Cable Wire equivalent

[borzio]

Hi all, could someone advise me on the correct wire to buy in the UK for the following problem:

I have an electric outboard engine that I am going to link to a 12v battery via a 50amp circuit breaker as recommended by the Owner's Manual. It says that if extending the outboard's cable to use "13mm (squared) wire (6-gauge wire AWG)". I will be extending the cable by 1m and have looked at a conversion table that says 6-gauge wire AWG is UK equivalent 4mm.

Is this correct and what sort of cable can I use, and lastly would the two coloured cables out of a reel of 10mm T&E left over from a previous job be suitable?
Thanks in advance for any advice given

 

[SimonH2]

You have your conversion wrong, 6 AWG is equivalent to 13mm^2, not 4. When people talk about "4mm cable", they (normally) mean 4mm^2 rather than 4mm diameter.

I think you would be better to double up the cable - ie use two pieces of red in parallel for the positive, and two pieces of black in parallel for the negative. That will get your 20mm^2 which should be more than adequate. it's not so much the current carrying capacity, but the volt drops - with only 12V to start with, any volt drops will have a significant impact on performance.

However, I assume this outboard will swivel for steering ? That means you'll be flexing the cable by a significant amount and very frequently. Your T&E rally is not suitable for that, it will work harden very quickly and eventually break.
You would be better getting some flexible cable - 16mm^2 or 25mm^2 welding cable shouldn't be too expensive since you're only needing a couple of meters.

 

[EFLImpudence]

No.

You have already answered your own question.

6 AWG = 13 square millimetres (cross-sectional area) how wire is clasified.
This is approximately 4mm. in diameter.

 

[bernardgreen]

You could use 16 sq mm meter tails which can be bought by the metre length.

 

[Lectrician]

16mm Tri-Rated.

 

[SimonH2]

You could use 16 sq mm meter tails which can be bought by the metre length.

And which would not be suitable for a constantly moving connection.

 

[borzio]

Thanks to everyone for the info supplied and for pointing out the mistakes in my post. I'm a lot happier as to what I need to do the job.
I recognise the problem pointed out with flexing the10mm cable I asked about, and should have given a better explanation of the cable arrangement. The new extension cables would be from a secure fixed position battery to the circuit breaker that would also be fixed to a bulkhead and immovable. I have allowed the outboard's original cable to have the same freedom to rotate as before when it only attached to the battery, so in effect I have swapped a fixed position battery for a fixed position circuit breaker.
Once again many thanks

 

[SimonH2]

In that case, if you have some 10mm T&E lying around, then that will do fine - preferably doubled up to give you 20mm^2.

 

[borzio]

Thanks Simonh2, that's what I'll do as I have plenty of that cable left, and I'll double it up as suggested.
Your help and that of everyone else is greatly appreciated, cheers all.