Why are 99% of power cords so big?

[Stiganator]

..

 

[blahblah99]

Because its a standardized power cable.

 

[wwswimming]

actually, it is kind of odd, when you compare them to the standard extension cord,
which is 2 strands of about 3/16" diameter insulation.

 

[bobdole369]

The IEC power cord is a standard. It contains 18 gauge x3 wires, and some cotton or paper fiber to maintain flexibility. It easily passes 15A - which is about 6 kilowatts for 120V - 12 for 240V. Extension cords are smaller because they aren't standard, which is part of the problem - as extension cords are meant to be temporary - as there is no real standard for them.

 

[Cogman]

The basic reason is that you don't want to have your cable light on fire or burn out randomly just by using it. Make it big to be safe.

 

[octopus41092]

Thicker cable = less resistance, less resistance = less heat?

 

[randay]

if the cable fails before your circuit breaker does, then your house burns down.

 

[spikespiegal]

I used to see a lot of thinner ones that were much longer, but these died out in the 90's. Shame...they are certainly more usefull when they are much longer and thinner.

There needs to be a global ban on making these things since they clutter up most IT departments I've been in. Often occupying boxes up to several cubic yards because they are tough to dispose of.

Always fun to see what newbie PC techs do with old/new power cables when swapping out on computer deployments. If they ask if they should swap the old cables for new ones act annoyed and tell them the old cable violates warranty.

Veterans leave the new cables bundled up and in some obvious spot that confuses the client to call up tech support. Or, you save up the entire lot of wrapped power cords and leave them on some poor victim's desk.