Welding cable vs Battery cable

The challenging decision is when there is a need to choose between welding and battery cable while they have similar characteristics.

Battery Cable:
Battery conductor is efficient and suitable to be used for the connection between the battery and its starter. It is a single conductor bare copper cable with a PVC or XLPE insulation. Due to thicker copper strands and not tightly compressed in PVC sleeving makes the battery cable less flexible when compared to welding cable. Thus, making it difficult to work in a cold environment. Since there are few copper strands, battery cable results in setting a limit to applications that need more than 60V power. Battery conductor can withstand exposure to weather, weather, oil, acids and cracking because of PVC jacket. You can find the cable in a red and black jacket.

Welding Cable:
Initially, welding cable was used for welding needs that required mobility to move and bend. This cable also referred to as grounding cable is one of the Portable cords. It is highly preferred for its flexibility and versatility as it has finer strands of copper and EPDM insulation usage. The conductor can manage high voltage applications because of finer copper strands. These cables have superior resistance to oil, water, cuts, tears, and abrasion. The long-lasting welding cables are offered in an orange jacket but can also be found in red, black, yellow, blue and green color jackets.

There are 3 different types of welding cable:

1. Welding Cable Class K:
Fully Annealed Class K stranded Bare Copper Conductor is insulated with Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Rubber (EPDM). It used for power transmission with 600 voltage rating and has a temperature rating of -40°C to -90°C.

2. Welding Cable Class M:
Fully annealed stranded bare copper per ASTM B-172 Class M is a premium quality welding cable because of the durable orange jacket. It has a temperature rating of -50ºC to +90ºC

3. Ultra Flex Rugged Jacket Welding Cable:
This highly flexible cable is designed to be used in pipelines tight spaces and robotics. It has Rugged EPDM jacket with black stripe and paper separator and a temperature rating of -50ºC to +105ºC (-58 F to 221 F). The conductor has been marked as Halogen-free and Ozone resistant.

Application and Safety:
• Battery cable is applicable for various applications. It is been provided to the industries that have a limitation of 60 volts of power usage. The cable is an ideal solution for applications with no sharp curves. On the other hand Welding cable is a secondary voltage-resistance cable for welding machines that are connected to industrial equipment. Also, used in power supply applications by not exceeding a voltage of 600 volts. Having EPDM jacket makes it easier to be used in tight battery applications and marine applications.

• To prevent future damage there should always be right safety measures taken with both of the conductors such as removing grease and oil, change damaged cable with a new one. When it comes to protection of cable from the hazardous elements battery conductor meets the UL-558 and UL-553 flame-resistant standards while Welding cable meets the UL-1581 flame-resistant standards.