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The chart below shows the appropriate wire size (AWG) to use based off the amount of load (watts) that wire is carrying over a given distance. All distances calculated below keep within an 8% voltage drop limit*.
At a much smaller 12V voltage (batteries, for example), the same 14 AWG wire can handle only 192 watts of electrical power. In the wattage charts below, we calculated wattages at 12V, 24V, 110V, 120V, 220V, and 240V for all wires.
Determine the Correct Wire Size (AWG) to Use Chart. Based off the Distance and amount of load (Watts) use the same or bigger size wire in the chart below for your project. The smaller the AWG the larger the wire size.
LOW VOLTAGE LED LIGHTING Lighting WIRE GAUGE CHART Add up the total wattage of all the lights you plan to connect to the wire. Measure the distance of your wire run from your transformer to the last light. Use the chart to determine what size wire each wire run on your job requires.
While researching for my own projects, I have found many DC wire selection charts and calculators. They're usually telling me that for a 10a DC load at 12v, if the wire length is 5m (there and back) I need about a 4mm² (~12ga) wire. That's for a full LED strip.
We can calculate how many watts can a 14 gauge handle (using electric power equation P = I×V) by knowing two things: Ampacity; we know that a 14 AWG wire can handle 20 amps. Voltage. This is 120V or 220V for most circuits; 12V and 24 for batteries. At 120V, a 14 gauge wire can handle 2,400 watts. At 220V, a 14 gauge wire can handle 4,400 watts.
25 lis 2020 · Most people would likely recommend using a solid core 18-gauge wire for your LED lights. The cost difference between this wire size and a much smaller cable is negligible, and 18-gauge is about as big as you can go if you would like your wires to fit into most holders or terminals.
