1 Gauge welding cable

Hello all I have come across some unused cable at my work that was being thrown out do to surplus. just trying to find out a good Amp rating for it. I measured it and it was 0.2866 In 1# but it is like welding cable.
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Comments

  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable

    That should be 1 AWG all right. Good for about 150 Amps, depending on the application. The fine strands make it more flexible, but also harder to crimp a lug on and it won't necessarily pass inspection if required.
  • SERESOLAR
    SERESOLAR Registered Users Posts: 19
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable

    Ok thanks i also need to know if it can handle 175Amps or were i can find out for this type of cable
  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable

    175 Amps for how long in what condition? "Free air" allows more heat dissipation, which is keep to handling current. Technically #1 is rated for 200 Amps (you will find different numbers on different wire charts). But if it is in conduit or otherwise "insulated" it is best not to expect it to handle such current over a long time.

    Being conservative with current ratings on wire is a sensible thing to do.
  • SERESOLAR
    SERESOLAR Registered Users Posts: 19
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable

    well 175Amps for 1-2 hrs in covered building, they will be on a battery bank. so no conduit.
  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable

    It will work. And it will get warm.

    If you're using this to connect an inverter to batteries, check the Voltage drop across whatever length the wires will be; it may be excessive. (Like longer than 8' @ 12 Volts would be marginal.)
  • SERESOLAR
    SERESOLAR Registered Users Posts: 19
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable

    O i see, um the cable is going just from batt to batt but i have same style cable in 1/0 enough to make the distance of 2' for the connection to the inverter.
  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable
    SERESOLAR wrote: »
    O i see, um the cable is going just from batt to batt but i have same style cable in 1/0 enough to make the distance of 2' for the connection to the inverter.

    If you're going from battery to inverter with 1/0 it's best to go from battery to battery with the same size.
  • SERESOLAR
    SERESOLAR Registered Users Posts: 19
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable

    ok well it will be 1# then to inverter but distance will not exceed 3 feet from battery bank to inverter
  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable

    Put it this way: the current will be the same everywhere in the circuit. If this is connecting two batteries in series then the connecting wire should be able to handle the full current. I would pick 1/0 over #1 to handle 175 Amps continuous, but at 3' it isn't going to make too much difference. At that length & 175 A on a 12 V system the V-drop is about 1%; not a big concern.
  • RandomJoe
    RandomJoe Solar Expert Posts: 472 ✭✭✭
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable

    A couple questions about this.

    First, what kind of battery bank? I can't think of many (any?) batteries where a single string is going to handle 175A for 1-2 hours continuously. If you actually have several strings of batteries in parallel then each string only takes a portion of the current so can use smaller wire than is going to the inverter (but of course fused appropriately). In this case I'd think 1/0 for the inverter and #1 for the strings of batteries would be fine.

    Second, if you are sizing the wire to handle the max surge capacity of the inverter, will you actually hit that? Or stay there for any length of time? My inverter is 3600W, but the only time it even gets close to that is when I fire up the mini-split and then it's only there for a few seconds at startup. The rest of the time I'm well below the max limits, even with the mini-split running I generally max out around 1500W.

    If you really will be running the limit - say, a 2kW inverter fully loaded on 12V, I'd suggest considering a switch to 24V or 48V. Granted, means a new inverter if you already purchased one, but it's certainly something to keep in mind for the future. I like to keep the battery current as low as possible, 175A is mighty high...
  • RCinFLA
    RCinFLA Solar Expert Posts: 1,484 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable

    #1 is about 125 milliohms per foot at 25 degs C. 150 amps will yield 19 mV voltage drop per foot and dissipate 2.8 watts per foot of wire. A well crimped lug connector will add about 5 milliohms (each end).

    100 amp / 100 mV current shunt block has 1 milliohm resistance. (plus two lug connectors resistance to put it in the line, plus cable)
    500 amp / 50 mV current shunt block has 0.1 milliohm resistance. (plus two lug connectors resistance to put it in the line, plus cable)

    Battery cables dealing with low voltage requires very tight voltage drop consideration. A tenth or two of a voltage drop is a big deal for a low voltage battery system.
  • SERESOLAR
    SERESOLAR Registered Users Posts: 19
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable
    RandomJoe wrote: »
    A couple questions about this.

    First, what kind of battery bank? I can't think of many (any?) batteries where a single string is going to handle 175A for 1-2 hours continuously. If you actually have several strings of batteries in parallel then each string only takes a portion of the current so can use smaller wire than is going to the inverter (but of course fused appropriately). In this case I'd think 1/0 for the inverter and #1 for the strings of batteries would be fine

    Second, if you are sizing the wire to handle the max surge capacity of the inverter, will you actually hit that? Or stay there for any length of time? My inverter is 3600W, but the only time it even gets close to that is when I fire up the mini-split and then it's only there for a few seconds at startup. The rest of the time I'm well below the max limits, even with the mini-split running I generally max out around 1500W.

    If you really will be running the limit - say, a 2kW inverter fully loaded on 12V, I'd suggest considering a switch to 24V or 48V. Granted, means a new inverter if you already purchased one, but it's certainly something to keep in mind for the future. I like to keep the battery current as low as possible, 175A is mighty high...

    /
    so your saying if i have 4 strings of parallel batteries i can divide the draw of 175amps by 4? did not know that. thank you and i am using 16 12v batteries 4 in parallel and 4 strings.
  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    Re: 1 Gauge welding cable
    SERESOLAR wrote: »
    /
    so your saying if i have 4 strings of parallel batteries i can divide the draw of 175amps by 4? did not know that. thank you and i am using 16 12v batteries 4 in parallel and 4 strings.

    Fuse each battery string so that the current rating of the interconnect cables can not be exceeded.