Would this wire work to wire most of the inside of my cab. Gauges, turn signals lights and so forth? Thanks RUSTY http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/16-G...010QQitemZ200317441754QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
That's primary wire, not my first or second choice. The insulation is nowhere near as good as the SXL that rebelwire uses, or even the GXL that's a little thinner. you can get either of those at delcity.net or waytek The difference in quality between primary wire and the sxl is amazing. According to this months S*****Rodder magazine, you want 14 ga for radio, 16 turn signals, 14 for gauges, 16 stoplight/tailight, etc edit: 14 ga from alt to batt?!? I dunno about that. I'm running a 4 gauge, I'd say 8 gauge minimum but SR says 10 gauge.
10 ga. for the batt. wire on the alt. Looked at the Rebel wire kit last week. Why not do that and have everything marked. You'll find as you age these easier to do kits will be great.
If you have a high output alternator and don't want a very thick wire you can double up 2 smaller gauges. I always use a wire from alt to battery matched to the alt output. no good having a 100 amp alternator and and a cable not capable of handling the power
I am using a E-Zwire kit on the truck,But i'm mounting the fuse box behind the pass bucket seat. The wires to the dash and steering column need to be extended to reach those areas. That's the reason to buy extra wire. RUSTY
Contact E-Z wire and ask them to sell some more of the same wire in your kit.You could get the same color/pattern wire, I'll bet.
Wire size depends on system voltage and amperage draw for seperate components. 16 gauge is kind of large for 12-volt systems which use 18 guage for the average component. The old 6-volt system used a lot of 16 gauge. Buss feed wire would be the largest with say 10 gauge for 12-volt 42 amp system & 8 gauge for larger even 6 guage for systems with a lot of components. 6-volt systems need Large wire due to less carrier voltage. I'd say 2 guage minimum for battery cables with as short a run as possible.
When you talk to them make sure to buy the colors you need to keep everything color coded the same......
Heres a quick list of how I wire cars. Obviously there are exceptions to this like if you have LED tail lights you could probably get away with 20 awg if the current draw is low enough but 90% of the time this is how you should size your wiring. 18 AWG for dash power, illumination and sender leads for gauges. 16 AWG for brakes, tail lights and turn signals. 14 AWG for headlights and start lead from the ignition switch if the starter doesnt get hot and the run is fairly short 12 AWG Ignition and Accesory leads from ignition switch to fuse panel and the heater blower motor. Also use this size for the start lead if its a longer run from the ignition switch or if the starter area gets real hot (resistance goes up with temperature, thats why some motors dont turn over after they hot soak. This can also be remedied with a starter relay with a shorter run of wire for the power to the solenoid). A low amperage alternator under 60 amps can be run in 12. 10 AWG. Battery input to ignition switch and fuse panel. Alternator up to 100 amp or so. 8 AWG Alternator up to 140 amps 6 AWG Alternator to 200 amps 4 AWG battery cables on a low current electrical system with the battery close to the starter 2 awg battery cables on a heavier optioned car or for rear mounted batteries on a low optioned car 1/0 or 2/0 this is for rear mounted batteries or systems that use alot of current like lowriders running hydraulics with a lot of pumps. Beyond that you are into the realm of wiring I dont even deal with. Anything that needs something heavier than 2/0 is probably gonna be on competition stereo systems and I doubt anyone in this forum are doing that.
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