Fuse Box Wire

[jpjones125]

Does anyone know what gauge wire runs into the fuse box?

Im looking to purchase some additional wire in the correct colors, but im not sure what gauge wire I will need.

I have purchased a DeloreanGo replacement fuse box, I plan to install the correct color wire into the new terminals in 10 inch segments while at a workbench, then cut the wires on the old fuse box one at a time and use solder-seal waterproof connectors with a heat gun.



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[Josh]

You asked the same thing on facebook 4 days ago and got two good suggestions and asked no further questions.

Why are you asking again?

[jpjones125]

Curiosity about the resources available mostly.

British Wiring are who I will order most of it from.
Auto Sparks has some great stuff too.

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[Bitsyncmaster]

Do you realize how many different colors our car uses? And then the different gauge of all those colors. If you untangle the harness as you do one wire at a time you will have very few circuits that need extra wire. Some of the fuses also have two wires on one or both sides.

[jpjones125]

I see your point. I still have tons to learn about the wiring on this car, Ill confess it has me scratching my head a lot!

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[Bitsyncmaster]

I did butt join the double wires and added a new wire to crimp to the fuse pin. I don't like running double wires to fuse pins or relay pins. British wire does not exactly relate to AWG numbers. All the small wire equates to 19 AWG and the other large wires are close to 14 AWG and 12 AWG.

House wiring 14 AWG is rated at 15 amps. Cars usually run higher amperage with that gauge.
12 AWG is 20 amps in the house but again cars go higher.

Fuses are used to prevent a fire in case of a short circuit. They are not really good to prevent damage to the device they are powering.

[David T]

The gauge of wire in houses is based on "continuous loads". Many of the loads in cars are not considered continuous so they can get away with running more amps than a house. Also the number of amps depends on the insulation and if the wire is inside a pipe or in open air. All of these factors allow for more amperage. Fuses (or circuit breakers) are designed to protect the wire in a house, never the load. In cars, because you know what the load is, you can fuse to protect it. A car is under 100 volts so most of the rules that apply to house wiring do not apply to cars. While 14 gauge is rated at 15 amps (depending on the insulation), you are not allowed to draw that continuously, you can only draw 80% of that in a house. Bottom line, the electrical design requirements of a car are very different than a house. In fact, we are seeing a major revision of car's wiring rules because of electric cars.

[Ron]

I wound up doing it using a combination of the above suggestions:
Tag and cut a few of the shortest wires going to the fuse box, to get room to work.
Load the new fuse box one wire at a time.
Ignoring the OEM gauge:
Make pigtails for the few previously cut wires by soldering a bare terminal to a heavy gauge wire.
Heat shrink, them if needed.
At the splice, slide a piece of heat shrink over the original wire, then solder bare union connectors.
(Do the same for any wires damaged near the box.)