Hi @an-ron,
I would like to clarify my initial answer, you do not need to change your thrusters to using 16 AWG cable, the WLP 6.5 MM, especially the upcoming high compression (HC) version, will likely work well with your existing thrusters. We just can’t give any official warranty on such a configuration, since it was not assembled by our own technicians and has not been thoroughly tested to the degree the 16 AWG cable has been. Unless you are running the thruster at 20V full throttle for extended periods or regularly diving to hundreds of meters, unofficially I expect the WLP 6.5 MM should work well with the 18 AWG cable.
However, if you would like to use the Cobalt connectors instead, that is absolutely a valid option as well that would also give you the benefit of easily disconnectable external connection.
It is not possible to replace the cable on the thruster, it is directly potted into the thruster core. You would need to splice the 16 AWG cable to the 18 AWG cable, the splice would have it’s own challenges and be a potential leak path, which if I understand your intent would defeat the purpose.
We changed from 18 AWG to 16 AWG cable on the T200 thruster for a few reasons:
- There is less power loss on the 16 AWG cable leading to better operating efficiency
- The cable will heat up less while the thruster is under high power. At full power at 20V for extended periods, the old 18AWG cable could begin to soften and even melt under some conditions in air
- For the above reasons, some of our customers had been requesting custom T200s with 16 AWG cable for a number of years, and it made sense to bring all thrusters to this one cable type for production efficiency
- The reduced heating of the cable leads to greater performance with the WLP, heating of the 18 AWG cable under high load could be a limiting factor for long term WLP sealing performance
The change was decided early on in the development of the WLP, so we focused on officially validating the performance with the 16 AWG cable.
-Adam