What thickness of wire and splitcharging question?

[Chrissyt]

How do I work out what thickness of wire i need for my splitcharging relay? Is wire rated to the max amperage?

Also if i wire in a simple split charging relay circuit as in the WIKI, is there not a risk of overcharging the 2nd battery??

Chris

[dickspanner]

Chris,

I picked up my split charge details off the internet, I just googled it and got a set of diagrams and details of wires etc. You can also purchase a complete kit ready to just connect up etc from some electrical suppliers.

Dickspanner

[kevtherev]

No chance of overcharging as the battery will only take what it needs and the charge will go to the most needed more than the less needed.
regarding wire the thickness of the charging wire should be enough to carry 50 amp
and the consumer circuit to carry 40 amp with a 40 amp fuse

[Other-Power]

without going to technical, i recommend using some thick speaker wire as its a cheaper option.

Something like:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3M-3-50-mm-OFC-VE ... 240%3A1318" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

should do it, not to much of a voltage drop under heavy load,

http://www.pandpelectrical.com/mpm/firevoltdrop.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jon

[Chrissyt]

thanks, i've got a circuit, but wanted to make sure I have the correct thickness of wire to the amount of amperage that I will be drawing etc.

Also I've jsut bought a blade type fusebox, and it has individual feeds for each fuse, can you get some sort of spur that I can take lives from rather than have many lives coming from the battery terminals??

Cheers Chris