[Scrawny]

Here's one for the know-it-alls.

What is the difference? Can your standard house wire handle the amps drawn in an automotive situation? Is it possible to use 240v house wire to wire up say spot lights?

I'm not this dodgy nor am I even considering it. I just don't know enough about 240v and thought there might be a sparky out there to shed some light on this for me.

[Trojan]

Straight answer, it will handle it quite fine. There is only 2 things that effect a wires current capabilites and that is size of the copper conductor and insulation thickness/type.

But is it suitable? Straight anser is NO. The biggest issue is the number of strands in the cable. TPS which is the standard type of household wiring has very few and thicker strands compared to automotive, so it does not handle vibration, twisting and such that is seen in a vehicle. This leads to fatigue and wire damage.

Just as some quick numbers. An automotive cable will have strands in the wire that are about 0.3mm thick, where as a household general power cable is around 0.6mm. So in a cable around 2.5mm2 (or 5mm auto), you're looking at only 7 strands in the house wiring, but about 35 or so in the auto cable of similiar size. This provides much more flexibility.

As a household cable gets bigger, the number of strands may increase, but the strand thickness also increase. Where as auto cable the strand thickness stays about the same, just the number of strands increase to get the cable size.

[Scrawny]

Thanks Trojan, that makes sense.

[brendan]

ive used electrical wire on my zook for a few things and all is good

[Benz]

yeah your standard house wire will work but as trojan said the thicker house wires wont have as much flex in them. In a house the cabels wont move much if at all... they just sit there so haveing stiff cabels dosent matter. where in a car they will vaibate and move around. the thicker housing cable cant handle it. will just cause you dramas later on and be a pain in the arse

prettymuch anywhere where a cable has movement youn need the much thinner flexible cables.

[royce]

auto cable has stronger and higher temp rated insulation as well

extension leads are OK whenever you need to run 3 wires and thats all you can find to cut up though

[Trojan]

royce wrote:

auto cable has stronger and higher temp rated insulation as well

I am sure i length of Radox would fix that problem. Could go crazy and run some MIMS around the car.

[keechox]

i sell both, ive used both and the housing cable (if your talking tps or builing wire etc etc )will handle the current but its just too stiff, stick to the auto cable. not worth the hassle

[royce]

I spose it would save on zipties cause you could form it to shape easier

[Buddy]

There's more to it than that. Auto cable is fine strand because the current runs largely along the outside of each strand. It's called "surface effect" The fewer strands the more likely to lose current along the way, particularly with 12V. The fact that fine strand wire handles vibration better is secondary to the ability to better handle 12 V. current. Have a look at the leads on a "stick" welder. Same reason. They don't want to lose any more current than necessary, even with 240V.

[Trojan]

Buddy wrote:

It's called "surface effect" The fewer strands the more likely to lose current along the way, particularly with 12V. The fact that fine strand wire handles vibration better is secondary to the ability to better handle 12 V. current. Have a look at the leads on a "stick" welder. Same reason. They don't want to lose any more current than necessary, even with 240V.

Actually, it's called Skin Effect, not Surface Effect.

Skin Effect is caused from Eddy Currents. Considering DC is not alternating and does not cause this, then Skin Effect is completely irrelevant to automotive wiring.

Skin Effect comes into play with AC, the higher the frequency, the higher the effective resistance becomes of the conductor. It can effect audio wiring, as it is alternating, but not general power cable in a car.