When do you upgrade cables?

[texashunter900]

94 Marathon series.

I am building my first and I appreciate all the information I have read on this site.

I will be using the cart as transportation at the hunting lease, not concerned about running it fast, just reliable and get the most power I can for use.

Cart has stock tires and wheels.

Right now I have it stripped down to weld in new battery boxes and fix rust issues so I will be buying new cables and wires.

Will I gain anything by installing 4 gauge wires using stock components?

Thanks for your help.

[scottyb]

You Will gain improved amperage delivery to the motor. This can improve performance relative to how poor your stock cables are... and how good a set you get.

[coosa]

I've made my own cables for years from a roll of 4 gauge that I bought. I've used it all, so I bought a set of ScottyB's soldered cables for my new cart. They are miles better than the ones I was crimping myself, and I don't expect to ever have a bit of trouble with them. I can climb the biggest hill around and they never get warm.

[cgtech]

you will gain reliability and reduce heat which is good for the components of your system. I feel that whenever you are asking more of your cart than golf, or using upgraded components, better cables are a good idea. In some situations, like using a 600 amp controller with stock size cables, you will start burning things up. In those types of situations, bigger cables are mandatory.

[JohnnieB]

Originally Posted by texashunter900

.................Will I gain anything by installing 4 gauge wires using stock components?..............

If the existing cables are the stock 6Ga cables that where installed 20 years ago when the cart rolled off the assembly line, you will most likely see some performance improvements by installing 4Ga cables and continuing to use a stock controller, stock solenoid and stock motor.

The 4Ga OEM cables on my 2008 PDS were only about 3 years old when I acquired my cart and I got a noticeable improvement in low end torque when I replace all of them with 2Ga silver soldered cables. The OEM cables looked okay and the improvement wasn't much, but I wasn't expecting any at all.

I went with 2 Ga because I am an efficiency nut and was uncertain where my build was going to take me and didn't want to limit the controller options too much. Overkill is underrated, but 4Ga is sufficient through 400A while 2Ga will handle controllers up to about 1,000A.