I have a circuit with a power supply of 58V @ 1A so the total wattage is 58 Watts. The wire will be running about 20 feet from power supply to led. What gauge wire should I use?
I have a circuit with a power supply of 58V @ 1A so the total wattage is 58 Watts. The wire will be running about 20 feet from power supply to led. What gauge wire should I use?
That means a resistance of 0.5 ohms/20ft, or 0.025ohms/ft. Sounds like 22 gauge or thicker will do. Note my calculations do not include heating, but at such low currents, this won't be much of an issue.
Where is the current-limiting for the LEDs? If you are using a ballast resistor, I submit that you don't care what the voltage drop along the wire is, as long as the wire does not self-heat significantly. You can always reduce the ballast resistor slightly to make up for the wire resistance; at only 750mA you can use #22 to #28 AWG.
Where is the current-limiting for the LEDs? If you are using a ballast resistor, I submit that you don't care what the voltage drop along the wire is, as long as the wire does not self-heat significantly. You can always reduce the ballast resistor slightly to make up for the wire resistance; at only 750mA you can use #22 to #26 AWG.
Thanks everyone. I will go with 22 AWG. Does anyone know of a common molded cable such as a VGA cable with at least 6 conductors and at least 22 AWG? (The highest quality VGA cables I could find were 24 AWG).
You can consider something cheap and simple like Alpha Cable #1176C which is this stuff. Also you are looking at 100' spools.
You may find some 6 conductor HVAC cable at Lowes or Home Depot in AWG 18 or 20 sold by the foot but I am not sure. I know you can find 4 conductor. Worst case two runs of 4 conductor?
Anther term to help me find what I was looking for "Core". I had searched conductor, but core provided additional results. Is "core" a british term? I got a lot of UK sites.
I got to actually thinking about this. How about everyday CAT 5 or CAT 6 solid conductor cable? Cheap and abundant anywhere, and it has 8 conductors. That should work. You don't need fancy stuff for this.
Does the fact that it is stranded have any negative impact? CAT 5 is also 24 AWG. Would 22 AWG be any better or am I still in an acceptable range for wattage?
Considering the low current as was posted anything between 24 and 28 would likely work fine. CAT 5 and CAT 6 should come in stranded or solid and either flavor should work. The stuff again is cheap and plentiful. Something to consider is since you have 4 pairs (8 conductor) and your LEDs will likely share a single common you can use a pair in parallel as the common.