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Flexibility
These cables will likely be moved around, plugged in, unplugged, etc. many times during debugging and testing. This means we need a high strand count in the cables.
Gauge
The wires must have sufficiently low resistance in order to minimize the resistive power losses and increase the efficiency of the drivetrain. We have selected a minimum of 4AWG (25mm2) for DC battery and 6AWG (16mm2) for DC motor controller wires. Motor phase output wires should be no larger than 16mm2 (10mm outer diameter) to fit in the motor controllers)
Color
We will keep all high voltage cable ORANGE, as the recommended industry standard (recommended by SAE, though I can’t find the document). Black or red heatshrink will be used on the ends of the wires to denote positive and negative high voltage wires.
Shielding
MSXII did not have shielded HV cables, and no significant issues were observed (after switching to differential communications). I would love to do more research into this, but for now we will stick with non shielded wire.
Insulation
Concerns with PVC insulation - it will slowly pull back from the connector over time, as it does when soldering
Crosslinking and irradiation explained here: https://chargedevs.com/features/cable-sizing-and-selection-for-ev-systems/
We will go for crosslinked, irradiated insulation, per the recommendations from Champlain Cable:
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