HI,
One member of Rv.Net worked in the movie industry as a tech, and I was hoping that he would write back regarding wires overheating. They can under certain conditions heat up.
Lets say you have a 100 foot long extension cord, and wind it up on a 12" diameter wooden spool, so that there are several layers, and tightly wound up (such as if you where to buy a coiled extension cord 1000' long like sold at Home Depot)
The coil of wire will act like a transformer, and this can heat up.
A shorter cord, such as your motorhome extension cord, then it will not act like a transformer. It would take something like 100' long to start acting like a transformer.
Just winding the cord as a lazy S shape, then it will have air between the cord, and not overheat.
Also a single strand cord or wire will act like a transformer when wound into a tight coil. However your extension cord is 'multistrand' wire with current flowing two directions at the same time. So power will be flowing right to left at some point, while another wire under the same overwrap will be flowing left to right (if that makes sense) . A transformer relys on all the power being in one direction with the coil wrapped in several layers in the same direction.
Good luck,
Fred.
