What kind of wire to use with an actuator?

[yuccabrevifolia]

Bought the actuator and the V-Box is on the way. I've searched the discussions and have seen that some folks use sprinkler timer wire for the purpose, but in most discussions people don't talk about the specific wire/gauge. Since I have a hundred foot run from the dish to my living room, and wire is no longer cheap, I want to make sure I have the right stuff the first time.

Two questions for the more informed:

Do I have to worry about line loss with a slightly over hundred foot distance?

What do you use to wire your actuator?

Thanks in advance!

 

[stanleyjohn]

Its not cheap!but for the cable made for the job! satellite ribbon cable is what you want.I shopped around and this is the cheapest i could find unless you can find someone who has some to get rid of.Volunteer Satellite Distributors /Coax, big dish satellite wire, RG 6, RG 11 - CABLE & WIRE - Volunteer Satellite Distributors
P/S just bought 100 ft of it a few weeks ago!It took about a week to get by ground.I wouldnt worry about sig loss with the amount your thinking of using.

 

[KennyR]

I've been using telephone wire since 2006, 118ft run moving a 6 ft unimesh with no problems. the black burial type.

 

[eurosport]

I use sprinkler wire from Lowes or Home Depot.

 

[bidaw]

I use Cat-5 cable. Haven't had a problem yet. It's easy to get a hold of and very very cheap (if not free). Good Luck!

 

[tofer]

110' of 4c#18 belden cable(shielded).No probs with it over the last ten years. The original ribbon cable looks bigger,like #12 or #14. No doubt there is a voltage drop, or a bigger voltage drop than the proper cable but the dc motor in the dish mover should not draw more amps to fry the power supply. Just move slower I suppose.

 

[signal.quest]

I use Cat-5 cable. Haven't had a problem yet. It's easy to get a hold of and very very cheap (if not free). Good Luck!

Would Cat-5e or Cat 6 work just as well? Do you use this for the 36V too or just the sensor?

 

[bidaw]

Would Cat-5e or Cat 6 work just as well? Do you use this for the 36V too or just the sensor?

Shouldn't pose a problem. You won't need all of the wires. Just 4. 2 for the power and 2 for the sensor.

 

[Babadem]

So many options to choose from. I may checkout the Lowes sprinkler wire option.

 

[dougruss]

I ran 14 gauge Speaker Wire( Motor) and 18 gauge Speaker Wire (Sensor) in PVC Conduit.:up


.

 

[jaray]

Home Depot sells 12 gauge outdoor low voltage landscape lighting wire. Its about the cheapest you'll find for a direct burial cable. I have a run about 100' and it works perfect.
If you look at the gauge of the power/sensor wires in that premade satellite cable the gauge is no less anyway. So at the end of the day, its the same thing. Nice to have it all in the same bundled cable I guess but not to the tune of the price of that stuff.

 

[crossbow]

Im running about 75 ft 6 conductor phone cable cause I had a bunch. Paralleled 2 pairs for motor current and remaining pair for reed sensor. Works great on Harl 3618 actuator on 6 ft dish.

 

[jaray]

I have to add, CAT5 is usually solid pairs, 24 gauge each. You could get away with twisting the pairs together but its solid, not pliable to work with and just isn't the better cable to use. A good way to convince yourself...just look at it, its quite small.
Strip off some of the insulation of the 12 gauge landscape cable and you'll see the difference right away. That stuff belongs outside.
Outdoor CAT5 is the same gauge generally as indoor CAT5, comes in direct burial too but just isn't right for the job. If you happen to have to splice 2 pieces together, the splice will be alot better using the landscape cable than CAT5 also.

 

[tofer]

It kind of comes down to the fact that phone cable, or network cable is not meant to really carry current. That would cover the size or guage of the wire, but also the insulation of the wire. Cat cable or twisted pair cable is meant for coms. and twisted to cancel noise. This would make it perfect for the reed sensor but even if you parallel every other pair together to supply the motor(to increase the effective guage) ,the insulation is not for current. Obviously Small guage wire is working for most of us because our dish movers are intermittent duty. Sounds like that #12 from home depot might be the best stuff to supply the motor if your going to invest a bunch of time to bury it and dont want to revisit the situation soon. The reed sensor could be tied in with any gauge in a weather resistant cable. good luck in your project! I know even when I have buried spares (esp. coax), I always end up wishing for more for some reason.

 

[yuccabrevifolia]

Thanks for all of the ideas! I hadn't thought of cat5. I already have a roll of that Home Depot sprinkler timer wire that has been in the garage for some time. I think I'll try that first. There isn't anything in the way between the house and the dish so I'll just hook it up on the surface as proof of concept prior to actually trenching and burying. The ground is too hard to trench right now.

Eventually I want to put all four of the dishes I have accumulated out there, so I'll probably bury 1.5" PVC from the house to the dish with some string through to fish cable out later.

Noted that this solution really isn't meant for voltage, so I'll keep an eye out for some heavier wire specifically for the 36 volt to fish through for those connections.

BTW: The vbox came yesterday. I am amazed at how heavy it is. Guess I have my project for today cut out for me.

Thanks a lot for the help!