quick question, on a 12v dc system, can I upsize my wire to get 1% voltage drop? For ex. A 50a load to a trolling motor @ 10ft round trip on the cable with 3% drop is 8 awg...can I upsize to 6awg to get 2% or even 4awg to get 1% voltage drop? Would that fry the system or be better off?
Conductors can never be too large, only too small. So this is no problem at all with going bigger. You can actually manually set the voltage drop in our calculator, so you can see which size you would need: boathowto.com/wiresize/abyc/ However, a 3% drop is pretty good, I don't think that larger cables would significantly improve your system's performance. - Jan
As an electrical engineer of over 11 years. Ampacity is a term that I’m unfamiliar with. My dealings with 0.5 Mw radar systems lead to calculations leading to maximum current calculations, that reflected actual performance
‘Ampacity’ is a term used in the ABYC and ISO standards to describe the maximum current carrying capability of a conductor, or, more fully, the maximum current, in amperes, that a conductor can carry continuously under the conditions of use without exceeding its temperature rating. Nigel
Great information!
Thanks! I use the the ABYC calculator all the time.
quick question, on a 12v dc system, can I upsize my wire to get 1% voltage drop? For ex. A 50a load to a trolling motor @ 10ft round trip on the cable with 3% drop is 8 awg...can I upsize to 6awg to get 2% or even 4awg to get 1% voltage drop? Would that fry the system or be better off?
Conductors can never be too large, only too small. So this is no problem at all with going bigger. You can actually manually set the voltage drop in our calculator, so you can see which size you would need: boathowto.com/wiresize/abyc/ However, a 3% drop is pretty good, I don't think that larger cables would significantly improve your system's performance. - Jan
@@BoatHowTo thank u for the response, just trying to be safe along with max output from devices.
As an electrical engineer of over 11 years. Ampacity is a term that I’m unfamiliar with. My dealings with 0.5 Mw radar systems lead to calculations leading to maximum current calculations, that reflected actual performance
‘Ampacity’ is a term used in the ABYC and ISO standards to describe the maximum current carrying capability of a conductor, or, more fully, the maximum current, in amperes, that a conductor can carry continuously under the conditions of use without exceeding its temperature rating.
Nigel