Blue Sky circuit wizard VS other calculators

[boondox]

Hi All,

I was figuring out what wire to order to install the DC to DC battery charger in my van. I decided to try the Blue Sky calculator I often see referenced here.

Circuit Wizard - Blue Sea Systems

My numbers are:

Voltage: 12VDC
Run: 15'
Amps: 50
Allowable drop: 3%

I selected "terminated with fuse" and "in conduit or sheath". The calculator coughed up 6AWG. That seemed a little light to me. So I went to my usual calculator:

American Wire Gauge Chart and AWG Electrical Current Load Limits table with ampacities, wire sizes, skin depth frequencies and wire breaking strength

AWG Wire size chart and ampacity table for design engineers including skin depth frequencies and tensile strength data; electrical cable size

www.powerstream.com

And it said that 6AWG would give me a loss of 5%. So I went to a third calculator as a tie breaker:

Voltage Drop Calculator

This free voltage drop calculator estimates the voltage drop of an electrical circuit based on the wire size, distance, and anticipated load current.

www.calculator.net

It agrees with the PowerStream calculator. So what do y'all think? From my experience, 6AWG seems too small to move 50 amps. Other calculators agree. Is the BlueSky wizard accurate?

 

[John Frum]

Is that 15 feet round trip?

 

[boondox]

SmoothJoey for the win! The calculators I use have always asked you to enter the one way length. The BlueSky means you to enter the entire length.

Thanks for clearing that up SJ!