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Welkman

Member Since: 02 Nov 2014
Location: Essex colchester
Posts: 332

Basic cable guage reccomendations

Evening all,

I am just finishing thr install of an aux fuse box and was hoping for some advice on what gauge cable
i can get away with to run from the bulkhead to dash to feed the following:

Central locking chepo chinesse job.

Bank of four light force lights im thinking about in the future

Electric windows.

Possibly some grill mounted drls .

At the moment i have some massive twin core tinned stuff from an old boat project which is rated to 30 Amps and seems like over kill!

Also if anyone had found a good way of mounting extra relays in the dash area i would be very interested.

Cheers,

James

18th Sep 2016 5:57pm

VeeTee

Member Since: 06 Mar 2011
Location: Somewhere
Posts: 1512

There are (from simple to advanced) formulas to calculate the wire diameter needed, but as a rule of thumb one can use 4 Amps per mm2. So if you know how much current your appliances use, add them up and calculate the diameter needed. Cheers, Vincent
1959 Polynorm 1/4 Ton Trailer, Olive Drab Green (sold)
1970 M416 Military Trailer (Camping Trailer Conversion), Epsom Green (sold)
1975 Series III 88 V6, Light Green (sadly sold)
1996 Defender 110 CSW 300 Tdi, Epsom Green (sold)
2000 Freelander 1 TD4 3-drs, Silver (sold)
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18th Sep 2016 6:54pm

custom90

Member Since: 21 Jan 2010
Location: South West, England.
Posts: 20583

You may find this useful too, especially for conversion between mm2 and AWG.
http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/wire/awg-to-mm.htm KEEP CALM AND Drill ON
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18th Sep 2016 7:34pm

Cupboard

Member Since: 21 Mar 2014
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 2971

2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 HT Corris Grey

There's a calculator on this page:
http://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/cable-sizing-selection.html
With various explanations.

Fat cables are generally good

Your biggest issue is likely to be the bank of 4 lights. If they're incandescent then that could be well over 30A between them and you don't want significant voltage drop to incandescent lights because the light output is a function of the square of voltage.

LED lights, particularly regulated ones (which most DRLs aren't) are better for two reasons. Firstly the current draw is lower so the voltage drop is lower; secondly even if there is a bit of a drop, providing they're regulated lights they'll just draw a bit more current to make the power the same and the light output will be unaffected. If you can dim the light then it's probably not regulated. Something like the Labcraft Scenelights, decent LED headlights etc. will be constant output until they dramatically drop off a cliff. Most DRLs are dimmable.

18th Sep 2016 7:42pm

Welkman

Member Since: 02 Nov 2014
Location: Essex colchester
Posts: 332

Thank you for your advice. Unfortunately I have no idea of the amps the Windows would draw, I can't believe that it would be more than 10 amps.

Spots on the other hand, I would need some recommendations on what works well and what they draw.

18th Sep 2016 7:46pm

custom90

Member Since: 21 Jan 2010
Location: South West, England.
Posts: 20583

A pair of 100w spots would draw approx 16A KEEP CALM AND Drill ON
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18th Sep 2016 7:55pm

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