Copper Wire vs. other stuff

[skylineTT 10+ year member]

niqqa schwat?

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

its welding cable than use its not that stiff now and day flexaprene welding cable ftmfw

Assuming I translated that foreign language correctly, 'welding cable' (the common term here for wire used on the 'stinger' of a welding system) has more than 133 strands. A lot more.

 

[IMOVeCHICKENS! 10+ year member]

Assuming I translated that foreign language correctly, 'welding cable' (the common term here for wire used on the 'stinger' of a welding system) has more than 133 strands. A lot more.

stop being a douche bag dawg no one likes on mkay im not even american so i think i type fairly well

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

stop being a douche bag dawg no one likes on mkay im not even american so i think i type fairly well

You think wrong, dawg.

 

[Blue Fury 10+ year member]

Conductivity is a property of the metal, not of the area or number of strands. The area increases the current handling and more strands (of the same area) increase the flexibility of the wire.

Wait, isn't it true that more area= less resistance = less heat = better conductor?

 

[midnightg35x 10+ year member]

Wait, isn't it true that more area= less resistance = less heat = better conductor?

Yes, this is technically true. For 99% of cases if you have your wire sized correctly you won't have any change in conductivity because the temperature change would be negligible. If you are comparing 2/0 with 133 strands and 2/0 with 1000 strands and they both have the same area, their conductivity will be the same (or so close it doesn't matter).

Now if you were trying to pull 100 amps through 8 gauge copper vs 1/0, the conductivity would certainly be different because the 8 gauge would be smoking hot. I should have clarified the point in my earlier post by saying if the current in the wire did not cause excessive temperature rise.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

This link discusses skin effect and its effect on conductivity:

http://www.audiojunkies.com/blog/606/more-on-cable-myths

 

[pawn man 10+ year member]

i have heard no skin effect in dc current only in ac current

 

[skylineTT 10+ year member]

basically im just wondering if this would have been good for the big 3 only. ill be drawing a good 150 amps at full tilt so just wonderin.