Wiring Q; Amperage v. Gauge

[rapieper at yahoo.com (Ron Pieper)]

It all depends on length!

There are maaany good wire gauge calculators available on the internet...just be sure to spell the
word 'gauge' correctly in your search!

G/L, 

Ron

--- Cmr446@cs.com wrote:
>   I was out looking for some heavier ga. wire to increase what my car's 
> wiring system can handle (going for slight overkill for potential capacity) 
> and found 8ga. rope strand. The spool this came off of said it can handle up 
> to 60amps. How is it that my alternator lead and the lead from the battery to 
> the fusebox is only 10ga. and seems to deal with the 90amps from the alt. to 
> battery to fusebox without any problem (no smoke)? Is it the difference in 
> the construction or type of strand? That is to say, "stranded", the usual 
> stiff multi-strand 10ga. can handle more amperage because of the thicker 
> strands, compared to the finer "rope strand" 8ga.?
>   I thought the thicker guage is supposed to handle higher amps. A search 
> online for "8 gauge" and "wire guage" turned up very little in answers, lots 
> of  stereo instalation kits for sale, shotguns, and spokes. The only useful 
> chart I found was here:
> http://www.diymobilesound.com/tutorials/wire_gauge.htm
> It claims only to have to do with specific types of car amplifiers.
> 
> Carl
> 77rocco
> 03saturn - can not modify under penalty of wife!
> 
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