wires - high strand count necessity?

[yoyoman]

high strand count is much higher in price than say speaker wire (stranded) at the same AWG. Plus, at this hour I can run out to frys and get some.

In what areas, is high strand count more of a necessity? Right now, I'm making a power cable extension from battery to controller, and I'll also be connecting some batteries to Anderson pp.

 

[MadRhino]

Higher strand count is making lower impedance, better flex and longer life. Add a high temp rated, flexible insulation, and you have a wire that is capable of standing high power bursts without any damage. You can use a cheaper wire, just buy a bigger one.

 

[markz]

.

What is your setup?
Rear motor?
Top of rear rack controller?
Battery in the triangle or on the sides of the rack?

 

[yoyoman]

for the current folding bike commuter booster project, I might have the battery in a under the seat bag. The long seat post puts the battery wire at 2+ feet. I might end up instead just putting it on a rack since that won't require buying a seat bag, which cuts the distance to maybe a foot. It'll be even less if I just put the ESC in the bag. Havne't thought it all through yet.

well, the 10awg high strand wire is here already, so I'm good to go. Just curious for future purchases.

I also wonder if "high strand wire" differs. I've seen high strand speaker wire , but unfortunatly they don't specify the strand count like RC sites do.

 

[MadRhino]

We use the Turnigy RC silicon wire from Hobby King. Very high count of silver coated wires.

 

[fechter]

The main thing high strand count gives you is flexibility. You could use solid wire if it didn't need to bend at all.

 

[Chalo]

The main thing high strand count gives you is flexibility. You could use solid wire if it didn't need to bend at all.

Yes. Consider that the hardest working parts of your entire electrical system are the PCB traces and FET legs, which carry the entire load current, are much smaller than the connecting cables, and have no strands.

 

[billvon]

In what areas, is high strand count more of a necessity? Right now, I'm making a power cable extension from battery to controller, and I'll also be connecting some batteries to Anderson pp.

Strand count means nothing in terms of DC resistance; it is total conductor cross section that matters.

In high frequency applications (>10KHz) then it starts to matter in the sort of wires we use, since skin effect becomes an issue. However, for battery or phase wires, it doesn't matter. Finely stranded wire has some advantages in crimped (not soldered) applications when it comes to flexibility and durability.

 

[dogman dan]

Chances are, you have little need to have high flexibility in the battery to controller wire. So you can use wire that flexes some, with a few strands. That is, automotive wire.

Or chop up an old 12 gage extention cord. That's 12g high strand count.