Romex for 12v

[Shomeyrwit]

In the interest of not spending any more money than necessary can I safely use my left over romex rated for 600v for my 12v needs? I know it seems like a no brainer, but my brain is still in april somewhere and I dont want to have to redo anything...

[madjack]

SmR...first off for this conversation, the voltage rating of the wire means diddly...the gauge of the wire and expected amp flows are what count here...While you can use it for your needs, it is not recommended because...A) most(all) 12vdc appliances and fixtures have stranded wire..which makes for a tougher to make splice...B) Romex is VERY stiff comparatively and can be hard to run/hide...it can also be more prone to breakage and even in some cases, vibration...if I were going to use Romex, I would probably strip a lot of the outer covering off and use it as single strand wire(maybe)....
madjack

[Arne]

I have romex running all over under my teardrop (quick build, afterthoughts)... have it secured/strapped every 12 inches... no problem in 25,000 miles...

but, m/j is right.. you don't want it flexing (mine doesn't/won't)... it will fracture after a while (I consider mine to be securely attached, and do not anticipate any problem....)

[Miriam C.]

While wire isn't cheap there are ways to get around it. If you have enough Romex left over to do the tear try selling it or trading it for a smaller gage. You might even get an Electric or repair place to trade you. Scavaging works too.

[n8ncl]

Some one correct me if i am wrong but DC flows better over stranded cable with less loss than it does over soild wire.

[Shomeyrwit]

thats why I love you guys, hadn't even thought of vibration issues,,,, or soldering single strand for that matter

The romex is left over from a home remodle say 4 years ago, just know I have it,,, still might get used for 120v but thats gonna be minimal in this trailer

not sure about the flow characteristics of single vs multi though

at any rate I'll go get some 12 gague tomorrow and start laying out the master plan,,

,,, now if I only knew where I left that master plan

[SkipperSue]

Some one correct me if i am wrong but DC flows better over stranded cable with less loss than it does over soild wire.

You are correct,
I was taught this in an electronic class long ago. The electron flow actually flows on the outside of the wire. So, the more strands the wire has leans to better flow for the electrons. This applies to AC as well as DC current. Stranded wire is much easier to work with also, I hate the solid stuff.

[brian_bp]

Some one correct me if i am wrong but DC flows better over stranded cable with less loss than it does over soild wire.

You are correct,
I was taught this in an electronic class long ago. The electron flow actually flows on the outside of the wire. So, the more strands the wire has leans to better flow for the electrons. This applies to AC as well as DC current. Stranded wire is much easier to work with also, I hate the solid stuff.

Time to fire SkipperSue's electronics class teacher: "Skin effect" applies to AC current, not DC, and even then it is typically not important at 60 hertz. This is the bull which Monster Cable uses to sell their overpriced speaker wire; even there (at audio frequencies) it has more validity than it would for 60 Hz household power, and it doesn't apply to DC power at all. On the other extreme, in coaxial cable for radio frequencies the space between the outer conduction braid and inner centre wire is very important, and microwave connections are made with tubes (called waveguides) in which the power basically flows as waves in the space inside the tube, rather than current in the tube wall.

So if your Star Trek themed teardrop has 24th century power couplings, they shouldn't be solid or even stranded wire, but in my trailer the power flows in regular copper, any number of strands.

Stranding in the DC world is for flexibility, and that's usually important in a vehicle. There are super-flexible cables with very fine strands, but the regular automotive stuff works for me. The more significant differences in cables are the insulation and jacketing, and I doubt either are appropriate in the Romex.