wire gauge ?

[blazer2007]

I was wondering, if a device like a air ride compressor needed 8 gauge for power and you used a larger gauge like a 6 Gauge is this a bad idea to run larger than necessary. I,m think this is true for house wiring . I also read to run the same gauge for ground but this was for stereo amps. Just trying to improve my limited wiring skills as alot of my wiring is wrong in my blazer and I,ve started fixing them. Haven't had problems YET but don,t want one. It,s like this wire is long enough, should work , ya right.

[Southcity]

Using larger than required wire will not hurt anything or cause any overload. Meaning, you can go heavier, NEVER go lighter. A few things to consider: the larger wire will cost more, the pathway or where it has to fit, and the physical size of the connection (ie. the size of terminal or clamp it has to fit in) will all be determining factors in just how big is too big. A larger gauge wire will carry more current for any given distance than a smaller gauge wire will.

Copper wire is favored as opposed to aluminum wire. Try to avoid aluminum wire altogether, copper is a better conductor than aluminum. In addition, the type of soft aluminum required to make wire tends to work-harden quickly (bend, bend, bend, break). And, if there are dissimilar metals, they tend to react and will oxidize, which increases resistance, which can lead to poor conductivity and/or overheating of the wire. In a nutshell, using aluminum wire isn’t worth the aggravation or the risk.

Best practice is to ALWAYS size the wire to the load it will carry. If not sure what size that is...be sure to find out, don't guess.

[lutronjim]

Another baddy for aluminum wire - connectors. If the wire gets hot under load, it can 'extrude' from the crimp or under a screw head a little each time it gets hot - enough times and fire when it starts arcing. Lot of old house fires from this. I think the code at one time had a short piece of copper wire 'welded' to the end for connection.

Supposedly there was a specific tork setting where this wouldn't happed - although I haven't seen many electricians carrying tork wrenches.

[blazer2007]

thank you

[brian1115]

You can use this chart from blue sea systems when selecting the appropriate wire size and fuse size for all components. It has helped me out in the past.

http://assets.bluesea.com/files/reso.../980006450.pdf