Where to buy 6/2 AWG tinned wire?

Load data indicates 6 AWG wire and my tape measure indicates I need 36 feet, but rounding up to 40 makes sense to me. The usual sources have prepackaged 50 foot lengths (plus 25' and several longer) at $2.72 for that length. Is that as good as it gets, or are there local sources that sell by the foot? West Marine only lists 18 AWG.

6/2 or 6/3 is expensive stuff. When I put in my inverter last winter, it cost me $260 for a 50 foot roll of Ancor 6/3.

Genuinedealz.com, my go to place for tinned marine wire and cable is sold out of 16/2 cable. Batterycables.com does have individual red and black 16 gauge cables for $1.34/ft each, or $2.68 for the pair. See https://www.batterycablesusa.com/tinned-marine-grade-battery-cables

David

You're not going to find 6/2 duplex cable. It stops at 8 AWG if I'm not mistaken. You'll have to go with wire only. Defender and Genuinedealz.com is pretty hard to beat for wire price and they have it in stock. I assume it's for 12 volts here. If it's for a 120/240 vac, you need double insulated (like the triplex wire in a plastic shielding) unless the wires are in some sort of conduit or electrical box.

Edit: actually I just did a quick search and they do make the #6 duplex and triplex (Ancor wire)

Sorry, yes, this is 12 VDC power for my dinghy davit motor.

Ebay has boat wire.

Type in "6/2 boat wire".

Ted

rslifkin said:

6/2 or 6/3 is expensive stuff. When I put in my inverter last winter, it cost me $260 for a 50 foot roll of Ancor 6/3.

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Why would you need three conductors for an inverter install?

Ancor® 120705 - 6/2 AWG 50' Red/Black Flat Duplex Cable
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Dozens of suppliers withing seconds of Google search.

Might need or want 6/3 for a sub panel on the A/C side.

rwidman said:

Why would you need three conductors for an inverter install?

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The 6/3 was for the AC side. So hot, neutral, ground from the panel to the inverter input and from the output back to the panel.

Recommend Pacer Marine. https://www.pacergroup.net/. AWG 6/2 tinned boat cable is $4.09/ft. 50' roll is $198.50

try https://www.hodgesmarine.com/anc123705-ancor-safety-duplex-cable-62-awg-redyellow.html

With the supply chain problems today, I would buy it wherever you are able to find it in stock. I have had to order some wire in one place and the rest in another since I couldn’t find it in stock in one place.

I use Greg’s Marine cable supply - very fast turn around, good quality US made cables, cheap shipping, available by the foot. Their cable lugs are also decent quality but cheaper than Ancor. Web site shows 6/2 tinned marine cable at $2.84/ft.

rslifkin said:

The 6/3 was for the AC side. So hot, neutral, ground from the panel to the inverter input and from the output back to the panel.

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#12 wire would have been sufficient for 120 volts AC.

Hi folks. It's a DC load. I am powering my dinghy davit motor from the main DC panel. The ABYC 10% drop table says 10 AWG, the manufacturer says 6 AWG "just because." 8 AWG feels like the right answer despite my thread starting with a search for 6 AWG.

Comodave said:

With the supply chain problems today, I would buy it wherever you are able to find it in stock.

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Yes, I am seeing that. Yikes!

Not sure 12 ga is suitable for any circuit above 30A.... so feeding the main or sub panel 6 ga may be more appropriate.

Otherwise shore power coeds could just be 12 ga.

But seeing it's DC for the OP.... 6/3 would only be needed/desired if going to a 3 wire motor.

rwidman said:

#12 wire would have been sufficient for 120 volts AC.

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Not when it needs to pass an entire 50 amp service leg through it. That requires 8ga minimum. I went to 6 for voltage drop and because part of the run is through the engine room, so adding the engine space de-rate put me very close to the limit for 8ga.



10ga would be fine for a 30a leg in most cases, however. Generally 30 amp shore cords use 10ga, 50 amp ones use 6ga (hence the extra cost and weight).

12 gauge wire is suitable for 20 amps. A typical branch circuit in a boat will use 12 gauge wire or in some cases. 14 gauge (suitable for 15 amps).

20 amps at 120 volts AC is pretty much a practical limit for an inverter on a boat. Anything higher would require an enormous battery bank to operate, even for a short time.

