Learned something new about welding cable today

[TWIH]

I’ve read on forum threads/posts in the past to pay more and get fine stranded pure copper cabling, not the cheaper CCA (copper covered aluminum), due to resistance being greater with CCA.  I also read where welding cable was so great, flexible, stranded copper etc. 

So when reading some questions and answers about welding cable today I found this answer from a seller to a question about the actual gauge of their advertised 4 gauge welding cable:
“Welding cable is manufactured to SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) gauge requirements. 4 gauge welding cable is slightly smaller than 4 AWG American Wire Gauge. However, 4 gauge welding cable is guaranteed to carry the proper amount of current, and it has a high grade 105C rated insulation.”

Disappointing to see the differing gauges again! Just when I thought that 4 guage welding cable would be fine...which it probably is ok for my intended use (alternator to solenoid to 6v golf cart batteries, maybe 12’ length total per cable.)

Just wanted peeps to know that there is a big difference between pure stranded copper, CCA, AWG wiring and AWG vs SAE gauge sizing.

So many of the jumper cables advertised on the big internet shopping sites are CCA, and I’d want to upsize to the 2 gauge in order to try to equate the resistance differences between 2 ga. cCA and 4 ga. AWG. Also, theres next to no 2 gauge jumper cables available, most are 6 gauge CCA which is closer to 8 gauge pure copper...

[sternwake]

SAE gauge is 6 to 12% thinner than AWG with a corresponding ampacity loss.

Wire ampacity is also affected whether it is run inside a loom inside the engine compartment.

Some of The drug store jumper cables are kind of funny. 10 gauge CCA inside super thick insulation.

I assisted a person in a drug store parking lot who was trying to use such cables and could not get it started.
I just brought out my 18 amp hour UB12180 battery and 8 awg clamps, and recommended they try and return those shitty and obviously worthless jumper cables.

I've seen some welding cable that might have been abrasion resistant, but was easily torn by sharp objects. buyer beware, as always. Shopping by price alone regarding cabling/wiring, is aim at foot, and shoot, then submerge in feces.

Beware of products aimed at the stereo boom boom crowd as well. Some of them are complete and utter junk.

[Gr8ful]

I've made alot of battery packs using 6-6v golf car baatteries & using flexable wire with a heavy jacket is a good thing.  I always use 1 size larger than recomended & have never had a single issue. You can read all sorts of armchair know it alls on forums. This explains wire pretty well https://edisontechcenter.org/wires.html
Well over 100 years agoFord & Edison made a battery that still works today, I'm sure you'read about or seen these glass batteries. Here's one of the many companies making something like them now with the history near the bottom. https://beyondoilsolar.com/product/nicke...al-series/

[TWIH]

I do take most forums with a grain of salt, especially the one most of us gravitated from... i just was surprised that the advertised and much ballyhooed welding cable wasn’t really awg gauged... i wonder if terminal fittings will not be crimped correctly then?

Its like the Chinese made inexpensive crimpers sold on the big A marketplace. They are all metric sized instead of awg, even though they claim to be awg. So many reviewers have said that the crimps don’t work well due to that issue...

[Blacktank]

a battery cable from a full sized truck is 4 gaugeish and 6 foot or more and can be had pretty cheap at a wrecking yard,thick strand and not that flexible

[sternwake]

SAE=Society of Automotive Engineers
AWG American wire gauge

MM2, the rest of the world, perhaps.

https://www.wiresizer.com/ws_userguide.h...the%20wire.

[Gr8ful]

That's why you always use the proper gauge to insure of a proper crimp. You can do the same thing with both types but IMHO the tight turns possible rubbing makes the welding cable the winner as it flexes much more & has a thicker casing but to each his own

[Scott7022]

Part of it is the USA insistence on sticking with imperial measurements. Or entirely made up measurements like the US gallon. (Smaller than the imperial gallon) or why people get better gas milage in Canada. At least back in the day when we too sold fluids by gallons, pints, quarts. Lol. Even the bloody country England, that started it has changed British standard wrench sizes and the like have shifted. Although sometimes they think it’s quaint to use stone, 5 stone, for weight.

It’s a problem here because of plumbing. American pipe and fittings mixed with metric sizes from Germany, Scandinavia, and Europe. So you have to find AME (American metric equivalent) Sizes. They don’t and use cat fur and Teflon tape to make it work.

Wire sizing is the same. Wouldn’t it be easier if we all used a system based on ten instead of an antiquated system based on the weight of a bloody rock picked up by some crown wearing peacock or how many sixty fourths you can cut the kings coin? Ought as in double ought cable or one ought cable or double ought buckshot in a 12 gauge. Lol. Bet y’all didn’t know your freedom units were actually British overlord leftovers. The Boston lads would be so angry. Lol

I remember helping a guy with a Canadian made fancy RV install a tv and stereo and he kept striping the Phillips heads on the wood work. I didn’t have a problem. So he’s lying on his back bitching and I hand him my driver. Problem solved he was sticking a Phillips head into a Robinson screw. Those are different too. Lol.


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[Wayne49]

On my 2002 Tahoe Light, they only used S2 screws. Rapid assembly, I guess. I had never heard of "Robinson".

Fortunately, I had previously purchased a Black and Decker set of various screwdriver types that included various square sizes.

It is possible to use a small 1/8" minus (-) head screwdriver diagonally in a S2.

A Japanese dude, that I had worked with, referred to Phillips as plus (+) screwdrivers and the flat ones as minus (-) screwdrivers.

[Gr8ful]

2-3/4" & 3" shotgun shells always measure shorter. Watch this & quit dissing the lowly 22lr