Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Rotolo
Then get good wire. Not at Home Depot or Lowes (or Radio Shack). Go to McMaster or DigiKey or Jameco (and others) and buy good automotive-grade (can handle 60C or better) wire. Buy a few sizes (10 to 22 AWG) in Black and Red (and white for the 22 Gauge), a few hundred feet of each (maybe only 100 feet of the biggest stuff, it gets expensive).
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We discovered Marine-Grade (ABYC) wire this year and love it; specifically Anchor Marine wire. Similar to Automotive wire, except with a higher number finer strands.
The upsides:
- Very flexible, even compared to automotive wire (almost as flexible as silicon-insulated).
- The strands are tin plated so shelf life/oxidation is not a problem.
- It's sold by the foot, so it's not necessary to buy more than you need for a single season.
- It's available at a retail location even in the winter (near us at least; no need to mail order it). Spools sometimes show up on eBay as well.
- It's got the necessary labeling and pedigree for inspection purposes.
- When purchased by the foot, it comes off of large diameter spools so it doesn't have that annoying small diameter kink to it.
The downsides:
- Cost; it can be a bit spendy ($0.93/ft for 12 AWG), so we only use it when we need heavy gauge wire (10 AWG thru 14 AWG).
We haven't used it with APP connectors yet, but don't anticipate any issues. We generally try to avoid unnecessary connectors as has been discussed already. We're still using EV cable (essentially welding cable) when 6 AWG is called for; very similar to the new (flexible) battery pigtails that came in the KOP this year.