Does inlaid wiring overheat?

[Duane King]

I am attaching 12 volt dome lights to the sidewalls inside my trailer. The sidewalls are not frame construction; they are just 3/4" plywood. It would be nice to not have to surface mount the wires that lead up to the light. So this is what I am thinking of doing. . .

I want to drill a hole through the sidewall of the trailer where the light will be. Then I would like to use my rounter to cut a channel (dado) on the outside of the trailer the shortest possible distance to the roof. This channel would be deep enough to allow me to set the wire into the plywood near its core. Then a wider channel would be cut over the first channel. This wider dado would be to accept a thin piece of wood that would cover the wire up. I would then use fillers if necessary to smooth everything out before skinning with aluminum. The result would be a hidden wire. About 12 - 18 inches of this wire would be buried. My question is, "Will it overheat?" I am using 12 guage lamp wire.

Waddayathink?

Duane

[Miriam C.]

Short answer---not unless you have a short or other reason for the insulation to over heat. Your house hold wire is stapled to wood and it has a lot more power.

PS don't put a screw in it. Is there a way to put the wire inside doing the same?

[Duane King]

Yea, I think you could easily do the same sort of thing on the inside of the trailer. The problem is there is no way to hide the fact that there is some sort of inlay in the wall. You will always be able to see it. If I were to do this same thing on the inside, I would use a contrasting piece of wood so that it looked deliberate.

In my case, I can't do this on the inside because my ceiling is already in place and my rounter can't get up close to the ceiling. But on the outside this is no big deal.

[toypusher]

Duane,

Are you using any trim on the insided?? You could route your wiring and cover it with trim, maybe??

[madjack]

Duane, the only way a wire will overheat is if it too small for the power draw...your 12ga wire should be just fine unless there is a short in which case you would need welding cable....
madjack

[Dale M.]

Duane, the only way a wire will overheat is if it too small for the power draw...your 12ga wire should be just fine unless there is a short in which case you would need welding cable....
madjack

Or fuses.....

Dale

[madjack]

Duane, the only way a wire will overheat is if it too small for the power draw...your 12ga wire should be just fine unless there is a short in which case you would need welding cable....
madjack

Or fuses.....

Dale

...yep, fuses and circuit breakers...ya can't beat 'em...except with a hammer, a stick, a 2x4, a foot, etc,etc,etc
madjack

[Duane King]

Circuit breakers! Now there's a good idea. How about if I go out and spend way too much money on a breaker panel?

Oh, wait a minute! I already did that. . .

Okay, I'm gonna start inlaying my wire this afternoon. Thanks

Duane