What don't you know yet? You've been told the correct answer, 10awg. 12awg will most likely work as well. The better answer is to rent a generator and save a bunch of money.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
What don't you know yet? You've been told the correct answer, 10awg. 12awg will most likely work as well. The better answer is to rent a generator and save a bunch of money.

Good point, except that it wasn't obvious. I can't rent a generator because it will take too long, paying 50 to 80 $ per day. I called Graco and the dude pulled out his slide rule and said 12 ga was too small for 200 ft, but 10 ga would be gtg. BUT, who can use 200 ft of 10 ga 3 wire after the project is finished ? A contractor could, but this is a DIY for me, and the likelihoold of needing that much cord of a large guage is close to zero. Considering that cost of that cord, Graco recommended a small generator. His calulator said min 3700 watts for that particular sprayer. So I've been shopping generators. One guy said but a larger one than that, to handle other stuff, since I live in hurricane country. I like that idea, since my house is in a very bad area known for extremely slow repair after storm outages etc. So I'm shopping for a 10K watt or so generator, but don't know what's good/bad/ugly regarding portable generators. This would be for water, refigerator, and a few lights, not for big draw items, since it will be small and portable. I really don't have the space to store one, but 200 ft of 10 ga extension cord would take up half that space itself.

One guy told me Honda motor generaters are the only way to go, with Briggs being an acceptable substitute considering budget.

So now I'm on the generator hunt. Any advice along THESE lines would be appreciated.

Tons of portable generator threads here over the years.

Just got buy a new pickup truck with the built in inverter putting out several thousand or so watts. Mighty handy thing.
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You can probably buy a Honda generator for less than 200 ft of 10gage wire is going to cost.

I’d also use this as the motivation to buy a generator. I’m sure you’d have no issues with the 200ft cord, but that thing would be quite a burden to move and store and roll properly. Most people I know can’t handle properly rolling a 50’ small gauge cord, let alone a 200’ 10awg hog.

I think you’d get more utility out of the generator over the long term, with far less hassle.

What has me confused is why the fella said you’d need a 3700 watt generator to run your sprayer with a 9amp motor. I’m not an electrician but I have done a few ohms law calculations in my past and I don’t get the math.

Back when I did theatrical lighting, in the days before LED lights, we tossed around a lot of amperage over long distances. Our rule was this: no more than 2150 watts of lamp power on a 20 amp circuit. This was regardless of length and some runs easily ran multiple hundreds of feet. No issues, though a bit of voltage drop on a light isn’t all that big a deal.

Without pulling up a calculator I think you’re in the 1000-1100 watt category, as a continuous power need. Skins, I’m sure, can give you a more definitive answer. I’d probably be shopping for a small generator as opposed to big one for house back up. I think those are two different uses. One big enough to serve as a proper back up for the house isn’t necessarily one you want to move around for projects.

Good luck.

3700 watt generator ? Nope . A 2kw would run it just fine with power to spare .

The extension cord is like $300 or maybe a bit less if you make it yourself. Your not going to get a decent 2KW generator for that. and you can probably unload the cords when you are done if that's your style.

Or buy a pair of 100 ft. cords, unload one, keep the other.

Could have finished the job by now with a nice roller. Stain is easy to apply with roller and you get good coverage especially on the top edges and without the significant overspray and the cost of wasted product. Just saying.

I'm guessing your fence painting experience is limited... Its a real PIA for many styles (but granted not all) and spraying it it really the best answer.