lml@lancaironline.net Mailing List Archive

>>>Also, a remote location causes more voltage drop due to the longer cable. I have one battery in the back and tried copper wire (very heavy) and had almost no voltage drop, but when I checked aluminum wires (very light), I had nearly 1.0v drop from the terminals to the Buss. Aluminum is OK for avionics Buss, but not cranking or hydralic pump amp (too much heat and volt loss), if drawing off a battery behind the rear bulkhead. My humble opinion.

<<My plan therefore is to make sure something else opens or fuses before the wire melts down.<<

I was curious about the statements above since I am using CCA (copper clad aluminum) battery wiring in my Legacy. Below are comments from Eric Jones at Perihelion Designs.

From: Eric M. Jones <emjones@charter.net>
Date: Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 7:32 PM
Subject: Re: [LML] Re: L-IVP Battery Cooling
To: Clark Baker <bakercdb@gmail.com>

Thanks Clark,

(Please post if you want).

Aluminum wire is touchy because of the special preparation needed, especially for the ends. Copper-Clad Aluminum wire (CCA) has never had a problem history, since its exterior is copper.

About Super-2-CCA Fatwire:

Specifications:

Weight of the insulated wire is 3.08 ounces/foot.

Diameter with insulation is 0.562"
Bend radius—about one inch. Very flexible and easy to handle.

Insulation material: Custom polyvinyl TPE proprietary

Flame retardant, 105 °C, fuel proof, oil proof, cut resistant, low smoke, non-cracking at low temperature.

Resistance/ft 0.134 milliohms/foot (This is an amazing 86% the resistance of copper! In fact it is far less even than an AWG 2 silver conductor)

Recommended connectors: AMP Solistrand™, Tin plated copper per MIL-T-10727. UL/CSA/MIL 170 °C

Super-2-CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum) is a custom-made wire specially designed for experimental aircraft battery-starter wire and ground conductor bus applications. Nominally it has the characteristics of AWG 2 copper wire, but is much lighter in weight, and much lower resistance.

It's hard to say more. I sell miles of this stuff to the military. I have sold Super-2 to people building Seawinds, which has the engine in the tail and the batteries in the nose 32' away. They replace AWG 1/0 wire with Super-2-CCA.

Refer them to:

http://www.periheliondesign.com/fatwires_files/Copper%20cables.pdf

http://www.periheliondesign.com/fatwires_files/fatwire2flyer.pdf

I also sell Super-4-CCA and a special 6 AWG-CCA in ETFE insulation. I will send samples to interested buyers.

One more thing--Insulation on battery cables is usually not important because the battery can't supply the current needed to heat it up. I don't think you can point to a fire/smoke problem that occurred with a copper or copper-clad-aluminum battery cable. The insulation in small-sized wire is the only issue. Plain aluminum cables that corrode and degrade can have a variety of problems.