Yes, the’speaker wire’ will most certainly carry the current, but I agree that the insulation on the roof will not withstand the heat.
Is it okay to power a 12v device with speaker wire?
You may have observed that speaker wire resembles electrical wire in appearance. So, can you power electrical equipment, devices, and appliances with speaker wire? Also, how much power are they capable of handling? Is it possible for them to run on 12 volts?
Speaker wire can absolutely be used for 12v electricity. The wire gauge is the only consideration. Different gauges allow for higher or lower amperage, which, when multiplied by volts (in our instance 12v), gives you the electrical load (watts) that the electrical device or appliance should be.
This article will make you happy if you want to know if the spools of speaker wire you have heaped up in the garage may be replaced for electrical wire.
We’ll go over wire gauge and how it relates to amperage as we go through speaker wire in depth. Then we’ll put it all together to see if 12 volts can be run through speaker wire and what else you can do with it.
What type of solar panel wire should I use?
It’s critical to choose the proper wire diameters for your PV system for both performance and safety reasons. There will be a large voltage drop in the wires if they are inadequate, resulting in excessive power loss. Furthermore, if the wires are inadequate, there is a possibility that they will heat up to the point of catching fire.
An electrical wire transports current in the same way that a water hose transports water. The less resistance to water flow, the greater the diameter of the water hose. Furthermore, shorter hoses have greater flow than longer hoses, even when the diameter is big. Longer hoses of the same diameter have more resistance than shorter ones. The same is true for electrical wires. If your electrical wires (copper gauge) are too small or the cable is too lengthy, the resistance will be higher, resulting in less watts reaching your battery bank or the grid.
The gauge scale is used to size copper wires: American Wire Gauge (AWG). The lower the gauge number, the lower the wire’s resistance and thus the higher the current it can safely take.
For both domestic and solar applications, the chart below displays the capacity of various wire gauge sizes, as well as their normal amp rating and application.
Commercial solar PV panels with a power output of more than 50 watts require 10 gauge (AWG) cables. A single panel may now deliver up to 30 amps of current. When numerous panels are connected in parallel, a three to eight AWG cable is used “To safely send power to a charge controller or GTI, a “combiner” wire set is usually required.
The charge controller to battery bank cables can normally be the same or greater gauge than the PV array’s primary set. When the Charge Controller is of the sort that can operate a 12 or 24-volt battery bank even when the PV array is working at higher voltages, such as 48 Vdc and higher, the exception (B*) applies. Large transformers in these Charge Controllers lower the voltage while increasing the current flowing to the battery bank. When determining the correct wire size to use, consult the installation manual for the charge controller you’ve chosen.
Because they are used in conjunction with a power inverter that can at times need more current than the PV system can produce on its own, the wires between batteries in a battery bank tend to be the largest in the system. These same wires will have to carry current for both charging and power inversion at the same time. A standard wire size for a battery bank is 1/0 or 0 “It’s one.”
When merging batteries in a battery bank, it’s critical to match the gauge and wire lengths. If this is not done, the battery bank’s life will be limited, and there may be safety concerns.
Wire run lengths
The distance between the PV array and the charge controller or GTI is usually the longest wire run. Because this wire set carries all of the PV electricity, we must carefully select it in order to maximize performance and ensure safety.
On this run, the basic rule of thumb is to keep the voltage drop below 2%. It is possible to compute the maximum length for a wire-pair for each wire gauge size using the known resistance of the various wire gauges.
For a 12V PV system, the computation looks like this. For a 24V system, twice the length; for a 48V system, quadruple it.
Take, for example, a 450-watt 12V system. The maximum current is 450/18 = 25 amps at 18V Vmp.
When looking at the wire capacity row, the smallest gauge wire that can be utilized safely is 10 AWG. It has a 30 amp rating, which is higher than the minimum 25 amps.
