Question about lenth of extension cord

I think the concept is use a gauge equal to or heavier than the cooker and the wiring of the power supply.

Easy approach is try it out at home.

Well the truth is I am an electronics tech by trade and I can't see it causing a problem, thats why I asked. I also worked in the electrical contractor business for 5 years and never had any complaints. Many houses today use 14 guage wire on 10amp breakers too with very long runs. I just don't wanna have problems at this cook-off since it will be the first one with my new smoker. I just wondered if I missed some concept with these smokers and their supply voltage. I would never have thought twice about it except for the numerous posts I have seen involving this subject. Thanks for the feedback Tom.

Tony,

We have found it easier and more practical to use an inverter and a marine battery to run our FEC at contests. By doing so, the quality of the electric source is more reliable than what you might find if you hook into the contest site's electric grid. Plus, you should not lose power on Sat. morning when all the other teams turn on their coffee pots and pop a breaker.

Just some thoughts.

Best of luck to you on your competition.

Thanks again. I have a 3kw generator and a 2.5 kw generator. I may use them instead.

I use an extension cord approximately 7 feet long with a two-gang box. The wire gauge is 10/3, so I shouldn't have any voltage loss.

dan

Great idea, I think I will get some SO cord and make one myself.

Since you are in the business,here is one other thought.

Since,cookoff electric can be erratic,especially in the morning -when all the coffee pots,and other small appliances,are turned on we carry an electric source.

Those with RV's use their deep cell batteries to power their cookers.

We carry the smallest Sam's Club marine deep cell battery and a small invertor to run our FECs at comps.

That way we don't worry about surges,outages ,etc.

Just a thought.

Well I am not in the business, but I do enjoy cookoffs. So how long will that battery power the smoker with 500watt element?

I have an inverter....how big does it have to be?

BTW Tom, I took many trips to Melbourne Fla. I used to do work with Harris Corp. Very tranquil place the Melbourne Beach is.

Never powered the electric CS's by inverted, so an electronic tech will have to give you an answer.

The FE's they're talking about only pull a few watts so an inverter is good enough.

The issue with the electric CS's is power loss via the cord. MANY new users will use a home extension cord and that just isn't good enough.

If you use a high enough gauge cord, you'll be fine.

Smokin

Tony,
Cord length and wire size contribute to voltage drop. Example; An 100 ft cord of #12 wire on 120 volts with a 10 amp load would loose approx. 4 volts. not enough to hurt, if you had 120 volts to start with. When you get in the 10% range of voltage drop(10-12 volts) you can experience problems with effiency relative to heating elements, motors, etc.

RT

Tony,

Another thought - most home wiring is solid wire and the electrical dynamics are different. Most extension cords are mutli-strand wires so they can be coiled. If I am not mistaken, the potential power loss in multi-strand wires is greater than a solid wire of the same gauge size. Ambient tempurature will also have an affect. And the number of terminals and junctions will also have an affect.

Actually home wiring (ROMEX) is solid because it is cheaper and much easier to wrangle into residential grade recepticles. Also multi-stranded (Stranded) wire is far more efficient because electrons move along the outer surface of conductors and many conductors = better conduction. And as to the guage of the wire, we are limited to 12 and 14 guage due to size of the breaker by electrical code. And the funny thing is a 10, 15 and 20 amp breaker all costs the same. But 14/3 or 14/2 romex is cheaper than 12/2 or 12/3 romex. But all that said you can place more recepticles and or switches on the 20 amp circuit.

And it is correct that there can be poor connections along the path from panel to recepticle but if that were the case there would be arcing taking place

My initial question became an issue for me because it appeared to be an issue here every time the topic of a smoker not reaching proper operating temp arose.

The best conductors are in this order: silver, gold and copper. Gold is much softer and makes for a better connection so it has gotten a reputation as being the best conductor. So we all use copper because it is cost effective and since OSHA is now out there, aluminum isn't because it oxidizes and causes arcing which = fires.

I am an electronic technician and I really do not see where there will be a problem unless there is already insufficient power being applied to the recepticle and or if the cord is several 100 foot long. And for what it is worth, I believe that proper insulation is probably more a factor that anything as far as extension cords go considering the amount of current being drawn by an electric smoker.

