mike rousseau Posted September 17, 2014 Report 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...
Bernie Posted September 17, 2014 Report 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.
Bernie Posted September 17, 2014 Report 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.
NANUK Posted September 17, 2014 Report 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.
Sinker Posted September 17, 2014 Report 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.
Paudash Posted September 17, 2014 Report Posted September 17, 2014 not a smart move, spend the money and do it correctly
mike rousseau Posted September 17, 2014 Author Report Posted September 17, 2014 It's only a 4 amp per bank charger with 15 amp fuse on each bank...
mike rousseau Posted September 17, 2014 Author Report 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...
aplumma Posted September 17, 2014 Report 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
Pigeontroller Posted September 18, 2014 Report 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?
mike rousseau Posted September 18, 2014 Author Report 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...
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