[TheHockeytowner]

Some day, and this day may never come, but I want to retrofit a heated steering wheel in my E39. I want to do it right (i.e., wire to and from the fuse panel in the glove compartment) but I am having a difficult time finding the correct wire.

Per BMW WDS, I need 0.75 mm^2 green/black striped wire, 0.75 mm^2 brown wire, and 2.5 mm^2 green wire. Part numbers on RealOEM do not exist for "exactly" these types/colors of wire.

I suppose I could use 18 and 14 AWG wire, respectively, but that too is hard to find.

Any suggestions, other than going to a junk yard and hopefully finding an E39 with a heated wheel? I really don't want to have to gut a junked E39 just for a few feet of wire.

 

[StRaNgEdAyS]

0.75mm = 20awg
2.5mm = 14awg


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[StRaNgEdAyS]

I get my wire from Jaycar electronics here...
I don't know what the equivalent is on your side of the pond.

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[TheHockeytowner]

0.75mm = 20awg
2.5mm = 14awg

I think it's good practice to use the next wire size up, and this website seems to corroborate that. Although I broke that rule when I said 14; the website does say to use 12 instead of 14 for 2.5 mm^2.

But the point remains: where to get it?

 

[StRaNgEdAyS]

Any radio shacks still operating?

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[TheHockeytowner]

Radio Shack might be a good option, but I think I FINALLY found a better one:

EFI Connection

Shoutout to MikeSmith on the BMW 2002 forum, wherever you are

 

[rdl]

If it helps, the exact conversion for your metric sizes are:
0.75 mm2 = 18.4 AWG, so 18 AWG is almost a perfect match and slightly oversized vs the metric
2.5 mm2 = 13.2 AWG

To help in choosing between 12 & 14 AWG here are the ohms/meter for each size
2.5 mm2 -> 6.9 milliohms / metre
14 AWG -> 8.3 milliohms / metre
12 AWG -> 5.2 milliohms / metre

 

[TheHockeytowner]

If it helps, the exact conversion for your metric sizes are:
0.75 mm2 = 18.4 AWG, so 18 AWG is almost a perfect match and slightly oversized vs the metric
2.5 mm2 = 13.2 AWG

To help in choosing between 12 & 14 AWG here are the ohms/meter for each size
2.5 mm2 -> 6.9 milliohms / metre
14 AWG -> 8.3 milliohms / metre
12 AWG -> 5.2 milliohms / metre

Thanks, rdl!

 

[JaxPlanet]

FWIW: Here's a AWG to Metric conversion chart: https://technick.net/guides/electronics/awg_to_metric/?aiocp_dp=guide_awg_to_metric

 

[deyrag]

I recently did this but took the easy way out and ran the power from the ignition switch to the slip ring through an inline fuse. Link to how to i followed http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/604838