Next, choose row “25” in the Array amps column to show that a 10 AWG wire pair can only sustain a cable length of 4.5 feet! To stay below the 2% loss threshold, go up to 4 AWG and support up to 18 feet. This isn’t a large number of feet!
This example demonstrates the importance of fully appreciating the issue of cable length and its impact on losses. Many people have extensive cable runs and are unaware of how this affects performance. We may have to accept a 4% loss rather than a 2% loss, which allows us to double the length numbers displayed in the table. Operating at a higher voltage, such as 24V, is another possibility. This lowers the amps, which lowers wire losses.
The idea is to use a safe wire size while also considering the trade-off between system voltage, wire length, line losses, and expenses while designing your system. This is why, before you go out and get things like wires, you should plan ahead of time.
Is it possible to utilize speaker wire as a power wire?
You can use the speaker and electric cables interchangeably because they are both utilized for electrical connections. Other elements, on the other hand, allow you to use a speaker wire as an electric line.
When connecting low-current equipment such as home security sensors, doorbells, landscape lighting, and thermostats, speaker wire can be utilized as electric wire. Speaker wires carry low-voltage electrical current, are graded similarly to electric lines, and are composed of copper, which is a good heat conductor.
The following are some of the characteristics that make speaker wires an excellent electric wire alternative.
Is speaker wire a low-voltage cable?
The importance of speaker wires cannot be overstated. Speakers, amplifiers, and other audio components are all connected with them. Speakers will be unable to function without them. When we touch speaker wires, we don’t get an electric shock since they have a low voltage traveling through them.
Is speaker wire and power wire the same thing?
The sole distinction is that speaker wire is usually transparent, whereas electrical wire can be black, brown, white, or any other color. That resemblance isn’t coincidental; the wires are fairly similar and can be used interchangeably in a variety of situations.
Speaker wire is what voltage?
The capacitive reactance in ohms (larger equals lower loss) for various frequencies and capacitances is shown in this table; highlighted rows indicate losses more than 1% at 30 volts RMS:
The voltage on a speaker wire is proportional to the power of the amplifier; for a 100-watt-per-channel amplifier, the voltage will be around 30 volts RMS.
At this voltage, a 1% loss occurs at capacitive reactance of 3,000 ohms or less.
As a result, the overall capacitance in the cabling must be kept below around 2,700 pF to keep audible (up to 20,000 Hz) losses below 1%.
A 50-foot run (100 total feet of conductor) will have less than 1% capacitive loss in the audible range since ordinary lamp cord has a capacitance of 1020 pF per foot plus a few picofarads of stray capacitance.
Some premium speaker cables feature a larger capacitance to reduce inductance; typically, 100300 pF is used, with capacitive loss exceeding 1% for runs longer than roughly 5 feet (10 feet of conductor).
Is it possible to utilize AC cable for solar?
Different types of cables are required to complete a solar power project. There are both DC and AC cables utilized.
DC cable connects PV panels and inverters, as well as junction boxes. Meanwhile, an AC connection connects the inverter and the substations.
DC solar cable
Single core copper wires with insulation and sheath are used in DC solar cables. They might be module or string cables and are used within PV solar panels.
They also come with appropriate connectors and are pre-installed in the panels. As a result, you won’t be able to alter them.
You may need a string DC solar wire to link it to other panels in some circumstances.
Solar DC main cable
The larger power collector cables are known as main DC cables. They link the generator junction box’s positive and negative cables to the central inverter.
They can also be single-core or two-core cables. Single-core wires with double insulation are a cost-effective and reliable option. Meanwhile, two-core DC cables work best for connecting between the solar power inverter and the generator connection box.
For outside installation, most experts recommend using DC main solar wire. The most common sizes are 2mm, 4mm, and 6mm.
Lay wires carrying opposite polarity apart from one other to avoid short circuits and grounding issues.
