To late Jay, I already use a 300ft extension cord connected to my neighbor's house to save on electricity, I guess this explains why their house almost caught on fire

Everyone else: CES 2020 Jay: What if we throw a bunch of extension cords together and see what happens?

As an electrical engineer I was waiting for the moment when he touches the extension cords and realizes they get warm/hot.

Jay wearing LTT Stealth Hoodie, says "It's time for another stupid experiment." Checks out.

This seems like a job for ElectroBOOM, you missed a great opportunity to to make a cool collaboration video.

As a brazilian..... can confirm. Also the transformer on the end of my street caught fire today. So ye.... count on luck here.

"Brazil: Good Luck Don't shock yourself V" as a Brazilian I can affirm that as every place is different and you should just ask every place you go

Jay: This is the cheapest cable with the cheapest insulation *leaves it all coiled up on a wooden table* Me: Oh god he's gonna burn it down for real this time

This series of videos should be called "Jay's Shower thoughts" 🤔

"It still needs 120V. So it's going start pulling more amps to get the volts it needs, to provide the wattage that it's asking for." This is so wrong it hurts

electrical engineer here.... Close enough for me. I come here for the laughs anyhow.

I'd love to see this same test but with surge protectors/power strips, to see if a cheap VS inexpensive VS expensive power strip makes a difference on power pull and stability when using all plugs on said power strip!

JAY: Linus is crybaby Also Jay: wearing a LTT stealth hoodie

Me: reads title Also me: nervously sweats while looking at my extensions cords coming from an extension outlet panel connected to an extension panel.

Something that someone may have mentioned already is that using the contractor cable as shown @ 9:45 in the test will also add impedance to the test as well as resistance because of it being in a coil. Each loop adds its own impedance to the circuit.

"we've got lots of computers around here that draw alot of power" OKAY JAY you dont have to brag...

0:32 If I REALLY wanted my system to pop, I would get a cheap PSU instead.

i like how Jay is wearing LTT merch yet he has his own merch

hey jay, during my instrumentation course one of the instructors said this to explain wire resistance, he said " wire is like a highway for cars, if you have a 2 lane highway(18 gauge persay), only two cars wide can travel down the highway. but if you have a 4 lane megahighway, 4 cars can go down. the thicker the wire, the more lanes on the highway OR space for electrons to go through "

Lol, this video was about 20 years late for me. I have a video of a lan party I hosted in my youth where we played "find the smell". We assumed someone's overclocked rig was cooking. No, me in my brilliance used a 50' extension cord on a reel without unrolling it. The results were eye opening lol. After that I built a power distribution center using a breaker box plugged into the 220v 50A socket for my welder and split off into five 110v 20A lines. It worked well and we used that setup for a decade.

In Concert Staging we call those orange extension cables: "Show Killers".

anyone else think Phil needs hazardous duty pay just being in the room with Jay? Testing Ohm's law not really a new theory

I wanna see a watt measurement at the wall, versus at the end, to see how much resistance the power cords are creating.

I work for a cable manufacturer in the UK. Jay, I completely agree 😊 volt drop is a big hurdle for many power cables. Great work as always!!

When you start watching these for Phil's laugh in the background

Legend says Jay's still winding that cable up...

Bigger concern: You didn't unwind it, so you have inductive resistance!

The rolling the cables up at the end was a nice touch... Can I suggest looking up the "Roadie Roll"/"Roadie Wrap", otherwise known as the over/under technique? Coils cables so much more neatly, and prevents them getting all tangled when you're trying to unroll them!

4am, yeah sleep can wait a bit longer

These cords also work as an inductor introducing reactive load into the system. That way you don't just have the resistance of the cords limiting the voltage but also the impedance of rolled up cords.

Just the information that I was looking for, thank you Jay!!

I always wanted to know what happens when to many computers are on one outlet. I'll be looking forward to that video! Enjoyed this!

Never ever leave extension cord rolls rolled up unless you like fire. 🔥 This is probably adding much more to the heat of the cords.

"5v extra resistance" reeeeeeeee

2:22 *Brazil: Good Luck Don't Shock Yourself V* Actually, there were 3 cases this week in Brazil that cause a public uprising: - "Irmãos morrem eletrocutados ao empinar pipa no RJ", Band Jornalismo - "Idosa morre eletrocutada ao encostar em fio solto na rua", SBT Jornalismo - "Mulher morre eletrocutada enquanto lavava roupas", SBT Jornalismo

Haven't enjoyed a Jay video in a while, this was old school funny Jay2Cents! Nice job!

Jay, thank you for making the content we didn’t know we wanted! I love this channel!!!

Yes more crazy Jay science! I love that you are branching out from regular tech videos

The contractor cable coiled was turning into a Tesla coil, amp boost.

