Wiring two 12v lights from same positive/negative wire.

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Wiring two 12v lights from same positive/negative wire.

Postby qwerty11 » Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:42 am

Is the best way to do it is have a wire nut and one wire going off to first light and second wire going to second light or use a quick splice connector? Open to any other suggestions as well.
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Re: Wiring two 12v lights from same positive/negative wire.

Postby asianflava » Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:47 am

Sounds like you're wiring in series. You basically need to wire both leads from the lights to both terminals. Not a fan of wire nuts in mobile applications, but even less of a fan of quick splice (aka scotch locks, wire taps). Use the wire nuts, it's the lesser of the 2 evils.
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Re: Wiring two 12v lights from same positive/negative wire.

Postby qwerty11 » Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:15 am

asianflava wrote:Sounds like you're wiring in series. You basically need to wire both leads from the lights to both terminals. Not a fan of wire nuts in mobile applications, but even less of a fan of quick splice (aka scotch locks, wire taps). Use the wire nuts, it's the lesser of the 2 evils.


How else would you recommend connecting the wires? My light have 10" leads coming off of them.
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Re: Wiring two 12v lights from same positive/negative wire.

Postby Shadow Catcher » Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:14 am

Mine is a combination of crimp wire connectors
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and heat shrink type
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and some solder and use heat shrink tubing over
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Re: Wiring two 12v lights from same positive/negative wire.

Postby asianflava » Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:10 pm

All my connections are either crimped or clamped. Crimped terminals get a bad rep because some folks don't do them properly. Just make sure you use a quality crimp tool (and use it properly) in addition to quality terminals.
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Re: Wiring two 12v lights from same positive/negative wire.

Postby bobhenry » Thu Jul 11, 2013 1:11 pm

qwerty11 wrote:Is the best way to do it is have a wire nut and one wire going off to first light and second wire going to second light or use a quick splice connector? Open to any other suggestions as well.


I removed the insulation from about 1" of the delivery wire where I made my taps and wrapped the feed wire for the light to the common wire and soldered and wrapped each connection with good electrical tape.
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Re: Wiring two 12v lights from same positive/negative wire.

Postby GerryS » Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:52 pm

Solder is acidic, so it can actually shorten the life of a terminal. In aircraft. All those connectors are crimped... And that world friends, safety is paramount!
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Re: Wiring two 12v lights from same positive/negative wire.

Postby bobhenry » Fri Jul 12, 2013 12:29 pm

GerryS wrote:Solder is acidic, so it can actually shorten the life of a terminal. In aircraft. All those connectors are crimped... And that world friends, safety is paramount!



Sorry Gerry the U.S government says you are wrong, providing rosin core (electronic) solder is used.

Here is the site...http://www.solders.com/core_solder.htm

Here is the exerpt taken from above................

Rosin Core Solder - Our rosin core solders exceed all military, government, and J-STD-006 specifications for electronic and industrial soldering. These solders are available in tin/lead and lead free alloys, and are manufactured with non-activated and activated rosin fluxes that are non-corrosive, non-hygroscopic and fungus resistant.
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Re: Wiring two 12v lights from same positive/negative wire.

Postby GerryS » Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:54 pm

I stand corrected, still a quality crimp is very strong. The real problem is the cheap crumpets sold in hardware stores.
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