Bwcad1 wrote:there is more to it than just that geo almost every alt company reccomends 4ga on there alts because if you use 1/0 the resistance is to low and the post on the alternator actually heats up and can cause internal issues on the alt.
I'd call BS on that one to whoever told you that. ]The less resistance you have, the less heat you have.[/b]
You can't escape that, you can't deny that.
Calculate it any way you like - the less resistance you have, the less power you have (voltage times current equals power), and power is heat.
The less resistance you have, the less current you have. Too much current melts things. That's how fuses work.
Or, look at it from another angle...
Measure the resistance in a 4 foot length of 4 awg cable.
Measure the resistance in a 4 foot length of 1/0 awg cable.
The difference will be so negligable as to be dismissable.
...you wouldn't claim that that thin line between those two values represents the difference between "long life reliability" and "factory identified reliability issue!", would you?
I
would believe that an aftermarket alternator company might suggest using 4 awg wire to upgrade your factory wires with...
...because 4 awg is significantly larger than 8 awg, has LESS resistance, which means less strain on the alternator, less power loss in that line, less voltage drop (created by resistance), and a more efficient system overall.
But I would NEVER believe that an aftermarket alternator company would
ever suggest that using even larger gauge cable would be
electrically harmful. More difficult, more awkward, not practical, not necessary - absolutely. But harmful? Absolutely not. If 1/0 gauge were harmful, so would 4 gauge.
I challenge you to find one official reference from any alternator manufacturer who suggests that too LARGE of a gauge wire would cause problems.
Too small, I'm sure you wouldn't find nearly as much difficulty with - but not too large. This is a voltage source, which is dependent on circuits to present a resistance (DC as well - which couldn't be more straightforward) -
not a circuit itself which presents a resistance for a voltage source. There's a clear line, and any voltage source which presents or includes a resistance is inherently inefficient (alternators, generators, or batteries), and any circuit that is
connected to such an inefficient device will suffer - in exactly the way I described in this article here:
http://www.betteraudio.com/geolemon/newmain/battcapalt
...read about the downside of deep-cycle batteries, or capacitors with unusually high ESR [like those square carbon-type, non-electrolytic kind], and you'll know why this makes no sense.
Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now - it simply makes no sense, and that's any way that you could evaluate it - intuitively, logically, or scientifically with reference to any electrical law that one would reference.
I'd certainly LOOOVE to see any documentation from an alternator manufacturer who would care to contradict really ANY of these.
[quote="Bwcad1"]there is more to it than just that geo almost every alt company reccomends 4ga on there alts because if you use 1/0 the resistance is to low and the post on the alternator actually heats up and can cause internal issues on the alt.[/quote]
I'd call BS on that one to whoever told you that. ]The less resistance you have, the less heat you have.[/b]
You can't escape that, you can't deny that. ;)
Calculate it any way you like - the less resistance you have, the less power you have (voltage times current equals power), and power is heat.
The less resistance you have, the less current you have. Too much current melts things. That's how fuses work.
Or, look at it from another angle...
Measure the resistance in a 4 foot length of 4 awg cable.
Measure the resistance in a 4 foot length of 1/0 awg cable.
The difference will be so negligable as to be dismissable.
...you wouldn't claim that that thin line between those two values represents the difference between "long life reliability" and "factory identified reliability issue!", would you?
I [b]would[/b] believe that an aftermarket alternator company might suggest using 4 awg wire to upgrade your factory wires with...
...because 4 awg is significantly larger than 8 awg, has LESS resistance, which means less strain on the alternator, less power loss in that line, less voltage drop (created by resistance), and a more efficient system overall.
But I would NEVER believe that an aftermarket alternator company would [b]ever[/b] suggest that using even larger gauge cable would be [b]electrically[/b] harmful. More difficult, more awkward, not practical, not necessary - absolutely. But harmful? Absolutely not. If 1/0 gauge were harmful, so would 4 gauge.
I challenge you to find one official reference from any alternator manufacturer who suggests that too LARGE of a gauge wire would cause problems.
Too small, I'm sure you wouldn't find nearly as much difficulty with - but not too large. This is a voltage source, which is dependent on circuits to present a resistance (DC as well - which couldn't be more straightforward) - [b]not [/b]a circuit itself which presents a resistance for a voltage source. There's a clear line, and any voltage source which presents or includes a resistance is inherently inefficient (alternators, generators, or batteries), and any circuit that is [i]connected[/i] to such an inefficient device will suffer - in exactly the way I described in this article here:
[url]http://www.betteraudio.com/geolemon/newmain/battcapalt[/url]
...read about the downside of deep-cycle batteries, or capacitors with unusually high ESR [like those square carbon-type, non-electrolytic kind], and you'll know why this makes no sense. :attitude
Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now - it simply makes no sense, and that's any way that you could evaluate it - intuitively, logically, or scientifically with reference to any electrical law that one would reference.
I'd certainly LOOOVE to see any documentation from an alternator manufacturer who would care to contradict really ANY of these. :p