How to choose an extension cord for a garland?

To make the New Year holidays bright and memorable, during the New Year and Christmas, it has become a fashionable trend everywhere to decorate not only the Christmas tree itself with LED garlands, but also the premises. Such a luminous decor creates a festive mood and a sense of a fairy tale for both children and adults. Often, up to 10 New Year's garlands are used in one room. When turned on, they look very impressive, but sometimes there are problems with their connection to the power supply. Stationary electrical outlets are often not enough to connect such a number of electrical appliances, and in this case, to get out of the existing one, you have to use a mains power extension.

An electrical extension cord for a garland should be understood a special device for electrical purposes, with which you can connect an electrical appliance that is remote from a stationary electrical outlet. As a rule, this connection is temporary and after the completion of its tasks during the holidays, it is dismantled.

To dock the garland with an outlet, an intermediary device is used - an electrical extension cord. Its design can be equipped with several sockets of electrical outlets at once, located in series one after another on a special holder... This type of extension cord allows you to connect several strings or other electrical appliances to the power supply network at once. As practice shows, if there are a lot of Christmas tree garlands in the room, then it is advisable to connect all of them to a single extension cord equipped with a key or push button switch. Then it will be possible to turn on and off the illumination in the room by pressing just one button of a single electric extension cord.

Exists a special type of electrical extension cord used for the New Year's garland... In appearance, it is transparent with a plug that can be connected to an electrical outlet or a regular household electrical extension cord, and its second part has an adapter that makes it possible to use such an extension cord to connect other Christmas tree lights. The length of the transparent string extension can be 3 or 5 meters. For the manufacture of such a device, silicone material and PVC are used. This type of extension device can be used for both regular and LED string.

Ordinary household electrical extension cords, in addition to a wire, a plug and several sockets, can be equipped with special fuses, as well as built-in automatic relay switches that disconnect the device from the mains in case of sharp rises in the voltage of the electric current.

Household electrical extenders include devices that are designed for outdoor use. The plug of such an extension device has a socket recessed into a special rubber cup, which reliably protects the connection from contact with water or condensate.

Household extension cords can be used both in a city apartment and in the suburban sector.The wire, as a rule, has a cross section of 0.5-1.5 square meters. mm, which allows the extension device to withstand a load of electric current voltage within 3.5 kW. Power strips can be grounded or not. The presence of a grounding contact allows you to prevent the situation of electrical injury, which often happens due to the presence of hidden faults in electrical equipment.

Ordinary household power strips are quite suitable for a New Year's garland. They can be different in shape, the number of sockets, the length of the electrical wire, and also be equipped with different types of plugs made of certain materials. Some models are equipped with dust and moisture protection devices, which also reduces the risk of electric shock when using the equipment.

When choosing an extension cord, you need to pay attention to the fact that what power of electric current it can withstand... The packaging of the device always contains such information. Do not think that in the case when 16A is written on the block or plug of the extension device, then all 3 meters of the wire will be able to withstand this electric current voltage. To check the input power, electrical specialists have a formula: for every 1 sq. m of the cross-section of the conductor conducting the electric current accounts for 10A. This approach justifies itself, although there may be slight deviations from it.

In the process of choosing a reliable and high-quality extension cord that will be used to connect one or more electrical Christmas lights, you should pay attention to a number of important points.

• Determine the required length of the extension deviceby measuring the distance from the plug of the garland to the electrical outlet of the power supply network. Then add another 1 m to the result obtained.This small but necessary margin will help you use the power extension cord without excessive tension, which means it will guarantee your garland against overheating and short circuits, which often happen during prolonged use.
• The extension cord must be selected taking into account the power of the New Year's electric garland. If the garland has a power of 2.5 kW, then the cross-section of the wire in the extension device must be at least 0.75 sq. mm. In the case when the power of the electric garland is 3.5 kW, then the cross-section of the wire of the extension device is chosen at least 1.5 sq. mm.
• Pay attention to the presence of grounding. Experts advise: if the New Year's garland has grounding, then the extension wire must also be grounded. If the electric garland does not have grounding, then the extension device should not have it either.
• For your extension device to last for many years, try to buy models that are equipped with silicone or rubber forks. The safest are plugs, where there are no screws to attach them to the electrical wire, as well as those models that have protection against bending and pulling the electrical cord.

The highest IP numbers indicate the high quality and reliability of the extension device.

To make it safe to use an electrical extension cord when connecting Christmas tree lights to it, some simple rules must be followed.

• Before connecting the plug of the extension device to the power supply, make sure that the insulation of the electric wire and plug is intact.
• Check by visual inspection, there is no water or condensation on the case and in the sockets. Do not use an extension cord in the presence of moisture to avoid electrical shock.
• Before connecting to the mains, pay attention to the fact that the plug at the electrical device is not damaged.... Carry out a careful visual inspection for mechanical or thermal damage.
• During operation, the cable of the electric extension cord must be positioned so that so that people do not walk on it, and you should also protect the product from access to it by small children and animals... Avoid mechanical damage to the electrical wire, especially when it is energized.
• Do not turn on the extension device into faulty electrical outlets.
• If the length of the power cord for the product is more than 30 m, then for the convenience and safety of operation you must use a special coil, on which this electrical cord is wound. The coil will also be convenient for moving the extension device from one room to another.
• When choosing a mains filter or power extension always consider the power of the connected Christmas garland.
• When storing an extension cord try to avoid kinks, kinks and pulling out its electrical wire. The storage of the product is allowed only in a place remote from heating devices.

The quality of an extension device largely depends on its brand and manufacturer. Unnamed Chinese products are sold at very low prices, but, as follows from practice, such models quickly lose their functionality. Products of well-known brands are highly reliable and safe, although they cost an order of magnitude more. All parts of a high-quality electrical extension cord are well matched to each other, their insulation integrity of the electrical cord or other parts is not compromised.

Cheap power strips have a plug, consisting of two halves, fastened with a couple of three screws - the safety of such a product is low. As for high-quality expensive models, as a rule, all of them are equipped with non-separable cast plugs made of dielectric materials. Large manufacturing enterprises constantly monitor the quality of their electrical products, and their declared characteristics for the proposed product are confirmed by laboratory tests and certificates.

For information on how to make a garland of plastic lids, see below.