Is this 4/0 cable good for battery to inverter use?

KnowledgeSponge

Just wanting to be sure before I order 20 feet of it.

That's $5.00 / foot DELIVERED. Best price I have found.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WELDING-CABLE-4-0-20-10-BLACK-10-RED-CAR-BATTERY-LEADS-USA-NEW-Gauge-Copper-AWG-/251166658858?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7ab3112a

thx

Vic

Re: Is this 4/0 cable good for battery to inverter use?

Hi K S,

Well, to me, that looks like very nice stuff. Nice that it has a 105 degree C temp rating. It is very finely stranded ... will this vendor be putting lugs on it for you? As you know, fine strand cable needs a different lug than the more customary stranding. And, if possible Tin-plated lugs are better than native copper in my opinion.

From your stated location, guess that you are an RVer, and this will not need inspection. Believe that most times Welding cable is not NEC acceptable ...

Hope that the inverter is a bit closer to the batteries than 10 feet, but that may be the way things lay-out. Good Luck, Vic

BB.

Re: Is this 4/0 cable good for battery to inverter use?

This is the welding cable our host sells:

All welding cable is made in the USA by Trystar, and has an operating temperature of -50 to +150 degrees F. All welding cable is Type M (30 gauge strands). Welding cable has excellent abrasion, oil, acid, and solvent resistance. It is available by the foot.

MTW UL listed cable. MTW cable utilizes moisture, heat and oil resistant thermoplastic insulation. The PVC insulation is flame retardant and is suitable for wet and dry locations. The fine stranded wire makes the cable very flexible for easy installation. For use on circuits up to 600 volts.

The National Electric Code (NEC) Table 310.104(A) has detailed information about the MTW rating. Click here to see the MTW description and specifications from that table.

The EBay cable did not appear to have MTM rating... So it probably would a bit of a tough sell if used in a North American home.

And I agree with Vic, termination of fine stranded cable is a pain in the rear end.... If you can get the vendor to crimp those cables up for you (correctly)--You will be far ahead.

If you cannot get them to crimp them for you--See if they can give (sell) you the correct cable termination ends. Fine cables have "more air" in the cable and need slightly larger crimp fittings for proper termination.

For example, this #4/O cable lug may or may not fit the cable you are looking at.

-Bill

Blackcherry04

Re: Is this 4/0 cable good for battery to inverter use?

KnowledgeSponge wrote: »

Just wanting to be sure before I order 20 feet of it.

That's $5.00 / foot DELIVERED. Best price I have found.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WELDING-CABLE-4-0-20-10-BLACK-10-RED-CAR-BATTERY-LEADS-USA-NEW-Gauge-Copper-AWG-/251166658858?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a7ab3112a

thx

I have used that same cable many times from the same vendor. It works fine and all crimp lugs will fit it.

niel

Re: Is this 4/0 cable good for battery to inverter use?

you can use heavy wire for heavy loads, but let's face it if you have a 300w inverter then that size wire is overkill. won't hurt anything to use in light load applications though.

KnowledgeSponge

Re: Is this 4/0 cable good for battery to inverter use?

Thanks all.

I have a Xantrex ProWatt 2000 which is continuous rated at 1800watts and peak 3,000watts.

I've run 2,200Watts for 5 minutes with absolutely no problem on 2/0 cable. But I haven't used fine strand cable.

I thought I'd end up with LESS (not more) air space with this fine stranded cable ?

Maybe not. But again, thx for the replies.

BB.

Re: Is this 4/0 cable good for battery to inverter use?

Nope--A "solid" copper wire has the "best" density (smallest cross section per amount of copper conductor). There are some geometry issues (a "two strand" cable would probably require a much larger diameter connection hole than a multi-strand cable--But that is not going to be a common configuration).

-Bill

inetdog

Re: Is this 4/0 cable good for battery to inverter use?

KnowledgeSponge wrote: »

I thought I'd end up with LESS (not more) air space with this fine stranded cable ?

It all depends on how the strands cross and wrap around each other. A fine strand wire made up with thin wires twisted into 10 bundles which are then twisted to make the wire will have more air space than 10 equivalent copper area solid wires twisted to make a cable.

Imagine a very large bin, filled with 1" round rocks. Now imagine the same bin filled entirely with 1/8" round rocks. The air space will be exactly the same. You do not get any improvement in density until you pour the 1/8 rocks into the first bin to fill up the spaces between the larger rocks.