My suggestion is to do a practice at home and use exactly the same setup (cord, generator, etc). Until you use you ST on it, you won't know. Some electronics (chinese made included) perform weird on different kinds of power. Brown outs, etc.

And practicing this way for a contest (not out of your kitchen) will help you better prepare for this contest.

tony,
take smokinokie's advice and do a full comp run up at home with the cords you are going to use. get as many thermos as you can and monitor everything including pit temp.
i did see 2 things in your posts though. your element is 500 watts and you have 2 gennies one 3000 and one 2500. if you have time try to do 2 run ups but on the last one use your 2500 watt gennie (it should be enough our honda eu3000is runs the 150 and it draws 1550 watts and on that leg powers the 150 along with the reefer and freezer) while i don't think the cs are as touchy from what i have read on power as the sm is for comps i would take the gennies. it is just one less thing to worry about
jack
ps. and do you best to simulate comp conditions so sleep in whatever you are going to sleep in and go the whole 9 yards
pps. for 18 months every friday was comp day for me. until we got our second sm150 i had to go to the rig on friday to be ready for sales on saturday. now with our 2nd sm located much closer i get to sleep at home. have fun at the contest hope, that you do well and it is really nice to see a contest where electrics are allowed. let us know how you do!!!!!

I guess we have beaten this subject to death. Thanks for the advice.

Just 1 more thought. Not being an electrician don't laugh me out of the forum.

But if the Smokette has a 500 watt element wouldn't one of those $98.00, 700 watt inverters do the trick?

Hook it to your car battery and everytime the battery drains down to 10 or 11 amps just crank the vehicle on for a while.

That is what I was wondering. I had asked that question before pertaining to another post. I really dont like the idea of having to think about having to start a vehicle..... Someone here said you can use a deep cell battery and cook a whole brisket with it. That said, I asked for details and got none.
Having to start the car to recharge the battery would be sort of silly to have to do. Plus I would like to come off as bringing something new (the ST or CS) to the local cookoffs not come off looking like a goober. You know the drill, these guys are old hands and I am gonna take enough gruff just for using this thing.

Well, the question would be what is the PEAK of the 500W. When it cycles, what is it pulling?

Tony, you're an electrical guy, can't you meter the smoke while it's running to see what it's drawing?

Now the FEC"s do great on an inverter and deep cycle batter. But I don't remember the draw on the smaller 500 or so elements.

Smokin'

Yes you can put an amp meter inline with the A/C power to get a true reading. I don't think you could get an accurate reading with a clamp on meter. I was sort of hoping someone here had already developed a tried and true method. So far I have been getting opinions.
Smokin, have you actually used a battery and inverter on your FEC? After reading the specs on it, I would guess if it works that it will work just fine on the 500 watt element.

I wasn't being silly, I just hadn't see an electrician or someone post the specifics. Of course CS and ST will vary, by element and by model.

quote:

Originally posted by tony76248:
[qb]Smokin, have you actually used a battery and inverter on your FEC? After reading the specs on it, I would guess if it works that it will work just fine on the 500 watt element. [/qb]

Yuppers I do (check out the FE contest forum for more contest help).

I use two FEC's. Each has a deep cycle Marine battery. Each has a 750W inverter. The ONLY time on the FE's you need that much is the first 3 minutes when the Igniter is kicking in. After that, it has the draw of a light bulb. I haven't tested it for the details, but used it 10 times last year in contests.

This year for my trailer, I'm hooking a Tripp Lite Inverter charger up two the same two batteries hooked in series. This will allow me to deal better with brown outs, charge at the same time and the power kicks in when needed. That inverter cost, but I'm installing it permanently and for contest, I don't go the cheap route.

I'll post photos if needed when I get it finally installed.

Don't hesitate to email me or ask for Contest help in the forum. Just like all the other emails, we like helping new contests guys (I have three or four emails going with different guys asking for help). Or just come up to a contest here. No UT shirts allowed on my site (OU and USC grad --- GRR)

Smokin'