Again, you have to convert watts to amps before proceeding. The wire’s rating should exceed the wattage of the lights. Once you know the amp rating, you can compare it to the wattage of the lights to determine whether or not the wire is appropriate. You can use that gauge and a chart to find the cable’s amp rating. The wire may not reveal the ampacity, but you will see the gauge on the cable’s jacket. However, it is pretty common for overheating wires to ignite the objects in the vicinity, starting a fire. If you’re lucky, you will destroy the wire and nothing else. If you force a wire to carry excess current, it will overheat and melt. Every cable you see in a store is designed to carry a certain amount of electricity. If you don’t have the option of consulting an expert, keep the following factors in mind before you make a decision: 1). Let your local electrician select the wire size after inspecting your lighting system. The best thing to do is to consult an expert. Things To Consider Before Buying Wire For 12V Lights This range is quite broad because you also have to account for homeowners that prefer to place the lights and outlets on the same circuit.Ī wire size that can comfortably accommodate the lights in your home may overheat because of the heavy-duty appliances you’ve plugged into the outlets. This is why I suggest you use anywhere between 10 and 22-gauge cables for lights. However, if you expect other devices to run on that same circuit, it makes more sense to use thicker wires that can carry the combined load of the lighting system and every other device you choose to connect to that circuit. It is also worth noting that light fixtures typically require thinner wires than other devices in a home because their electrical draw is relatively low. You need higher temperature ratings for conductors that have to pass through unventilated settings that permit the heat to accumulate. But that figure jumps to 14AWG for 20 feet. Lengthįor instance, a 5A lighting system requires 16AWG at 15 feet. If you can find the amp rating you calculated in the table, it won’t take you long to locate the corresponding wire gauge. Once you have the amp rating, you can use the table published below to find the wire gauge. This means dividing the total wattage by the voltage (12V) to get the amperage. The total wattage won’t tell you anything. If you have multiple fluorescent bulbs, the same concept applies. Therefore, to get the total wattage, you should multiply the watts per foot by the length of the light strip. The average strip consumes a certain amount of power per foot. However, if you have a strip of LED lights, you must consider the length. However, the lighting type still matters because it affects the overall energy consumption.įor instance, if you have a conventional fluorescent bulb, you should take note of the bulb’s watt rating. ![]() The light’s power rating is more important than the type of light. Therefore, if you want to identify the appropriate gauge for your home’s lighting system, you have to keep the following in mind: 1). The wire gauge you select depends primarily on the amount of power a light uses, not the type of light. 300W 25A requires 8 AWG to run for 15-20ft, 6 AWG for 25-30 ft, 4 AWG for 40-50ft, 2 AWG for 60-80 ft, 1 AWG for 90 ft.60W 5A light requires 16 AWG to run for 15 ft, 14 AWG for 20-25 ft, 12 AWG for 30-40 ft, 10 AWG for 50-70 ft, 8 AWG for 80-90 ft. ![]() But what is the correct wire size? How do you select the gauge of a 12V light? This guide will answer those questions. Thin wires in an extensive lighting system are dangerous because they can overheat if you overwhelm. Some people ignore the wire gauge where lights are concerned, but that is a mistake. You could burn your house down simply because you chose the wrong wire size. ![]() The wire gauge is probably the most important aspect of your electrical system.
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