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Power cable thickness q: John Smith 11-18-2007
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Posted by John Smith on November 18, 2007, 8:29 am
What kind of cable should I use to connect seven 50 W light. The cable draw power
from a 10A supply.

One thing I do not understand is that I have to use pretty thick wire but table
lamps have thin cables. What's the story here?

Posted by RBM on November 18, 2007, 8:55 am
You have 350 watts. If you are operating a 120 volts, you've got less than 3
amps. The smallest recognized building conductor size is #14, which is good
for 15 amps




> What kind of cable should I use to connect seven 50 W light. The cable
> draw power
> from a 10A supply.
>
> One thing I do not understand is that I have to use pretty thick wire but
> table
> lamps have thin cables. What's the story here?



Posted by Ralph Mowery on November 18, 2007, 8:56 am

> What kind of cable should I use to connect seven 50 W light. The cable
> draw power
> from a 10A supply.
>
> One thing I do not understand is that I have to use pretty thick wire but
> table
> lamps have thin cables. What's the story here?

The size of the wire will depend on how far your lights are from the power
source.

In simple terms there are low voltage/high current circuits and high
voltage/low current circuits. The larger the current , the bigger the wire
will need to be to carry the same ammount of power. If the wire is not big
enough or too long for the size , the voltage will drop in the wire and the
light will not be as bright.

A 50 watt light operating on 120 volts will take about .4 amps and you can
run small wire a long distance. The same light operating on 12 volts will
about 4 amps. That is a 10 times differance so the wire will need to be
much larger.



Posted by Caesar Romano on November 18, 2007, 2:28 pm
Re Power cable thickness q::

>What kind of cable should I use to connect seven 50 W light. The cable draw
power
>from a 10A supply.
>
>One thing I do not understand is that I have to use pretty thick wire but table
>lamps have thin cables. What's the story here?

Use #14

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