Expert: Greg Hughes - 11/4/2009

Question
Good afternoon,

We just ran 3000 ft of 12/3 and have a power converter (for a lack of better words) that converts AC to DC.  We then have two 400ft + runs of 14/2.  We keep tripping an inline GFCI which is rated at 15amp with a trip limit of 5 milliamperes + or - 1.  We are able to use an outlet that has a GFCI in it, however we can't determine if it's a 20 amp GFCI or a 15 amp GFCI.  Is there a simple way to determine this? Now if we ran 14/3 rather than 12/3 would we see the same results.  In other words does the 12/3 require additional amperage, or is there an issue with capacitance on a larger gauge wire.  Let me know if you need clarification.

Thannks for the help,

Nick M

Answer
At 3000 feet you are going to have major voltage drop issues. What type of voltage and wattage do you need at the end of the run?

14/3 would be worse than 12/3.

Please explain more you are trying to do with the wattages of the loads at the end of the line.