AC connection cable
The solar power inverter is connected to the protective equipment and the energy grid through an AC connection. A five-core AC cable is used to connect to the grid for smaller PV installations with three-phase inverters.
Is it possible to utilize Romex for solar panels?
Romex wire, despite having a PVC insulator, is inappropriate for solar panel applications. Despite the presence of a PVC insulator, this insulator will deteriorate over time, exposing the steel wire inside to wet and damp circumstances.
The steel wire will corrode or rust as a result of this, increasing the chance of electrical shorts in moist situations.
A 100-watt solar panel generates how many amps?
We propose that you go out and “boondock” in your RV for as long as it takes to drain your batteries (without using your generator or plugging into shore power). Use power how you wish, and don’t change your behaviors in the process. This will show you how much energy you use on a daily basis.
Assume you were able to “boondock” for two days before your batteries began to fail.
We must first establish the storage capacity of your batteries. Assume you have two (2) relatively new Group 27 deep cycle batteries, each with a storage capacity of 100 amp hours. This means you have 200 amp hours of energy available to you (2 x 100 = 200). However, only around half of that is safe to use, leaving you with only 100 amp hours to work with (0.5 x 200 = 100). NOTE: It is possible to draw 80 percent of the charge from lead acid batteries, but this could destroy the batteries. We propose only drawing 50% of the whole amount on a daily basis.
Once we know how much storage capacity your battery bank has, we split it by the amount of days you’ve been “boondocked” (in this example it was 2 days). As a result, 160 amp-hours of storage divided by two days equals 80 amp-hours of energy used on a typical day.
Now we need to figure out how many solar panels you’ll need to replace the 80 amp hours of electricity you use each day. We’ll presume you travel in your RV during the brighter half of the year and/or follow the sun south during the darker half. This will offer you five (5) “peak solar hours” every day on average.
A 100 watt panel generates around 6 amps every peak sun hour, or about 30 amp-hours per day.
In the scenario above, three 100 watt solar panels would be required to fully recharge on an average day (80 / 30 3)
Before you go boondocking, we strongly advise you to install a Battery Monitor for more accuracy. These gadgets keep track of your usage and provide you with a reading that indicates how many amp hours were depleted from your batteries. This eliminates the need for guesswork and mental calculations. You’ll know what you used, and you’ll be able to figure out what size system you’ll need to fit your lifestyle.
This method works best if you only use a small amount of energy.
If all you want to power is a blender and a TV, for example, you might be able to get away with a small solar charging setup.
The wattage of each of the discretionary devices you plan to power is the first thing you should figure out.
This information is normally found on the device itself or in the owner’s manual.
If you can’t find this information, go to a hardware store and get a Kill-A-Watt Meter.
The Kill-A-Watt meter will tell you exactly how much power your device consumes.
Multiply that by each device’s average run-time and add the results.
If your blender uses 1500 watts and you use it twice a day for 2 minutes, your daily blender usage is 1500W x (2/60)h/day = 50Wh/day.
If your TV uses 150 watts and you expect to watch it for three hours each day, your total daily consumption is 150W x 3h/day = 450Wh/day.
Now add up each device’s daily watt hour consumption. 50 watts per day plus 450 watts per day equals 500 watts per day.
To cover the 76Ah of daily use, you’d need around three 100 watt solar panels to create 90 amp hours of charge per day, as shown in Method #1.
Depending on their lifestyle and level of frugality, most RVers use between 75 and 150 amp hours of power per day, according to our experience. This means that the battery bank utilized in the previous example will only last roughly one day for certain people. To break even on a daily basis, these people would require three to five 100 watt panels. We typically install systems capable of generating more than 300 amp hours each day!
Is it possible to utilize speaker wire as a ground wire?
Because the gauge is too narrow, speaker wire will not operate as a ground wire. Unless, of course, you enjoy having a fireworks display in your trunk or rear seat. Only speaker wire requires oxygen-free wiring. For power and ground wire applications, it is irrelevant.