the professor

22 is smaller then 14

imported_loudsubz

Part of this is true...

Larger wires do have lower resitances

Eg.

A 14 awg wire has a reistance of about 2.52 ohms / 1000ft

Vs.

22 awg wire which has about 16.2 ohms/ 1000ft

Now for his use, which is just a motor for his sunroof he shoulnd't be worried to much about current carrying capacity because it will only be used on ocassion and not for long periods of time, but its still a good idea to match the wire AWG or go up a slightly bigger size to compensate for the added voltage drop that will occour with the added length even though its very minimal

Larger wires will not draw less power, they just allow for more current to flow through them with less resistance which = less of a voltage drop which is what you want

For example:

If you have a 22 awg wire, with a resiatnce of 16.2 ohms/1000ft

15 feet 22 awg wire
current flow 5 amps

= 1.2v voltage drop

whereas 15 feet of 14 awg wire
current flow 5 amps
=0.18v voltage drop

which is significant

now when you look at this:

if your running 13 volts through

the 22 awg is 13-1.2 - 11.8 v at the end at max current

etc...

in conclusion, larger AWG wire = less voltage drop

less voltage drop = more current

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

Regardless, I wanna see what size wire is used in there originally... I use 18 gauge for pretty much everything I add on throughout the car, except for amps.

BTW, I don't get how Honda gets away with using 22 gauge on the headlights?? I mean, the 6 th gen headlight harness is tiny!! BRILLIANT! I dunno how they do it... brilliant!

Nova_Dust

Well, I looked again last night, and I couldn't find any prints on the wires. Just the colours and the stripes...

Well, 14 guage it is.

Oh btw, is there an easier way to route the wires from A pillar to those 3 plastic tab area? I see 1 screw on the side of the dash, is that a panel by itself?

imported_loudsubz

Well Charles mentioned it was an aftermarket sunroof put in, so depends if they did it according to stock specs for wiring, or used their own style for wiring

Easiest way charles to find out the wire gauge, is go and grab a pair of wire cutters with the wire gauge marked on them. When your ready to do the mod go and try putting the stripping holes on the wire to be lengthended and see which one matches up to the stock wire you have now, it will tell you the wire gauge on the side of the hole, and from there, you can add one size up.

The current carrying capacity of 22 awg is around 2-3 amps, Im not sure how much the headlights draw but its probably right around the maximum limit of the wire they used for the lights. Honda was genious to get it to work, they are like any other company, cost vs performance issue.

Honda woulnd't have spent the extra money on 16 awg headlight wiring if 22 awg would work, its all about the money they spend. The stock headlight wiring gets warm, so im guessing its right at the peak capacity for the small 22 awg wire, cheap bastards

imported_kane2k

Awww.. loudsubz.

P = VI

Lets investigate the power those wires are drawing:

1.2V @ 5 amps ---> 6 watts

.18V @ ~5 amps ---> 1 watt

The electric motor will be high resistance so the current change will be negligible with the lower resistance wire.

So that's the power consumption of the wires. Add to that the fact that the sunroof motor will have to run longer at a lower volatge to move the sunroof from point A to point B. In this case the gains are small but they are there. There was nothing partially true about what I said, bigger wires mean less power loss Q.E.D.

Nova_Dust

It is done, and it worked.

I bought 14 guage wires and cut them to length (I needed more than 2 meters and I ran out) so my neighbour gave me his regular wire with plugs (that has 2 wires binded together), split them up and I cut what I needed. Used butt connector to mate them together.

Took out one little tab under the vent and the switch is too small for the hole. So I used tools to cut out a rectangular shape out of the tab and stuff the switch in it.

Took out the side dash board panel (1 plastic screw on side + 2 on the dash board + 3 mounting clips) and routed the wires behind the steel dash board frame.

Opening sunroof has never been so easier. It took me 2 hours because it was my first time doing it and I had to figure out what was the best way to press tight the butt connectors. And I ran out of butt connectors, they come in a package of 7, I have 5 wires, 2 for each so I need 10... duh.. so I went to CT again to buy some.

Good thing tonight wasn't cold at all. A little dark but the location are pretty self explaintory so a little flash light did the job.

Well, all and all, thank you all for the electrical knowledges. The roof opens fine, and looks like it is operating at its old speed.

imported_loudsubz

I was under the influence that "power" was meant as current/voltage in your post, Its hard when someone else posts on the same level and actually posts very informative posts (as seen from yours above)

Im always assuming (bad on my part) because i always hear power used as such a general term.

So yes you are very correct about the wire itself drawing less power in the form of heat