Welding cable...

[maylar 10+ year member]

Well im gonna tell ya something about thoes copper rods. They are extremely and I mean extremely susceptible to Voltage drops and noise. I was using 4au home depot wire for almost 6 months when I finally got around to testing it and I was having an enourmous amount of loss and replacing the wire put an amazing about of vigor back into my system at the time.
I suggest you def do get some new wire.

4 gage is 4 gage regardless of strand count. There are specs that define resistance for standard wire sizes.
Was it aluminum wire? It's cheaper than copper and they use it for service cable (street to house) to save cost. 4 gage aluminum is quite common for 100 amp house service. Aluminum has much higher resistance than copper.

 

[B&R Innovation2 10+ year member]

Large strand wire has a tendency to become oxidized much more quickly. A single strand becomes oxidized at a time and as each one does it becomes more and more resistant. Multi strand wire takes a much longer time to become oxidized as each strand must go through the chemical process individually. And often times what makes the biggest difference is how the wire is made. The more expensive thin stranded wire is insulated and stored in better conditions.

When copper oxidizes, it becomes a less effective conductor. This means that, in time, the wire's current carrying capabilities will become significantly reduced.

And I wasnt talking about it's load carring efficentcy. Brand new (and I mean new) 4 gauge no matter the strand count will carry the same load with very little resistance. In time each type will degrade in quality and voltage drops will occur. THe thick stranded wire will oxidize quicker and thus voltage drops will occur quicker. Finally in a high vibration env such as a car the looseness of multi strand helps relieve problems with shorting at grommit points.

 

[andy00018 10+ year member]

Just got my 25 ft. of 0 gauge welding cable from http://www.weldingsupply.com (only $.99/ft!!)
Anyway...I'd like to say that this wire is EXTREMELY FLEXIBLE!! More flexible than any 4 gauge wire I've worked with, let alone 0 gauge...

Here are some pics of it-

^Here it is along side some Tsunami 4 gauge....

Here are the connectors I got...quite massive (That's a quarter //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif )

I saw the wire first hand and i gotta tell you, these pictures dont do it justice, its not only pink, but neon pink might I add.

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Large strand wire has a tendency to become oxidized much more quickly.

Nonsense. Not insulated wire, anyway. Maybe bare copper after 100 years.
Oxidation might occur on exposed ends, but if they're crimped, soldered, or screwed down to a terminal there wouldn't be enough to matter in our lifetime. I don't see anyone recommending coating your terminals with anti-oxidant grease.

Aluminum, on the other hand DOES oxidize rather quickly. There actually is a special compound made especially for coating the exposed ends in service panels and electric meters. Not for copper though - it's not an issue.

 

[jbl_marshall21 10+ year member]

i love big wire. just like those big women //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif thats what i'm talking bout.