# Downsizing wire for harness

I'm making a harness for a fan assembly. The wire gauge for the rig is 18awg but the fan assembly connector uses 22awg which means I need to adjust the wire size at some point between the two connectors. The fan rating is 115V, 400hz, 0.6A at steady state, and max 5A inrush.

Is it possible to downsize the wire mid-harness? If so, where at in the harness? I was thinking of downsizing 6in from the 22awg connector.

My understanding is that as long as the 22awg can handle the fan rating, downsizing wiring won't matter.

• It sounds like you consider going from 22AWG to 18AWG a "downsizing", which is actually the opposite. – Maple May 12 at 19:52
• I do mean 18awg (rig connector) to the fan connector (22awg). – Luke May 12 at 19:59
• Does the fan have a connector or just 22AWG leads? It sounds like what you need is a family of wire-to-wire connectors that is compabile with both 18AWG and 22AWG. Then you just put male on the fan's 22AWG and female on your 18AWG, or vice-verse. Plug and play. – mkeith May 12 at 23:34

The 22AWG wire is 52.96$$\\Omega\$$/m vs. 20.95$$\\Omega\$$/m so the 5A starting current will drop a bit more over the length. If the 22AWG wires are 5m (10m round trip) then the drop over that section will be 2.6V or about 2% vs. less than half that for the 18AWG.