It’s my opinion that more than 3 columns is too much information to present and makes it more confusing for noobs.
2 Likes
Two columns is already confusing enough for me. I second that opinion
3 Likes
Another interesting video
quick points:
- at 120a, going from 12awg to 14awg @ 10cm length results in only 5w loss
- at 40a, going from 18awg to 20awg @ 10cm results in only 1w loss
and this is continuous. Really interesting video.
I am going to 28awg on my Trampa.
6 Likes
That was a good find 
28awg is the future!
1 Like
LoL this guy totally does not consider that if your wire is burning up “only a couple watts” then the wire will be getting REALLY hot, especially if it’s inside silicone and inside an enclosure or battery with no way to breathe. After a few seconds, the temperature of the wire will begin to skyrocket, and then all of his testing goes out the window, because of that tiny, but ever-important,
Once the wire temperature increases, it increases the resistance, which increases the voltage drop, which increases the amount of power lost to heat, which increases heating, which increases the temperature … which thus increases the resistance, which increases the voltage drop, which increases the amount of power lost to heat, which increases heating, which increases the temperature… which thus increases the resistance, which increases the voltage drop, which increases the amount of power lost to heat, which increases heating, which increases the temperature … and so on
So you have a feedback effect which he has completely disregarded.
If you are only running your skate for 4 seconds at a time, and you let it cool for 5 hours between runs, then you can totally use 28AWG wire for your 4WD offroad emtb.
5 Likes
@bollen do you know how to relate the cross-section to the width? I’ve always seen copper braid sold by width.
2 Likes
width * thickness, but like you said it’s mostly sold by width.
I got some 11mm x 1.2mm that should be good to 90A so seems to match with the list.
The page has a list with approximate width and thickness for braid made from 0.2mm strands here:
https://www.copperbraid.co.uk/flat-braid/
1 Like
What we really need is someone with a primary injection tester who is willing to be the resident tester for all this shit. I would be more than happy to send scraps of nickel and wire to be tested and validated under a real, measured load.
Im considering buying an electronic load myself, but most that I can find that are within my price range (low double digits) only go to 20A max.
Does anyone know of an electronic load that can go up to 30A at least, for testing nickel strip?
1 Like
You might be able to use one or more VESC for that, attached to motors.
2 Likes
Oh shit. Dude. Solid idea. I will investigate!
These numbers were slightly revised upward after seeing this empirical data
1 Like
Please also investigate — while you’re at it — is the current capacity of the nickel linearly proportional to the cross-sectional area? Because I’ve assumed it is above, but I have seen some copper charts where it isn’t for wire.
Does 2.4mm² (0.2 x 12) nickel carry twice the current as 1.2mm² (0.15 x 8) nickel? I’ve assumed yes…
1 Like
Yes I have been wondering exactly the same thing. I have been using this chart for calculations based on cross sectional area, but Im skeptical of it so I always try to over-estimate how much nickel I use.
2 Likes
Great demo
None of these charts truly mean anything without a length listed.
But the video is great to show that for the most part, we’re overly conservative.
I’ve been running 12awg motor wires and I’m not quite sure there’s any reason to. 12awg is more than sufficient for battery connections for most street boards
Actually given some of this data, 12 awg is the biggest wire we should have anywhere near a street board by far.
3 Likes
This is a bona-fide fact.
1 Like
The other thing about big wire also is that’s it’s physically stronger especially for motor phase wires that will be flexing a lot.
3 Likes
IMHO there’s nothing wrong with running overly conservative whenever possible. More copper, less resistance, less heat, less strain. We’re talking electronic bombs carrying our bodies over the mighty ground. While there’s a beauty in having a balanced build, there’s even more beauty nullifying at max any electric risk.
Not saying everyone should run 2awg wires, however even going from 20 to say 50% more headroom is appreciable and not a stunt.
Let’s not get people go 28awg all around because “it’s ok😃” and later eat shit and complain at the hospital. We already have enough with all esc failure shitshow to add wires errors on top…
Ex : 3.5mm phase bullet and tiny cables on Focbox is actually undersized for sake of price and space, even if we’re talking AC currents and not DC albeit very fast switching.
4 Likes
Plus bigger cables = less resistance = less losses = more range 
Ofc it stops somewhere in thickness though.
2 Likes
I would agree with that as a rough rule of thum BUT also consider if this is squished inside a battery pack or encloser not open free moving air I would 1/2 the value as a rough rule of thum
2 Likes
I added some more popular nickel sizes, including these.
@tinp123 Do you think anything should be edited?
6 Likes