Posted by Clint Dixon [172.70.126.69] on Friday, February 13, 2026 at 12:51:47 :
In Reply to: Re: Electrical advice needed posted by Tim Ellis [172.68.2.109] on Friday, February 13, 2026 at 10:28:10 :
I kind of started an argument on another forum. Here is part of the advice from one member (I did not include his attached chart):
Think of the flow of electrons like the flow of water. Its limited by the smallest pipe. So if you have 2/0 on one side and 4/0 on the other, the whole system is 2/0.
Are you dealing with gauge or with “0 oughts”? 2 or 4 gauge is fairly small wire, 2GA will be bigger than 4GA. 2/0 and 4/0 will be large cable, 4/0 being bigger than 2/0.
And then another guy answered him:
The above wiring chart is incorrect. This is for AC voltages, not for automotive use. Automotive wiring is much finer wires. The automotive guage chart is based on amps. and length of cable required. Welding cable can be used also for automotive.
Another comment from the same forum:
Hope you are using (0 ought) sized cables for a 6 volt battery system...
Like 1/0 , 2/0...
And my latest reply on that forum:
What brought me to this point is that I have been using the same battery cables continuously that I bought back in 1980 at the local farm store. They are 6GA. A few years ago, on another 6-volt vehicle, I replaced one of the ORIGINAL factory cloth covered cables. I went to the same farm store and bought a 4GA cable that time and it appears to be the same size as the original cloth one I replaced.
When I recently found the NOS cables, I first began searching the internet to determine what gauge of wire I actually needed. I got conflicting answers from 4GA to 2GA to 0GA (which I believe to be pronounced "ought" and should be one size smaller than 1/0 pronounced "one ought"). Please correct me if I am wrong. In any case, both of the NOS ones I have now are larger than what has been on the vehicle since 1980. I put about 1,000 miles on the vehicle per year and probably another 50 to 100 hours of stationary use.
I have noticed that the 1980 modern cables are now getting about as stiff as the one original cloth covered cable on my other 6-volt vehicle. They are also becomming corroded much quicker than they used to even after installing a new battery. The batteries no longer last me 10 years anymore but I chalked that up to the new ones not being as good as the old ones. I buy the same brand and size of 6-volt battery that I have since 1980. I suspect my old cables are corroded inside.
And now back to the discussion here on the BEST forum:
So you see sometimes we seem to be comparing apples to oranges as far as wire sizes. I am going by what was on the packages that I bought at the farm store over the past years. The NOS Auto-Lite packages list no sizes. And, all of my internet searches (which I tend to trust more than AI - a friend of mine on his own site posted some wrong information just to test AI and AI failed) result in conflicting information.
And another couple from the the same guy on the other forum:
1) As stated your rating is only as good as the smallest cable... That being said when working on mainly campers and boats many times power taps (feeds) came directly from the positive battery terminal not the starter connection resulting in a technically larger wire (more wires) on the positive battery terminal and most grounds were made to the chassis or a central location. Many times we used larger cables to the negative battery terminal (chassis side) because of this. In your case my vote is the Positive or chassis side would get the larger cable if the cables are equal length.
2) If all that ever get's connected to the battery is the starter terminal and chassis/engine it's a flip of the coin... but my head still leans to larger cable goes to chassis/engine because of decades of doing it that way.
Thanks guys!
Junior