Where do you buy your harness wire?

I have a fuse block and need to buy wire (10,12,14,16 guage) to run through the car. I have looked on-line at Jegs, Summit, etc. I see Painless wire in 50' runs, but I don't really care if the wire is "name brand" so to speak.

Does anyone know where to buy runs of wire in these gauges at a good price? I don't even care if the wires only came in one or two colors as I have very few things to wire up. I looked at McMaster Carr and saw some wire, but I'm not sure it was any more affordable than the Painless Wire on-line (maybe this is the way to go?). I'd really love to just order some 10 and 14 and have enough to cover all 4 sizes.

Thanks for any help,
John

 

I got a lot of it from Ace Hardware it was USA made and they will cut it to length it came in a lot of colors and was even less in cost than the import stuff at the box stores. Surprise! Got some of my 3M (USA) connectors at Wal-Mart

 

Have not bought automotive wire from them, but they have been good on other stuff....


http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/24-1885

 

WOW Wal-mart sells something made in the USA?

 

Your that fuckin guy that wired my jeep in all red wire … I hate you

 

That is funny. I'd feel the same way.

 

made my own. it was quicker and easier than you can imagine and cheaper. buy the two small books from speedway motors, one is called how to wire your hot rod, the other is 6-12 volt conversions. excellent material

 

I used to do my own harnesses before I started buying kits. What I would use was Ancor marine grade wiring. It isn't super cheap but very high quality, each strand is individually tinned to resist corrosion. Most marine stores carry it by the foot or 25 and 100 foot spools. It literally will outlive your car, especially good on open cars where stuff gets wet.

Don

 

Why don't you pm Tugmaster and see if he'll sell you wire... he already sells the complete wiring kits. Seems like a good place to start from to me... plus you can buy from a hamber!!

 

X2
He has some basic ones that don’t cost much …. <<< what I plan to do and just kidding I don’t hate you.

 

Doesn't anybody go to a HARDWARE store anymore?
The human race is DOOMED if the internet ever goes down..........

 

I do.

I will actually start at Ace and work from there.

 

The folks at the counter of any CarQuest store should be able to order you rolls of wire USA made in multiple colors. I got all the necessary colors from them several years ago for the wiring I replaced on the 57 Chevy.

 

I don't understand all red wire either, I usually like to use all black wire, it just looks better.

 

I usually buy rolls of trailer wire. It's 3 or 4 conductor wire bonded together in 25, 50, or 100 foot lengths so you can pull 4 circuits at once. They also have the same thing jacketed if you need more protection. It's available from Standard Motors, BWD, Carquest, NAPA, about any parts store. To to the Standard Motors website and download the wire and cable catalog. Lots of cool stuff there.

.bjb

 

We get all our wire supplies from Del City. They are in Menomonee Falls, WI
Their website is delcity.net.
Good prices and quick shipping.
Bill

 

For raw wire, these guys have the quality stuff and super prices -- but shipping gets expensive. Lots of colors!

http://www.awcwire.com/ProductSpec.aspx?id=Type-TXL

Another good one:

http://www.sherco-auto.com/primary_wire.htm

 

Brillman.com

 

Got mine at NAPA in 50' rolls got enough colors so I am mot repeating myself in the same area of the harness used all 14 gauge. Works for me.

 

x2!!!!

 

I actually lucked out, our local hardware was clearancing everything because they were being bought out by Ace, I bought 20 or 30 100' spools of auto wiring, been using it over the years for different things, including wiring my current project. Seems like I have a lot of white 14 gauge still though, guess I will have to start using white more

 

Solid wire colors, connectors, connector shells, etc. from:

www.waytekwire.com

Wires with tracers, and almost everything else from:

www.riwire.com

The people at Rhode Island Wire were cool enough to call me on my last order, and suggest a different shipping method, which saved me about $45!! I definitely recommend them.

 

Nothing a couple sharpies can't take care of! Grab a blue, red and black on, and you can run the sharpie down the wire easily between the thumb and the wire and then you'll have a white wire with a stripe!

 

As a marine electrician I can say that there is a certain amount of pride that goes with wiring something from scratch, on the other hand I've done that, both for work and my personal vehicles and want to recommend just going with a kit from Rebel Wire. They are great kits and really cost friendly. I suggest that you contact Tugmaster or Rebel Wire directly. Their kits are very nicely made and a piece of cake to install. The wires are individually marked and color coded. In the long run it'd probably be more cost effective. All that saved money could be spend on more important stuff, like beer and HAMB Alliance memberships.

 

A lot of the cheap wire that you buy at the big box and hardware stores is standard PVC insulated. It is not very heat resistant and in a potential short of overheating situation will melt or burn which could obviously result in an electrical fire.For most automotive applications you should always use Cross-Link wire.It can withstand much higher temperatures and is more abrasion resistant.Cross-Link wire is used for almost all OEM applications.Yes you can buy cheap wire but you might pay a much higher price later. Here is a short comparison video

"><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dwu_cVqLre4" allowfullscreen="" width="420" frameborder="0" height="315"></iframe>

 

Oh
Maybe you’re the guy …. Did you simply run out of black that day?

 

I know that guy.....he ran out of red and used all white on mine......And used barrel crimps that keep falling apart?

I am now redoing the wire because so many of the barrel crimps have fallen apart....I think I will use all green wire when I rewire it.....

 

My favorite is when they change colors in mid run....makes following the wire a real bitch because it usually happens in an area you can't see the change.....

 

Am I the only schmuck who noticed the guy in the video did not rotate the PVC wire but rotated the cross link wire like 4 times in his "abrasion test"?

 

A friend of mine traded a really nice 46 Chevrolet pickup for a turned out to be not-so-nice T Bucket some years back. When it had a small fire under the dash, he decided to go ahead and repaint the car so we got it home and started to dismantle it. The wiring was automotive under the dash but where it disappeared under the GLUED DOWN carpet it turned into home extension cords, speaker wire, clear lamp wiring then miraculously back to automotive wire in the bed and to the taillamps.
He did eventually get it painted and back together except this time with all automotive wiring and soldered connections and front and rear shock absorbers and decent mechanical advantage on the brake pedal and support blocks under the pickup bed which held the battery and a 10-gallon gas tank 2" above the rear of the frame rails.