[Elecraft] Proper K2 power cord?

[Bob Nielsen]

On Jul 16, 2007, at 12:21 PM, Chris Kantarjiev wrote:

>> Here is a chart of wire gage versus current capacity for power
>> transmission.
>>
>> Gage   Amps
>> 12         9.3
>> 14         5.9
>> 16         3.7
>> 18         2.3
>> 20         1.5
>>
>> The K2 10W version uses 2.0 amps for transmit and up to 0.250 amps  
>> for
>> receive. It looks like  16 gage wire would work fine.
>
> This is a pretty interesting table, especially in light of the
> sizing of PowerPole connectors. The "30A" contact doesn't comfortably
> fit anything larger than 12g wire. I don't have a "15A" contact
> handy, but my memory is that it handles 18g OK, but I'm not sure
> if it will handle 16g.
>
> That's just ... broken :-)
>
>> If it were me, I would buy the connector from Elecraft.
>
> Yeah, I guess I'm going to have to get a few. I admit that my
> bench is littered with little cords that have "15A" PowerPoles on
> one end and generic power connectors on the other end, all made
> out of 20g or 22g zip cord.
>
> I'm having a really hard time imagining pushing 16g zip cord into
> the body of a 2.1mm plug! I think I've done this with 18g once,
> and it wasn't pretty - perhaps the cable sold by the Wireman
> has thinner insulation?
>

If you are just making a short jumper from PowerPole to 2.1 mm, you  
can fudge a bit on the wire size, since the resistance is dependent  
on wire length.  I wouldn't hesitate to use 18 or even 20 over a very  
short length with my K2.

Bob, N7XY