Bayuk89 Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 I use welding cable and perfer welding cable over "car audio wire" welding cable has to pass industrial and ROHS test to be able to give a rating. Im running royal excelence cable. Car audio amplifiers run off 12-14.8 volts and "X" amount of amps (your amplifier amperage consumption will vary depending on voltage and amplifier wattage. The fact welding cable gives a rating on amperage @ "X" amount of feet gives me a piece of mind. Its true AWG standard and OFC. Just my opinion and my experience. My local welding supply sells 1/0 for $1.75 a foot. 1/0 welding cable is rated 350 amps out to 25 feet. No sense in me buying 2/0 when my power run is only 12 feet and my amp is fused for 150 amps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonkeysBreath Posted March 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 I use welding cable and perfer welding cable over "car audio wire" welding cable has to pass industrial and ROHS test to be able to give a rating. Im running royal excelence cable. Car audio amplifiers run off 12-14.8 volts and "X" amount of amps (your amplifier amperage consumption will vary depending on voltage and amplifier wattage. The fact welding cable gives a rating on amperage @ "X" amount of feet gives me a piece of mind. Its true AWG standard and OFC. Just my opinion and my experience. My local welding supply sells 1/0 for $1.75 a foot. 1/0 welding cable is rated 350 amps out to 25 feet. No sense in me buying 2/0 when my power run is only 12 feet and my amp is fused for 150 amps... it is very nice that welding cable is so cheap and that it comes with both a min and a max temp along with a voltage rating of 600VDC. And to go along with some other posts, at times i prefer the less flexible wire because when terminated correctly it pre much stays in place compared to say "KCA Power Kable". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiofanaticz Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 Its not really cheap though.. Comparing a smaller gauge welding wire to an audio wire and saying its cheaper is blasphemy. 600volt rating is a moot point as well since when was the last time your vehicles electrical system charged at said voltage, or even voltage over 21volts for that matter. Also for me silver tinning is a MUST on wire, I will never buy a non tinned wire ever again due to corrosion. KCA Kable from Knukonceptz is CCA wire (copper clad aluminum). Meaning the wire is aluminum but tinned with copper which really adds nothing but a copper color look. Sure CCA wire may work fine for some, but it can not be compared to OFC in any way. While CCA wire works its not the best. Using 9 runs of CCA to do what 4 runs of OFC can do is not beneficial especially when your dealing with the increased voltage drop along the wire due to the higher resistance. The only time CCA can really become beneficial is when you get the CCA at a price point that is so ridiculous cheap that adding 2 to 3 times more runs of it is still cheaper than what OFC would cost you, and your willing to do the work to put in all those additional runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bayuk89 Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 Yes buying online, welding cable in the same gauge as car audio cable, welding cable is a lil cheaper. Dont worry about the 600volt rating as car audio is only 12-14 volts. Focus more on the amperage rating rather than voltage rating. A quick google will help you out on what the amp carying capacity of 4ga,2ga,1/0 and 2/0 is at 15ft,25ft,50ft. Remember welding cable is used daily by welders and have hundreds of amps throught them 8-12 hours a day for months or years at a time. Ur amp isnt gonna "wear out" the welding cable. Only rough abrasive and the elements (corrosion) will.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiofanaticz Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 Here is an example. This is 18 runs of 1/0 CCA power wire.. Its about 350 feet total worth of wire. I could have gotten the same if not better performance with 8 runs of OFC wire.. However I paid around $0.90 per foot for that CCA wire which is a little bit more than the cost for a quality 50foot spool of OFC wire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiofanaticz Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 Yes buying online, welding cable in the same gauge as car audio cable, welding cable is a lil cheaper. Remember welding cable is used daily by welders and have hundreds of amps throught them 8-12 hours a day for months or years at a time. Ur amp isnt gonna "wear out" the welding cable. Only rough abrasive and the elements (corrosion) will.... No... The majority of 1/0 gauge wire made for car audio is oversized. Its sold as 1/0 but larger than the 1/0 standard set forth by the American wire gauge. So if you want an equivalent size welding cable you need to buy 2/0 because that is really what 1/0 audio wire is. Now if you put a piece of Stinger HPM 1/0 wire next to a piece of 1/0 welding cable they will be the same size because Stinger wire is not oversized wire like the majority of the wires people buy. Corrosion, killing wire faster than you know, this is why you get silver tinned wire. Especially when your wire is out in the elements of rain, snow, sleet, salt. If you live close to an ocean your wire will corrode even faster, same with steel (thus why ships have zinc bars welded to them). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiofanaticz Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 Woohoo I just got to use my new digital calipers to proves information wrong... YAY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiofanaticz Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 Glad I have this scrap bin of wires.... I couldnt find any 2/0 but thats besides the point since oversized 1/0 gauge wire is actually 2/0 and these pics will prove that. Im sure there is 2/0 welding cable in here but I dont feel like dumping it all over and looking for it, then cleaning up a mess... These 3 wires are 1/0 welding cable on the bottom, Rockford Fosgate in the middle, and 3/0 welding cable on the top. The 1/0 is hard to read but you can read it, same as the 3/0 (which is why I taped it down because it kept wanting to turn and not let me get the 3/0 in the pic). Left to right, 1/0 welding cable, Rockford Fosgate 1/0, and 3/0 welding cable. Casing size of the 1/0 welding wire. Casing size of the Rockford Fosgate wire. Casing size of the 3/0 welding wire. Here I stripped each of the 3 wires, I made sure to only pull back the casing far enough to get an actual wire measurement without having the ends of the wires loose and expanding messing with my readings. Again these 3 wires are 1/0 welding cable on the bottom, Rockford Fosgate in the middle, and 3/0 welding cable on the top. Wire size of the 1/0 welding wire. Wire size of the 1/0 Rockford Fosgate. Wire size of the 3/0 welding wire. Here is a chart for the wire sizing. Im assuming all these wires I have are slightly larger than what the standard is. However this chart will show that the wire size goes up by about 1mm each time from 1/0 to 2/0 to 3/0 which is damn near spot on with my quick testing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 here is another thing if you want to read it http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/111488-wire-comparison-review-104awg8awg-inside/ Rest in peace, walled 87 accord build log 03' Corolla build with AA Mayhem inside. My super random youtube channel and terrible camera work. Wiring comparison by CaptainzPlanetz Wire and fuse guide by Guest SyKo13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessica Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 i know there is another one, but i cant find it Rest in peace, walled 87 accord build log 03' Corolla build with AA Mayhem inside. My super random youtube channel and terrible camera work. Wiring comparison by CaptainzPlanetz Wire and fuse guide by Guest SyKo13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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