10awg vs 12awg wire

[Garrick_s]

RCdude had what I needed and got it to me in two days.
Randy was helpful and communicated well.

Thanks for the hookup TMaster.

[TMaster]

Yep he's on the ball! You're welcome!

[solracotos]

I had a similar question to you. In my case I wanted to find the right gage wire to make up by lipo pack and to install remotely my Watt meter.. http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=23474&start=0

knowing the max Amps my controller draws and the total cable length needed for the installation I use the info bellow to determine that I would need wire gage 10-12 to make my battery and watt meter harness.


TAKEN FROM

http://www.epanorama.net/documents/wiri ... tance.html

FROM A CAR AUDIO PERSPECTIVE. IT DOES CERTAINLY APPLIES TO EBIKES

Car audio cable recommendations
This info in from rec.audio.car FAQ (orognally from IASCA handbook). To determine the correct wire size for your application, you should first determine the maximum current flow through the cable (looking at the amplifier's fuse is a relatively simple and conservative way to do this). Then determine the length of the cable that your will use, and consult the following chart:

CURRENT_WIRELENGHT_GAGE

CURRENT_WIRELENGHT_GAGE.png (5.87 KiB) Viewed 1416 times

[color=#000000]The problem is finding wire.. I found this on another forum

FROM (http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_79521 ... tm#7952172)
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[XXT-CRer ]
go to the home depot electrical department and ask to look at their s-o, s-j, s-j-o, or s-o-e-w, type copper wire. its multi-conductor so if you want 10awg you need to ask for 10/3 or 10/4. this means that if you buy 3 ft of 10/4 you actually get 12 ft of wire. it would be 3ft of black, 3ft of red, 3ft of white, and 3ft of green. it very closely mimics the wire we use in rc at a fraction of the cost. it has a very high strand count with very fine strands, and it solders very well.

any combonation of s-o is rated for 600 volts and has a very high strand count and a little thicker and softer insulation. anything starting with s-j will still do fine and much more closely resemble hobby wire than standard building, but will be a little stiffer than s-o types.


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[hnasdad ]
The "AWG" is a standard for the size of the wire itself. The insulation is the difference in what we are talking about. Solid, stranded wire has a slightly different Outside Diameter. Obviously Solid wire is not what you looking for. Home Depot, lowes, or major stores like this are going to carry mostly THHN wire. These four letters are used to explain the makeup of the insulation of that wire. Not what you are looking for. If you go to an electric supply store that specializes in selling all electrical supplies is your best bet. I dont know the insulation off the top of my head but ask for a wire for Panel makeup. The wires used in making up electrical panels is a high strand count with a very flexible insulation. THHN has an outer jacket of nylon the last N, in THHN. You should be able to pay cash at any supply house and they will hook you up. Much better prices than Home Depot. Ask them to take you in the back and you can check out the wire that they carry and find exactly what your looking for. I know that you have already found a wire that suited you needs. Just wanted to put in my two cents.
just tell them you want to see the 10awg rubber cord. they will cut it for you, to the length that you want, even 1 ft.

the rubber cord that you want should fall into the s-o, or the s-j category. you will be impressed with its construction and softness.

im an electrical contractor and we build machines that use this cable and rely on its ability to move freely to allow for proper automated movement of the equipment.

bryan.[/color]

[etard]

Garrick S,
I would not be using booster cable wire unless you know that it has had very little use and is less than 2 years old, old boosters should be recycled and will have alot of resistance because of corrosion or being cooked from the high amperage required to start cars.

[Garrick_s]

Not sure about Booster cable.
I purchased 10awg, high strand, silicone wire from RCdude up in Oregon.
It's brand new.
Went with all new Anderson connectors too.

Thanks for everyone's input.

[vanilla ice]

My HD has some nice double 12awg cable IIRC for outdoor low voltage lighting. Flexible high strand count and reasonably priced. It was the only desirable 10-12awg option they had in the whole wiring section and I checked everything. All the other ones were too stiff. I have used 16 and even some 18awg lamp cord on my 30 amp currie bike without any problems. What ever I could find. Works fine, only thing is like Jeremy says you lose watts! Got to put that 12 on there one of these days..

[Spacey]

Wire thickness is one of my main worries with bikes. At the moment on my personal bike I have the stock 12awg wire from the Infineon controllers (bikes.ca) going to the 3 phase wires.....I have cut the motor wires back to about 3 inches of the very thin Teflon coated (14 or 16 awg?) that comes with the 9c and magic pie motors.

My worry is that I am pumping on average 25amps at 60 to 66volts with peaks on pull away and short hills at 40amps, the wires do not seem to get worn but fatigue of the wires is a concern.

I have been given some 12 wag (looks awfully thin though) Teflon Aircraft wire, very stiff.....but after showing it to an aircraft engineer he warned me that they have had a few fires because of this wire due to breaking of the coating and the wire breaking down.

Have ordered a load of 10awg and 12awg from Hobby King but it is taking it's sweet time to get here for these two builds I am doing grrrr.

[itchynackers]

I used some Mil spec 12awg teflon wire (has white insulation) for my phase upgrades. Like you said, very stiff, but very tough. I had it in below zero weather (the garage) and was flexing it, and didn't get any cracking. Also, I laid my 40W soldering iron right on the insulation for a long while, and it doesn't even leave a mark. Seems like good stuff.

[Jeremy Harris]

Have ordered a load of 10awg and 12awg from Hobby King but it is taking it's sweet time to get here for these two builds I am doing grrrr.

If you want some 10g silicone wire from a local source (Southampton...........) then look here: http://www.technobotsonline.com/cable-a ... cable.html Their 6mm² is the same size as 10g and is £1.21 a metre, plus postage (less if you buy a 100m roll). It's not as flexible as the HK stuff, but I've found it to be pretty good.

Jeremy

[Spacey]

Nice find Jeremy, cheers for that

[TopCat]

Have ordered a load of 10awg and 12awg from Hobby King but it is taking it's sweet time to get here for these two builds I am doing grrrr.

If you want some 10g silicone wire from a local source (Southampton...........) then look here: http://www.technobotsonline.com/cable-a ... cable.html Their 6mm² is the same size as 10g and is £1.21 a metre, plus postage (less if you buy a 100m roll). It's not as flexible as the HK stuff, but I've found it to be pretty good.

Jeremy

Cheers Jeremy,

Iv'e been looking around trying to find 3 core cable to replace my throttle cable. I may have found the very thing on that link you posted

http://www.technobotsonline.com/multicore-3-core.html

Regards
Tom

[Jeremy Harris]

In my experience they are reasonably good people to deal with for those of us in the UK, as they sell small quantities of stuff like thick wire at not too exorbitant prices. They also deliver quickly, but then I'm only around 15 - 20 miles away from them.

Jeremy

[Spacey]

Oooh 3 core wire, I've been chopping up telephone extension wires.... this should make things a bit more tidy.