Voltage Drop Test: Copper Wire vs Copper-Clad Aluminum Wire

[@SoberBassHead]

Another amazing video Seth, it would have been interesting to see how much more heat the CCA produced as well.

[@GloweIndustries]

Thi sis a great suggestion.

[@myfastcars]

OUTSTANDING TESTING and information. 😄

[@DIYAudioGuy]

I like it when the test results match up with the math! What kind of meter are you using?

[@GloweIndustries]

I'll send you a link. It's the bluetooth shunt I use for a lot of my videos.. lets me export data into excel and graph it out etc. If you check my videos for one called how to graph battery performance, I walk through exporting the data/designing a template in excel step by step.

[@DIYAudioGuy]

@GloweIndustries 🦾

[@BadLabCustomz]

you have to get yourself one, you will never run another battery without one again, Seth got me into them a bit more than a year ago, I have 3 of them in the shop now and Have setup a few more on customer vehicles, very very handy to have super accurate as well!

[@jec_ecart]

Superb testing.

[@GloweIndustries]

Thanks, appreciate that!

[@gregkirby]

Can you do the same test on the tinned copper wire?

[@JasonWW2000]

He did test the copper. The tin is not going to have any effect since it's a microscopically thin layer.

[@kylevanwinkle2081]

I always oversize for amp draw, so voltage drop never really was my concern, but i much rather ofc especially tinned ofc for its corrosion resistance

[@ellensburgamplifier]

The customer states, "But my voltage was perfect." Information like this needs to be more readily available or taught to our population. I tell them to take their measurements at the amplifier but nooo they are smarter than my advice.

[@JasonWW2000]

Kicker Live did a great show a couple years ago running a lot of current through copper and aluminum wire showing the differences in voltage and temperature. They don't even sell aluminum wire, only copper. Lots of great info in that live.

[@aaronsmith593]

They did sell CCA aluminum wire for about 50+ years now, primarily from China source.

[@JasonWW2000]

​@aaronsmith593 The numbers aren't adding up in your response. They haven't even sold wire for that length of time. I don't know if they have ever sold aluminum wire in the past. They might have. They haven't sold any in the last few years for sure. I'll try to ask one of the long time employees at Kicker if they ever sold aluminum wire.

[@JasonWW2000]

​@aaronsmith593 I asked one of their employees, they said "I don't recall us ever selling CCA".

[@Thumper68]

Should show temperature of wire and how fast it heats up and cools down as well.

[@GloweIndustries]

Good idea.

[@abracadabra2337]

can we assume same voltage drop proportionally on smaller gauge wire?

[@GloweIndustries]

Yes, for instance you would double the drop if you halved the wire size. So 3 awg is half the size of 1/0, etc.

[@photonphil873]

Good stuff! Thank You!

[@B-Man-basshead]

the thing i still like to see is if 2 CCA vs 1 OFC. as the price point looking at OFC for let's say KNU brand. the OFC they have per foot cost $4.75 compared to your bassik CCA wire only cost $1.09 a foot. if we were doing a dollar to dollar view 4 bassik giving more runs would give more playroom and fewer problems in the end if we were only focusing on the dollar amount right? but mostly questioning if you had 2 runs of cca would there be a better outcome to this view?

[@GloweIndustries]

You can divide the voltage drop in half to simulate a second run of cca. Double the wire = half the voltage lost. It’s very linear.

[@B-Man-basshead]

@@GloweIndustries aw cool to know haha.

[@JasonWW2000]

People are still debating over which is better? The answer is obviously copper. Maybe people are debating which is "good enough" when money is tight?

[@GloweIndustries]

Two runs of CCA cost less than a run of copper -- and will result in a smaller amount of drop to be fair.

[@GloweIndustries]

But this isn't factoring in any type of corrosion resistance etc. If not properly crimped and heat shrinked I've seen aluminum wiring turn into dust.

[@JasonWW2000]

​@GloweIndustries To be really fair, you have to factor in the poor corrosion resistance. Then look at the failures where the aluminum wire caught fire or melted the carpet due to the high resistance/corrosion. Once you look at all of these factors, then it's more clear that aluminum might be okay for short runs inside the vehicle where it stays nice and dry. Long runs outside the vehicle would not be smart. Personally, I'd just stick with all marine grade copper and water tight fuses under the hood. If you need to save a buck, do it elsewhere where it's not going to affect the safety of your vehicle. I'm always going to err on the side of safety. I never recommend anyone run aluminum power cable.

[@karagg72505]

Your math seems to be wrong. At 5:32 the meter shows 0.35v for 3 ft. At 5:48 you divide that by 3 and show 0.116v per foot. Then at 6:00 you divide that again by 3 and show 0.038 per foot. You double divided the results.

[@GloweIndustries]

You're 100% correct. I added a note during the video.

[@TBO207]

hey, if i got enough cca for cheap enough and doubled or tripled my runs where needed would that be sufficient to still use cca? may be worth a test, thanks

[@poopandfartjokes]

Typically you’re going to spend the same money for oversized CCA wire as you will for proper sized copper wire.

[@JasonWW2000]

If you fully insulate it from moisture, it can last a long time. The problem is a lot of people don't properly insulate it so it corrodes and turns into powder.

[@TBO207]

@ well, maybe its cause i store it in a climate controlled garage but my prizm with all its cca is going strong for over a year in the build. just trying to get more power out of it and was wondering if the cca is the limiting factor here.

[@jaz97]

My 5K amp has 3 power & 3 ground terminals. I will be running double runs of CCA to each (Cause i have it already). No longer than 5ft max. Should be fine

[@Mr.F-U]

🤦🏻‍♂️

[@JasonWW2000]

So you mean short runs inside the vehicle from the battery to the amp? That should be fine.

