No electrical issues.. Just wire gauge questions

[teknicalissue]

Rather quick question.. I did some searching and It's possible I'm just not searching the right terms.

IFor the sake of example I have this wire going to the ecu:

-------------------------ECU

I cut the wire and stick solid copper wire 2 to 4 gauges less than the current wire.. So I would have something like this:

-----===========----ECU


Would the thicker gauge cause any issues? I picture electricity as water (as some analogies on the internet explain)

So in the terms of a sewer, the smaller pipe going to the bigger pipe and back down to a smaller pipe... I wouldn't imagine it being an issue..

but then I start to think.. What if i had a door made of coper.. And I touched one side with 1 volt.. would the entire door still transfer current?? could I attached another wire on the other side and still light a bulb??

I'm assuming no.. but WHYYYYY


Please Assist!

 

[3kgt2nv]

there are formula's that are used to figure this out but generally if the straight run is more than 12-20 feet you want to step up 1 gauge to help prevent voltage drop.

by splicing a thicker wire in only the middle it can slightly effect the resistance but otherwise it would have not much change at the ends. thats why for a fuel pump rewire you want to go the full length with the larger gauge instead of just splicing in after the fuse and running a larger wire.

As far as the door frame goes yes in theory it will work as copper is a very good conductor so there would not be much of a loss from one side to the other. think about an electric fence. same theory just over much greater distance.

 

[91-GS]

Think of electricity in a wire as being water in a pipe with Amperage being volume of water and Voltage being water pressure. If you have a long thin garden hose chances are you would not be able to run a large lawn sprinkler very good because there is alot of resistance in that hose and not much water will be coming out. Now switch to a larger hose and you will notice improvement sin how the sprinkler works because that larger hose is not as restrictive as the smaller one was. Same thing with wires.

Here is that analogy explained in more detail.

 

[teknicalissue]

you guys are awesome! Thank you both for the explanations!!

 

[91-GS]

but then I start to think.. What if i had a door made of coper.. And I touched one side with 1 volt.. would the entire door still transfer current?? could I attached another wire on the other side and still light a bulb??

I'm assuming no.. but WHYYYYY

To address this question: think of how grounds in a car are hooked up. Everything is grounded to the frame/body and said frame/body acts like a large conductor to complete the circuits.

Now let's say that the door you are talking about is made of less conductive material. In this case closer you are to the source of power, higher voltage reading would be. Further away you move, less voltage you will get. It is same idea that is behind variable resistors. For the water analogy think of it as stretching a hose (provided that the hose does not change diameter, only length) to reduce pressure to make the sprinkler cover smaller area.

Glad to help