House wire in cars
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Discription: General Mobile Electronics Questions and Answers
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=81875
Printed Date: May 13, 2024 at 3:34 PM
Topic: House wire in cars
Posted By: svtfast
Subject: House wire in cars
Date Posted: August 21, 2006 at 5:16 PM
I accidently used some house power wire to contruct my relay bank. I only used 5" on all the leads. Will it be ok or will I need to replace it with auto wire? ------------- Germany aint that bad.
Replies:
Posted By: avxtech
Date Posted: August 21, 2006 at 5:33 PM
Yes, replace it. Home solid core wire cannot handle a lot of vibration, it will break.
Posted By: svtfast
Date Posted: August 21, 2006 at 5:38 PM
its not solid core wire, there appears to be about 50-60 copper strands per wire.
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Germany aint that bad.
Posted By: KarTuneMan
Date Posted: August 21, 2006 at 6:38 PM
for your relay "bank" should be fine....just don't cover any LONG distances with that type of wire.
Posted By: svtfast
Date Posted: August 21, 2006 at 11:55 PM
Yea I figured that out. I order some cross linked automotive primary wire from waytekwire. Too bad I could only get 250' rolls. Need some wire? ------------- Germany aint that bad.
Posted By: kmn5
Date Posted: August 27, 2006 at 1:58 AM
if it's already "50-60 copper strands per wire"
what's the difference
as long as it's good multi-strand copper wire..?
just wondering......
Posted By: svtfast
Date Posted: August 27, 2006 at 3:08 AM
As far as I know auto wire is biult to handle more amps and more heat than house wire although I may be wrong. House wire has some type of paper insulator that I believe could catch fire if exposed to high heat. ------------- Germany aint that bad.
Posted By: bdl666
Date Posted: August 27, 2006 at 6:24 AM
I wonder who started that stupid myth about not been able to use house wires on cars? For amps it's fine as long it only goes from the battery to the amp or distribution block. The fact that is not as flexible is not an issue since it won't be moving at all. From the engine to the chassis or battery it will break because of the vibration. But from the battery to the rear of the vehicle the wire doesn't move at all. Unless you don't secure your amp, in which case you will be consider a DeeDeeDee. As far as been able to handle the same amount of current as automotive wire it will handle the same as long they are the same gauge. And don't start the skin effect B.S. because skin effect is not an issue below 1MHz. ------------- ieSpell rocks.
Posted By: killer sonata
Date Posted: August 27, 2006 at 9:45 AM
house wire is fine as long as its multi stranded. the single strand solid core stuff you see in houses is not good. Electricity rides on the outside of the wire (usually copper). If there is only one strand, the electricity is very limited.
Posted By: bdl666
Date Posted: August 27, 2006 at 1:52 PM
killer sonata wrote:
Electricity rides on the outside of the wire (usually copper).
No it does not. That is only true on high frequency AC signals.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect
https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci541369,00.html------------- ieSpell rocks.
Posted By: INSTALLER_MSS
Date Posted: September 08, 2006 at 4:43 PM
multi strand wire is fine but solid core is never good in auto apps. you would think that nothing is moving from the battery to the amp but it is unavoidable for the car to have vibrations and shunts which will cause solid core to weaken and eventually break over time. automotive wire is usually "cleaner" in the sense that it's mostly made "oxygen free" which helps with voltage drop, especially over longer runs. house wire isn't oxy free because a couple or few volts in AC current applications isn't much but a couple or even 1 volt drop is critical in auto because you only have 12 -14.5 to begin with. voltage drop causes loss of performance in equipment and can even cause damage to equipment and the car.
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"If a man made it, another can modify it...it just takes some thinking."
"If you ask questions, you're a fool for 5 minutes; if you don't, you're a fool for a lifetime."
Posted By: INSTALLER_MSS
Date Posted: September 08, 2006 at 4:48 PM
house wire is made for higher voltage (110 - 240) but not higher current (with some exceptions of course), and auto wire is made for comparitively low voltage (12-18) and high current.
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"If a man made it, another can modify it...it just takes some thinking."
"If you ask questions, you're a fool for 5 minutes; if you don't, you're a fool for a lifetime."
Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: September 08, 2006 at 6:29 PM
INSTALLER_MSS wrote:
house wire is made for higher voltage (110 - 240) but not higher current (with some exceptions of course), and auto wire is made for comparitively low voltage (12-18) and high current.
Voltage resistance is a function of the outer insulation. Current capacity is a function of cross-sectional area of the wire. 16AWG is 16AWG. ------------- Support the12volt.com
Posted By: Melted Fabric
Date Posted: September 15, 2006 at 2:53 PM
svtfast wrote:
Iraq Blows, I miss my car
Lol, nice one, yea I suggest rewiring, do it right the first time, instead of, "it will do"
------------- I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best -- that is inspiration.
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