Where do you buy your electrical cables retail/online?

[FortWorthVanNoob]

I'm putting together my electrical system this week and next. It would be nice to have a walk in store to buy cables when needed but if you use a good online store please enlighten me.

Just bought a 155ah Vmax tank, Boondock 60 amp manual adjust converter, cheap amp/volt digital reader and shunt that will arrive next few days.

 

[SternWake]

Whatever you do, do not buy the cables sold in Autoparts stores.  SAE cabling is thinner than AWG, and they use Horrible ring terminals.  Stamped steel with a hole drilled through it.


This joint sells absolute top quality components, or will custom make cables for you, at seriously excellent prices and fast and free shipping.

My last order arrived In California from Georgia in 3 business days after I placed the order via usps priority shipping.

http://www.genuinedealz.com/custom-cables

Beware of copper cabling sold on Amazon or Ebay.  often it is copper clad aluminum, or just aluminum, despite the claims of being 100% copper.  Also the insulation is not very durable in the presence of sulfuric acid mist that occurs near Flooded batteries when charging them. 

 

[jimindenver]

I buy my solar mc4 cables off of ebay for $50 or so for 100 ft. So far they have all been copper.

 

[highdesertranger]

x2 on what sternwake said about the junk part stores sell nowadays. the link he gave is an excellent choice, also this one. http://custombatterycables.com/index.htm . highdesertranger

 

[SternWake]

JiminDenver, just a friendly clarification, my comments about the cheap cabling sold on Amazon and Ebay were intended to cover battery cabling in the gauges the OP is likely to use to wire up his system, not premade Solar cabling with Mc4 ends. I sure hope such cables would not be copper clad aluminum or just Aluminum.

I did buy a 50' length of 10 gauge cable for my MC3 connected panel, and the cable had 7 thick individual strands within, and were not flexible at all. My other panel got 8 awg cables from Genuinedealz and they were more than twice as flexible, and as such cause less than half the cursing and thrown tools during routing the wires

I should also clarify my several purchases from GenuineDealz always arrived quickly, but I have not yet had him make custom cables, which will likely add some time to delivery, but perhaps not. I guess it depends on how busy he is. I got shipping notifications and tracking numbers within 24 hours of ordering each time, and it always arrived earlier than expected, or even required.

So I have no issues recommending his services.

 

[minimotos95]

I buy kicker hyperflex silver tinned wire locally at a car audio shop, it's more expensive but supports the local shop and is good quality wire. KnuKonceptz offers wiring online that's just as good but much cheaper,. It's hard to beat welding supply stores for getting the job done cheap when you don't need to snake flexible wire.
How much wire quality matters in your application, I don't know. I like flexible wire that's easy to work with and is less likely to break from continued flexing.

If you are a tinkerer reusable terminals may pay for themselves quickly. I know with my 4awg audio installs I could have bought the expensive reusable terminals twice over in one year of changing, adjusting and switching cars but I kept cheaping out and buying crimp terminals.

 

[sephson]

Two suppliers that I use for work would be good sources for a lot of what you need to set up an electrical system. They both tend to be a little pricey, but the have a huge inventory of industrial supplies.

Mcmaster-Carr

http://http://www.grainger.com/http://www.grainger.com/Grainger

I find Mcmaster-Carr's website easier to navigate than Grainger's, but Grainger has better images for their products. Often times I'll search these two sites to figure out what exactly I'm looking for, then make use of Google to find a cheaper supplier for that item.

Most of the supplies for the camper conversion on my Kia Soul that I didn't scavenge from the scene shop at work came from Mcmaster-Carr.

 

[FortWorthVanNoob]

Thanks everyone. I have another question. What cables would yall use to hook

http://www.bestconverter.com/Boondo...ower-ConverterCharger_p_585.html#.VR1__XP0CBY

up to a 155ah AGM battery? (Vmax)

And with what end connectors?

