What gauge wire should I be running for Nitrous switches?

[darrens07gt]

I bought a roll of 16 gauge red wire and a roll of 16 gauge black wire for my nitrous installation but now I'm wondering if I got the right gauge. There is a wiring harness for my solenoids and relay so a lot of that is all set.

But I will be running the following:

12V power from bottle heater in trunk to battery in engine, Bottle heater in trunk to switch in cabin, arming switch in cabin to battery in engine bay, switch to purge solenoid and several ground wires as well.

Will 16 gauge work for all of that or should I exchange for some different gauge wire?

Thanks.

 

[07 Boss]

I bought a roll of 16 gauge red wire and a roll of 16 gauge black wire for my nitrous installation but now I'm wondering if I got the right gauge. There is a wiring harness for my solenoids and relay so a lot of that is all set.

But I will be running the following:

12V power from bottle heater in trunk to battery in engine, Bottle heater in trunk to switch in cabin, arming switch in cabin to battery in engine bay, switch to purge solenoid and several ground wires as well.

Will 16 gauge work for all of that or should I exchange for some different gauge wire?

Thanks.

My only concern would be the amp draw for the bottle heater.

 

[darrens07gt]

My only concern would be the amp draw for the bottle heater.

The bottle heater is kind of different so let me explain as I'm not sure if it helps or not. First off it's a NOS bottle heater that is wired to a big relay pack that looks like a huge capacitor with a bunch of wires coming out of it. This is supposed to act as a relay between the battery and my bottle heater so that it keeps power going until the bottle reached 1100 PSI and then automatically kills the power until the pressure drops.

So this capacitor looking relay will mount on my firewall next to the battery. The relay has a huge blue power cable that will connect to the positive terminal on the battery and a large black cable that will connect to ground. At the bottle is a pressure switch with two connectors. One will cable to the toggle switch in the cabin and the other to a small 12V wire that goes to the capacitor looking relay (16 gauge work here?). The toggle switch in the cabin will also cable to 12V keyd power and ground.

 

[sdleo29]

Find out what the heater draws... If it's more than 3.5A you need more wire on the load side of the relay. The switched side of relay would be fine with the 16awg.

 

[Wes06]

By the way you describe, the 16g wire is only a signal wire correct? Then has a thicker wire from relay to heater.

 

[darrens07gt]

Find out what the heater draws... If it's more than 3.5A you need a more wire

I'm not savy on wire gauges. Is more wire a higher number or smaller number?

 

[sdleo29]

Lower number will handle more current

 

[darrens07gt]

By the way you describe, the 16g wire is only a signal wire correct? Then has a thicker wire from relay to heater.

The wire from relay to pressure switch at the bottle is a small wire (at least compared to the huge thick blue wire that goes from relay to battery terminal). I'm not sure what gauge that wire is but I do know I have to solder a wire to the end of it and run it to the trunk and I don't know what gauge wire is best for this purpose.

 

[darrens07gt]

Lower number will handle more current

Thanks. So should I return the 16 gauge for 14 or maybe 12?

 

[wabirch]

http://documents.holley.com/199r10329rev2.pdf

I found this spec sheet, lots of others on this site.

 

[darrens07gt]

http://documents.holley.com/199r10329rev2.pdf

I found this spec sheet, lots of others on this site.

Thanks! It didn't say specifically what wire to use where but it did list the contents for kit containing 16 gauge and 14 gauge wire.

Maybe I'll exchange the 16 gauge for 14 gauge wire.