Date:         Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:41:05 -0800
Reply-To:     M'obeechi <obeechi@RUNBOX.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         M'obeechi <obeechi@RUNBOX.COM>
Subject:      Re: Original Battery Wire Gauge
Comments: To: mdrillock@cox.net
In-Reply-To:  <49481160.7010103@cox.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-15"

Wow.. I went to this site, and put in for 
1. Copper Wire
2. 2/0 AWG
3. 12 VDC
4. 1150 Amps... I used this figure simply because the Sears Platinum Group 31 is rated for 1150 cranking amps

The results: 
1. voltage drop 1.842
2. voltage at load end of circuit is 10.158
3. Percent voltage drop is 15.35

That seems too much of a voltage drop... like the wire is a weak link in this setup... I think this wire length is longer than stock, and the battery is bigger, so to take full advantage of the cranking amps... but even with 4/0 AWG the voltage the results are:
1. voltage drop 1.159
2. voltage at load end of circuit is 10.841
3. percent voltage drop is 9.66 

Is there anything that can be done to up the voltage again, like a relay or something?

But then again, if I change to 4 AWG and reduce the length to 4 feet while keeping the Amps the same, the results are:
1. voltage drop is 2.35
2. voltage at load end of circuit is 9.65
3. percent voltage drop is 19.58

So even 10 feet of 2/0 AWG is better than 4 feet of 4 AWG 

From: mdrillock <mdrillock@cox.net>
To: M'obeechi <obeechi@RUNBOX.COM>
Subject: Re: Original Battery Wire Gauge

> For 86-91 models it is 2/0, one size bigger than 1/0.
> 
> Here is a useful link for checking things like amps versus wire size.
> 
> http://genuinedealz.com/voltage-drop.html
> 
> Mark
> 
> 
> M'obeechi wrote:
> > I no longer have this wire, but I remember it being very fat. Called the dealer, and they couldn't tell me, but they agreed with me that it was fatter than 4 gauge. Saw some 1/0 gauge wire (pronounced one-ought, didn't know that), looks nice, but I think the original VW wire was fatter. 
> >
> > Does anyone know the gauge of this?
> >
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