what gauge extension cord should I use?

Question

what gauge extension cord should I use for my christmas lights? I have commercial grade mini christmas lights from GE that say you can connect up to six runs. Each run is 200 lights and 58 feet and I will be using 6 runs together. I have to run 200 feet from the house before getting to the mini lights. The box of xmas lights say they are 67.2w 120v 60hz. I have always heard that 300 mini lights = 1amp. What gauge extension cord should I use since I need 200 feet of it? Thanks

Answer 1

Use a 12 ga. if you can get one. You can always use it later for other heavy current draws, and you can be certain that it won't cause problems.

Answer 2

Standard AWG 3-16 would be just fine.
You're pulling low amperage, and a small voltage drop will not affect your lights what so ever.

However, at the end of the season, I wouldn't recommend using this small gage wire for anything else. Well, maybe a drill, or small battery charger or drop light would be OK. Nothing much bigger though.

Answer 3

Find out what size breaker runs the outlet that your gonna use... If the breaker is a 20 amp use a 12 ga extension cord.. If it is 15 amp use a 14ga cord...