6Volt Vs. 12 Volt Battery cables

[simplijm]

How do I tell them apart? I thought the ones I had were 6 Volt like the rest of the car but someone from the forums said that they were 12 Volt. and of course I don't have any pictures here at work to post. Anyone have a quick way to tell them apart?
Thanks!

[BobGlasscock]

Here's my opinion -- 12 volt cables will be the diameter of everyday new cables. 6 volt cables will be about 1/2 inch in diameter, much larger than 12 volt.

'50 Champion, 1 family owner

[Jeff_H]

Measure the diameter of the cable. This little chart shows the outer diameter (including the insulation) of typical battery cable sizes. This is NOT the diameter of the wire, but the OD of the cable.

Battery Cable OD (including insulation)

Gauge Outside Diameter
6 .272"
4 .350"
2 .410"
1 .460"
1/0 .510"
2/0 .570"
3/0 .640"
4/0 .699"

NOTE: Depending on what "spec" of cable it is, the insulation thickness can vary so these numbers will change. Its just a guide. Using the uninsulated wire diameter is better for wire size ID.

This PDF file shows different SAE types:

http://prestolitewire.com/filebin/PSA-212007r1%20BatteryCables.pdf

You can see that different OD is given for the same gauge cable depending on the insulation type its got.

Un-insulated wire diameters are:

0000 (4/0) 0.4600
000 (3/0) 0.4096
00 (2/0) 0.3648
0 (1/0) 0.3249
1 0.2893
2 0.2576
3 0.2294
4 0.2043
6 0.1620


Usually, 12V battery cables are 4 gauge. You would want no smaller than 2 gauge and probably 0 gauge for 6V since the current is 2x in a 6v system compared to 12v.



Jeff in ND

'53 Champion Hardtop