Outdoor Use of Yellow Jacket Extension Cords

Yellow Jacket Compound

• Coleman Cable coats all Yellow Jacket power cords in its proprietary Yellow Jacket compound. This compound consists of a special type of vinyl that contains polyvinyl chloride (PVC), an extremely durable material found in plumbing systems and numerous other applications. This compound provides a high degree of flexibility relative to its strength. This combination of flexibility and strength works in many outdoor applications. Coleman Cable claims that its compound proves three times more abrasion-resistant than standard vinyl.

Usage Rating

• The National Electric Code (NEC) offers usage ratings to describe the appropriate applications for power cords, including extension cords. Yellow Jacket power cords receive a "hard usage" rating from the NEC, making them ideal for industrial and construction job sites. Hard cords resist the common abuses of outdoor work, from human and vehicular traffic, to falling building materials and tools. Some outdoor applications, such as fairs, circuses, carnivals and similar functions, require extra-hard cables.

Temperature Resistance

• Coleman Cable manufactures Yellow Jacket power cords to resist extreme temperatures. Because of this, you can use them with nearly every outdoor project outside of polar climates. All Yellow Jacket cables work at maximum capacity in temperatures that range from -50 to 60 degrees Centigrade, or 58 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The Yellow Jacket compound provides equal elasticity and strength at all temperatures within this range, though cords begin to suffer at temperatures outside of this range.

Lights

• Yellow Jacket power cords light up when they conduct electricity. This function is doubly useful in outdoor applications. For starters, it allows you to see where the cable is on the ground when it's plugged in and in use. You can avoid tripping on a cable, and you can locate it in low light conditions. The light also helps identify the source of problems in a power supply. For instance, if you need two extension cords to run power to an outdoor source and the source isn’t working, you can determine where the problem begins by noting the light on the cord.