[eye.surgeon]

I have a battery lead from a battery tender jr connected to my battery, I plan on running a heated vest through it. On the wires it says 18AWGx2c, 300V. I assume this means it's 18 gauge. Do I need a thicker gauge to get full power to a heated vest? The wire has a fuse, I'm not even sure what size but could I just put in a 15 or 30 amp fuse so it doesn't blow while powering the vest?

 

[SCraig]

It's plenty big. 18 gauge is good for 16 amps and a heated jacket liner at 90 watts only pulls about 7.5 amps.

DO NOT put a 30 amp fuse on that circuit though. The wire can melt before the fuse blows with a fuse that heavy.

 

[greywolf]

The fuse is there to keep the wires from getting too hot. a 10A fuse would be a good choice though a vest draws less than a 90W jacket liner and a 7.5A fuse would probably be fine. The main fuse on the bike that feeds power to everything through individual smaller fuses is a 30A.

 

[eye.surgeon]

Thanks guys.