[@jaz97]

@JasonWW2000 Yes my battery is in the rear

[@russellcrabtree5314]

Use the Won Von battery monitor to show the amperage draw and loss instead of looking for voltage drops. Because at 2,000 rpms, a 320amp14.8 alternator provides 320amps and at idle 750rpms it still produces 14.8v and only around 200amps. A loss of 100amps of power even though the voltage remained the same. I don't demo at 2000rpms!

[@GloweIndustries]

This difference isn’t being caused by resistance / wiring. That’s your alternator’s output and would be the same regardless of the wiring.

[@SlamryCamry19]

Great test and video bro I'm wondering if you can help me understand something so here lately well ever since I installed the Ruthless 10k I have noticed that I can play heavily for a few minutes and I noticed that the voltage at the alternator is dropping until I added the 10k I never saw below 15.7 on the voltage readout on the alternator VCM now with the 10k I have seen it drop down to 15.5-15.6 if I play real heavy music for a few minutes it starts dropping at the alternator and nowhere else I am running a 500Farad super cap battery delete with a triple run of 0 gauge OFC to the back feeding a 72.5AH SCIB bank of the 2.9AH M5 pedestal cells charging at 15.8 and I just picked up a 6S4P 2000 Farad XS power super cap bank to add to it I have enough battery for 20k easy and after I add the other 2000 farad bank it should be able to support 25k with ease I'm only running a Ruthless 10k and Ruthless 1500.4 I never see below 15.2 at the battery full tilt and it instantly rebounds in between the bass so I'm not understanding why the voltage is dropping at the front of the vehicle please forgive my lack of knowledge I'm still learning bro my entire build has been done from watching KZbin and tiktok videos and doing it myself with no help any advice or information you can give as to why this is happening would be greatly appreciated I should also add that even when the alternator is charging lower around 15.5 the bank in the back stays at 15.8 it's always a few tenths higher than the charging voltage

[@GloweIndustries]

I'll message you.. This is going to involve a couple of troubleshooting steps and maybe figuring out a meter failure.. It's not possible for the battery to rest higher than the charging voltage on a constant basis.

[@Sylvan_dB]

By the way, 1/0 is pronounced "1 aught" and 4/0 is "4 aught" etc. Rough rule of thumb: Figure your needed gauge for copper, go up to the next standard size larger for aluminum. In other words, if you figure you need 2awg copper, use 0awg (aka 1/0awg) aluminum. Or if you need 1/0 copper, use 2/0 aluminum.

[@kendrellholley1975]

Thanks for the video. I am a firm believer that for the average consumer CCA is just fine. For the competitor, I would go OFC. Is OFC a better choice? Yes it is, Is it necessary? No

[@JasonWW2000]

Why do you firmly believe this? I'd say the only time it would be okay to use aluminum is if it's a short run inside the vehicle. Anything on the outside of the vehicle that's going to be exposed to water and the elements really should be copper. Also, any type of long run needs to either be copper or greatly oversized aluminum. Also, if you live in an extremely cold environment, I would only run copper.

[@kendrellholley1975]

Nothing is ran on the outside of the vehicle. I am running CCA right now in my daily driver, never had any issues. My daily driver is not number chasing, not out to win trophies, just to enjoy music as I drive. The voltage loss is almost unrecognizable. If CCA was so bad it wouldn’t sell the way it does. Once again, if you are number chasing, trying to win a trophy and you absolutely need the best performance than OFC is the way to go, but if you are just a ground pounder, CCA is absolutely acceptable.

[@JasonWW2000]

95% to 98% of vehicles have an external mounted battery and typically power wire is run from the battery up front to amps or distribution blocks in the rear. If your vehicle is in that small minority that has an AGM under a rear seat or in the trunk, then that's great. A short run of aluminum wire inside the vehicle makes sense. Unfortunately most vehicles are quite different. Edit, you can be sure the OEM is running a copper wire from the rear battery into the engine compartment. They would never use aluminum.

[@JasonWW2000]

As far as current consumption, it sounds like your not drawing too much. There are people known as bass heads who run 5 or 10 thousand watts on their daily driver, just cranking the bass. They don't compete, they just like it loud. They will have multiple batteries, maybe even lithium and have upgraded alternators or even multiple upgraded alternators. Your probably like the average music listener, me included, that listens to music at healthy volume levels and might use a few hundred watts at most. We typically have stock electrical systems. Aluminum can be fine in these cases. We won't notice much voltage drop.

[@JasonWW2000]

Basing how good or bad aluminum wire is by how much is sold is not logical. There's no direct correlation between these two.

[@stormtrooper88]

copper clad wire was banned in home construction because of all the homes burning down. over half the repair work at my locale rv shop is replacing wire and equipment because the aluminum wire corrosion eats all the terminals. never use aluminum wire folks... unless you like redoing/replacing everything from corrosion. go talk to any car stereo shop and talk to them. they will show you what i am talking about. any copper clad wire is garbage because of this problem.

[@Thumper68]

This isn’t an argument. This is just stupid people talking and smart people being annoyed because stupid people won’t stfu😂

[@MyBlowncobra]

The moral of the story...quite buying cheap junk wire..if your buying cca then buy cheap ass amps cause your wasting your money... 😂

[@retrozmachine1189]

Moral of the story is understand the differing conductivity of materials. That's it. Use steel if you want to, she's gonna have a big CSA but it will work.

[@MegaCyrik]

You kinda dont really understand anything it seems.

[@Hz_Locker]

Over here probing them inner lips eh?

[@GloweIndustries]

Like it’s my job.