General Wire gauge question

[Heavenlyfire]

As most of you know, I am a beginner when it comes to electrical work. So, here is the question of the day. Is it better to use a thicker or thinner gauge wire when repairing the old stuff? I would like to start just replacing wire by wire basically and notice that there are differant sizes all over the place on our trucks. Is there a need for the differant sizes?

Try not to laugh to hard while you answer this please

Thanks

[Heavenlyfire]

Thanks a bunch Iceman. So it won't hurt anything to go with a heavier wire? And thanks for the tip on the trailer wire. The bed is the first thing I am going to be doing.

[rjewkes]

Some times thicker can mean less/not enough resistance. When you come to the wires under the hood for the ign. system try to stay the same size from factory.

Some stuff can handle thicker wiring others will just not. if it was a 10 from factory keep it 10 unless going thicker say maybe an 8 or 6 will improve the power flow.

[ICEMAN6166]

interesting, i have never had any issues like that.
using thicker wire does cost more money as far as price to buy it.

[Fake Name]

Nobody has discussed the primary wiring. I just completely replaced all my primary wires and connectors with 2/0. All the lugs and battery terminals are soldered and protected with marine-grade heatshrink.

You can't hurt anything by using too large of a conductor, with the exception of using a non-resistor wire on the ignition circuit.

fn

[fordman]

i would only use 16 as speaker wire myself.

[lightning_msd]

all i know is that robert has a point, when i was wiring my stereo and my amp, thicker wire is a downfall but only if its longer than it should be for my amp if i could only use 6 feet of wire for power and 4 for ground, any longer and i would start loosing power. could be totally different from what your doing but thats just something to throw out there.

[Fake Name]

Another thing...I'm a fanatic about using quality wire and trying to kep close to the factory color codes. So, in my recdnt escapades, I've been using only Painless wire- it's MUCH better than the local parts store stuff. Much more workable- strips better, more flexible and better heat/oil resistance. I also bought a small set of Sharpies of varying colors to make the appropriate stripes on the wires to create the color codes I wanted. I also got a white paint marker for making white stripes on color wires.

Yes, the Painless wire costs more. But my policy is that I NEVER WANT TO HAVE TO REPEAT a job I've done.

On that note, you may want to learn how to solder and use shrink tubing. Or, buy one of the expensive professional crimpers- NOT the kind built into a plier type tool.

fn

[Heavenlyfire]

I solder all of my wiring. The only way to go. I have never used the shrink wrap.

[fordman]

you should shrink wrap after you solder. its better than tape.

[Heavenlyfire]

I'll give it a shot on the next step. Thanks

[MadMaxetc]

I always use this to determine what gage.

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

hope this helps.

[Heavenlyfire]

Thanks for the link, that will really come in handy.

[ICEMAN6166]

i always use solder and heat shrink,but im not going to pay extra shipping here for painless wire so i have to use the other stuff.
i do try to get the colors correct but i have done enough rewiring of fords that i really dont worry too much about the stripes but i do have a tube of white out i use sometimes.