Extension Cord repair

[dual290x]

I nicked my extension cord with my angle grinder today. What is the best way to repair it with out replacing a $75+ cord? Water tight is needed.

[Jtalk4456]

46 minutes ago, dual290x said:

I nicked my extension cord with my angle grinder today. What is the best way to repair it with out replacing a $75+ cord? Water tight is needed.

honestly, you should just replace it. Why is it $75?

[Kawaii Koneko]

Nicked or severed? If you've just exposed some bare wire but the connection is still solid, I would just very tightly and thoroughly wrap it in electrical tape. If you need it to be water resistant, you can buy water resistant electrical tape from Amazon or your local hardware store. Wal-Mart might have some as well.

 

If it has been severed. Solder the ends back together and use some heat shrink tubing to make it nice and tidy and provide another layer of protection. Then wrap in electrical tape.

 

[CodeNova]

unplug the extension cord, grab some of those, and make two extension cords.

[Kawaii Koneko]

Just now, CodeNova said:

unplug the extension cord, grab some of those, and make two extension cords.

 That's a pretty good idea. Then you won't have to lug out a big cord for short distances and you can just connect them when you need a long one.

[Yoinkerman]

3 minutes ago, CodeNova said:

unplug the extension cord, grab some of those, and make two extension cords.

This.  It's super easy all you need is a screwdriver and a knife.  I'd use wire strippers if you have them but a knife also works

[aezakmi]

Best way to do it is to cut the damaged part, create a new joint and isolate using heatshrink and electrical tape

 

There are also push-in type connectors that might work too

[Drak3]

6 minutes ago, Kawaii Koneko said:

I would just very tightly and thoroughly wrap it in electrical tape.

Not a great idea.

 

15 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

honestly, you should just replace it. Why is it $75?

Unless it's a heavy duty cord and you need it to be a specific length, replacing it is just a waste of money.

[Kawaii Koneko]

16 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Not a great idea.

 

Why? Electrical tape is probably one of the most common and convenient ways to patch a nick in a wire. As long as you do a good job wrapping it, it should be fine. I think 95% of people probably do that instead of splicing the wire and just making a new connection.

 

If you want a little added protection, you could take off the plug on the end and slide heat shrink tubing and then wrap it in tape after you shrink it. That's probably a better idea than just using electrical tape by itself but I still think the tape is generally enough.

[Drak3]

Just now, Kawaii Koneko said:

Why? Electrical tape is probably one of the most common and convenient ways to patch a nick in a wire. As long as you do a good job wrapping it, it should be fine.

 

Just now, Kawaii Koneko said:

If you want a little added protection, you could take off the plug on the end and slide heat shrink tubing and then wrap it in tape after you shrink it.

It's not the quality of the seal or risk of shock that it an issue, it's the higher resistance at the nick. At that point, the cord will heat up more, and the worse the nick, the faster/hotter it gets. It might not be an issue for light tasks with short cords, but it is if you're approaching the rated capacity or running long lengths.

[Kawaii Koneko]

1 minute ago, Drak3 said:

 

It's not the quality of the seal or risk of shock that it an issue, it's the higher resistance at the nick. At that point, the cord will heat up more, and the worse the nick, the faster/hotter it gets. It might not be an issue for light tasks with short cords, but it is if you're approaching the rated capacity or running long lengths.

Okay, that makes sense. So probably fine for laptop, lamp, phone charger cords, etc but if you are going to be running power tools off it or something, not so good of an idea...

 

 

[Lord Mirdalan]

If the damage is to the outer insulation, I would slather the area in heat-activated water-resistant epoxy, then cover it with heat-shrink tubing, then hit it with a heat gun.

 

If the inner insulation (the insulation around the conductors themselves) is damaged, chop it and add plugs, as mentioned above.

 

Some endlessly entertaining OSHA-provided reading on the subject: https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/1998-12-16

 

And a quick article on heat-shrink and solder-based repair (by no means OSHA approved): https://www.oneprojectcloser.com/how-to-repair-a-cut-or-damaged-power-cord/

[dual290x]

3x14 awg, 100 ft. There are times where the 100 ft. made my day easier and less of a head ache. I have used it for everything from power tools/vacuums to refrigerators on a generator and engine starters for dead batteries. I'd like to keep it 100ft. if possible and water tight. 

https://m.lowes.com/pd/Utilitech-Pro-100-ft-14-AWG-3-SJTW-13-Amps-Lighted-Extension-Cord/3191693

Maybe I was off $15 bucks, but I just spent a shed load on a welding machine and am broke. 

[mariushm]

As long as the copper strands aren't cut, the wire can carry the current and everything.

There's two layers of insulation, yellow on the outside and brown on the inside.

 

What I would probably do is carefully cut away the YELLOW insulation around the whole wire, about an inch or so in width (the marker's pretty good indicator) and then also cut the BROWN insulation just the length of the original nick.  Then use some good electrical tape and make a couple of turns over the visible brown insulation and the exposed wire

Then, get some thicker heatshrink material and place it over the area, covering both the original yellow insulation AND the area with electrical tape... basically, if the stripper area is one inch, have ~1 inch of heatshrink on both sides. Heat the heatshrink to get it shrunk.

The heatshrink will prevent sun rays and humidity from reaching the electrical tape and degrade the adhesive (which in turn would loosen the tape), and the couple of turns of adhesive tape add to the electrical insulation provided by the heatshrink.

 

 

IF you want you can have two heatshrinks ... one just the width of the yellow cut, then a 2nd layer over like i said (between the blue lines in the picture)

[Enderman]

On 3/8/2019 at 4:21 PM, Drak3 said:

 

It's not the quality of the seal or risk of shock that it an issue, it's the higher resistance at the nick. At that point, the cord will heat up more, and the worse the nick, the faster/hotter it gets. It might not be an issue for light tasks with short cords, but it is if you're approaching the rated capacity or running long lengths.

That's only if the wire was severely damaged.

If it's only on the jacket or just a scrape on the surface of the wire (which it looks like from the pics) the resistance will not change.

[dual290x]

I am just going to say screw it. It's near the end so I will put a new end on it and use it for cutting tools and get a new cord later for all other uses. 

That way if it gets cut again I don't give two $#its.