Wire gauge on longer trailers

[Rainier70]

I am curious what gauge wire most of you with the 14 to 18+ length trailers used for your longest runs to 12v sockets. What gauge to lights? Thanks!

[flboy]

I used 14 gage, but made sure to run 15A breakers. No large drains on current inside the CTC.

What will be your largest load on any one circuit? Whatever gage you decide, make sure to have the appropriate size breaker. Not sure what you mean by longest run to 12 sockets. I would not put 12 outlets/sockets on any single run?

Besides the fact that 14 gage is all I needed and it is obviously less expensive, it sure was easier to bend and pull through tight spots than 12 gage would have been.



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[aggie79]

Don,
Perhaps he meant 12 "volt" but I'm not sure about the "sockets" part.
Tom

[Rainier70]

Sorry, I did mean 12 volt circuits the v was lost in my question..stupid typos. I have fixed it.

The sockets are the usual 12v like you have in a car. Led lights could go on lighter wire. 12v loses a lot with smaller gauge. Anyone know of a chart for length of run and maybe amps or watts? Thanks!

[McDave]

https://www.tessco.com/yts/industry/pro ... wired.html

McDave

[John61CT]

Blue Sea Circuit Wizard app for wire sizing.


​Standard ciggie sockets are a dangerous abortion,  avoid like the plague!

Blue Sea has a nice socket design that twist-locks with the matching plug, but will also accept standard ciggie plugs for smaller (<10A) loads.

Also the BMW/ Hella/ Merit/ Powerlet "Euro-style DIN" (ISO 4165) style is very robust.

Anderson plugs for high amps. If you standardize on one of the last two types, there are adapters for devices with ciggie plugs.

[Gonefishin]

Not to hijack, but a couple of you have suggested that 12 volt sockets (cig lighter plugs) are a no-no? How come? I plug my fan, computer, camera battery chargers, sometimes a phone charger, and sometimes other gadgets into mine. The sockets are wired straight to the battery! One might have an in-line fuse. I think I used 12 guage wire. No heat, no problems so far in 7 years or so. Just curious about why those plugs are red flags. What about usb? The sockets have those next to the cig plugs. I plug into all of 'em. Am I a ticking time bomb?

[Rainier70]

Thanks for the answers, guys. The charts and calculators are great.

Gonefishin, no hijack. It's all good. I am using a number of 12v sockets with no problems either, but I do understand that some of them can get "grumpy" with age, and no longer work as well. (Don't we all!) If they are only making partial contact or have tarnish resistance they can heat up. If yours are clean, tight, and working well, then I don't think there is any problem. For important circuits like to a fridge, the plug might vibrate loose, but easy to check.

I also use some Anderson plugs, especially for heavier current applications such as for my battery connections to my trolling motor. They work great.

[John61CT]

Many are not designed to handle even 4A, with new good quality max 8-10A.

The design is inherently insecure, the connection easily broken, or partially intermittent is even worse.