Electrical Wire & Cable Specialists

Voltage rating is one of the most basic, fundamental ratings associated with electrical wire and cable, given in volts. Voltage itself is a measurement of electrical potential, calculated by multiplying a given electrical current (in amperes, I), by the resistance of a conductor, (in ohms, Ω). The material of the conductor, as well as the thickness, will all impact resistance. These things, being variables from which voltage is drawn, affect voltage rating. Think of voltage as the force “pushing” the electricity through a wire or cable, similar to how plumbing pipes experience line pressure, except that line pressure is measured in PSI instead of volts. Just like with water pipes, it is essential never to exceed the voltage rating of a given conductor - but instead of a burst pipe, exceeding the voltage rating of an electrical conductor can cause overheating, fires, and an elevated risk of dangerous electrical shock. But what exactly is a wire’s voltage rating? ...

Agility is important for a few kinds of electrical wires, but it isn't required for all of them for the same rationale. With this in mind, marine battery cable is often designed to be very pliable to fit through a boat's tight spaces more readily. Welding cables for sale are another kind of cable that need a high level of flexibility during production. To be able to withstand the rigors of the industry, they must be designed to be as flexible as possible, much like marine battery wire. There's another reason why welding cables for sale need to have a high degree of flexibility: a large percentage of activities involving welding are in industrial or construction environments. As you would expect, these workplaces are not "flexible." The welding cable, however, has to be. It is essential that the power cables that feed welding equipment be able to withstand the dangers of the working site while also being flexible enough to meet the needs of the welders. With n...

If you’ve ever done any wiring on a boat, whether you’re in the electrical trade or just a casual boater, this is a legitimate question. After all, stripping marine battery wire will expose some silvery filaments that do, after all, look silver. So are they? Let’s look at what qualifies marine battery wire and the reasons it is designed and manufactured according to those qualifications. So What Is It Made of? First things first, marine battery cable is actually not silver, although it looks like it. Ironically, silver is an excellent electrical conductor, among the best known. However, silver, like copper (which is used for most electrical conductors, including marine cable as you are about to see) suffers from a common deficiency. Both are prone to oxidation - that is, both silver and copper corrode. As you might know, these effects are broadly exacerbated in humid and saltwater environments - both of which ships and boats are prone to encounter. To answer the...

  When talking about battery management systems of any kind, battery cables are among the most important components. It does not matter if we´re talking about automotive or marine battery cables , they must ensure you always have stable power and prevent battery drain. This not only means that they have to be properly secured and protected. Size and gauge play a vital role when choosing the right battery cable for your system. Here are three things you must always bear in mind when selecting and installing your battery cables. Proper Gauge Understanding cable gauges can be a problem for many as gauge measurements can be very counterintuitive. During the early days of the cable industry, cables were made out from a strand of iron that needed to be thinned out by passing them through increasingly narrower drawing dice until they were the right diameter. A 0 gauge cable meant that it didn't need to be reduced or gauged, while a 30 gauge cable went through 30 drawing dice until it ...

Owning a boat requires a lot of work if you want to keep it in top shape for the next outing. Washing and waxing the fiberglass hull, cleaning up the bilge so you can spot leaking fluids, lubricating where needed, flushing your engine… However, one of the most important things to be concerned about is making sure your electrical system works properly. You really don't want to have a power outage when you're away from the shore. Your electrical system not only keeps the lights on in your boat but also pumps life into your engines and powers vital instruments like your navigation and comms equipment. These systems are relatively easy to maintain on land. However, the marine environment puts tremendous amounts of pressure on your electrical systems in the form of humidity, corrosion, constant vibration, and exceptionally common instances of “Murphy's Law” at play. Being aware that anything that can go wrong will go wrong, boat owners are forced to be proactive and ma...

  Fire alarm cable is of the utmost importance to public safety, as it allows the different nodes within a fire alarm system to communicate. If there’s a problem with the wiring and the system can’t communicate, it can’t relay important information about heat, smoke detection, or carbon monoxide to other nodes, smoke detectors, or alarms in the system. Talk to any civil or electrical engineer about that and they’ll concur. That’s why all of the minute details associated with wiring should be understood - thoroughly understood - before attempting to complete plans or install wiring. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at two important fire alarm cable ratings - for riser-rated and plenum-rated cables. What Is Riser Space? Riser space, as the name might suggest, allows for utilities to “rise” through a building. That is, it is the vertical space reserved for things like communication lines, water pipes, conduits, and of course, alarm cables, to be vertically distributed ...

Purchasing your first boat is a uniquely liberating experience. The thought of being able to sail away from worries, being alone at sea, spending quality time with your family aboard, or even traveling at leisure, are all ideas that cross most people's minds every once in a while. However, anyone with an IQ of room temperature knows that owning a boat comes with a new host of responsibilities that need to be properly taken care of if they want their dream to last. That's why I have prepared a short and sweet guide on what to look for when buying one of the most important onboard elements: marine electrical cables . What Is Considered Marine Electrical Cable? Even the most barebones dingy today has some kind of electrical equipment on board, and they're no good if there is a risk of them breaking as soon as you lose sight of the coast. Marine electrical cables are a category within the electrical wiring industry to designate cables specifically designed to withstand anyth...