mike rousseau Posted September 17, 2014 Report Share Posted September 17, 2014 I have an orange extension cord that was damaged... But there's 20+ feet that are fine... I need to wire the 2nd bank on my on board charger to the back of my boat to my starter battery.... This wire should be fine right? Just looking to repurpose this unusable extension cord... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernie Posted September 17, 2014 Report Share Posted September 17, 2014 It will depend on the amperage output of the charger and the guage of wire in the cord.The smaller the guage the better the amperage capacity.Its probably 14 gauge wire so that should be able to handle 10 to 15 amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernie Posted September 17, 2014 Report Share Posted September 17, 2014 One more thing you should do if hooking it into two batteries is fusing the circuit.A short would certainly cause a fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NANUK Posted September 17, 2014 Report Share Posted September 17, 2014 All depends on wire gauge and length, more critical with 12v, do you know the size of wire on that cord ? Most of those extension cords are 16 gauge, I wouldn't use that to wire a charger to the battery, unless it's a trickle charger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinker Posted September 17, 2014 Report Share Posted September 17, 2014 I wouldn't use it either, unless its a heavy duty cord. The bigger the wire the better. A set of booster cables work good, and they are cheap usually. S. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paudash Posted September 17, 2014 Report Share Posted September 17, 2014 not a smart move, spend the money and do it correctly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike rousseau Posted September 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2014 It's only a 4 amp per bank charger with 15 amp fuse on each bank... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike rousseau Posted September 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2014 The wire at the fuse is tiny... That's why I figured the 14 or 16 gauge cord would work... The extension cord wires are thicker then the wires on the charger... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aplumma Posted September 17, 2014 Report Share Posted September 17, 2014 Mike if you are referring to the wire from the charger bank to the battery then you will be fine. The best way to put the wires together is to solder and then sleeve them with shrink wrap. This wire only carries 5 amps max if it is like the one on my boat. The final thing to check is that both of the wires are stranded copper if one is silver then it will corrode at the joint in no time. Art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigeontroller Posted September 18, 2014 Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 I don't understand why you would hook the cranker up to an onboard charger? Isn't that what an alternator is for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike rousseau Posted September 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2014 I don't understand why you would hook the cranker up to an onboard charger? Isn't that what an alternator is for? More for winter maintenance charging.... The 2 bank was on sale so I figured id get it instead of a 1 bank... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now