Quote:
Originally Posted by andrewjsmith
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b1mmuo27 ... Let's go back to post #1, see above quote. The LED lights are not the issue here, it is the
anything else down the road. that raised the RED flag. So, since there is no indication as to what "anything else" happens to be, I suggested that they use the cable charts to plan on what they might want to use as a max amperage capacity for the line feeding the rear of the trailer.
I had a person ask me if it is ok to run 12AWG romex (house wire) from the battery to the rear of their 38 foot trailer, where the media center was, so that he could plug in a few things.. after digging deeper, he wanted to plug in a 600watt inverter to run his TV, then in another response he wanted to plug in his DISH receiver and external recorder. The 600 watts on the 120VAC side did not sound like much to him, but I informed him that his 250-300 watt TV alone would need 20 to 25 amps and add on another 5 amps for the receiver and recorder he was up to 30 amps (of continuous loading),
coming from the battery (only had one 85Ah battery).
As an electrician, you know how people think that you can just plug anything into an outlet without thinking about it. Here at JOF, the GREAT thing is that members ASK for the opinions of others. Most replies will be on the conservative side and on the side of safety. I would not want to offer an opinion that would put a fellow member and his family in any kind of jeopardy, so I error on the side of safety.
As for running a pair of wires, take a look at the ground/frame connection on your TT. Mine was a #10 screw that was tapped into the frame (rusted around the hole) with a washer and a 8AWG ground wire from the battery. The lug was oxidized, so I am not sure adding 30 amps to the frame anywhere would have been a good idea, as there would have been a lot of heat generated at that point.
Granted 18AWG is overkill for the LEDS, but it is about
anything else down the road that is the topic for me.
As I say... use the charts and build in a buffer for future use.
Just my thoughts,
Don