# which wire is best?



## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

What is better for 12 volt dc going 75',,,
10 gauge stranded wire or 10 gauge solid wire?


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## csi-tech (Apr 13, 2013)

I just installed a power inverter in my camper. Solid wire is best, but if you need flexibility you had better go with a high strand count. The most important thing is that you have adequate wire to carry the amperage. I ran a 750 watt inverter 15 feet and the math said I needed 2 ought wire. I had a little voltage drop but to run my TV, Cpap, DVD and DirecTV receiver I only need like 150 watts. I bought a Shumacker Power station for the Cpap. That will run it for 3 nights and it recharges in 8 hours off the Champion 3100 watt inverter generator. Look on Youtube for tutorials, very helpful. Don't use audio wire. It is not designed for heavy loads straight from a battery.


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## jim-henscheli (May 4, 2015)

Solid wire is always best, but it's not easy to work with. Also, think about indoor/outdoor. Where is this wire going to be? High strand count wire can corrode quicker than solid wire, due to it's having more surface area.


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## Maol9 (Mar 20, 2015)

We bury solid and run #6 and #8 stranded DC outdoors to over 300'. Sheathing, Sheathing...


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

budgetprepp-n said:


> What is better for 12 volt dc going 75',,,
> 10 gauge stranded wire or 10 gauge solid wire?


Budgetprepp, . . . sorry to sound like a school marm, . . . but the first three answers you got are mostly wrong. The last answer, . . . promoting sheathing is absolutely correct in that point. If it is properly installed, . . . corrosion should not be a factor.

Voltage rides on the skin of the wire, . . . the less skin, . . . the greater the voltage drop.

Solid wire has a significantly less surface area than does stranded wire.

Stranded wire, . . . especially for low voltage applications is ALWAYS the preferred wire.

I've only been doing this since 1964, . . .

May God bless,
Dwight


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

dwight55 said:


> Voltage rides on the skin of the wire, . . . the less skin, . . . the greater the voltage drop.
> 
> Solid wire has a significantly less surface area than does stranded wire.


By chance I read an article on this written by a solar engineer last week.

Since DC power has no AC cycling it makes very little difference but solid core is slightly better. if there is no alternating current a much higher percentage of the power can travel through the solid core and not just on the "skin". It's when there is cycling in the power that it travels more on the "skin" of the wire and DC doesn't cycle. The faster the cycling the shallower the power sinks in toward the core.

For AC wiring at 60 hz the stranded is a tiny bit more efficient. At higher frequencies stranded wire becomes more important.

But keep in mind that stranded wire is easier to work with and less likely to break when kinked. Solid wire is better for DC or low frequency AC but not enough better considering you could kink the wire while pulling it and break the solid wire.


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

John Galt said:


> By chance I read an article on this written by a solar engineer last week.
> 
> Since DC power has no AC cycling it makes very little difference but solid core is slightly better. if there is no alternating current a much higher percentage of the power can travel through the solid core and not just on the "skin". It's when there is cycling in the power that it travels more on the "skin" of the wire and DC doesn't cycle. The faster the cycling the shallower the power sinks in toward the core.
> 
> ...


Thanks, John Galt, . . . for the additional info, . . .

I know that the "theories" of everything changes from time to time, . . . and sometimes what used to be, . . . is now not correct.

This could be, . . . I just know that from my earliest electrical training, . . . it was the "skin" that the voltage rode on.

I'm just now getting into solar, . . . looking forward to probably using it a whole lot more.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## 8301 (Nov 29, 2014)

dwight55 said:


> Thanks, John Galt, . . . for the additional info, . . .
> 
> I know that the "theories" of everything changes from time to time, . . . and sometimes what used to be, . . . is now not correct.
> 
> ...


Yea, Back in the '80's I was also taught that most of the current flowed on the skin, roughly 85% stayed on the skin so I always preferred stranded wire and always worried bit when I saw solid wire in high amp situations. Times have changed as has electrical theory.


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

John Galt said:


> Yea, Back in the '80's I was also taught that most of the current flowed on the skin, roughly 85% stayed on the skin so I always preferred stranded wire and always worried bit when I saw solid wire in high amp situations. Times have changed as has electrical theory.


And then if you follow the old saw "Follow the money, . . . therein is where the answer is found", . . . perhaps someone figured out that the solid wire was a lot cheaper, . . . so they began teaching it as better, . . . because of the $$$$ involved, . . . and now we have a new chapter in the electrical bible.

Stranger things have happened.

May God bless,
Dwight


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