That little danger montage is an incredible little piece of editing lol I can't stop watching it

Jay: [plugs in coiled extension cords] Electrons: Inductance, ENGAGE!

*Jason? Experiments.* *PC? Crying.* *Hotel? Trivago.*

I love how right you got Brazil's electric system, some places are 120/110 and some are 220/210, and some are just "POWER"

Wow great video! A factory I used to work at would daisy chain ⛓️ extension cords with lots of equipment. The safety guy taught us not to do this so we fixed it. Definitely could be life saving info.

Since I swapped to a high quality power strip instead of a $5 one, I now can OC in the top 2%. would recommend.

Is this a tutorial for UnderVolting? 🤔 Seems expensive...

Thanks a lot Jay for this video. Dirty power can be really dangerous for PC's, and while there isn't much you can do if you have a 300$ beater - when you've got a 5K$+ beast on the desk it would be best practice to work on some protection. Unfortunately it's just not a very well known and tested topic. So thanks for bringing it up.

You're looking great jay! inspiration goals.

This would've been the perfect time to cooperate with ElectroBOOM, ask him to lend you an oscilloscope and his expertise in analyzing the voltage drop vs PC PSU stability. You should also look at the PSU voltages to detect changes in stability. The components themselves can tolerate quite a bit of voltage drop, especially on the 12V line, since most components will step down that voltage to supply things like the GPU, Memory and the CPU. In the end it will probably not be the voltage drop itself that causes the instability, but rather the inability to deliver enough amps at the lower voltage to meet the demands on current.

If you rolled up my cord that way there would be beef.

I love this guys channel from the commentary to the production quality everything about them best yt channel

Great vid Jay, very informative.

👀👀👀 is that a LTT hoodie?

That shot at the end of wrapping over the elbow made me die inside.

Me: Googles; "Should I use extension leads for PC setups", just to check my thinking. KZfaq: "HERE COMES JAYYYY TO SAVE THE DAAAYYY"

Since you wanted an E.E. to chime in, here goes: The resistance in the extension cords doesn't (in itself) present a problem for the computer - most computer PSUs will actually function down to 60V or 75V; this to allow for fluctuations in supply voltage and occasional "brown-out" conditions. In fact, AC line voltage will often vary MORE with load and the contact resistance between the plug and the socket than it will from adding all those extension cords. The danger (as you've noticed) with running excessive draws through longer, thinner extensions is HEAT (which can compromise the insulation). As far as QUALITY of power, adding a motor in the same circuit will add more noise than ANY extension cord will; a sudden inductive load (like a compressor, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, etc.) will seriously screw with your power (at least momentarily) and will add noise (continuously). Other sources of electrical noise: fluorescent light ballasts, TRIAC-based dimmers, AC stepping motors - basically anything that will induce harmonics on top of your (60Hz) fundamental AC frequency can cause spikes in switching power supplies that will have to be filtered out by the supply. The more the PSU has to draw (current-wise) to compensate for a lower input voltage, the harder this becomes. Incidentally, the reason European (230V) AC voltage is considered superior has nothing to do with the noisiness or quality of the AC supply. It's simply that less current is required to produce the same wattage. Therefore, a 150W appliance that would have to draw 1.25A at 120V would only have to draw 650mA at 230V, and (since load noise is proportional to current, not voltage) you're less likely to be affected by electrical spikes at lower amperages.

I love these kinds of videos from you. Answering the questions that have briefly crossed all our minds at one point.

If you measure wattage at the socket and the end of the extension cable, it will tell you how much power is being lost due to resistance (heat).

5:02 So it's gonna start pulling more amps to get the volts it needs... Uhh you sure about that. I'm no certified pixie wrangler myself but this sounds even more wrong than Alex from LTT describing RACE-LET at CES 2020

Which is why I use 16AWG MIL-SPEC Stranded Hook Up Wire (not the generic stuff that you get from hobby shops) when I make my custom individually sleeved modular PSU cables.

THIS IS THE VIDEO IVE BEEN WAITING FOR YEARS!

"Bad extension cords are bad." - Jay, 2020.

As a high voltage lineman with an electrical engineering degree, I must say you did a pretty good layman's ohm's law explanation. Good video

The math is very simple: 120V@20A=2400W (V*A) In Europe we can draw 230V@16A=3680W (per circuit. We usually have 5 or 6 circuits). Coiling a cord increases its resistance and it will get hotter. (It also creates a magnetic field, which can affect electronics).

Looked in the comments for the dissertation. Sadly, there was none. :(

14:00 I was actually waiting for this to happen. And it took me 10:00 whole minutes to see that Jay's wearing the stealth hoodie from Linus - LTTStore dot com

me: running 2 computers and my monitors on one extension cable

Ohm's law: V = I * R Jay's version of ohms law: V = I * V 🤔

Jay's having his Tim Taylor from Home Improvement moments....

