Welding Cable?

I was told that for my set up i'd need to runs 2 0ga wires and a 2ga. I was looking at using welding cable or marine wire as they state that their 4/0ga wire can handle loads in excess of 1000 amps, and i'll have a 700amp load just adding up the total fuse sizes, but i'm sure i'll never actually get that high. but any objections to using this kind of wire. i even hear it has the lowest resistance of all wires since it's copper.

Wire is wire...go for it.

Assuming that's stranded wiring cable, it doesn't sound like a problem. Solid core wire shouldn't be used in a car because it's not capable of handling the vibrations from automotive use, and it can break or the insulation can wear out quickly.

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C Renner's Auto Electronix
My service is cheap, quick, and good - pick any two

"i even hear it has the lowest resistance of all wires since it's copper"

speaker wire. amp-kit power wire (cable)  and 95 percent of consumer wire is copper.     welding cable has a very soft coating.  I only seen welding cable come in black.

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Years ago a buddy of mine had welding cable in his vehicle and the judge was trying to "cornhole" him.I stepped in and asked why the point deduction.He tried to feed me the BS line about current likes to "Skin" at the outer circumfrence of a strand of wire,and that more finer strands will carry more current.After he had put his foot fully in his mouth I explained I was an electronics instructor at a local college and my specialty was AC and DC circuits.I informed him that the "skining" effect was for AC not DC.he got as red as a beet and stormed off.Best laugh  I had in years,Go for your cable make sure your ends are crimped good and hang the cable properly

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BigDog

the problems I have seen with welding cable is that it is pure copper.   or close to,   most audio cable is coated so it wont corrode.....If you use it in your car make sure all connections are sealed air tight, use some of the rubber dip stuff to seal the ends,   otherwise you will be replacing ends about every 4-6 months

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

Where are you going to find a 700 amp fuse to protect that wire?

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2003 Chevy Avalanche,Eclipse CD7000,Morel Elate 5,Adire Extremis,Alpine PDX-4.150, 15" TC-3000, 2 Alpine PDX-1.1000, 470Amp HO Alt.

Welding Cable works fine. The best I have found is Carol Super-VU tron. Orion and Rockford included the Super Vu tron with the 2100HCCA and the Power 1000. Welding cable doesn't have the flash appeal that the usual car audio brands have but you are getting what you pay for. Usual colors are orange, red, black.

I have also used Marine Grade wire because it is tin plated copper and heavily stranded. West Marine is a good source but it isn't cheap! The Marine Grade wire is 2 to 3 times more expensive than welding cable.

Also get heavy duty crimps for the kinda loads you're talking about. I would recommend crimped, sealed end Crimps with some glue lined heatshrink. Weak gold plated ring terminals just don't cut it for high amperage. I have not been a fan of the compression type fittings. Crimp and Forget!

Look at:
www.waytekwire.com
www.wranglerNW.com

Stranding helps with flexibility not voltage or amperage. 8, 80, 800 or 8,000,000 strands makes no difference on voltage in this application. Solid wire would tend to break due to vibration and is harder to work with. Otherwise it would work just the same.

Tin plated wire has a bit more loss than regular wire due to the slightly higher resistance. Anchor Marine wire recommends one size larger wire to compensate.

what the hell are you putting in your car that you are drawing a 700 amps?

We had the local national gaurd come in to buy 2 runs of our 1 gauge for their YUKON XL. They were powering some BIG ASS power supply to run whatever they were running I dunno Dishwashers or whatever this thing was HUGE something like 2400 watts peak. And the kid ended up going to a local welding supply store where he bought like 40 feet so the guy cut him an even better deal and it ended up being around $2 a foot compared to our $4.50 a foot... So all in all like evryones said wires wire... Welders draw alotta of amperage just talk with the guy and see what he thinks... Maybe you can bring the wire to a local car audio shop and they can crimp on some nice ends and heatshrink them on for you also (probably for a small fee don't pay more than $10 in labor for this if they're nice they'll charge you AROUND $5 for 2 ring terminals plus heat shrink plus $5 for labor per set of terminals... That sounds fair... But good luck with that bud. The only reason I say go to the shop is because they have a high compression crimper if they're a decent shop that will crimp the connector much tighter than you can by hand.

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