Wire size

[flatwater]

I'm looking for a published chart on the internet that will tell me the size of wire (aluminum) that I will need to run 150 feet from my solar panels to the cabin. I have an outlet to get #2 aluminum underground wire for less then salvage price. and want to know if this is big enough not to have much of a voltage drop.

[SolarGary]

Hi,
There are a couple voltage drop calculators here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/References/electricalanalysisrs.htm

You will need to know the voltage and amperage for the circuit.
I would not let the drop go over 2%.
If you can get the wire really cheap, you could always run 2 wires each way in parallel.

Be careful with hooking the alum wires up -- use the anitioxidant compound on all the connections -- lots of fires with aluminum wire.

Gary

[silver wolf]

hello # Two wire will not work for that long of run.Copper might it depends on amps and volts.I am using #2 for a 50 foot run in copper with 48 volts and 13 amps.And that is at almost 3% loss.I amthinking it will be more like 40 feet then i will be about right.