I would like to see your results on multiple pcs one breaker, from my experience i find 4 never trips a 15 amp breaker, 5 should work if all the machines arent power hungry, and 6 works in web browsing but not gaming.

WOW. Thanks to Jayz video I just learnt Australia (my own country) had different mains voltages between states. I live in WA and it's 240v here, same as one other state. I'm shook...

I'm glad you did this video Jay, as an electrician I have seen to many home owners not understand what draw can do using the wrong extension cord for the job at hand. many of house fires have been caused by this especially in older homes built before the 50's.....laughing at the comments especially the one about not loosing to much draw on a 230V output from a PSU.....with a 2000watt heater on the same outlet......I'd hate to be his insurance company he is the reason why insurance rates are so high in the world... well I guess you can't fix stupid but everyone else has to pay.

0:52 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 just like electricboom this going be hilarious if u keep doing more lol

“I’m going to put my hand in the middle” -Jay, 2020

He has the cords coiled which introduces induction into the equation. This would affect the results subtly and, as a side note, can melt ferrous metals if the voltage or currect in the coil is high enough and the ferrous sample is in the centre of the coil though this is mostly done with DC voltage.

We also have 240V sockets here in North America, but they aren't as common and require a workaround to the 120V entering the house. Our 240V, 60hrz system uses two breakers with an attached breaker bar and one is run 180 degrees out of phase to the other, meaning the peak (120V) of one lines up with the trough (-120V) of the other. For high amperage circuits like clothes driers and stoves we have a two different styles of large guage 3-4 blade plugs; for mid-amperage like overhead lighting and fan array for a patio or certain power tools as well as generator hookups for RV/camper and whole home back-feeding, we use a locking 4 blade plug and for standard amperage items like 240V window A/C units, high volume espresso machines and 240V electric heaters, we have a 2 blade with grounding pin, only the blades are horizontal rather than vertical.

16:14 - Next video... how to properly coil a cable... OVER-UNDER!!! :)

Brazil: 110 or 220v (don't shock yourself hahahaha)

The moment you plugged in the higher quality extension cable...... Gave me a lot of thanks to myself with my setup. Our house is split in 2 with the electrical circuits. One side of the house covers 2 bedrooms and the bathroom. The other covers the games room, living room, kitchen and laundry. The whole house has maybe 12 wall plugs. Total. There is a lot of power boards. However my setup cannot be plugged into the games room as it triggers the breaker switch. I have to run an extension cord from the bedroom through to the games room. Because I am plugging into an extension cord the following, 3 monitors, PC, Nintendo Switch, Gamecube, Super Nintendo, Wii U, 32" CRT TV, Bar Fridge, plus a few things via USB chargers.... I did go with the higher grade extension cable.

I once accidentally overloaded a power strip one night. I have my pc 7700k @5ghz, 1080ti +50/+400, two monitors, Logitech speakers with a sub plugged onto it. My girlfriend came I to the room to blow dry her hair. Immediately after turning on the blow dryer, everything went dark lol

Missed opportunity for collab video with ElectroBOOM Sad!

yeah i remember plugging my PC+ 2 monitors and my friend's PC and his monitor into a pair of sockets and the lights dimmed fun times

Very interesting video. The explanation is a little off, but the overall jist of the video is understood well. For those interested in a more in-depth explanation: The PSU specs indicated its maximum amperage is 10A, max wattage is 1200W, and the voltage range is 115V-240V(if I remember correctly, close enough). You actually never reached the maximum current of 10A that the PSU is capable of handling. At your lowest voltage of ~79V, with the system power draw at ~660W (based on previous recording), your amperage draw was ~8.35A. Of course the maximum amperage rating of the PSU is calculated based on the max wattage and the minimum voltage (1200W/115V=10.43A). At your highest voltage of 117V, with the ~660W power draw, your amperage draw was ~5.64A. Using the ratio of 10.43A:115V:1200W, we can calculate what the theoretical limits would be given the minimum voltage rating. By dividing the 660W power draw by the 115V minimum rating, we can calculate the maximum current to be 5.74A. This number makes sense because we previously calculated 660W/117V=5.64A. At the harshest testing conditions (400ft+600W compressor, at 79V), your theoretical limits can be calculated; however, the capabilities of the PSU have to be ignored. Assuming the PSU is capable of operating at 10A at 79V, the maximum wattage would be 10A*79V=790W. Let's assume 660W at 8.35A is the maximum throughput at 79V, based on the fact that when running at 82V, the system was semi-operational. Using the percent error formula we can calculate the power loss and current loss. The power loss would be (|600-790|)/790=24%. The current loss would be (|8.35-10|)/10=16.5%. Lastly, the calculations which will answer the question brought up in this video. To determine the losses caused by the maximum 400ft of extension cord we can simply take the percent error of the amperage or voltage. Using the voltages allows you to avoid doing extra calculations, whereas using amperage, you have to calculate it based on W/V. We'll start with voltages: (|94V-117V|)/117=19.66% efficiency loss. Now with amperages: 660W/117V=5.64A and 660W/94V=7.02A. (|5.64-7.02|)/7.02=19.66% loss or 80.33% efficiency. As you can see, either method yields the same result due to the proportionality between amperage and voltage (when watts is constant, rise in voltage = drop in amperage and drop in voltage = rise in amperage). Efficiency loss at: 100ft = 2.56% 200ft = 7.69% 400ft = 19.66% In conclusion, the addition of a 400ft extension cord caused a 19.66% overall efficiency loss. While this is true, this loss isn't a constant, it will change as the extension cord changes. As you add more extension cord, the efficiency losses will increase (ex. efficiency loss at 100ft is only 2.56%). Here's a line graph showing the data: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I-s_4xB3xOXMrjajc4LkRAeW5S96wlRExR9ZFLDiAx0/edit?usp=sharing

