12vt, how many hot wires to power 2 lights w/ switches.

[Keith B]

On 12vt. can I run one hot (line) wire from the "battery" to two switches and just daisy chain them together? I know from the switches I need seperate hot wires (load) from each switch to each light. Also, can I daisy chain the ground wire to each light? Is there a good, better, best in the size of wire to run, like individual 14-16-20ga? I'm planning on running the wire in 3/8" tubing so I can fish it in if it ever has to be replaced.

[Dale M.]

Yes you can daisy chain the power lead and ground....

Wire size is pretty much dependent on load (amps) and distance... IF you dont want to take time to calculate the load (amps) use largest wire you can get in to your tubing. The 16 gauge is "probably" ok, but if you are in doubt go larger...

Charts say 16 gauge wire is good for 12 amps at a distance of 20 feet (or less)...

Charts say 14 gauge wire is good for 18 amps at a diatance of 20 feet.

Charts say 12 gauge wire is good for 24 amps at a diatance of 20 feet.

Dale

[Phil & Ningning]

It sounds like you've got a handle on the circuit... with one exception. Instead of running the hot wire from the battery, it should come from a fuse box or fuse block. If there is ever a short in your switches, wiring, or lights, you want fuses.

Phil

[Leon]

Since you are running to two switches feeding two lights, you won't be drawing anywhere near that amperage so 16ga is plenty. You could use 18 if you had a bunch of it lying around.

[asianflava]

I ran 16ga wire on my dome lights and porch lights (separate circuits for the dome and porch lights). Those loads are fixed meaning they will have the same load all the time.

For the 12V power port, I ran 12ga or 14ga (I forgot) because you are not shure what somebody will plug in. The larger wire will give you a little bit of headroom in case some body plugs in something that draws a lot of current. All circuits are fused to protect the wire. I don't want the smoke to get out of my wire.

[dhazard]

All circuits are fused to protect the wire. I don't want the smoke to get out of my wire.

So you also realized that all modern electronics run on smoke… Once you let the smoke out it stops running.

[Phil & Ningning]

So you also realized that all modern electronics run on smoke… Once you let the smoke out it stops running.

Not completely true. I repair aircraft instruments and sometimes you can see the smoke inside behind the glass, but it still doesn't work.

[Keith B]

Excellent... once again this forum has proven to be just a dandy site for us newbies... I will run a little bigger wire (12 ga. speaker wire) to be on the safe side. And yes, I will be running wire (8 ga.) from the battery to a fuse terminal block, then one (12 ga. protected by a 7amp fuse) wire from the block to the switches (daisy chained), then seperate load wires (14 ga) from the switches to each light (LEDs), I was trying to keep my wording simple while getting the "idea" across - but I should have just said what I "meant" that way future readers wont question it either... You guys are awesome, thanks again.