Ordered 4 black extension cords from Mono Price. Did they lie about the length of the cords?

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DJ Ricky B

DJ Ricky B

DJ Extraordinaire
Mar 9, 2015
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9-10 or so Years ago, I purchased about 8 black cords from Monoprice. They were cheap, but worked fine. Over time, more of the cords have gone bad so I decided to order 4 more extension cords. All were 16 guage. I ordered two 8' cords, and two 15' cords.

Well, after they came in, I unraveled them and noticed that they seemed kinda short. I got my measuring tape out, and the two 8' cords are actually 5 feet 9 inches long after stretching out. The two 15' cords are actually 12 feet 9 inches streched out. Both cords are over two feet shorter than what I ordered.

Is it typical for extension cords to be classified as "15 feet" but they are actually shorter by a long shot. Or should a 15' Extension cord measure to be exactly 15 feet long end to end? I almost feel like I got duped out of some cord length, and they make them like that to save money with hopes that customers won't complain.

Not a big deal for me as they are still useable, just shorter than I wanted them to be.
 
I would take a picture of exactly how you measured them and ask the company to send you what you paid for.

Quick shortage story:
My day job product, BioThane, typically comes in 100 ft rolls. We have the machine add an extra foot per roll just in case. I had a customer tell me they got 200 rolls (20,000 feet) that were all short by about 1-2 feet. They were cutting it into 25 ft pieces for long dog leads and the 4th piece was always short. I showed up, and they indeed had all of these short pieces to show me. I grabbed a roll that hadn’t been cut yet, and brought out my 100 ft measuring tape. We got 101 feet. Next one, 101 feet. They were perplexed. I asked them to show me how they were measuring and cutting them. The worker had a 5 foot table that he just quickly pushed it down 5 times then cut. Sure enough, he was short on the last one. However, when we measured the first 3, each one was about 10 inches too long. The owner was embarrassed that no bothered to measure the first 3 earlier and now they had 200 short pieces they couldn’t use
 
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I went back to my original order just now. I thought I had ordered two 8 foot cords, but I actually ordered two 6 foot cords. Those cords measured out at 5'9 long so they are only short by 3". Not making a big deal about that. I suppose the cords could be pulled real hard, and MAYBE they would make it to 6' long.

I am not worried about those ones. But the other two are definitely over 2 feet short. I will email them, and see what kind of response I get.
 
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You get what you pay for - and I'm NOT knocking Monoprice, I'm simply reminding you that whatever you saved on the price has simply cost more in time and aggravation.

This is a good thread to return to the next time one has the urge to complain about "cheap customers." :)
 
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DJ Ricky B said:
I went back to my original order just now. I thought I had ordered two 8 foot cords, but I actually ordered two 6 foot cords. Those cords measured out at 5'9 long so they are only short by 3". Not making a big deal about that. I suppose the cords could be pulled real hard, and MAYBE they would make it to 6' long.

I am not worried about those ones. But the other two are definitely over 2 feet short. I will email them, and see what kind of response I get.
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Making a mistake with online ordering is very easy to do. I recently was going to order a Queen memory foam mattress for my bridal cabin. What I actually ordered was a Full. It was entirely embarrassing as the mistake was discovered in front of my fiance (who had decorated the cabin).
 
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All of my XLR's and majority of my ext cords came from Monoprice, I havent had issues yet, but moving forward I will buy from other places.
 
azdeejay said:
All of my XLR's and majority of my ext cords came from Monoprice, I havent had issues yet, but moving forward I will buy from other places.
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I have XLR cords from Guitar Center, and then I also have XLR Cords from Mono Price. All of which were purchased many years ago.

I have yet to have an XLR Cord fail on me. The difference between the ones I got at Guitar Center, and Mono Price are that the Mono Price ones have a lighter weight metal at the connections...Simply put, not as beefy looking of an XLR Cord, but they all perform as expected.
 