2:21 Hey! Brazil use both 100/127~220/230, we do have places who only use 1 type but most houses can go dual if it's need!

would have been interesting to see how 12v and v-core for cpu and gpu change with the drop in mains voltage.

I had a client that I went to their house to do some computer work and she had a 2 prong extension cord plugged into the computer's power cable but the ground pin was not connected to any ground. The 3 prong to 2 prong adapter's ground was just laying on the carpet. The extension cord was the cheap white one for interior Christmas lights. Not something you want powering your computer.

Very informative video. Tldr, if you need to use an extension cable for high draw equipment don't daisy chain and check the load rating. I used a 10 ft air conditioner cable that's rated for 1500w into my ups to make sure it's safe.

14:00 yeah, there was that OG Mythbusters episode (68, I think) where they tested Christmas lights with extension cords and some melted and shorted. Heck, just this past Christmas, our tree was pulling ~440W from the wall. That thing was throwing some warmth.

the whole video I'm saying to myself don't leave them coiled up

Volts = pressure Ohms = resistance Amps = current

Watched this till the end and saw your wrapping technique that I (used) to do. Try this next time, it will save lots of time and headaches with unruly coiled wires and tangles. Take one end in both hands and stretch it out full length. Bring the middle to the end in a naturally laying loop twisting slightly in or out as needed to get it laying slack. Repeat as necessary, gathering all the loops in one hand. When near the last loop or two, wrap the remaining length around the bulk a few times like a hangman's noose. Take the last meter or so in a loop and tuck that loop through the top loops between your hand and the lower rings. Pull the loop from the other side and flip it over the bulk and slide it down to form the final ring around the bulk. Cinch everything up tight and if there's any left of the very end, tuck/pull it back through the bulk loops and let it hang. You can now throw it around, stack it, bag or box it and it will never be a coiled nightmare and will always unwrap and play nice with the other cords. I learned two things from an electric contractor that employed me for one week before I quit. One was that the definition of every obscenity you could call a person must have MY picture on it, and two, was this wrapping method. Enjoy.

I will also add, in the power delivery field, a plus our minus of 4 to 5 volts at your meter is what we consider good voltage. So, if your at the end of a long power line run, you can have 115 volts at your meter and still pass code for inspection. That also adds to voltage drop in your home. 110 volts is where we will add a transformer to your home.

Should have added a meter before the cords as well, then you could have watched the amp draw go up as you added more cords under the same electrical load.

5:00 When the voltage drops, the amperage has to go up to keep the wattage the same, voltage wont go up with more amps. Adding more cables will increase the resistance which in turn causes the voltage drop. P=U*I

do more on 120 vs 230. multiple 24pin extenders. more in the office and so on. it's a interesting subject and would definetly be interesting to have a video regarding general power delivery to the computer since there is so much focus on the actual power supply.

should do more that kind of endings.. jay wrapping it up :D

Im watching this on a pc on a extension cord

Never ever live cable like a bunch of spaghetti on 1 pile because they gonna ower heat like they almost did in your case. Even one on spool need to be extended.

2:22 I honestly chuckled. We have different Voltage ratings for different parts of the country, some places it's 127, others it's 220...and other rare ones have more. Good luck!

Brazil is 127V officially. But some houses (in the past) used to wire as 220V (Phase+Phase) on the entire building (not so in Sao Paulo or Rio, but more common on the countryside). Since you can just add Two Phases to run 220V it is easy to put some outlets in this voltage when using high power or "24x7" appliances like DishWashers, Refrigerators, Washing Machines, and... sometimes your home server, why not.