[TowerTalk] 4 awg copper wire and Amp locks

bthorson at 4smps.com bthorson at 4smps.com
Tue Jul 11 11:32:29 EDT 2006


I've seen a few mentions of stranded wire being bad for a ground system. 
Why?

On the positive side, I'd think that the stranded wire would have a bit 
more connection with the surrounding earth since it has more surface area.

On the negative side, there is a bit less copper in a stranded wire. 
Also, the increased surface area would probably cause the wire to 
corrode a bit faster.

On the speculative side: Initially, there probably wouldn't be any great 
improvements due to skin effect with stranded wire since the strands are 
not insulated. However, if the surface of the strands gets ozidized, 
this would increase the effectiveness of the strands by encouraging the 
current to stay in any given strand.

BenT


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