I am about to install a 12 volt outlet (cigarete type) for dustbuster,
spotlight (very low candle power)and need to know the wire gauge coming from the guest master switch to the hot bus bar (thence to fuse and toggle swtch. The one I pulled out seemed excess, #8 gauge.
Any thoughts? Bill
meislandbill@yahoo.com
WIRING FOR 12 VOLT OUTLET
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Boyd
Re: WIRING FOR 12 VOLT OUTLET
Hi Bill
I must confess a little confusion on my part from reading your question.
Are you going to wire this directly from the master switch with an inline fuse?
or are you going to wire to an existing breaker in the panel?
or are you going to wire to a new circuit breaker in the panel?
The wire size could be quite different depending on which option you are going with.
West Marine's catelogue has a good chart that you can use to pick dc wire sizes. The length refered to on the chart is the TOTAL length (from the breaker to the outlet plus from the outlet to the breaker). DC circuits are subject to much greater voltage losses over distances than AC so DC wires are much bigger.
To size the wire for a new branch circuit add up the loads of all devices anticipated on the circuit (I would use the rating of the circuit breaker or inline fuse in absence of better info) and look that up in the chart for the total wire run length. If any question use the next larger wire size.. and yes there is a difference in wire made for marine. Here is a case where the "Marine" stuff is better.
The existing #8 runs from where to where? Is it the wire from the master switch to the buss bar? Why did you pull this wire out?
Boyd
s/v Tern
CD30 MkII
Fort Lauderdale, Fla
Boyd@wbta.cc
I must confess a little confusion on my part from reading your question.
Are you going to wire this directly from the master switch with an inline fuse?
or are you going to wire to an existing breaker in the panel?
or are you going to wire to a new circuit breaker in the panel?
The wire size could be quite different depending on which option you are going with.
West Marine's catelogue has a good chart that you can use to pick dc wire sizes. The length refered to on the chart is the TOTAL length (from the breaker to the outlet plus from the outlet to the breaker). DC circuits are subject to much greater voltage losses over distances than AC so DC wires are much bigger.
To size the wire for a new branch circuit add up the loads of all devices anticipated on the circuit (I would use the rating of the circuit breaker or inline fuse in absence of better info) and look that up in the chart for the total wire run length. If any question use the next larger wire size.. and yes there is a difference in wire made for marine. Here is a case where the "Marine" stuff is better.
The existing #8 runs from where to where? Is it the wire from the master switch to the buss bar? Why did you pull this wire out?
Boyd
s/v Tern
CD30 MkII
Fort Lauderdale, Fla
Bill wrote: I am about to install a 12 volt outlet (cigarete type) for dustbuster,
spotlight (very low candle power)and need to know the wire gauge coming from the guest master switch to the hot bus bar (thence to fuse and toggle swtch. The one I pulled out seemed excess, #8 gauge.
Any thoughts? Bill
Boyd@wbta.cc