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RE: What is all this Off Grid Stuff anyhow? And why the civil war over it?
Wow! That is a lot of pairs in a single pipe. I have heard of folks pulling large wires with machinery but never anything quite that size. I wonder what gauge an inch thick wire is? What a job that must have been.
I have a question you may be able to answer. I generally just do my own research but I have found mixed answers to the viability of this. I have some old shielded aluminum multi-stranded power line (the overhead kind) wire and I am curious how it would work for use with DC if I were using it in very short sections between one to ten feet? I was thinking to re-enforce the shielding with heat shrink tubing because it is a bit brittle but is overall in good shape.
It would work fine for normal loading, what kind of current? I would just run a spiral of black tape around it to keep the water out, heat shrink is expensive, and DC is easy to contain. Be careful of the connections.
There is a grease for aluminum to copper connection to avoid electrolysis at the joint; and Keep them tight!
:DIt would not get that heavy of a load put on it. I was thinking of using it in either short lengths for tying batteries together in a battery bank or for running from a single battery (or battery bank) to a five hundred watt (or one thousand watt) inverter. I do not think there would be anywhere in either application that the aluminum would contact copper but I will keep your advice in mind about the grease and keeping the connections tight. As for the heat shrink tubing I was looking at it a while back on line and I found it in large rolls for pretty cheap.
1000 watts at 12 volts would be 84 amps. The aluminum wire size for that is double 0 (2-0), and using the grease is smart around batteries to avoid corrosion of the aluminum.
Gotcha. Thanks a bunch. It has just been an idea really. I tend to like copper wire but since I already have the aluminum I have been thinking about it.
Free is good! use it, and save the copper money for something else!
:)