 

[SternWake]

Thanks everyone. I have another question. What cables would yall use to hook

http://www.bestconverter.com/Boondo...ower-ConverterCharger_p_585.html#.VR1__XP0CBY

up to a 155ah AGM battery? (Vmax)

And with what end connectors?

The output terminals on the Boondocker cannot accept wire much thicker than 4awg.

My buddy ordered a 100 amp adjustable model, it was only 75 amps.  We took 0 gauge wiring and removed enough stranding then tinned it, so that it would fit the output terminals of the boondocker.

With the adjustable voltage model, voltage drop on the wiring leading to the battery is less of an issue, as you can just bump up the voltage to compensate.  However the voltmeter on the boondocker itself is representative of the voltage at the output terminals, not the battery terminals.

The thicker the cabling the more representative the boondocker's voltmeter will be to actual battery voltage.

With  ~ 4 feet of quality 0 gauge cabling , one way, at 75 amps, the voltage drop was about 0.1 volts.  

Get thick walled ring terminals on one end of whatever gauge you choose, and leave the other end with no termination as you will have to remove some insulation, and some stranding if thicker than 4awg, to stuff in the boondocker output terminals, then tighten the set screws on the stranded wiring.  Be sure to tighten it again after the initial flattening of the stranding.

The ideal thickness of cabling you need is really dependent on the distance between converter and battery, but I would not go thinner than 4awg just so the voltmeter on the boondocker itself is more accurate as to actual battery voltage. 


I hope you are aware this adjustable model is not automatic and has no charging stages. One needs to manually turn off the charger, or lower the voltage when the battery is full, or it can overcharge.

An Ammeter will be required to determine when the AGM battery is fully charged. when it cannot accept more than ~0.6 amps to be held at 14.5v, then it is near full charge.

I do not know the exact manufacturer recommended charge profile for that AGM. They all vary to some degree.

 

[SternWake]

Amazons description says 14.7v and 35 amps maximum recharge rate. The 60 amp boondocker charger is outside these recommendations for this battery.

You need more capacity, or less charger if you do use this brand AGM.

If you already ordered it/them, then you will need to keep the boondocker voltage lower to keep the amp flow at 35A or less, and keep bumping it up to keep it at 35 amps and no higher, until ~80% charge is reached and the battery cannot accept more than 35 amps.

Ie when depleted you will need to set boondocker voltage to ~13.1v to keep it from exceeding 35 amps. As battery voltage approaches 13.1 the amps will taper, and you will then need to crank it to ~ 14v to bump it upto ~35 amps, and then again to 14.7 at some point.

Initially if the battery is at 12.1v and you have the boondocker voltage at 13.1, 60 amps will flow for a very short period of time before tapering. Do not stress this, but if you set it at 14.7, then 60 amps will flow until the battery climbs upto near 14.5 before beginning to taper, and this is too much for this battery according to the description on Amazon.

If you want an AGM battery that can take advantage of large charging currents, Lifeline, Odyssey, and Northstar can take basically any initial current you can provide.

X2 power sold at batteries plus is a rebadged Northstar. A very good AGM
Diehard platinum sold at sears is a rebadged Odyssey, but not for much longer.
Nobody rebadges Lifeline AGM AFAIK. Lifeline AGM is the top dog in cycleable AGM and have a price to match.

 

[MikeRuth]

I'd call bestconverter to be sure but from there web page it appears that BPCM unit is indeed a charger.

Mike R

 

[FortWorthVanNoob]

Thanks for the warning on the charging current limit, I had missed that. I do plan on hooking up an additional 155ah battery next month. Would the upper limit current acceptance change from 35 amps to 70amps?

@MikeRuth It's definitely a charger, I just have to manually adjutant voltage instead of having a computer chip do it

 

[SternWake]

Yes. Two of those batteries can safely take the maximum output of the 60a powermax. Make sure when you add the extra battery in parallel. to put all loads and sources to the positive of one battery and the negative of the other. Battery Otherwise one battery is worked harder than the other.

 

[SternWake]

Also for best results charge both batteries independently, fully before hooking them in parallel. The fewer cycles on the older battery the better when the new is added.