Use XLR for power?

Question

I currently use a regular 50 foot power cord rated for 15 amps. I use it only for two laptops and one camera, making a draw of about 5 amps according to the "input" label on the power supplies.

The 50 foot cord is heavy, while I notice 100 foot XLRs I have are a pound lighter. Considering both are three wire cords, I thought that there might be "power over XLR" in some way.

If not, would it be safe to snip off the ends of an XLR and attach standard power plugs that you can buy at the hardware store, assuming I never try to draw higher than 5 amps?

Answer 1

Hard NO.

Not as a high voltage extension cord.

You're drawing only 5 Amps, sure, and XLR cables can carry from 2 to 10 amps, but not 120 volts of alternating power. XLR cables are not meant to conduct that kind of voltage, if you attempt it, the wire could overheat, melt your connections, and potentially start a fire.

XLR is commonly used for low-voltage applications (mostly 4 and 5 pin XLR though), so you could rig up something to carry the DC power from your device transformers. Plug your power adapters into the wall, then use the XLR cable to carry the low-voltage DC power to your electronics. This will require some more fine-wiring, and there's no guarantee the wires will carry the DC 100 ft to the satisfaction of your devices. They may not power on at all.

You're better off using your proper power cable.

Answer 2

You would best off speaking with an electrician as there is more to this than just wires, you have to consider things like current, draw, heat, limits to voltage with thinner cables etc.

Answer 3

Absolutely not. XLR (off the shelf) is rated for mA, not Amps, and at 48v at the high end... which is basically phantom power.

Now you COULD have a custom cable made. Markertek does this, and they do a great job making custom cables. They certainly could use an AWG 18 4 Wire, and put Neutrik connectors at both ends, one male and one female. But I don't see why you would need this.

If you want to only carry 1 cable, just so everything is run on a single path, I'd recommend having Markertek make a custom cable with break away tails. They would set it up with a shielded AC 120v rated main for your power, and run what ever you need along that same path (3 pin xlr, 4 pin xlr, multi-xlr, bnc). At each end you could have them either wire a small breakout similar to a malt box, or just have break away connectors with "x" amount of lead at each end.

But definitely do not run Amps of power through a cable rated for 1/1000th of that current.

Answer 4

There used to be a variant of XLR plug rated for AC power. It was 50 years ago so the details are hazy, but I remember helping my supervising tech replace the power connector on the back of a Tektronix Vectorscope with one in my first two years of apprenticeship as a broadcast tech.

Answer 5

Yes you can as a cable is a cable, you just need to know the particular specs of the cable in question. XLR cables are typically rated from 50 to over 300 volts depending on which one you have, you just need to verify it is rated over your local mains voltage depending on what you have (120 vs. 240). The amperage rating some manufacturers specify can be a bit questionable as most XLR cables are made from either 24 AWG or 22 AWG wires. Continuous rating for PVC 24 AWG is 3.5 amps while 22 AWG is 5 amps, however if it is using a bit more exotic insulation such as ETFE that increases to 5 amps for 24 AWG and 6.5 amps for 22 AWG. I believe the reason why manufacturers are able to state up to 12 amps is because they are using charts for 22 AWG ETFE or PTFE in a NON continuous mode. Over voltage on a cable will cause insulation breakdown and arcing and over amperage will cause enough heat to build up to soften, melt or burn the insulation away. Regardless it is always good to test an experimental cable made like this with an experimental proof test after constuction. Simply plug in something slightly above your desired rated load and leave it to sit powered non stop in and outdoor environment continuously powered for several or more hours while being monitored. This way you will have your own proof testing to fall back on before you plug in your labtop and fall asleep one night and burn your house down. Make no mistakes this will be a specialist cable after construction, typical bare minimum for a power cord should be 14 AWG although 16 AWG does exist. People have burned down their home using 16 AWG cables and plugging in high amperage loads such as space heaters.