LED light gauge wire??
I just added a new LED light in Kitchen. I ran 18g speaker wire through ceiling and jumped into 12v wires behind Microwave for stove hood light. My question is 18g speaker wire ok for 4.75 watt led 12...
Forum Discussion
Very short answer: YES!!!!!!!!!!
Much longer answer: IN fact 18Ga for a 4 watt (1/3 amp) device is actually over kill.. Serious overkill.. It could easily run 10 or 20 of them.
That said: The above is looking at it from the LOAD side.
Now looking at it from the SUPPLY side.. 18 ga is a small wire, and if you try to push too much current it can quickly overheat..
Thought I had a chart handy (it's burried in a book that is in a different room) showing how much current 18ga can safely carry.. But I'd not go much over 10 amps on that wire.
A "rule" in electrical work is NEVER connect a smaller wire to a larger wire less you insert a fuse to protect it.. For this circuit I'd go with 5 amps on an inline fuse.. This is for fire protection.
That said. 18 ga will last much longer than the fuse in the event of a dead short even if the fuse is 20 amps or more.
Much longer answer: IN fact 18Ga for a 4 watt (1/3 amp) device is actually over kill.. Serious overkill.. It could easily run 10 or 20 of them.
That said: The above is looking at it from the LOAD side.
Now looking at it from the SUPPLY side.. 18 ga is a small wire, and if you try to push too much current it can quickly overheat..
Thought I had a chart handy (it's burried in a book that is in a different room) showing how much current 18ga can safely carry.. But I'd not go much over 10 amps on that wire.
A "rule" in electrical work is NEVER connect a smaller wire to a larger wire less you insert a fuse to protect it.. For this circuit I'd go with 5 amps on an inline fuse.. This is for fire protection.
That said. 18 ga will last much longer than the fuse in the event of a dead short even if the fuse is 20 amps or more.
