Power lines over AS connectors

I have a number of higher power devices to cable such as 2 x rad fans @ 9A each, water pump @ 10A and two fuel pumps @ 18A each.

Building a loom using Deutsch AS connectors with mixture of 22 and 20 gauge pins.

Based on my learning from this site, 22 gauge pins are good for 5A where as the 55A0111-22 wire is good for 2.4A and 20 gauge pins are good for 7A where as the 55A0111-20 wire is good for 4A. As such I presume I need to work on 2.4A and 4A as my units of measure respectively ?

So for example to use a 20 gauge pin AS connector for the water pump @ 10A I would crimp each of the pump 12V & Ground wires to 3 No 20 Gauge wires/pins to pass through the AS connector.

The question is, on the mating side of the connector do I again crimp 3 No pins/wires to a single larger core wire for running back to PDM or should I continue the 3 No 20 gauge wires back to PDM ?

Is there a preference to either method. I am sure people have preferences but is there a better or best way of doing this.

Appreciate any guidance.

Tony,

Yes, make your plans so they are safe for the weakest link, which will sometimes be the wire, sometimes the pin.

Just to clarify, I wouldn't attempt to get multiple wires in a pin, or larger than 20 gauge in a 20 gauge pin, but if you want to splice 3 20 gauge wires into a single 16 gauge wire past the connector, and the device you're running this lead to has a pin capable of the load and accepting a 16 gauge wire, that might make sense.

However if you're using autosports I'm guessing you're making a concentric twisted harness. With that in mind, you'll likely prefer working with more 20-22 gauge wires then heavier gauge wires.

Mike

That was my point yes, in my example above I was crimping each of the two wires from the water pump to 3 off 20 gauge wires to allow me to pass 3 pins through the AS connector for 12V and ground i.e. use 6 pins in total. The question was relating to the loom side of this connection should I retain 6 20 gauge wires and run them back or crimp back to 16 gauge on the loom side - is there a preferred solution?

You are correct in that my preference is to retain the 6 20 gauges as they work better in the loom layup as all cores are 20 or 22. Easier to work with compared to a mix that includes 16 gauge.

There does seem to be differing information on what current is safe when using 55A0111-20 & 22 cable from TE. A number of people have commented stating the pin guidance is a good rule of thumb with 20 & 22 gauge pins good for 7A & 5A respectively rather than the lower specs I have found for the wire itself.

Thanks for the feedback

If I'm reading this correctly...: you can pretty much decide to splice your wires back to 16AWG at any point in the harness. Most do it at the final connector as to make concentric twisting easier by retaining smaller gauge wires for the longer runs. I've also seen RaceSpec do a splice mid-loom under a boot transition point to a larger gauge of wire. Really it will depend on what you need and where you can make sure to have appropriate strain relief.