Routing power button to front of PC. Can wire be too thick of gauge?

LESLIEx317537 · 09-27-2003, 10:58 AM

For my v1.0 CarPC I ran the power button, reset button, and LEDs off a CAT5 15 foot cable and everything worked fine.

For my new v2.0 CarPC I was given by a friend a 4 conductor cable that has 16 gauge wires inside. Two of them I will use for the Power Button. The other two I am using for a amp turn-on lead hooked up to my HU, and the other wires is going to be Ignition on to hook up to the shutdown controller.

Will the 16 gauge be fine for hooking up the power button? I would think that the signal might get lost since the gauge is soo thick. Sorta like a resistor. But I may be wrong. Any comments?

osirisdon · 09-27-2003, 12:06 PM

Yeah that makes no sense LOL. There is no such thing as a gauge to thick. Think about it as the wire is a highway. The voltage is the cars. The wider the highway, the better the traffic right?

You'll be fine. Set that bad boy up.

MP3DUB · 09-27-2003, 12:29 PM

Actually, you should get less resistance going from the 24awg cat5 to the 16awg if I remember correctly. 24awg has something like 25ohms of resistance per 1000ft, where 16 gague has something like 4ohms per 1000ft.

DodgeCummins · 09-27-2003, 12:41 PM

No problem here.

The opposite is the problem...running too much power over too thin a wire leads to overheating...and eventually fire...

However the computer power and reset switches draw a tiny bit of power.

LESLIEx317537 · 09-27-2003, 02:32 PM

Thanks for the quick replys and reasons.

I'm getting so bored without my CarPC installed. I miss it.

Wires half way ran. Yipee. This setup is so much cleaner than my 1st!