Wire size/gauge cross-reference

Moto Guzzi V700, V7 Special, Ambassador, 850 GT, 850 GT California, Eldorado, and 850 California Police models

Created: 2011

Updated: 2011 February 23

Since Italy uses the metric standard, Moto Guzzi used metric sized wires in the construction of the wiring harness. Metric wiring is commonly designated in square millimeters (e.g., 1 mm²). To the best of my knowledge, Moto Guzzi used 1 mm² wire throughout the wiring harness except for a few instances in which they used 2.5 mm² (e.g., the heavy wires connected to the ignition switch, generator to voltage regulator, regulator to solenoid, etc).

The following table describes a variety of relationships between metric and American Wire Gauge (AWG) wiring. Please note that this table does not equate an AWG size with a metric size. The reason for not doing so is simple: the two sizing standards are not the same. Of course, AWG sized wire is readily available in the United States and is commonly used to replace metric sized wire. I leave it to the reader to study the table and make a thoughtful decision about the correct size of wire to use in a particular application. The data for this table was extracted from SI Metric.