"Mike Marlow" wrote in message
...


No, no. X/2 means X conductors *plus* a ground. Two colored insulated
conductors, plus a bare ground conductor. Typically today, it's difficult
to find wire without a ground wrapped in it. In the old days it was easy
to find that and the terminology made accurate sense, but these days
ground is always there. So, the actual wire count in X/2 is three.

X/3 also indicates the number of conductors not counting ground, so there
are three colored conductors, *plus* ground. Useful for such things as
three way switches, etc. Likewise, the actual conductor count in X/3 is
four.



YES! My head was not in the right place, he did say wiring the shop. I
was thinking an extension cord, not Romex. My extension cord is a 10/3 with
3 insulated wires.