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Proformance said:
You get what you pay for - and I'm NOT knocking Monoprice, I'm simply reminding you that there is nothing secret about why Monoprice goods are often priced much lower than branded products. Monoprice is good at what they do - which is selling items they acquire in bulk from cheap overseas sources - for whom "specifications" are more like guidelines than actual standards.

Whatever you saved on the price has simply cost more in time and aggravation. Black cords by Wagner, Woods, Utilitech, TrippLite, HDX, Husky, LifeSupply, E-Cord, etc - would not have cost you significantly more to get from any local warehouse store. You'd know before you even left the store that they were exactly what you expect.

This is a good thread to return to the next time one has the urge to complain about "cheap customers." :)
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The problem with many of those brands that you mention is that it is hard to find all black cords in varying lengths at the store with those brands. Husky seems to have yellow, red. HDX at Home Depot typically have the Red, White, and Green ones in stock. Last time I went, no black ones.

I could have went with E Cord from Amazon...Next time Maybe I buy cords from them.
 
DJ Ricky B said:
I have XLR cords from Guitar Center, and then I also have XLR Cords from Mono Price. All of which were purchased many years ago.

I have yet to have an XLR Cord fail on me. The difference between the ones I got at Guitar Center, and Mono Price are that the Mono Price ones have a lighter weight metal at the connections...Simply put, not as beefy looking of an XLR Cord, but they all perform as expected.
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I havent had issues with any of the cables yet, but I don't use them every weekend so there is that, but I keep reading a lot negative things about them and their cables so when its time to replace i'll go elsewhere. I agree, the metal is on the thin side, easy to bend, not very sturdy.
 
What you mention about the home stores used to be true (OSHA colors) but in my area I notice they are selling a lot more black cords, typically 25Ft or shorter and the price is quite good.
 
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Proformance said:
I used to be an E-cord dealer. In the SJTW class those were very good cords and I still have some of the 1Ft and 6Ft triple taps which are quite handy. What you mention about the home stores used to be true (OSHA colors) but in my area I notice they are selling a lot more black cords, typically 25Ft or shorter and the price is quite good compared to the E-cord.

The gauge of the cord figures into electrical needs but it is not necessarily the determinate factor on what to use. Yes, you see heavy gauge cords even on small production jobs, but that has more to do with stocking a single cable type based on your largest demand.

If we compare Taso's 12G/100Ft example to Ricky's 16G/8Ft - they are both rated for 15 amps.. 15A breakers will eventually trip at just a 12A continuous load so you can't actually draw a sustained 15A from either cable on a 15A branch circuit.

It's the length of the cable that really dictates what you should use.
As resistance increases current draw rises and at 50Ft the 16Ga cable rating will drop to 13A and at 100Ft to only 10A. So, if 20A branch breakers eventually trip at just 16A sustained loads - what actually happens when we try to draw 15A for a 100ft 16Ga SJT cable?

Well, the cable probably won't fail but after 10A we've exceeded the wires efficiency and the increasing current draw produces heat instead of available power causing the current demand tp spiral upward. The demand for power on the far end cannot be met, causing the breaker to trip even though the condition on the far end appears to be well below the breakers rating.

Most of the branch circuits a DJ would tie into will trip well ahead of your power cord failing in any dramatic way. However, that may not be the case if you tie into a distro provided by a production company or installed in a large venue. You want make sure that if your need and cable choice dictates a 15A or 20A breaker that you are in fact connected to an appropriately rated limiting device. You would not want to be on a 60A leg if you were at the far end of a 100Ft 16Ga SJT cable and needing more than 6 or 7amps.
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Everything stated above is correct. For clarity... the reason I use 12g is because there are certain venues where I'm running 100+ft of cable and running 8-10A+ easily (2 Moving heads plus 2 sparklers on a circuit for example). For a few dollars more, I pay to have all my cables at 12g just to cover the what ifs.

My home depot also has black 16g cords in 8 and 15ft lengths, but I prefer the ones w/ the lighted ends.
 
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