Cable question

[gcp]

Do any of you know what type cable this is, approx. what gauge it is, and if it can be used to connect two batteries together? It's pretty heavy gauge with rubber insulation but it's not copper judging from its color.

Thanks,

 

[gengine]

Your kind of vague...

 

[gcp]

You are so right, it's been a tiring day and I forgot to post the pics I intended. My apologies!

Please re-look at my original post.

 

[Swiftriver]

Not sure, but it looks like an old set of battery booster cables. The copper appears to be tarnished from weather

 

[k0ua]

It appears to be tinned copper to me, and a lot of strands so it will lay very well. as for guage.. well that is pretty hard to tell from a photo with no reference objects. Do you have a dial micrometer?..I am guessing you don't, but I would get an average of a clean cut section of the conductor and look it up in the American Wire Guage charts. Dial Micrometers are cheap, now. less than $20. They are useful for all sorts of things beside this. You should have one. 2 guage or larger would be great, 4 would be OK 6 or 8 could still be useful.. anything smaller is pretty much a waste of time for jumper cables. IMHO If you are talking about connecting batterys together, I an not sure what you mean, More input needed for a good response.. In a permanant dual battery setup, you may need a lot bigger wire. 00 maybe 000


Amazon.com: micrometer


American wire gauge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



James K0UA

 

[gcp]

I sure do have a micrometer but it's at the house so I'll bring it to the property with me next weekend to measure this wire for possible use.

I recently started playing around with solar pannels as back up power, and to use it on sheds around my property that don't have electricity for trickle charging equipment, lighting..... I bought 4 sets of pannels, 45 watts each, from Harbor Freight, and would like to parallel wire 3 to 4 deep cycle batteries to drive a 5KW inverter. So, if I can save some money by using wire I have laying around I'd prefer to use it rather than buy new. I like the idea of utilizing the sun for power even though the equipment needed tend to still be on the expensive side.

 

[k0ua]

I sure do have a micrometer but it's at the house so I'll bring it to the property with me next weekend to measure this wire for possible use.

I recently started playing around with solar pannels as back up power, and to use it on sheds around my property that don't have electricity for trickle charging equipment, lighting..... I bought 4 sets of pannels, 45 watts each, from Harbor Freight, and would like to parallel wire 3 to 4 deep cycle batteries to drive a 5KW inverter. So, if I can save some money by using wire I have laying around I'd prefer to use it rather than buy new. I like the idea of utilizing the sun for power even though the equipment needed tend to still be on the expensive side.

Ok trying to understand what you want the wire to do.. help me out here, you have a 5KW( input?) inverter? you did not mention the voltage this operates at. We need to know the voltage to estimate the current draw, and from that we can reccomend the wire size (we also need to know the length of the wire from the battery bank to the inverter).. I sure hope your 5kw inverter does not run at 12 volts! as that would be 416 amps:shocked: I am hoping you are going to say this is a 48 volt system? And just how long are you planning running on those battery's,? I hope they are pretty big ones! Now as for the 4 sets of 45 watt panels then that is 180 watts and at 12 volts the current you are talking about to charge those batterys is about 15 amps and you could get by with number 12 wire if the length was not too long.

you do know if you are charging at a 180 watt rate, and discharging at at 5000 watt rate.. um.. you are not going to be operating at 5000 watts for long...

James K0UA

 

[gcp]

James, it is a 12 volt inverter. I bought it because I thought I can eventually use it, if/when I build a house at the property. This will be a back-up system to commercial power loss, to run the refrigirator, cook top, and a few lights, if needed. I also have a 5KW PTO driven generator with 110/220volts outputs so solar won't be my only backup alternative but solar is so much more quite.

I do like the direction of this discussion, thank you! I am still trying to figure out where to place the pannels for peak performance, and the inverter for the shortest possible run between it and the batteries. I'll try to make this run no more than 6-8 feet as 00 gauge is expensive.

 

[k0ua]

James, it is a 12 volt inverter. I bought it because I thought I can eventually use it, if/when I build a house at the property. This will be a back-up system to commercial power loss, to run the refrigirator, cook top, and a few lights, if needed. I also have a 5KW PTO driven generator with 110/220volts outputs so solar won't be my only backup alternative but solar is so much more quite.

I do like the direction of this discussion, thank you! I am still trying to figure out where to place the pannels for peak performance, and the inverter for the shortest possible run between it and the batteries. I'll try to make this run no more than 6-8 feet as 00 gauge is expensive.

