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Sac & Story county IA | What is the lightest wire you would put in a trailer with LED tail lights? If a tail light draws .243 amps when brake light is on - 2 brake lights - 1/2 amp. .046 amp for tail light. 4 of those would be .2 amp. 18 gauge wire will do 10 amps. At that low of draw, hard to believe voltage drop would be much of a factor. |
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halfway between Lapeer and Port Huron, MI | The problem with small wire is that it breaks easy any cracks in the insulation and the wire will turn to green. I personally wouldn't go with much smaller than 16 guage. Even if it doesn't run in the salt the brine in the road dust will eat wire, sometimes I think it's worse than salt. |
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Pilot Grove, Missouri | The light circuits on most trailers wired from the factory are 18 ga. for use with regular bulbs. lower amp draw of led's so you should be fine with 18 ga. Just my opinion. Patrick |
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west central Iowa | I've got a whole spool of that 4 strand flat trailer wire I bought on an auction, if you get over this way. |
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Sioux County, NWIA | Don’t try to cut it too close. The LED lights in my trailer are pretty voltage sensitive. |
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| Study the wire size for the cord and the wiring. The TM will have two circuits. I do not use or stock anything less than 14. Ground run to each light. No LEDs on rear where snow can collect. |
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Sac & Story county IA | This is on a full size semi trailer. The tail lights and clearance lights are supposed to be separate. So need 5 wires for sure and 6 to have ground would be better. I hate to have the close inspection along the road. Thanks for the offer. |
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SouthCentral WI | I'd go with 16 or 14. As said above, it's all about the strength of the wire and insulation, not the amperage draw. The only thing I would say about ampreage draw is to understand that the ground (in theory) needs to handle all the amperage from each application. So if you have lights, turn signal and brakes lights being use the ground has to return the total amperage of all systems. Again, this isn't exactly true, but it is the basis of electrical theory.
In the olden days the trailers used a 14 ga system with a 12 ga ground, this is the reason why.
I could go into the chassis ground system, but I think you get my point.
Towman
Edited by towman2000 1/13/2018 08:35
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Sac & Story county IA | I suppose the main object of the game is how long til I have to think about it again.
When copper conductor in trailer wire turns green, it is a matter of replacing or fixing and do it again in a month. |
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Western Iowa | Trailer wires are made cheaply IMO
I know you are thrifty, Look up Olflex, Lapp or tray cable on ebay and pick thru someones extra's. Pretty easy to find some drop long enough for a trailer. Way better cable......
Back when I wired up machines that made doors and countertops, wasn't uncommon to have 500ft rolls of all different sizes. The last 50-75ft on a roll sometimes got tossed as it wasn't long enough for the next project. |
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Sac & Story county IA | I have been looking. Hard to believe how many pieces are just a bit too short. By the time I get the wheels and axles glued on to frame, some may come along. |
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Western Iowa | If you get the spec you want, Van meter electric is good to deal with, just buy what you need. It's not that bad priced new.
But maybe not a deal..... :) |
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| From what I understand, you're asking what the lightest wire size you should use on a trailer with LED tail lights. If the current draw per tail light is .243 amps when the brake light is on (2 brake lights = 1/2 amp), and .046 amp for the tail light, it would be a total of .2 amp for 4 tail lights. 18 gauge wire can handle up to 10 amps, which is more than enough for that low of a draw. I'm not sure how much voltage drop would be much of a factor, but it's worth considering. Also, check out https://www.truckelectrics.com/collections/trailer-lights for different brands and variations of led trailer lights. I'm sure you'll find something that is right for you.
Edited by JakobeCross 2/12/2023 11:58
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Trailer light wire size?
