Electrical Help Needed

Grit dog wrote:
Are you actually picking an argument over the finer points of copper wire? Lol

When one well meaning and well intentioned person says a smaller in diameter wire "handles more current" there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Also should point out, DC doesn't care how much "surface area" the wire has, DC does not play by the "skin effect" like AC can and uses the entire depth of the wire and not the surface.

SKIN EFFECT ON WIRE

"The Skin Depth of Copper in Electrical Engineering

As previously mentioned, the skin effect is where alternating current tends to avoid travel through the center of a solid conductor, limiting itself to conduction near the surface.

This effectively limits the cross-sectional conductor area available to carry alternating electron flow, increasing the resistance of that conductor above what it would normally be for direct current
The electrical resistance of the conductor with all its cross-sectional area in use is known as the “DC resistance.” The “AC resistance” of the same conductor refers to a higher figure resulting from the skin effect.

As you can see, at high frequencies the AC current avoids traveling through most of the conductor’s cross-sectional area. For the purpose of conducting current, the wire might as well be hollow!
"



Learned that in "Basic DC/AC Circuits" way back in Tech School..

As I mentioned, the OP bought a 30A breaker, as long as the breaker doesn't constantly trip, it is a very safe bet.. If they have issues with the breaker cycling on/off then 40A would be to max I would recommend.. Sure, the wire might handle 50A, but doing so will result in more energy being lost as heat than it is worth it.. That heat may result in melted insulation which is why there is ampacity charts..