How Many Amps Can Wire Handle in Mobile, Marine & Off-Grid Electrical Systems?

Рет қаралды 9,215

EXPLORIST life Mobile Marine & Off-Grid Electrical

Күн бұрын

Did you know that wire rated for 120 amps may only handle 40 amps depending on where and how it’s installed?
Clearing up the confusion on the max amps a wire can carry is exactly what I’m going to teach you here in lesson #4 of this Wire Basics chapter of the EXPLORIST.life academy.
#WireBasics #EXPLORISTlife #ElectricalWiring #Amperage #WireInstallation
This is episode 3.4 in our Wire Basics Playlist in the EXPLORIST.life Academy.
➤Blog Post & QUIZ: explorist.life/max-amps-a-wir...
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00:00 Introduction
01:15 How Many Amps Can a Wire Handle?
03:54 Real World Advice
04:54 Wire Ampacities of AC Circuits
06:01 How many amps can Romex handle?
08:34 Final Thoughts

Пікірлер: 22

@robbehr8806 23 күн бұрын

Just the right video at just the right time! I live in Arizona just west of the Phoenix metro. Out here, one big issue is heating of RV electrical pedestals. Yes, during summer in the desert, an RV pedestal is like an engine compartment. Because a pedestal can reach 160F from sunlight alone, wiring has to be upgraded regarding insulation temperature range and de-rated regarding current. Now, I can just send a link to this video, rather than giving a long-winded explanation.

@EXPLORISTlife 22 күн бұрын

That's great insight! A consideration I hadn't thought of but does make sense!

@GK49245 23 күн бұрын

Good summary and rules of thumb. Recommend every DIY electrician have and use a current copy of RVIA LV, ABYC E-11, and NFPA-70 for all wire sizing. As you described, you must address the debating issues of continuous loads, temperatures, etc. Especially helpful that you mentioned the temperature issue as we seen Van DIYers who under size wiring to roof top ACs, fans, lighting, etc. where the rooftop temperatures are much higher than walls. Thanks for sharing another excellent episode.

@cyclemoto8744 10 күн бұрын

Great info. Thanks for sharing. Cheers

@jorgeanchia6914 23 күн бұрын

Excellent information!

@timf6916 23 күн бұрын

Good information

@ChrisSgaraglino 11 күн бұрын

I am a little confused. My RV has #10 stranded wire installed for the pre-installed solar. Victron says I need a 35A fuse for my 100/30 and a 40A for my 150/35. Based on Table 4A, #10 in the worst condition (60* Insulation) will handle 40A just fine. Is this a true statement? The #10 is run up the wall across the scaling and down to the fuses in the frame, then to the battery on the front of the trailer.

@junkerzn7312 23 күн бұрын

In solar / battery systems, for DC, the voltage drop definitely overrides everything else, but another factor is just straight-out thermal cycling of terminals and conductors adding unnecessary heat and stress to equipment, particularly on DC systems where large capacitors are present near the terminal whos lifespans are impacted by heat transmitted via cabling. And in mobile applications you don't really want any of your wiring to actually hit 90C anyway (or even 60C to be honest). You still use 90C+ rated wiring, but shoot for actual temperatures of 60C or lower. The biggest sizing problems occur at lower system voltages. In a 12V system, it doesn't take very much voltage drop before you are quickly exceeding a 10% loss in power transmission. At the same time, the cabling can wind up getting just way too thick (and expensive) to deal with it. People often fudge and allow larger losses and more heat than desired. But at 24V or 48V there is no reason to use anything but the most conservative wire sizes, because so much more power can be transmitted. One isn't forced to go into the AWG 0's and cabling losses due to voltage drop wind up being less than 2%. And similarly for solar panel wiring. In my case, in terms of the amount of continuous current that I want to support without having to deal with large losses or heat, as a rule of thumb I use 2 AWG for 100A (roughly 5000W @ 51.2V), 12 AWG for 10A, 10 AWG for 20A, and 6 AWG for 35A. -Matt

@gabrielandresdelia7083 12 күн бұрын

Hey, I´m buuilding my van and I want to be sure that everything is ok with my wires. Do you have a service tto check my specific situation? Thanks!

@EXPLORISTlife 11 күн бұрын

If you've ordered your parts/components/wires/etc from our store shop.exploirst.life, that's a free service we offer. Just submit a support ticket at shop.explorist.life/support

@Just_An_Idea_For_Consideration 23 күн бұрын

What is recommended grounding wire awg size for a solar system? for 200Amp AC ? for 600Amp Rack (6x100Amp) DC ? for ground wire from grounding rack 300 feet from inverters, to run ground wire from rack to inverters ?

@csmetrustee 20 күн бұрын

Romex must be sized using the 60 degree column in the NEC. Please look at article 334.

@FarqueKnowsWhere 23 күн бұрын

You love these sessions hey Nate? and the acute swelling of the brain they cause! I got several different auto cables, only one has the temperature rating printed on it, how can I ascertain temp rating on the others?? The Narva brand auto cable doesn’t have the temp printed on its reels, or is all auto cable a standard 105deg? Happy to understand some electrical fundamentals but definitely won’t be a giru.

@EXPLORISTlife 23 күн бұрын

If nothing is stamped on the side, you're in a tough spot and I'd question the quality of the wire.

@bradbauman7594 21 күн бұрын

Where can I find that chart at 2:13 to print it out?

@EXPLORISTlife 21 күн бұрын

Google search for ABYC and the table name. I pulled that from the ABYC standards, but I have to pay for those, so I can't really link to them.

@EXPLORISTlife 21 күн бұрын

Or just pause it, screenshot it, and print it. We've got an expensive assed 4k camera and upload in 4k for a reason. 🤣🤣👍

@bradbauman7594 21 күн бұрын

@@EXPLORISTlife Thank you! Got it. Much appreciated.

@D2O2 21 күн бұрын

How many amps can a wire handle? Typically more than the insulation.

@EXPLORISTlife 20 күн бұрын

Exactly! Story Time: One of our industry friends said that he was working on a piece of equipment (a big transformer, or something industrial like that... I don't remember) that, internally, had a 14AWG wire that had to be capable of flowing something like 100A over 6". Since voltage drop over such a short piece of wire was effectively a non-issue the equipment manufacturer was able to use 14 AWG wire BUT... the wire had insulation on it that had a temperature rating of something crazy like 500C. 😲😲

@vetsen 22 күн бұрын

Good info, but the sound effects turn me off. I didn’t finish the video.

@EXPLORISTlife 21 күн бұрын

Thanks for watching, but I don't take video production advice from somebody who's most recent video is some random un-edited shakey assed snowboard video. Perhaps work on your own videos before critiquing mine. Or better yet, just keep that kind of thing to yourself since nobody asked.