At 07:49 PM 2/2/2000 -0800, you wrote:
>
>I'm going to power a solid state amp with about 120 amps of 13vdc. I'll need
>about 6-8 feet of wire to get from the PS to the amp. What wire size
should I
>use?
>
Hi Vic,
Good question. 14 ga house wire is conservatively/safely rated for 15
amps. This is equivalent to 275 circular mils of cross sectional area per
ampere. Scaling this up for 120 amps indicates you'd be looking for
something with a cross sectional area around 33,000 CM (circular mils). #4
ga round wire has an X-area of nearly 42,000 CM, while # 5 ga. is around
33,000 CM. I would think #6 would be the smallest you'd want to consider
and it has a X-area of 26,000 CM. You might want to check the battery
jumper cables section at the local Pep Boys or whatever. I believe these
typically use #4 or #6 guage, and they're probably just about the right
length too. If there's any highway construction going on in the area, you
might want to pull over and ask the electrical crew for a couple of short
lengths. These guys routinely run some very heavy stuff for the long runs
for the lighting system, and they tend to turf short (15 - 20 ') sections.
Just some ideas.
Phil
>73,
>Vic, K2VCO
>Fresno CA
>
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