Wire gauge OT but I gotta know

[sailorman]

What would be a good wire gauge to wire a 12 volt lighting system in an old travel trailer camper ( 1973 ) ? Kinda tractor related 'cause I move it around in my yard with my bota 2320.

 

[CinderSchnauzer]

Probably look at 16 / 14 / 12 depending on how many lights & type.

Just to clarify - do you mean a lighting system for "reading / work lights" or lighting system for brake / running lights. Depending on answer what type of lights are you planning to use - incandescent, florescent, LED? - How many?

In any case be sure to use stranded wire, not solid core to minimize issues with vibration.

 

[sailorman]

Probably look at 16 / 14 / 12 depending on how many lights & type.

Just to clarify - do you mean a lighting system for "reading / work lights" or lighting system for brake / running lights. Depending on answer what type of lights are you planning to use - incandescent, florescent, LED? - How many?

In any case be sure to use stranded wire, not solid core to minimize issues with vibration.

Lights just for seeing stuff like puttin' on clothes, seein' at night, nothin' real bright used as a backup system if I 'm not plugged into 110 volts. Incandescent no more than 6 one bulb fixtures. Very small camper.

 

[k0ua]

well we need to know how many amperes of current you intend to pull accross the wire. or if you prefer, how many watts, and we can calculate the amps from that. E=IR where E refers to Electromotive force (in volts) I is the current in Amperes and R is the Resistance in Ohms. The P=EI Where Power in Watts equals the Voltage X the Current. Now all that being said and probably a lot more than you wanted to know, we also need to know the length of the wire to make proper calculations. We can look up the resistance of the wire in charts or we can measure it with a good digital Ohmeter. But I would say you could probably get by for just some low power (25 watts or so) lighting on about 16 maybe 14 guage. If you want 100 watts or so of power, you would maybe need 12, 200 watts or so, best look toward 10 guage. The longer the run, the larger the voltage drop will be for a given current, so you need to make the wire larger to lower the Resistance of the wire. Or lower you current requirements (think LED lighting instead of incandescent) then for a given light output in lumens your current requirements will be much less, therefore you wire guage can be much smaller for a given length. Confused yet.? If you understood all of that you are doing pretty good:thumbsup: There are very few easy answers in life for what seem like easy questions.
James K0UA

 

[sailorman]

Confused yet.? If you understood all of that you are doing pretty good:thumbsup: There are very few easy answers in life for what seem like easy questions.
James K0UA

Nope, no confusion, but I gotta say I ain 't wirin' a space shuttle . I should have added a little more info. Just lookin' to power some single bulb ( like tail light bulb ) light fixtures made specifically for campers and used as a backup when not hooked to 110 volts. Longest distance would be 15 feet shortest maybe 8. I don 't mind over kill on gauge 'cause that kinda wire is cheap. Just lookin' for a minimum gauge not to fall below.

 

[CharlieS]

It doesnt matter what voltage, or type of load applied, wire is sized per amp (wattage) load.
For automotive use, (12 V DC systems) a good rule of thumb is
Wire size/amps
8-35
10-25
12-20
14-15
16-7
18-5
20-3

To convert watts to amps, add the total wattage of all accessories for the circuit in question, and divide by line voltage. in this case if you had 200 watts on a 12 volt system 200/12=16.66 so a #12 wire size would be a minimum supply wire size.

 

[jinman]

I would use AWG 14, but AWG 16 would be fine. It's easy to find crimp connectors for making connections and splices. The wires are also small and flexible enough to make running them easy.

 

[kennyd]

I would use AWG 14, but AWG 16 would be fine. It's easy to find crimp connectors for making connections and splices. The wires are also small and flexible enough to make running them easy.

'xactly:thumbsup:

 

[deputy11]

14 handles anything in a camper including a water pump. Divide your circuits a little bit and run to a fuse block. Maybe everything on one side of the camper to one, the other to another. Water pump on it's own. The more they are divided the easier it is to trace down the problem if a fuse blows.

 

[wvpolekat]

Remember, in a camper, even when you are connected to 110, all the lights are normally 12v. They are just running off the converter instead of the battery.