2 Gauge battery cables.

I was just looking around at some battery cables. I found that acdelco and standard products both use stock type 4 gauge cables.

I found that Autozone carries both the positive and negative cables for our cars in 2 AND 4 gauge.

The 2 gauge cable part numbers are

Positive GS245B $15.49

Negative GS235B $13.49

Just fyi

SO I am assuming 2 gauge is Better ? I am not knowledgeable with cars wiring lol

Yes, the smaller the number the thicker the cable.

The #2 gauge would surely be better !
They had heavier gauge battery cables back in the 6 volt days, less voltage & more current. But in the 50s when V-8 engines got bigger, the 6 volt stuff didn't get the job done very well, so in 1954 for example, the GM big cars went to 12 volt systems.

Thanks for the part numbers Joe !







Bill

Anytime.

And if the cable length is longer, a heavier gauge is always better. I have 1/0 cable in my car with the battery in the trunk.

Check eBay for wire, it'll be the same stuff, just half the price. I always get the 0/1 wire no matter what. Oh:...and double check your grounds and have plenty of them.

brownbomber77 wrote:I always get the 0/1 wire no matter what.

Ditto. IMO 2 & 4 are too small for the battery-to-starter connection.  You want maximum amperage to go to the starter, and those size wires represent a bottleneck that will make your starter appear weak because it can't get what it needs.  I use 0/1 for battery-to-starter and 4 for the 140A alternator feed.

So the 2 gauge is good? On my brothers Monte he has the battery in the trunk with 1 or 0 gauge cant remember but the 2 should be really good for sorta stock? Screw it Im ordering them.

Ant, last I checked, they're in stock at the Carmel store.

Cool. Thanks Joe. I will stop tomorrow.

2 gauge is fine. Cable resistance is a function of length. So to put a battery in the trunk to compensate for the extra length and added resistance you increase wire diameter.

bracketchev1221 wrote:2 gauge is fine.  Cable resistance is a function of length.  So to put a battery in the trunk to compensate for the extra length and added resistance you increase wire diameter.  

While length is a factor, more important is cable size (diameter).  You will induce more resistance going down one wire size than you will adding multiple feet in length. For example, I originally lengthened my TPI harness by 8 feet to locate the ECM under the back seat, and since the resistance readings from the myriad sensors are critical to the performance of the ECM, I was careful to check for changes in resistance along every wire.  If I maintained the same wire gauge, there was no measurable change, but there was if I went down a size.  What we're talking about here is the same concept, just on a larger scale.

There's two additional things to consider here also:

1) Battery technology was not as good when our cars were new as it is now.  Batteries back then produced less, and therefore a smaller diameter cable was acceptable because the battery wasn't producing enough juice to need a large one anyway.

2) We're talking about cars from the Pinto days.  Back then, if the factory could save a buck per unit by going to a smaller gauge wire and the car would still start, they did it.  This is the only reason I can see for a 4 ga battery cable, which is downright ridiculous, even for the battery technology of the time.


And just as an aside, if you're really looking to reduce resistance in any electrical circuit:

o  Proximity to heat sources.  Is that cable running anywhere near your headers?  Wires conduct better the cooler they are, and a lot of heat will induce a lot of resistance.

o  Cable quality.  The only metals that flow electricity better than copper are silver and gold.  Obviously there won't be gold battery cables anytime soon, but anything else has higher resistance (remember aluminum house wiring?), including some alloys of copper -- they might be cheaper to produce, but they don't necessarily flow as well.

o  Stranded versus solid.  Not really an issue for battery cables (I'm not aware of any 2ga solid core cable), but important for anything smaller: electricity flows along the outside surface of the wire, not through the wire center itself.  Therefore there is more surface area available to it on multiple small strands than one big fat conductor, and therefore less resistance.  And by the same token, more strands is better than fewer strands.

Many of the Piper airplanes had aluminum battery cables, which corroded over time. It usually started on the ends where the lugs were crimped on. Just another cheap idea that didn't work...
I replaced a lot of those with copper cables, which of course the owner had to pay for...