Boat Battery Cable Size Chart

Most importantly sae wire is up to 12 percent smaller than american wire gauge awg boat cable which means that in many applications larger gauge wire must be used to stay within the voltage drop limits recommended by experts see our west advisor on marine wire size and ampacity.

Boat battery cable size chart.

The two setups we most often run into is. Marine outboard motor application guide. Red terminals fit 22 to 18 gauge cables blue terminals 16 to 14 gauge cables and yellow terminals 12 to 10 gauge cables. In addition the dc wire selection chart shown below assumes a wire insulation rating of 105 c.

The manufacturers make stock battery cables as small as possible but still get the job done. For very long cables for example 15 foot long battery cables to relocate your battery go one size larger. However the same sized terminals are sometimes used for more than one cable size. The wire size listed in the graph at the intersection denotes the gauge of wire to use.

Replacement of tray hold down or battery box may be required. Quality marine wire as specified by abyc standards will always be stranded rather than solid and always tin plated copper. Most of the cost is the ends and labor. Additional space box or cables may be required.

Actually for my current installation i ve sized all of my dc cables to meet the 175 amp worst case scenario. Starting battery has high current rush capacity. Deep cycle battery capable of deep discharge without harm. Picking the right size of battery will make sure that it has the right dimensions that will fit in your battery compartment.

A 16 gauge cable needs a 16 gauge terminal. Boats come in various sizes and they also come with different accessories then. As far as i know these values are valid as of today. So all interconnecting cables are 2 0 based on the chart below.

Cable size ampacity chart. The following maximum amps versus cable size awg come from the nec version 2011. This technical brief distills the information on these charts to a more manageable size for installers and boatowners alike. Marine battery group size chart and guide.

Greatly generalizing the topic here but you usually run into two types of batteries in the size of boat we deal with. Find the length of the circuit on the vertical axis of the chart noting that the length is the round trip distance from the panel or battery to the load and back. In larger sizes each cable has matching terminals. 216 requires 2 batteries in parallel to meet oe specifications.

141 replacement battery may be longer taller and or wider than o e. I recommend building cables larger than stock. As we mentioned earlier picking the right size of the marine battery is crucial for your boat. We ve included copper wire specifications which comply with the awg standards at the bottom.

Terminals need to be matched to their cables. Going up a size or 2 is worth it in the long run.