Voltage limits on 18awg wire

Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
So I'm doing a new build hacking a light that uses 6 drivers. Therefore along with an additional HLG240 I want them to be outside the tent. So as you can imagine I'm going to need a LOT of wire for all those stupid connections. So I'm looking at this 18/7 thermostat wire with a 150v rating. I want to use it because there's 7 individual conductor wires I can pull apart and use individually making for a lot of money saved rather than buying 2 100ft rolls of red and black.
Does this seem like a decent choice?
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
Voltage is less important. what kind of current do you need to drive each driver... it should be printed somewhere on the driver.



This table is for 12V, but it helps to visually understand the concept
 
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Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
ANC said:
Voltage is less important. what kind of current do you need to drive each driver... it should be printed somewhere on the driver.
Click to expand...
Well the most will be 1400MA for 50w cxb3070 and also splitting a 240-2100 into 2 parallel strings of 3 in series for 1050MA.
 
ANC

ANC

Well-Known Member
Yeah, it should be OK, you can look up DC wire losses calculators with google, there will be a tiny loss in efficiency, but nothing to worry about... It is just the nature of DC. Does it say what guage the wires are?

If it gets hot, you will just have to make another plan, or parallel them...
Heck, you could braid your own cord out of 3 pairs of 2 core...
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
ANC said:
Yeah, it should be OK, you can look up DC wire losses calculators with google, there will be a tiny loss in efficiency, but nothing to worry about... It is just the nature of DC. Does it say what guage the wires are?

If it gets hot, you will just have to make another plan, or parallel them...
Heck, you could braid your own cord out of 3 pairs of 2 core...
Click to expand...
Solid core. :)
 
JavaCo

JavaCo

Well-Known Member
Voltage ratings on wire have more to do with the electricity jumping past the insulation then anything else. If you are below 150 volts DC and 2.3 amps you should be fine. The low amp rating is for power transmission Wires of the same gauge not used all the time can handle more amps.
 
Rahz

Rahz

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
So I'm doing a new build hacking a light that uses 6 drivers. Therefore along with an additional HLG240 I want them to be outside the tent. So as you can imagine I'm going to need a LOT of wire for all those stupid connections. So I'm looking at this 18/7 thermostat wire with a 150v rating. I want to use it because there's 7 individual conductor wires I can pull apart and use individually making for a lot of money saved rather than buying 2 100ft rolls of red and black.
Does this seem like a decent choice?
Click to expand...
What is the voltage of the circuit?

Also, why does it take so much wire?
 
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Midnight Warrior

Midnight Warrior

Well-Known Member
HLG recommends using 18 awg solid core 300V. Using anything less could cause a fire depending on the load, but I would rather be safe than sorry. Can get a roll of 100' for like $20 on Amazon
 
Rahz

Rahz

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
I'm re busing the drivers in my Chinese light. There are 6 of them PLUS the HLG240.
Click to expand...
Just make sure the wire is rated for the output voltage of the drivers. You can get 500 foot rolls of 14g stranded at the hardware store for $35. Use that for the long runs and use some 18g solid to finish the circuit. You'll have plenty left over for your next build, and the one after that. It's also reusable. You'll be in wire heaven for many years.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Rahz said:
Just make sure the wire is rated for the output voltage of the drivers. You can get 500 foot rolls of 14g stranded at the hardware store for $35. Use that for the long runs and use some 18g solid to finish the circuit. You'll have plenty left over for your next build, and the one after that. It's also reusable. You'll be in wire heaven for many years.
Click to expand...
Well I'm using panel mount and plug mount gx16aviation pin connectors and the run from driver to fixture will only be like 7'. I already have 25' of 18/7 wire rated at 300V so I can color code each driver with 2 different colors neg and pos. It should be OK don't wanna buy another 25' roll of 14/7.
 
GBAUTO

GBAUTO

Well-Known Member
I'd say that as long as the wires insulation is rated above the max voltage the driver will generate, it will be fine. I run a simple 18/2 lamp cord to connect the F strips sections of my 2 fixtures-it's about 10 feet in length and there is no voltage drop at the strips. That's at 1250mA/ strip, so 2.5 A is running on the lamp cor section.
 
Rahz

Rahz

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
Well I'm using panel mount and plug mount gx16aviation pin connectors and the run from driver to fixture will only be like 7'. I already have 25' of 18/7 wire rated at 300V so I can color code each driver with 2 different colors neg and pos. It should be OK don't wanna buy another 25' roll of 14/7.
Click to expand...
Whatever works. I would use some stranded for the long runs for the flexibility.
 
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