Best welding cable according to redditors

I use this 8 guage wire. It is considered welding wire, but I've never used it for welding. It's flexible and while the wire you have probably isn't bad, I don't like the insulation. It's just too easy to cut. I never felt comfortable using that wire in installations. That said, I used it many many times without an issues when I was younger.

Some of these? https://www.amazon.com/Gauge-Premium-Extra-Flexible-Welding/dp/B01CN5FKJ0?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1

for cotton everyone uses koh gen do. perosnally i prefer cotton bacon. for wire ID about buying wire off amazon but i jsut checked and temco is on there so go with temco. they make good wire and any of the good "brand" wire is likely re-branded temco and marked up. https://www.amazon.com/TEMCo-Kanthal-wire-Gauge-Resistance/dp/B016068VW6/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1500418037&sr=8-17&keywords=kanthal


EDIT: amazon has cotton bacon so personally i'd go with that https://www.amazon.com/Cotton-Bacon-Version-2-0-Bags/dp/B01DOEQ2XC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500418154&sr=8-1&keywords=cotton+bacon

Cotton bacon and temco would be the way to go IMO unless you are set on organic pads then go with koh gen do

The main thing I'm picking up on is secondary battery voltage is 12.5, and main battery voltage is 13 volts when the car is at idle. I'm going to assume the battery isolator is a diode; a diode will drop .7 volts. Replace isolator with a relay version with some thing like this, just make sure it has the 4 connections.

Next is going to be wire size. For 200 amps, you need big wire. Big wire going from the alternator, to the isolator, to the second battery, and finally to the DC load. Also keep the wire distance as short as possible. I'd recommend 2/0 welder cable.

Battery. Even with the car/truck running you are asking a lot from the secondary battery. Go with a good / expensive battery. Your looking for a deep cell battery. I don't know much about batteries, but this one looks good.

OP stated it’s a 20amp welder with 50 amp plug.

Here was the first link after a google search.

https://www.amazon.com/Parkworld-885361-10-30P-Welding-Adapter/dp/B06ZY2BMVT

I just bought the same plug for a welder conversion at my buddy’s house, straight from Lowe’s. They stock probably 15 different adapters at my location. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I just ordered this and a distribution block for the job, plus the Pioneer GM d8601 amp.

Ya, neither did mine, which is why I ran a full new 5-wire thermostat wire. I was able to just tie the new wire to the thermostat side of the old wire and then pull it down and through. I did have a couple staples to remove, but it worked out pretty well!

Came here to say this! Welding cable is great. I’ve been using this brand off Amazon with great results.

First, my needs:

1. Power 1/2 LED monitors at ~30W each
   
2. Occasionally charge laptop
   
3. LED lighting
   
4. 2 Maxxair fans
   
   
   Second, the components:
   
   Panels/controller https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B8L6EFA
   
   Battery https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ACKDGPS
   
   Y connectors https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4ELRSH
   
   Cable entry https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CSEXW2S
   
   2 Gauge wire https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KD2756W
   
   Terminal rings https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005V9UWB2
   
   Crimp tool https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003X51S00
   
   Terminal block https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000S5Q2VS
   
   Busbars https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0091VHLW4
   
   Inverter https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004MDXS0U
   
   Vent vans https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OW5JIU
   
   Monitors https://www.asus.com/us/Monitors/PB278Q/
   
   Puck lights https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ODSAR12
   
   Strip lights https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IQOV13G
   
   Fuse box https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P6FTHC
   
   Killswitch https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005DUUL9W
   
   Switches https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XFJW1SB
   
   Dimmer https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L8KP16E
   
   
   I know my needs are fairly minimal. I see opportunity to grow with this system if I ever need to. I’m excited to lay it out with the actual parts soon and begin thinking about it in the real world.
   
   Any suggestions, info or questions are completely welcome. I know little about electrical, only what I’ve learned from reddit and youtube. Thanks pals and again /u/StolidSentinel for the help and replies to all my messages and questions!

I found some wire for you.

