| Author |
Message |
christopher
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 3:44 pm: | |
will 6-0 wire be heavy enough to start a 10kw diesel generator at a run of about 15' or do i need 4-0
thanx
chris |
Marc Bourget
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 5:50 pm: | |
The common wisdom advocates a separate start batt for the genset in case a failure to "monitor" takes your other batts down.
Why the 15' run??
I understand wire sizes, according to current carrying capacities, progress as follows:
#2, 1/0 (one ought [use a "slash" not a hyphen]), 2/0, 3/0, 4/0, next switches to the "MCM" series, 250, 300, 350, 400, 500 ect up to 2000 MCM. You can get "tweener's" (ex. 450 MCM), by special order.
Never heard of 6/0.
When you use multiple conductors, be sure always equal size and length*, of the above to conduct higher amperages. Unequal length/size means unequal resistance and one wire will carry more - which is a no-no!
* You'd use 2- 250 MCM (215A each) of exactly the same lenght to conduct 400 A not, for example, one conductor of 4/0 (195A) and one of 250 MCM (215A). |
Jerry Liebler (Jerry_liebler)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 7:55 pm: | |
Marc & Christopher,
A starter is not a continuous load so considerably more voltage drop is allowable. The generator's starter doesn't draw any thing like the bus's starter and my bus came from the factory with at least 15 feet of 4/0 conecting the battery and starter. Equal lengths of different guage wire will share curent just fine, their different resistance and the fact that the voltage drop accross them must be equal will make the curent density the same in both wires. If he's thinking of running 6 guage I'd say thats much to small but 1/0 or larger should work.
Regards
Jerry 4107 1120 |
John Jewett (Jayjay)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 11:15 pm: | |
Christopher, #4 AWG would be more than sufficient for that size starter, since it probably had #8 on it from the factory. The voltage drop for 15 ft. (on any size wire/load combination)is almost unmeasurable. 4/0 is about the diameter of your thumb and would be extremely difficult to install due to the size of the lug required. Consider the size of the starter wire on any large V-8 for a comparison. Cheers...JJ |
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