[HCARC] Rotator Cable

[Dale Gaudier]

Gary:

It depends on what your rotor manufacturer calls for.

Hy-Gain specifies the following minimum rotor wire gauges for their rotors:

Max. length Gauge for Terminals  1 & 2 	Term. 3-8
125' 				          #18 	   #22
200 				           16 	    20
300 				           14         18
500 				           12 	    16
800 				           10 	    14

Note that most Hy-Gain rotors use 8 wires: wires 1 and 2 are for supplying
power, 3-8 for control voltages.

I use an M2 Orion P2800PX rotor to turn my Force 12 Delta 6BA array. It uses
a 4 wire rotor cable. Wires 1 and 2 are for power, 3 and 4 for control
voltages. My cable run is almost 650 ft. and I use a cable with two #12
gauge wires for power, and two #18 gauge wires for the control voltages. I
called the M2 distributor, Array Solutions in Dallas, before I bought the
rotor and cable to be sure this gauge of cable would work for the long
distance I needed to run it. I bought the rotor cable from the Wireman
(www.thewireman.com). Shorter runs ( < 200 ft.) can use lighter gauge wires.


If you're using a different manufacturer's rotor, you'll need to check with
them for the minimum gauges wire you'll need for the rotor.

There is no requirement that you use "rotor" wire to drive your rotor. Any
good wire of the correct gauge that has a UV resistant jacket will work. The
advantage of using rotor wire is that all the conductors are bundled
together. Good quality rotor wire will also have a metallic shield around
the wire bundle, which may help reduce sensitivity to induced noise that can
affect pulsed control systems.

73,

Dale - K4DG



-----Original Message-----
From: Gary and Arlene Johnson [mailto:qltfnish at omniglobal.net] 
Sent: Monday, March 18, 2013 8:06 PM
To: hcarc at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [HCARC] Rotator Cable

In the interest of making sure that he cable I pre-wire as rotator cable is
hefty enough for approx 175-200 feet, would 3 runs of this low voltage (300
V max) cable suffice??  I think it would but would like to be sure.

500Ft 16 Gauge 2 Wire 16/2 300V Landscape Lighting Cable for Direct Burial
Black Gary J N5BAA HCARC Secretary 2013
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