Do you have your battery's yet, and what size are they.? Cook top?... I am thinking that is going to be too much. Do you have propane available in the house.? This is what we do, when running on the 5kw generator. We cook on the downstairs stove which is propane.. There are a couple of guys on here that have done the Solar off the grid thing, and have a lot of experience. Maybe we could search and benefit from them. Lets see I think one was eepete and the other was Rob-D

James K0UA

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Do any of you know what type cable this is, approx. what gauge it is, and if it can be used to connect two batteries together? It's pretty heavy gauge with rubber insulation but it's not copper judging from its color.

Thanks,

Its hard to tell from the picture. It looks famaliar but canot recall where I saw it, but it was along time ago. Isn't there a label stamped on it somewhere? Looks like 100A insulation which is fine for batteries. As it is stranded wire a micrometer will not be accurate unless you have a chart for fine stranded wire which you can find in any electrician's handbook. Agree, it is weather stained copper, peel back some more insulation to get to clean material. For us non-guesser take a picture with a ruler graduated in 64ths laying alonside, we may get to an approximation + or - 1 size by using a pair of dividers for comparison. Take it to the electrical dept and try it into various wire size lugs, a snug fit is going to be close +/- a little. That stranded wire is best soldered into lugs or soldered full before clamping under a terminal screw for good connections. Take care to flux well, tin the wire first being sure to fill with solder, and do not overheat and burn the flux. Make sure the wire is clean and bright as corroded like it is you will get a high resistance connection for a set screw connection or no luck with solder. If you cannnot find bright wire under the insulation, sell it for scrap.

Ron

 

[rambler]

Do you have your battery's yet, and what size are they.? Cook top?... I am thinking that is going to be too much. Do you have propane available in the house.? This is what we do, when running on the 5kw generator. We cook on the downstairs stove which is propane..
James K0UA

Yea, I think the input and the output are not going to match up well..... But it sounds like a good learning experience and build from there.

As you hook more batteries together in parrallel the wires need to get fatter & fatter. You really ned to spec out the amps and volts you will be running before a person can say how big a wire you need. I think that wire will likely deal with the components you have today; but if you ever get to using the full inverter power you might need to rewire....

--->Paul

 

[yelbike]

Thats copper for sure. I would guess about 6 or 8 awg. Not much larger though. you can use it but install at least one fuse between the battery and inverter, no more than 100 time delay fuse. That allows for a little surge if you use a saw or something.

Have you bought batteries yet? Look into train (rail cars) batteries. They're huge, good capacity, a little heavy. But they last 20 years. Well worth the investment.

 

[yelbike]

If use train batteries, make absolutely sure to use fuses. The fault current massive.

 

[gcp]

I already have a couple of new Walmart deep cycle 12V batteries but I was planning on purchasing golf cart 6 volters and wire them in series, I've been told they are more efficient and will last longer, albeight more expensive.

I am heading to Mass this AM so can we pick this back up on Friday? In the mean time I'll look into train batteries. Wonderfull suggestions you've provided, thank you very much!! :thumbsup

I just downloaded the android app and it works, we can stay talking while I'm on the go. My other limitation is portability, I'd prefer to move the system around to my two unpowered sheds but the more I think about it the more permenance makes sense. Which means at least one more solar system for my conex to trickle charge equipment.

 

[k0ua]

Guys that stranded wire is "tinned" it is copper wire with a coating of a lead/tin mixture to help prevent corrosion. It is tarnished where we are viewing it in the photo, but when he cuts it back it will not appear copper colored, it will appear a white or silvery color. It will solder very well as it is already tinned.

James K0UA

 

[gcp]

tinned makes sense, and the portion of wire depicted is fresh, I cut the insulation off of it yesterday. Glad to hear it'll solder well, and I can always double it up for attaining heavier gauge if need be.

 

[yelbike]

If you run them in parallel, make they are the SAME length, or the shorter one could over heat.

 

[gcp]

Absolutely the same length :thumbsup: I plan to insert 2 sets of cables into the same connector per pole. I am also going to order two 400amp slowblow fuses because this particular inverter has 2 sets of 12V inputs. Not that I expect to tax it to the max wattage but why not be prepared, just in case.

 

[yelbike]

The problem with that size fuse is only the inverter and against fault current. The smallest useable is more desirable. it provides more protection.

 

[Swiftriver]

Don't know if you will be anywhere near them while you are in Mass., but New England Solar is in Worthington. The New England Solar Electric Web Site They have all the parts and information you will need. I would think twice about using solar as a grid backup. Batterys are not cheap and will only last 10 years if they are used correctly. For the amount of time grid power is down you would be better off with the generator.