a little power apparently goes a long way

[woodturner]

Originally Posted by woodturner:
Lights dimming is a symptom of voltage drop. Voltage drop in a wire increases when more current is drawn, such as when starting a motor. Larger wire has less voltage drop - which is why a "rule of thumb" is to use one wire size larger than required by NEC.

in my municipality, they won't allow that. or at least they wouldn't allow it when i had the garage service done..

Are you saying you municipality will not allow you to install larger wire? That doesn't seem possible, and it is arguably required by NEC for motor applications.

[chopnhack]

Man, I could of used that magic smoke when my cms died, I didn't know they still bottle it

As for the OP, do what works, if in doubt or in your case where there are signs of stress on your grid have a pro come and evaluate it. IIRC the NEC states that loads that are to be left on continuously are to be rated at 1.25x their normal load, so lights, a.c. or d.c. or ambient air cleaner would fall into this category.

[toolguy1000]

...... I did make sure to balance the loads on both legs.

i think that doing that in my panel contributed greatly to more effective power distribution and resulted in better tool performance.