[Elecraft] [OT] Zip Wire Misrepresentation?

[Clay Autery]

Well, again, you have to define terms...  "good engineering practice". 
Depends on how you define good...

I am known far and wide for my incessant "over-engineering".  I don't
consider it over-engineering.  I am always considering additional
factors in my designs beyond IMMEDIATE cost.

Cost for upgrades, costs for repairs, value of my time if I have to
fix/rework, etc.

Bottom Line:  My stuff works, and my stuff seldom fails... virtually
NEVER due to my work.

Dad taught me a few things/principles...

1) Do it right the first time.
2) Buy the best tools/materials you can afford... If you can't afford to
buy them once, you surely can't afford to buy them again.

So... when I am pulling wire for sure... I try to over-build... I hate
crawling around in attics, etc...

In this instance...  the guy is doing a 20' power cable from his battery
to his radio....

I'd use way larger wire than 10 AWG... likely some welding wire with
nice oil/solvent resistant insulation...  I'd twist it because a
non-twisted 20 foot loop makes a fine antenna/radiator.
I'd put nice big copper crimp and solder lugs on the battery end and
adapt it down to the largest Powerpole that would still fit the radio. 
I'd add supplemental screw terminals or something to the battery
terminals to facilitate adding the radio jumper...  and either include
and INLINE fuse mounted in the vehicle near the battery or inline on the
cable near the battery.

______________________
Clay Autery, KY5G
MONTAC Enterprises
(318) 518-1389

On 8/11/2016 1:12 PM, Kevin - K4VD wrote:
> The added cost of a 3x over-build seems like it would be awfully high.
> Is this good engineering practice (seriously, I don't know)? 
>
> Kevin K4VD
>
> On Thu, Aug 11, 2016 at 12:38 PM, Clay Autery <cautery at montac.com
> <mailto:cautery at montac.com>> wrote:
>
>     How do you define "necessary".
>
>     Paraphrasing K9YC, Jim....  "Big wire is your friend".
>
>     I agree...
>
>     I typically use wire at least 2 sizes larger than "required".... 
>     Often
>     the wire size is determined by how big of a wire I can FIT in the
>     application and how much money I can part with at the time.
>
>     For instance, on my current power project... I am running 6 AWG x
>     4 from
>     the service to the sub-panel @ 50 foot run for a 60 Amp separately
>     derived service where there'll never be more than about a 20 Amp total
>     demand...
>
>     From the sub-panel to the receptacles about 3-1/2 feet below, I am
>     using
>     10 AWG....  only because that's the largest wire the receptacle
>     terminals are rated for.
>
>     From the receptacles to all equipment, minimum 10 AWG...
>
>     Bigger and shorter the wire, the better...
>
>     ______________________
>     Clay Autery, KY5G
>     MONTAC Enterprises
>     (318) 518-1389
>