swimmer_spe
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
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I will be boondocking for a week. I have several deep cell batteries that I plan to daisy chain them. I know how to do it, but I do not know with what to do it with - specifically the gauge of wire. I can get either 4 gauge or 1 gauge. Can I go with the 4, or is the 1 needed?
Only thing I'll be running is the furnace and lights.
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Bobbo
Wherever I park
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You will get less voltage drop, hence more power, with 1g cables. If you have the option, always go with larger cables. Will the 4g cables work acceptably? Yes.
Bobbo and Lin
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BB_TX
McKinney, Texas
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4 ga is good for 55 amps and up depending on the type wire you use. Furnace and lights will not test that at all.
I assume you are paralleling multiple 12 volt batteries.
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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Assuming 10' one way and 15A load 4 ga is MORE than adequate.
2009 Holiday Rambler 42' Scepter with ISL 400 Cummins
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Bob
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Best way would be to used balanced wiring.
http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp-hours of Telcom jars, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.
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time2roll
Southern California
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#4 all day long.
https://www.customcableusa.com/products/........m-battery-cable-marine-grade-by-the-foot
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wa8yxm
Davison Michigan (East of Flint)
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The bigger the cable the better the cable the cables are bigger at WELDERS ARE US
Ideally you use the same size as the main cable from the battery to the rest of the RV. or bigger.
For parallel I might "Cheat" depending on what's on hand
But Ideally you use the same size as the main cable into the RV.. Or bigger.
Home was where I park it. but alas the.
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valhalla360
No paticular place.
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While bigger is better in principal unless you are pulling huge amperage, the improvement is likely to be negligible.
If it's just lights, water pump and maybe a furnace fan, the smaller cables are just fine.
Tammy & Mike
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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Use a voltage drop calculator rather than speculation. Easy google solution.
You’ll likely find that you only really need 6 or 8 ga depending on actual lengths if you can keep it relatively short.
If building a permanent system I’d likely upsize a bit more but frankly, you could just as easily round up a few sets of jumper cables even cheapo ones and achieve the same or better results for free.
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wolfe10
Florida
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If in doubt, larger gauge is better.
Can't believe there is enough difference in cost that you would go with smaller gauge wire.
Brett Wolfe
Ex: 2003 Alpine 38'FDDS
Ex: 1997 Safari 35'
Ex: 1993 Foretravel U240
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