I want to know what is the difference between using welding cable and multi-strand speaker power wire for power/ground. Is the many strands really going to provide less voltage loss and better more amperage flow than a welding cable of the same size?

This is a debate me and one of my close friends are having. Need to know if i'm right or wrong thinking that for power/ground it really doesn't matter - just the gauge/amount of wire that's being used.

I was thinking of making 2 runs of 3/0 welding cable instead of multiple runs 1/0 power wire.

 

i voted for welding cable. i picked up some at princess auto for cheap. i believe you can get 0/1 with different strand counts. welding cable is designed to handle large amounts of current, any welder can tell you that.

the one draw back is its not pleasing to the eye. but i wrap mine up in the plastic wire guard stuff (can`t remember the actual name of it) and it looks ok.

 

I found this hydro ONe cabling at the dump a while back, so I took it And just the other day i remembered about it, and I went and looked, its says 8 on the one, and 14 on the other, (its all colourfull too ) hehe, but welding cable is a go for me too, planning on getting some for my install.. who cares about asthetics, you can always get cable wrap or whatnot.. but i'd say both are about the same, I'd trust welding cabled over the others anyday, When i weld, you can actually feel the current go through the cable, and it never gets hot !!
You pay more for the other stuff cuz IT LOOKS GOOD <-- thats the keyword right there.. you pay for stuff that looks good..

 

I vote weldingi cable, it will carry the current and is designed for much more draw then it will see in the average spl vehicle, multistrand wire is nice but I can just the extra expense.

 

welding cable after a couple of years will start to discolor causing a poor connection after a couple years,multistrand is oxegen free it will not!

 

welding cable, its cheaper

 

it will only do that if you have no idea how to make a proper electrical connection.

I vote welding cable, it's cheaper, and it will do the exact same job if oyu terminate it properly.

That being said, I used pretty car audio cable for my car, since I'm competing in Iasca.

 

3/0 Welding Cable.

 

first of all welding cable or whatever you want to call it IS multi-stranded....... and this is actually a bad thing as far as performance and corrossion....... however its necassary since running a solid copper bus bar would not be practical......


bottom line is that wire is wire and the only difference is that the industrial wire will probably have a thicker jacket and its not colorfull...

I currently run 3/0 philips

 

psh.... pussies.... I'm running 4/0

(6 runs of it too!!)