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About Greg Hughes
Expertise
Residential Electrical including Appliances and HVAC with 28 years experience.

Experience
Started training as an electrician in 1979, worked for major companies and the government.

Education/Credentials
Graduated from Electrician's School, Carrier Training, and various specialty schools.

You are here: Experts > Home/Garden > Home Improvement/Repair > Electrical Wiring in the Home > 12/3

Electrical Wiring in the Home - 12/3

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.

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