Wire guage for primary to fuse block

[RatLabGuy]

I had a cutinmy main wire goin gfrom teh battery to the fuse block (primary wire) so i got into re-routing/replacing it.

I'm a little surprised to see it's only 10 ga, if I read the specs right that's only rated for 55 A, that dosn'tseem like much for the main line for everything.

Is this normal? What do you guys use? Or am I justbeing paranoid?
8 ga and up is definitely harder to find, and i don't see crimp connectors, rings etc for that big either... but I'd think being over-rated here is definitely best...?

 

[DerrickS]

10 gauge is pretty common for most auto wiring. This is usually a pretty short section of wire, so it has lower resistance. Heat dissipation is also a consideration in wire size, and unless you've got it covered up, then it should be fine. It would be pretty hard to melt 10 gauge with auto accessories. I might go to eight if I was moving the battery to the back of the vehicle, but otherwise, I really wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Caver Dave]

8 ga and up is definitely harder to find, and i don't see crimp connectors, rings etc for that big either... but I'd think being over-rated here is definitely best...?

Depends on where you're looking... not a lot of selection at AutoZoo! What you need to do is hit up a stereo/installation shop.

I bought about 7' of super-fine stranded 8ga, several SOLDER ON connectors & NICE sealed fuse holder, and a 50A fuse for like $15 OTD from the place on Reynolda...

 

[upnover]

10 ga is fine for a stock vehicle and stock accessories. But when you add stuff on like rock lights, electric fans, winches and so on, it's best to run them directly to the battery. That way the drain from such things do not go through your wiring on the rig.
If you want to replace the 10ga, it's easy enough to do, if you were closer, I could give you some 6ga.
Depending on your alternator, you can also run a cable from your alternator to your battery, using bigger cable.
Something else you can do to splice cables is using copper tubing of the right inside diameter. Crimp or solder.

 

[WARRIORWELDING]

We use everything from 16 ga. to 2 ga.battery and welding cable at work. All kinds of ends are available for all of them. We use several distributors. Auto parts retailers like Flowers and Fleetpride, ans Fastenersupply, ect.. There are some high quality reasonably priced online distributors too. They have found some of these companies like Terminal Supply offer far better prices on higher quality components. We were getting better deals on large gauge cables at one time through the welding supply vendors and its finer stranded wire which carries the load more effectively and is more flexible and heat resistant to boot!