pure oxygen free copper vs. copper clad aluminum

[Steveopevo 10+ year member]

Some people say there's a difference. Some people say there isn't. A man tested his CCA's vs. much more expensive cable and claimed there wasn't a bit of difference. Your input.

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[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

This has been gone over many times. Copper will handle more current per foot, that is not debatable. Aluminum will get hot faster increasing resistance, that is not debatable.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

very minimal difference if you use them within their rated amp draw limits



CCA does build up heat more when you are maxing it out.

Say fk it and get 4/0 welding wire for less than 3.50 a foot shipped.

 

[Steveopevo 10+ year member]

very minimal difference if you use them within their rated amp draw limits

I was just thinking that

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

CCA is obviously cheap and works... one of the things I haven't seen mentioned is corrosion. When I had cheap CCA, the connections would literally corrode into dust over time and I had to constantly clean them or there would be A LOT of heat building up at resistance points, two fuse blocks melted and the input to my bass amp shattered. 4 Gauge CCA on a 120a fused amp was really that bad.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

CCA is obviously cheap and works... one of the things I haven't seen mentioned is corrosion. When I had cheap CCA, the connections would literally corrode into dust over time and I had to constantly clean them or there would be A LOT of heat building up at resistance points, two fuse blocks melted and the input to my bass amp shattered. 4 Gauge CCA on a 120a fused amp was really that bad.

what brand of cca was this?

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

very minimal difference if you use them within their rated amp draw limits

Funny thing is that test does not show what happens over extended play time and its a very short run. Nothing real world here so its not valid at all.

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

if you ever see this stuff id run far away and if you see someone with it in their car id rip that **** out immediately lol

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

if you ever see this stuff id run far away and if you see someone with it in their car id rip that **** out immediately lol

You do know that soundquest CCA wire is 8 gauge with basically no copper content right. If you had a legitimate 4 gauge CCA aka shok industries, Knu, Sky high, you would not have run into any problems with a 120 amp draw.

That soundquest wire might as well be weaker than a 12 gauge ofc.

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

i know that now, doesnt take away from that wire being crap lol. I've used real 0 gauge cca and it was fine, so no not all CCA is this bad.

its nowhere near the size of 8 gauge, id say it's about 5.

i have some tspec 4 gauge ofc and it's a little bit bigger, but they oversize their stuff. most reputable brands seem to, it's nearly the size of the 2 gauge ofc i have.

 

[Jeffdachef 5,000+ posts]

i know that now, doesnt take away from that wire being crap lol. I've used real 0 gauge cca and it was fine, so no not all CCA is this bad.
its nowhere near the size of 8 gauge, id say it is about 4 or 5.

no way, From the way you hold it, it looks only as big as the direct leads of my subwoofers which is 8 gauge. Unless you have Extremely oversized fingers.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

i know that now, doesnt take away from that wire being crap lol. I've used real 0 gauge cca and it was fine, so no not all CCA is this bad.
its nowhere near the size of 8 gauge, id say it's about 5.

i have some tspec 4 gauge ofc and it's a little bit bigger, but they oversize their stuff. most reputable brands seem to, it's nearly the size of the 2 gauge ofc i have.

5 would be bigger than 8

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

ill be more blatant for you next time, there was no modifier stating whether it was a larger or smaller anywhere - figured you'd know what i meant lol.

i do have fat fingers, im betting some of your 8 gauge is oversized and is really 6 or so. i edited my reply though, it's more like 5 or 6 gauge if i were to consider my tspec "true" 4

 

[adulbrich 5,000+ posts]

There are too many damn threads about this.

Bottom line:

If you want to be cheap, buy welding cable and not CCA. There is some CCA 0 gauge under my hood that I originally used for the big three and is falling apart. Now I need to replace it.

If you don't give a fvck, buy some car audio OFC. Real difference between that and welding cable used to be flexibility. Now, there are more flexible options for welding cable.

I will never use CCA again. It is what it is. Cheap.