How Can I Calculate Wire Temperature Consistently for Electrical Projects?

[bdmonist]

I am looking to determine the temperature in a certain gauge wire, fed by a battery pack. I am looking to design the battery requirements and wire size in order to maintain a certain temperature. The electrical calculations (I am not an electrical engineer) I have found all assume continually increasing temperatures. Am I right in assuming that I would need to calculate the heat dissipation using heat transfer calcs in order to determine the relatively constant temperature that would be obtained based on my parameters? Or is there a straight forward calc that can be used to estimate (I do not need exact temps) the temps that would be maintained in the wire? All help is greatly appreciated.

Brian

 

[vk6kro]

If you continually put heat into something but it can't escape, the temperature will keep rising.

So, yes, you do need to consider the cooling as well as the heating.

Unfortunately, this is probably more difficult to estimate than to actually build it up and measure it.