A 30 amp shore power cord is typically made from 10 gauge wire. 10 gauge wire is suitable for 30 amps.

rslifkin said:

Not when it needs to pass an entire 50 amp service leg through it. That requires 8ga minimum. I went to 6 for voltage drop and because part of the run is through the engine room, so adding the engine space de-rate put me very close to the limit for 8ga.



10ga would be fine for a 30a leg in most cases, however. Generally 30 amp shore cords use 10ga, 50 amp ones use 6ga (hence the extra cost and weight).

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Clearly I did not understand your original post. Please disregard all my comments.

My too small inverter/charger is a pass through 30A inverter/charger.

And I just have a little 40 footer. Some have much larger boats here,. I haven't looked into it, but don't some inverters have the capability to be used in series and put out huge loads.... well above my 30A.

It's not just load in amps, but distance and acceptable voltage drop, right? And big difference between AC and DC. My load is up to 30 amps DC and the distance is 36 feet. It's "just" a winch motor. ABYC uses the terms critical and non-critical for 3% and 10% drop respectively. If my dinghy is down and I need to go, that feels rather critical to me. Seems like a more specific term should be used for that distinction.

And in addition to current type, load, distance, and drop, market availability and ordering delays come into play, at least for me on this project. 8/2 AWG tinned cable is out of stock virtually everywhere.

There are tables that suggest what appliances can have the 3% or 10% drop.

Critical doesn't mean job but whether it will perform to spec or be damaged.

On smaller vessels the length of run for AC is not as important as just max amperage.

While tinned. Is nice...waterproof ends are more important.

I have lost touch...what does ABYC say about tinned wire these days?

psneeld said:

I have lost touch...what does ABYC say about tinned wire these days?

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I'm not positive, but last I knew, it's suggested, but they don't "require" it.

i don't feel like it's ever a bad idea to upsize a gauge on wire. (unless it just doesn't fit) voltage drop isn't nearly as much of a problem on ac circuits as it is with dc.
i would bet it will end up being cheaper to buy a 50 ft roll than buy 40 ft cut to length. most places that sell cut to length figure in a cut and package amount. this will bring the price per foot up higher than the roll price.
buy the roll, you'll have 10 extra feet. maybe the extra length will make better routing possible, or maybe you'll just have some wire for the next project.

Bmarler said:

i would bet it will end up being cheaper to buy a 50 ft roll than buy 40 ft cut to length.

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That is the case up to 8 AWG. 6 and larger was cheaper to buy by the foot.

Don't forget, distance on DC is total round trip.
Is this install for a Dinghy Burler?

bluebyu said:

Don't forget, distance on DC is total round trip.
Is this install for a Dinghy Burler?

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And THAT is what I was missing. The calculator pages and tables may have that instruction, but I missed it. Back to the drawing board. Thanks Blue.

And yes, it is a Dinghy Butler install.

rslifkin said:

I'm not positive, but last I knew, it's suggested, but they don't "require" it.

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The Classes don't require tinned either. I would skip it unless this is the OPs final boat until the day he dies. Take care of your end connections instead.

Why would you deliberately put in untinned wire? The corrosion resistance is far superior with tinned wire. The cost difference is insignificant in boating terms. It never fails to amaze me that equipment manufacturers are still putting untinned wire on new electronic equipment. I only use tinned wire, heat shrink connectors and one size wire bigger than 3% voltage drop. All of these cost a bit more but it is going into a boat.

If it's not available...that's a pretty good reason.

Plus is not in a really wet or damp environment....it's the waterproofness of the ends that's usually critical for long life.

If he wants the project done...go for the untinned wire.

You can always replace it after years of service if you cut off and replace the ends, checking to see the extent of corrosion..or just ohm check for resistance against original specs.

Why must every boat be built to NASA , even better standards and always be kept in Bristol condition?

Most captain's skills fall far below those standards...but the boat can't?

Even ones that will probably never be brought back that far because it's just not worth it?

Most of these older trawlers never had tinned wire (at least in most runs) and have run for 30 years pretty reliably.

Sure ....do it to best possible....if you really want to but reality begs to differ if it is all that important unless you keep the boat for 30 more years. So use what you can get ...or suffer like some of us with vehicles in collision repair shops waiting months for simple repair parts and have expensive thins wasting away due to supply shortages.....