Does wire make a difference?

[Squirrel18 10+ year member]

This may sound like a dumb question but I got some of this off ebay a few weeks ago for fairly cheap http://cgi.ebay.com/RED-COPPER-CABLE-25-FEET-1-0-GAUGE-CAR-AMP-POWER-WIRE-0_W0QQitemZ370316192058QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item563890a93a Can I use this as power wire ? If not, I can resell it. If so..why not? Only bad part about it is that its not a million strands therefore its not as flexible.

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[SplAffair 10+ year member]

you could use it but whether or not its actual 1/0 awg is another story

and yes it does make a difference

knukonceptz.com has good wire try there

 

[Sir-Lancelot 10+ year member]

weldingsupply.com

best prices I have found and it is very flexible.

 

[Squirrel18 10+ year member]

Ok thanks.. I have some actual "car audio wire" thats 1/0 and it seems slightly bigger. I only had a few feet so it wasnt enough to use. I did compare my wire to the old 4 gauge I had and its def bigger. I should be good though..i have a 145 amp alt,big3 upgrade and i'm going to run a 1500-1800w amp. I was just curious if the internals of the wire made a difference (big strands vs little) . I see some wire labeled as "oxygen free) ..so i didnt know if made a difference. Thanks for your help

 

[brian84corvette 10+ year member]

electricity travels on the surface of the copper wires.

so the more strands of copper wire you have the more surface area there is for the electricity to flow over. - that being said - im pretty shure the wire you have will work ok for your system.

im pretty shure there is some realley complex mathmatical equasion out there that dictates how much surface area is needed to properly conduct x amount of power over the wire before reaching critical yeild - but im not that exited to google it for you.

lol

 

[SicAudio 5,000+ posts]

welding wire ect is just fine the whole wire transfers current not just the surface. more strands is just more flexible is all

 

[bland 10+ year member]

electricity travels on the surface of the copper wires.so the more strands of copper wire you have the more surface area there is for the electricity to flow over. - that being said - im pretty shure the wire you have will work ok for your system.

im pretty shure there is some realley complex mathmatical equasion out there that dictates how much surface area is needed to properly conduct x amount of power over the wire before reaching critical yeild - but im not that exited to google it for you.

lol

So I guess all those copper buss bars people use are useless.