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RE: What is all this Off Grid Stuff anyhow? And why the civil war over it?
It was pipeline, and they liked to buy expensive goodies (only if it sped up the work) for us to use. The busiest pull I ever did was 114 pairs in one pipe (main control hookup on a booster). We pulled in four wires that were just over an inch each, but we used a backhoe to pull that bundle.
I got away from that work, way too dangerous! >:(
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!
:)