rdamazio
Well Known Member
I'm beginning to wire my airplane, and have one related question: when sizing wires for temperature, what temperature difference should I use?
e.g. most aircraft wire is rated for 150˚C, but what's a reasonable estimate at the wire's temperature? I've seen some places using 20˚C (thus 130˚C difference), but that seems overly optimistic - if I decide to fly when it's 40˚C out, it won't be 20 inside my wings, right?
It also makes a difference for the voltage drop, since the resistance increases with temperature - e.g. for 20˚C it seems I can use a 12AWG for a 20ft 12A wire, but at 150˚C the voltage drop is greater than 0.5V so I'd have to use a 10AWG.
Am I overthinking this?
e.g. most aircraft wire is rated for 150˚C, but what's a reasonable estimate at the wire's temperature? I've seen some places using 20˚C (thus 130˚C difference), but that seems overly optimistic - if I decide to fly when it's 40˚C out, it won't be 20 inside my wings, right?
It also makes a difference for the voltage drop, since the resistance increases with temperature - e.g. for 20˚C it seems I can use a 12AWG for a 20ft 12A wire, but at 150˚C the voltage drop is greater than 0.5V so I'd have to use a 10AWG.
Am I overthinking this?