Difference between OFC and CCA?

[osmith 10+ year member]

Might be a dumb question, but what is the difference in the two types of wire performance wise?

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[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

OFC > CCA. It has ~40% better conductivity (ability to carry more current). CCA can handle about 250A, OFC can handle 300-350A. However, OFC is nearly twice as expensive as CCA. If you are running 2500+w I would suggest using OFC, if not you will be fine with CCA

 

[bhsdriller 10+ year member]

ofc is copper, cca copper clad aluminum

didn't read performance.....what he said

 

[osmith 10+ year member]

Haha yeah I knew they were different materials just didn't know how it would affect the system. I'm running a single SA-15 off an SAZ-1500 at 2 ohms...possibly adding a second SA-15 later to bring it to 1 ohm.....So, would the CCA be fine for me?

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

Haha yeah I knew they were different materials just didn't know how it would affect the system. I'm running a single SA-15 off an SAZ-1500 at 2 ohms...possibly adding a second SA-15 later to bring it to 1 ohm.....So, would the CCA be fine for me?

yes

 

[Ninesvnsicks 10+ year member]

I just went to the local welding supply place and bought 25ft of #1 welding cable for $50 rated to 300 amps and they guy at the shop said he has put more thru it fine.

 

[osmith 10+ year member]

That's excellent news.....I was gringing at the thought of spend 4 dollars a foot on wire, haha.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

That's excellent news.....I was gringing at the thought of spend 4 dollars a foot on wire, haha.

OFC shouldn't be that expensive. weldingsupply.com has some for like $3 a foot I think.

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

That's excellent news.....I was gringing at the thought of spend 4 dollars a foot on wire, haha.

That's exactly why the CCA was created, to provide a high power/low cost solution. You just don't get quite as much power as you do with OFC but in your case there will be no difference.

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

Weldingsupply.com / USA Direct Cable / 304-1270

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

I bought some 1/0 from welding supply and loved it. It had a much lower strand count then normal ca wire but I liked that because it made the stripped wire easier to work with, since the wires were thicker they held their shape better. The flexibility loss is minimal.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

IMO OFC is overrated. CCA is just fine, they invented it because it is cheaper than pure copper and still carries the current just fine. Electrons move on the outside of the wire hence being copper clad the theory is that the core doesn't matter as much. And this is true, many people claim CCA to be inferior to OFC, from the tests I've seen CCA holds it's own as long as it's decent fill.

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

IMO OFC is overrated. CCA is just fine, they invented it because it is cheaper than pure copper and still carries the current just fine. Electrons move on the outside of the wire hence being copper clad the theory is that the core doesn't matter as much. And this is true, many people claim CCA to be inferior to OFC, from the tests I've seen CCA holds it's own as long as it's decent fill.

I know what your referring to but you're wrong. The "skin effect" only happens with high frequencies, not DC.

 

[i2ain2thunder 10+ year member]

I know what your referring to but you're wrong. The "skin effect" only happens with high frequencies, not DC.

I never thought about that, I think you're right maybe I'll look more into it. My electronic understanding is a lot more based on my AC experience.

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

It's those damn eddy currents //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Skin effect is the tendency of an alternating electric current (AC) to distribute itself within a conductor with the current density being largest near the surface of the conductor, decreasing at greater depths. In other words, the electric current flows mainly at the "skin" of the conductor, at an average depth called the skin depth. The skin effect causes the effective resistance of the conductor to increase at higher frequencies where the skin depth is smaller, thus reducing the effective cross-section of the conductor. The skin effect is due to opposing eddy currents induced by the changing magnetic field resulting from the alternating current. At 60 Hz in copper, the skin depth is about 8.5 mm. At high frequencies the skin depth may be much smaller. Increased AC resistance due to the skin effect can be mitigated by using specially woven litz wire. Because the interior of a large conductor carries so little of the current, tubular conductors such as pipe can be used to save weight and cost.