battery wire gage sizing

[JohnnieB]

I believe the OEM cables that were on my 2008 PDS when I got it were a mix of 4Ga and 6Ga. From what I could determine, the five cables that connected the six batteries in series were 6Ga, and the other five were 4Ga. I replaced them all with 2Ga while the cart was still running a stock motor, controller and solenoid at 36V and with an addition of one more 2Ga cable when I went to 42V, I've used those same cables with four different controllers and two different motors.

All copper conductors have some resistance and the thicker the conductor, (lower gauge number) the less resistant they have. The power loss caused by the resistance is exponential to the resistance (W = I² x R), so if you double the resistance, you quadruple the power loss.

A PDS cart has roughly 15 feet of high current cables and the power loss per 100A of current flow through that length of conductor in various gauge conductors commonly used in carts, is as follows:
15' of 6Ga = 59.3W/100A
15' of 4Ga = 37.3W/100A
15' of 2Ga = 23.4W/100A

Power loss in the high current cables affect both torque and speed.

[bird6246]

Can you post a pic of one of the wires... stock wires are 6 Gauge, so if nothing has ever been done i would say they are 6, i believe scotty B's wire set comes complete, just remember changing just the battery wires doesn't do much for you. think of it as hooking a fire hose (your batteries) to a garden hose (your controller) the end result is still going to be a garden hose.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by bird6246

1. Can you post a pic of one of the wires... stock wires are 6 Gauge, so if nothing has ever been done i would say they are 6,

2. i believe scotty B's wire set comes complete,

3. just remember changing just the battery wires doesn't do much for you.

4. think of it as hooking a fire hose (your batteries) to a garden hose (your controller) the end result is still going to be a garden hose.

Since the OP didn't reply yet, I will.

1. The OP's cart is a 2009 and mine is a 2008, so the cable ought to be about the same. As you can see in the first picture, some of the OEM cables at the controller are marked 4Ga. The second picture shows the cables connecting the batteries together. It is difficult to see in the picture, but the five cables on the batteries are thinner (Outside Diameter) than the cables connected to controller and motor.

The OEM cables pictured are roughly three years old and the cart had lived on a golf course in Arizona before I received it. Pictures 3 & 4 show controller and pack with 2Ga silver soldered cables.

2. Yes he sells them in set, but he does custom orders as well. If you think you might go to a 6 X 8V (48V) pack in the future, order cables for 8V batteries. (8V batteries have both terminals on same side and longer interconnecting cables are needed)

3. It depends on how bad the cables being replaced are. My OEM cables looked pretty good to a trained eye, yet I got a perceivable seat of the pants increase in torque when I replaced them.

4. The battery pack is more akin to the fire hydrant or pumper truck, while the controller is a valve rather than a hose.

The valve will only open to 300A with a stock PDS controller, but that is still 3X the power losses I listed above for the respective AWG gauge sizes.

[KasDel]

Sorry for the delay in responding guys. I need to get GOOD pics of the battery compartment. I will post some tomorrow(barring problems). I am leaning toward the 2g now. Depending on money!

Thanks for the advise.

p.s. The wires have a green insulation. Pics tomorrow.

[KasDel]

OK, I know it took longer then a day. Took me a while to learn how to post pics. All the wiring concerning the batteries are green in color. And from what I have read, the insulating jacket at 'nominal' size should result in a diameter measurement of .34-.36. I get .35, so I assuming the wires are 6g.



Time for an upgrade!