Power cable options

  • Power cable options

    Posted by Mayan Gabbay on February 11, 2023 at 10:36 am

    Hello everyone,

    We are just about to connect our land to the electrical power supply of ICE. There are several options of cables and we are not sure which one to use. Which power cable would you recommend for the house connection? Neutracen 3×6, neutracen 3×4, or neutracen 3×2 ?


    Anyone with experience and can share some light would be much appreciated.


    Muchas Gracias ????????

    Mayan Gabbay replied 1 year, 11 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • Eric Baudry

    Organizer
    February 12, 2023 at 10:03 am

    Hello Mayan!

    I think the two biggest considerations to help choose would be the distance that the wires need to carry power (since thin wires lose more energy enroute), and how much power (voltage, amperage) will be passing through the lines at one time.

    A third consideration when setting up your land is if you intend to hang the wires or bury them underground in trenches.

    Undergrounding has the benefits of being better for the ecology, and removing unsightly cables/poles/equipment. The downside is that it costs extra to dig a trench, and if future maintenance is needed it would take more time to access the wires. Also sometimes underground wires can be accidentally damaged by other projects like putting in roads or other earth-moving.

    If you are looking at short distances, and low loads, you could likely use some or the more basic wire. However if the service will come onto your land, and be split by many houses, and if there is the potential that those houses could have high power use at some point, like through multiple electric driers or air conditioning or other motors/pumps, it can make sense to spend more for thicker wire.

    The main perk for thicker wires is that they can carry more power at one time, and for example you might have 98% of your power arrive instead of 96%, which seems a small difference yet that 2% wastage over decades is a huge loss, and likely much more expensive than the initial cost difference of buying thicker wires.

    So in your situation, I would probably be considering between the medium quality to the high quality, probably undergrounding it, and not trying to save money by getting the thinnest option.

    Hope this helps!

  • Mayan Gabbay

    Member
    February 13, 2023 at 1:51 pm

    Thank you Eric, as always so far, very helpful. We resonate with what you said and we decided to do it that way.

    bendiciones ✨

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