using aircraft landing lights

[ship]

oh, oh, let me jump in... though DMX tools's expilination of voltage drop and other factors was very well stated... please.


Because a coil of wire in a coil becomes one big transformer in melting down. Figure 8 the stuff and it cancells out the field.

And now hopefully back to Tools, description of what is actually going on in a more scientific and why type of way. Thanks for the jump in even if not help.

 

[DMXtools]

Because a coil of wire in a coil becomes one big transformer in melting down. Figure 8 the stuff and it cancells out the field.

And now hopefully back to Tools, description of what is actually going on in a more scientific and why type of way. Thanks for the jump in even if not help.

Actually, the fact that you have two current-carrying conductors parallel and in close proximity cancels out any magnetic "transformer" effect. However, in my example, my 100-foot #12AWG extension cord is taking over 116 watts and turning it into heat. If most of that cable (and most of that heat) is still tightly coiled on a spool (I've invested in spools for most of my long cables), it's going to get pretty warm... perhaps hot enough to degrade the insulation over time. Repeated heating and cooling causes many plastic and rubber materials to become brittle. Uncoiled, much more of the surface of the cable is exposed to air and can dissipate the heat more quickly, extending the life of the cable.

John