Battery jumper cables and terminolgy of CCA
How bad did I mess up? Was at Harbor Freight picking up some 6 ton jackstands and saw what I thought was OK deal on jumper cables. Picked up 16 feet 6 gauge "heavy duty steel clamps, cooper jaws, cc...
Forum Discussion
Wayne Dohnal wrote:Not applicable at all to DC, and not applicable to 60 Hz. AC until the conductor diameter approaches 3/4 inch.
I thought that the electricity was carried on the outer surface
It is carried through the core of the copper and the capacity of the wire is a function of the area of the cross section of the wire, not its diameter. Distance also affects the voltage drop along the run so the longer the cables the thicker the gauge wire used should be.
With a dead battery there is already resistance working against the good battery and thin jumper cables only make the situation worse.
Harbor Freight is a place to get something that you will use once or twice and then toss and not for anything you need to be able to rely upon to work when needed.
