Stringing extension cords together...danger???

[SDB_12]

Hi,

I have to sing in a wedding this weekend, and they are doing it at a lake. The only outlet is pretty far away...probably a couple hundred feet, and their plan is to string a bunch of extension cords together to power my PA system. I'm wondering if this is harmful to my PA, or what kinds of hazards there would be besides someone tripping or unplugging it!!! I know there are fire hazards with this, and it's not a good idea...but can it harm my gear? I'm pretty sure they are just out of luck on this one...no music....

I will have a surge protector at the end...but I'm not sure if this will help or not.

Thanks

[Old Goat]

If you can get big, beefy, industrial sized cords, you should b all right.
skinny little 16 or 18 Ga. cords will burn in half or short the plug. The more watts you are using, the bigger the wire needs to be.

[rjacobsen]

Are you singing solo or with a band? How big of Pa are you using? Going that far I would use an extension chord that was 12 gauge or lower. The biggest concern is the current that the power amp draws, that's why you need big beefy extension chords like Old Goat said.

rjacobsen

[SDB_12]

Thanks for the replies. I am singing solo with my acoustic guitar...that's it. I can scale down the PA to run one 15" speaker with horn...12 gauge will be a must if they want me to do it. The amp ratings are:

Yamaha PD 2500
-370W@4ohms
-500W@2ohms
-1000W@4ohms bridged mono

Mackie 12 channel mixer. So basically the amp above, makcie board, and one speaker if I have to...

[jchas]

Standard 12ga. or even 14 will be fine for what you're running. Make sure that you find a way to either fasten the male end to the outlet or barricade it well so it can't be pulled out. Also, tie the ends of the cords together before plugging them in (don't pull the knots tight) so should the photographer accidently trip over it as he backs up for a good shot - your system doesn't crash. And BTW - those wattages you posted are the amps output - not it's current draw. The mixer and amp combined are probably 2-3 amps.

[rjacobsen]

I would use both speakers because you want to have a load on both chanels of the power amp or else bridge the amp, I assume your speakers are 8 ohm.

rjacobsen

[SDB_12]

Thanks!

Well in this case I may just use my other amp, a bit more powerful, and JBL 15" mains. The amp is bridged, and I run them in parallel. If I get 12 gauge ext. cords, simply running the mixer, amp, and two speakers for vocals and guitar...maybe it will work.

And yes....they are 8ohm.

[Whitecat]

A couple hundred feet is likely going to result in some "line loss" - that is, you're going to have a voltage drop.

This may or may not be a problem, it depends on the equipment - but if the gear is a power amp I would imagine it might be an issue as it probably needs to use as much electricity as possible.

I'd run some tests first!

[rjacobsen]

I would use the Yamaha amp because it's less powerful, thus it will draw less current. The concern is drawing current for such a distance, as you can get a voltage drop like whitecat said. The component that is most susceptible is the power transformer in your power amp.

rjacobsen