I use temco, not sure it's the best price but afaik the quality/cleanliness is up there: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WFA5X0K/ref=twister_B06XMRWSMH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I think lightning vapes sells the same wire under their own name and for less but when you factor in shipping you're not really saving anything.

or you could try going with just one 50' spool to see if you even like 30ga, you might not, I've read where some ppl say the higher the gauge the harder it can be to work with. I use a screwdriver to wrap so pulling it tight the whole time isn't an issue, if you use a coiling tool maybe the springiness creates problems? you do have to be careful rewicking but once you know what to expect it's not hard to manage.

Ok, are you being serious about the fire thing? No one else on this thread mentioned anything about starting a fire. What brand of 0 gauge ofc would you recommend that I get that's not crazy expensive? I was looking at maybe getting the Kolossus cable from Knu.

I found this cable that someone recommended on here. Would that work ok? How big of a fuse would I need?

Nice van!

Don't be too intimidated with adding a house battery. You can do it.

Very in-depth guide for adding a house battery with solenoid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zrwHyy4qyY

This is the battery I used, it ROCKS. (smaller and cheaper options from same company available)

Other items I used...

• Continuous Duty Solenoid
  
• Heavy Gauge Wire 2 AWG
  
• Ring Terminals for Heavy Gauge Wire
  
• ANL Fuse Holder
  
• ANL Fuses 100 Amp
  
• Lighter Gauge Wire
  
• Terminals and Connectors for Lighter Gauge Wire
  
• Heat Shrink Assortment
  
• Circuit breaker (alternative to ANL fuses, works as master disconnect too)
  
• Fuse Block (for all devices connected to house battery)

Does the Tweco connectors look like they would work with your welder?

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/horteniv/media/leads4-1.jpg.html

A google search netted this on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Electric-KH554-Cable-Connector/dp/B00F0SLP60/ref=pd_sim_469_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00F0SLP60&pd_rd_r=1TH4JCR8SDBD6Z8F09A0&pd_rd_w=XwfDv&pd_rd_wg=nE1EQ&psc=1&refRID=1TH4JCR8SDBD6Z8F09A0

I literally just had this issue, and fixed it two days ago.

So what kind of wire do you have at your existing thermostat? You're using two, but are there other wires present? If not, you're going to have to run a new thermostat wire like I did. Here's 50 ft of it from amazon.com

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026H8L7E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Once you have that run, you need to wire it up. You need to use three wires for a heat only application (I don't have central air, and it's controlling one zone on a oil fired boiler). The white, the red, and blue. I just cut the others, and wrapped them around for later use. Do you want the ecobee to control all zones at once? Or just one zone? I'm assuming you want it controlling only one zone.

The White and Blue (this will be your common) wires go to the yellow wires on either your zone valve (in my case) or a pump. Not sure of your configuration. I had one pump, and several zone valves. Others have several pumps. All depends on what you have.

Okay, so the red will be wired to your 24VAC supply from your transformer. I used wire nuts, and made it in parallel to the other devices. This is important. Use a multimeter to determine what your voltage is ( put it on ~V setting). If you have 120V going to your thermostat, you'll probably fry it.


Here's how I wired mine:

White- Yellow on your Zone Valve. This connection is only two wires. Your white, and one yellow.

Blue- Common. Other yellow on the same zone valve. It's AC so it doesn't matter which one you wire to which yellow, but your common is called common for a reason... every zone valve you have needs to be wired in parallel to each other with the blue, AS WELL AS the white from your 24vac transformer. I have three zones, so five wires total (one yellow from each valve, plus white from 24vac, plus blue from thermostat) are wire nutted together.

Red- 24VAC on transformer (the wire coming out of my transformer was black in color, but it should be red). This is the hot one.


That should do it. Let me know if you have any questions. This took me several hours of troubleshooting, and the internet was surprisingly not a lot of help. I'm sorry in advance if my technical writing skills aren't the best.

When visiting my girlfriend's house, I plug into her dryer vent via this extension cord and a 6-50 to 10-30 adapter then plug into a 6-50 pigtail into the gen2 mobile connector.

Cable can be slightly warm to the touch, but no hotspots. Any concerns as a semi-regular temporary solution?