amp power wire

[LittleHorse]

In the past, to save money, I've bought power wire from a welding supply store. I don't know any reason it would be any different than the bright red crap they sell at car audio retailers, other than the fact that it's about half the price.

Then the other day, a coworker mentioned that he'd seen one of the car customization shows where they specifically said not to use welding power cable and that if you did you would have "nothing but problems".

I've never had any problems with it...no noise, no reliability issues, and most importantly no fire! I always used the appropriate gauge for the current load...so what gives?

[99RangerBoss]

hey dude i don't know for sure im just an electrician but i think what they say about stereo power cabling is just all bs i run thhn +8 that i got from work and it works just fine maybe that welding stuff doesn't have as good of a corrosion resistance but really i don't think your stereo would last long enough for it to make a difference. and running super big guages is all bs as well unless you do compeitions because your not going to be drawing 100 plus amps the whole time. basically they want you to buy wire that cost way too much so welding wire will work.

[LittleHorse]

my thoughts exactly.

I can get THWN at work REALLY cheap in gauges way bigger than anyone would ever use for car audio. Problem is it's all strand class B so it's so rigid it's impossible to work with. I'd probably have to bend it with a freakin tubing bender. Useless for a car audio application.

I'm running 1400W, last car I had this stuff in I ran AWG 2 welding wire.

[4x4fun]

the only thing i could come up with was if its to rigid and it gets bent to much it could crack, orrrrr if the wires strands were to thick and something rub thur the wire it could heat up to much. like a fine strand will just melt away but a thick wire could cause problems

[flyingbrick]

The only difference would be the type and rating of the isolation on the wire itself and what it is rated for. As welder cable is not meant for permanent installs, where car audio wire is.

[LittleHorse]

ok well I may not get welding wire, but I'm still not spending the $$$ on the car audio stuff.

I'm gonna check around at some of the electric supply places and try to find some flexible strand class AWG 2 wire.

[Will]

Welding wire is the MOST flexible because you have to drag it around and roll it up all day. It's very tough wire--it's commercial grade. I can't imagine you need it to power an amp, but there's definately no trouble with it. I have it in my B2 running from end to end and have connects for the winch to run from either end. It's been there since 2004. It's great wire. Use it if it's cheaper.

[LittleHorse]

Originally Posted by Will

Welding wire is the MOST flexible because you have to drag it around and roll it up all day. It's very tough wire--it's commercial grade. I can't imagine you need it to power an amp, but there's definately no trouble with it. I have it in my B2 running from end to end and have connects for the winch to run from either end. It's been there since 2004. It's great wire. Use it if it's cheaper.

see, that's how I seem to remember it. I used 2 gauge welding wire in my last install, and it seemed to be pretty flexible. A lot more flexible than the stuff I've got at work for sure.

So I guess I still haven't figured out why whatever TV show said not to use it...other than the fact that the show was probably sponsored by a car audio retailer that wanted to sell their goofy bright red cable at $3 a foot.

[99RangerBoss]

we use welding wire at work for ground bars and the like and its a permanent instal you don't have to worry about it at all. If you use a solid stranded wire you will never be able to keep the lugs tight because their not meant for that type of wire, it can wiggle loose any type of lug thats not a crimp a TW insulation would be good because it can take the cold weather or a E, EQ, ETT, ETP elevator cable will work too because of its flexibility and its durability.

[Sunk]

A friend and I picked up like 40 ft of some thick aluminum wire from Home Depot for about $15, and we ran it for a bit... It's stiff and a little difficult to work with, but got the job done. It was much cheaper than the $150 kits they sell at Circuit Shitty, but I have recently re-discovered this thing called the internet; turns out they sell things there too, for way cheap!

[Loud Ranger]

the only thing ive heard is the insulation doesnt hold up as long as regular amp wire

[Nhaz]

I can't imagine why a welding cable would give you trouble.

I currently use a battery wire from golf carts which handle 400 amps at 36 volts.

My amp only pulls down 80 amps at peak (checked with a amp clamp) at 12 volts so I think I'm good. The cable is built similar to a welding cable. not as flexible but its similar.