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12v wiring gauge


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hi, had problem with my dodge. its a wc42 and was already converted to 12v with the big dynamo [ by the army?] when i got it off a farmer in scotland in 1991. ive rebuilt the dodge completely including 12v regulator,12v starter and new custom made cotton covered , colour coded wiring loom from the states. . its always started o.k. but last time i went to it it would not start.no spark at points. eventually after changing plugs, points and condensor i found the problem was the lead from coil [ 12v autolite] to dissy. one of the terminals had failed and parted inside the sleeve. the wire was a brown colour not shiny copper colour. resistance ? must have been on its way out for a while!. i have bought modern pvc sleeved 8 amp wire as a temporary solution and crimped the terminals on. my question is can anyone tell me in laymans terms is 8 amp wire o.k. or should it be higher or lower ampage for this application. is it possible to use too heavy a guage wire ,or would it work as long as it can carry the ampage requiered ?. in other words is heavy wire ok even on applications that only need a lighter amp wire. is there any simple way i can check out the terminals on the rest of the harness ? because someone has implied to me that the whole harness could be suspect!!!. it is a harness made to carry the ampege for a 6v volt set up in case i ever converted a to 6v system at some point in the future. any advice would be appreciated. cheers, mike

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I would think that 8amp wire would be OK for connecting the coil to the points in the dissy. I don't know the resistance of your coil, but it should be about 3ohms, assuming it's not a modern electronic type, so it will only draw about 4amps when the points are closed.

The points are only closed for about one-third of the time, so the average current would be not much more than 1amp. Also, the current takes some time to rise to the maximum, because the coil is an inductive load - but you probably don't want to know that:nut:

 

The main thing is, your 8amp wire should be fine - make sure the terminals are crimped on nice and tight!

 

John

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I would think that 8amp wire would be OK for connecting the coil to the points in the dissy. I don't know the resistance of your coil, but it should be about 3ohms, assuming it's not a modern electronic type, so it will only draw about 4amps when the points are closed.

The points are only closed for about one-third of the time, so the average current would be not much more than 1amp. Also, the current takes some time to rise to the maximum, because the coil is an inductive load - but you probably don't want to know that:nut:

 

The main thing is, your 8amp wire should be fine - make sure the terminals are crimped on nice and tight!

 

John

hi and thanks. my coil is an original 12v autolite.which reminds me ... what is the terminal on the bottom of my spare 12v autolite coil for, ? is it for an earthing strap ? .dont know if there is on the one fitted to my wc, cant remember , will check that out tomorrow ! thanks again , cheers, mike

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