Question for the electricians on here.

[eliteweldingco]

It’s approximately 600’ from my sub panel outside my house to our front gate. I was planning on using #6 copper to run up there to run the gate and 2 led lights. With the prices of copper and such I have stumbled in some aluminum wire. Is this a bad idea?

[Greenheadless]

You are way undersized I think on your calculation depending on your load.

You can use aluminum, it would just need to be larger than copper.

There are voltage drop calculators you can use online.

[bowhunterchris]

Aluminum is fine. Will need a bigger wire than copper.

[Killer]

Need to know distance(600) feet; need to know amp load(don’t know); need to know wire size( don’t know) then you can figure your voltage drop. Aluminum will work just. I assume you are running UG to the gate? As stated aluminum will need to be bigger size than copper.

[HogHunter34]

I think you could have issues down the road. Aluminum wiring is known for corrosion over time at the terminations. Running it outdoors with influence of cold, hot, humidity will only magnify the problem

[Pedernal]

Why not put in a solar set up if all you need is power for a light and to operate the date??

[db@100]

If done correctly, aluminum will work just fine. The utility companies use it all the time.

[MadHatter]

If done correctly, aluminum will work just fine. The utility companies use it all the time.

Yep, just penetrox it on the termination ends.

[Greenheadless]

I think you could have issues down the road. Aluminum wiring is known for corrosion over time at the terminations. Running it outdoors with influence of cold, hot, humidity will only magnify the problem

That was an issue with older aluminum. It is not an issue today with the alloys they are using.

[the-butcher]

Yep, just penetrox it on the termination ends.

Yep. This is all the power company uses.

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[Mike D]

600’ distance on a 120V circuits is extremely unreasonable. The wire size you would have to run to account for voltage drop will never even be able
to terminate on a 20A breaker.

Aluminum wire is fine but only makes the problem above worse because of having to use larger size wire.




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[Zmaxhunter]

I think you could have issues down the road. Aluminum wiring is known for corrosion over time at the terminations. Running it outdoors with influence of cold, hot, humidity will only magnify the problem

Are you an electrician?
Do you realize 90% or more of all overhead lines, service drops, etc.. are located outdoors.. i have underground and overhead aluminum wiring i installed over 20yrs ago.. with no problems.

When connections are done correctly.. there is little need for worry.. same is tue for copper.

[Bill]

Go with solar panel(s) you can buy with your gate opener. Our Ghost gate openers can run 1 or 2 panels.

I was told I should have bought a deep cycle boat battery instead of their battery packs- by somebody in their customer tech support group. My batteries work fine now.

Same comment for lighting.

Realize the gate openers do not provide physical security/- they keep honest people honest.


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[Bill]

Are you an electrician?

Do you realize 90% or more of all overhead lines, service drops, etc.. are located outdoors.. i have underground and overhead aluminum wiring i installed over 20yrs ago.. with no problems.



When connections are done correctly.. there is little need for worry.. same is tue for copper.

As I understand it, since Al and Cu have different expansion coefficients with temperature, residential connections got loose then got oxidized causing fire risks.

Go solar.


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[KenWood]

The compact aluminum of today is much better than it used to be. If you are 10 amps or less you can get by with a #2 to get right at 3% voltage drop. That all said, I have 12 volt ghost gate controllers and they are really good. Expensive but probably cheaper than running a circuit out there and buying a 120 volt gate controller. Wire is high right now and PVC is ridiculously expensive.