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[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

My Monoprice 14AWG 25ft cable has been excellent on the road. I coil it broadly into my top case to minimize wear.

I have a 3-way splitter power cable of low gauge for my garage and occasionally for roadside backup. By the way, a 3-way splitter that is mated to a J1772 plug is a "cheater plug" and can be useful in a pinch. I have one of those as well, very short, just to plug into my onboard's cable.

Harbor Freight is okay for some basic things but I'm generally wary of them.

[KrazyEd]

I always tell people that Harbor Freight is a great place to buy tools that you plan to use

ONLY ONCE !

Not bad for what they are, just be aware of what you are buying.

[laramie LC4]

I've understood that Monoprice was good with fairly priced yet robust cables.

i have the 14G - 25ft cord and it works perfect. no problems at all.

laters,

laramie 

[Doug S]

My Monoprice 14AWG 25ft cable has been excellent on the road. I coil it broadly into my top case to minimize wear.

Seconded. The strain relief seems pretty decent and the molding seems good too. I've been using mine at home every day for six months or so, and haven't seen any sign of splitting, chafing or any other deterioration. It's never even gotten warm when charging at full power.

Considering the price, I wasn't expecting it to be as successful as it has for me.

[MrDude_1]

I'm amused a bit about how some of you are ok with a no-name cheap chinese power cord, but are afraid of a no-name but way overkill sized cheap chinese extension cord.

Pay less attention to what store it comes from, and more attention to the actual product.

[pacificcricket]

I believe I had no arcing originally, and I have no arcing right now (after charger replacement), but my charger was arcing lately before it burned out. Perhaps this is
an early sign of a defective charger ?

[Electric Terry]

The Harbor Freight cord is much better quality than those you would find at Home Depot or Lowes.  Better strain resistance, slippery to avoid tangles, lighted ends, and good prong strength.  I have used my cords from them for years to carry 30 amps at 240 volts and even tho that exceeds the recommended amperage, has performed perfectly over and over. 

For those that are unhappy with the Harbor Freight cords, what was your complaint?  I was very surprised to see the negative comments as I haven't found a higher quality cord anywhere.  Definitely a step above what you can get the home improvement stores.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

The Harbor Freight cord is much better quality than those you would find at Home Depot or Lowes.  Better strain resistance, slippery to avoid tangles, lighted ends, and good prong strength.  I have used my cords from them for years to carry 30 amps at 240 volts and even tho that exceeds the recommended amperage, has performed perfectly over and over. 

That is good to know!

For those that are unhappy with the Harbor Freight cords, what was your complaint?  I was very surprised to see the negative comments as I haven't found a higher quality cord anywhere.  Definitely a step above what you can get the home improvement stores.

Harbor Freight just varies a lot in quality by product category (I'm sure it just depends on what supplier they can get discounts from). I haven't tried their cords, but I've learned from friends to pick things there that won't have a heavy duty cycle.

[Doug S]

Harbor Freight just varies a lot in quality by product category.

That's one of the reasons I like Harbor Freight so much. If you need, say, a reciprocating saw, but doubt you're going to use it often, you can pick one up there that will work decently for the odd job and won't put much of a dent in your wallet.  Or you can invest a few more dollars and pick up one of their house brand products (Chicago Electric I think?), which will do a good job for an amateur handyman for a long time, and still won't cost a bundle. And I have a friend who's a contractor, knows exactly what he's looking for in tools, and he shops there too, because he knows what he wants and needs, and he does find stuff that meets his standards. If you want to invest in a really good tool and you don't really know tools inside and out, Harbor Freight may not be the best place to shop. But they do cover the spectrum from very cheap to pretty high quality fairly well.

Power cables are no different. If you know what you're looking for, you can find a good cable for a good price, and being an EE, I'm convinced that the Monoprice 14AWG cables are good quality for a very good price. I haven't looked at Harbor Freight's cables or extension cords but I'd bet they run pretty much the same way, you can get a very cheap one or a pretty good quality one.

[MrDude_1]

Harbor Freight just varies a lot in quality by product category.

That's one of the reasons I like Harbor Freight so much. If you need, say, a reciprocating saw, but doubt you're going to use it often, you can pick one up there that will work decently for the odd job and won't put much of a dent in your wallet.  Or you can invest a few more dollars and pick up one of their house brand products (Chicago Electric I think?), which will do a good job for an amateur handyman for a long time, and still won't cost a bundle. And I have a friend who's a contractor, knows exactly what he's looking for in tools, and he shops there too, because he knows what he wants and needs, and he does find stuff that meets his standards. If you want to invest in a really good tool and you don't really know tools inside and out, Harbor Freight may not be the best place to shop. But they do cover the spectrum from very cheap to pretty high quality fairly well.

Power cables are no different. If you know what you're looking for, you can find a good cable for a good price, and being an EE, I'm convinced that the Monoprice 14AWG cables are good quality for a very good price. I haven't looked at Harbor Freight's cables or extension cords but I'd bet they run pretty much the same way, you can get a very cheap one or a pretty good quality one.

I found the same thing... just because they sell some cheap crap, doesnt mean they dont sell other useful things...
I have harbor freight right angle grinders that have seen a decade of heavy use.  Other than the right angle drive being louder than expensive ones, they work identically.
Since they're so much cheaper ( less than $15 vs $80+) I can get several of them and keep different things on them. So I have one with a cutoff wheel, another with a rough flap wheel, another with a fine flap wheel, another with a buffing pad (for plastics) etc...
Think about it.. what IS a right angle grinder? just a big AC motor in a case with gears for a right angle drive and a bearing/flange on the end. not really much too it. its not a precision tool. The only one of them to ever fail me is after 12 years of use, I wore out the brushes.

[JaimeC]

Before one of my friends reminded me that Harbor Freight sold motorcycle-specific tools, the cheapest track stand I could find was a $60.00 one at Cycle Gear (and that was their "Discounted Price" for their store brand).  Most were more expensive than that.  I discovered Harbor Freight sold a perfectly good stand for HALF that price and it is in my garage now.  Perfect for checking and adjusting the belt tension.

[Killroy]

I dusted off the Kill-A-Watt meter and measured this:

When charging at a ~30% state of charge I plugged the Kill-A-Watt meter in at the wall outlet and the average was 118.8 Volts and 11.1 amps.

Then, still charging, I plugged it in at the end of the 25' Extension cord and got a average of 117.0 Volts and 11.1 amps.

1.8 voltage drop and current stays the same (oh duh).  As expected, plenty of margin on the current. 

The amps are very consistent on the Kill-A-Watt and the Zero App (as I remember) is all over the place.  I dont know if the Kill-A-Watt is displaying a trailing average or if the Zero/ Zero App is inaccurate in someway. 

[Erasmo]

I think the Zero app doesn't perform average smoothing.

[Killroy]

I think the Zero app doesn't perform average smoothing.

I did not think so, but it is strange to me that the current varies by ~ +/- 10%.  Seem like something is wrong in the charger, measurement or app.

[Killroy]

I'm not frying the new charge cord after Zero fixed the terminals and terminal connection to wiring on my SR.

I also confirmed that the extension was fine, so the conclusion to my problem was the terminals connection and wringer on my SR.