Captive posted by dirtyvinyl on February 1, 2015 at 12:58:45:

Might as well made it out of sever paralleled twisted pairs of CAT 5e or CAT 6 data cable. Might even sound better than the Mapleshade power cord.

>>>
As for the Mapleshade cord.

High current would be a factor.... One problem if the current draw is higher than the wire is rated for, the wire will heat up causing the insulation to heat up and may increase the temperature to rise above the temperature rating of the insulation. If the temperature gets high enough the insulation will break down and cause arcing or a short. A short will cause the branch circuit breaker to hopefully trip open. Parallel arcing of a non AFCI protected branch will not. (See farther below in my post.)

One other point to be made about exceeding the current rating of the Mapleshade cord if the temperature of the insulation only gets marginally higher than its rating in time the insulation will harden and become brittle, especially at the terminated connector ends and crack and break apart with the least amount of physical movement.

Also just as important is the voltage rating of the insulation covering the conductors, wires. Note the wires are tightly twisted together. The insulation should be rated for at least 300V for it to be used as a power cord. If the insulation is not rated for at least 150V the insulation could break down and start leaking across from the hot conductor to the neutral conductor. The insulation is breaking down... Carbon is a semi conductor and given time a small amount of current could start passing through the carbon semi conductor from one current carrying conductor to the other current carrying conductor of the tightly twisted pair. More leakage, more carbon, more heat, eventually arcing. Before you know it a small fire. Regular old style non AFCI breakers found in homes built before around 2009 - 2010 will not trip open due to parallel/series arcing of live 120V circuit wires.

Next problem I see the cord has little if any physical safeguards in it's exterior construction to protect the current carrying conductors from physical damage. A small dog or cat could chew through the cord in short order, bye-bye pet.

Jim

• National Lampoon Christmas Vacation FRIED CAT scene   (Open in New Window)

Edits: 02/03/15

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Signature Sound

[ Signature Sound Lounge ]

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---