Boat Battery Cable Size Chart

Going up a size or 2 is worth it in the long run.

Boat battery cable size chart.

Most importantly sae wire is up to 12 percent smaller than american wire gauge awg boat cable which means that in many applications larger gauge wire must be used to stay within the voltage drop limits recommended by experts see our west advisor on marine wire size and ampacity. Quality marine wire as specified by abyc standards will always be stranded rather than solid and always tin plated copper. In summary when selecting the correct size of battery cable you need to take into account the total maximum amperage your electrical system requires the voltage of your system usually 12 volts the total length that your cables need to be and the amount of voltage drop you are willing to accept versus the amount you want to spend. The two setups we most often run into is.

Cable size ampacity chart. Starting battery has high current rush capacity. As we mentioned earlier picking the right size of the marine battery is crucial for your boat. Most of the cost is the ends and labor.

141 replacement battery may be longer taller and or wider than o e. This technical brief distills the information on these charts to a more manageable size for installers and boatowners alike. Picking the right size of battery will make sure that it has the right dimensions that will fit in your battery compartment. Terminals need to be matched to their cables.

Replacement of tray hold down or battery box may be required. Marine battery group size chart and guide. Greatly generalizing the topic here but you usually run into two types of batteries in the size of boat we deal with. A 16 gauge cable needs a 16 gauge terminal.

Additional space box or cables may be required. For safety use only wire that is marked with size and type. Marine outboard motor application guide. Single engine 1 starting and 1 house battery.

I recommend building cables larger than stock. The manufacturers make stock battery cables as small as possible but still get the job done. Actually for my current installation i ve sized all of my dc cables to meet the 175 amp worst case scenario. Red terminals fit 22 to 18 gauge cables blue terminals 16 to 14 gauge cables and yellow terminals 12 to 10 gauge cables.

In addition the dc wire selection chart shown below assumes a wire insulation rating of 105 c. However the same sized terminals are sometimes used for more than one cable size. As far as i know these values are valid as of today. The wire size listed in the graph at the intersection denotes the gauge of wire to use.

So all interconnecting cables are 2 0 based on the chart below. For very long cables for example 15 foot long battery cables to relocate your battery go one size larger. In larger sizes each cable has matching terminals. 216 requires 2 batteries in parallel to meet oe specifications.

The following maximum amps versus cable size awg come from the nec version 2011. Deep cycle battery capable of deep discharge without harm.