One more question on feeders....

Play-Doh

Member
So I may have messed up, but I got ahead of myself and started wiring feeders into my yard. I was deep into the project when all of a sudden I realized I was using 14 gauge wire. Whoops! Thats kinda over doing it for feeders.

I would really rather not undo all my hard work, and I dont forsee any huge complications to the issue (other than hiding the wires later with ballast) but my question is this.

Should I use bigger still wire for my BUS wires or should I just stick with the 14 gauge so not to make the voltage demand any worse?
 
N

nachoman

The reasons not to use 14 gauge wire for feeders are 1) unecissarily expensive 2) more difficult to bend and solder to rail 3) difficult to hide in scenery.

There is no electrical reason that 14 gauge feeders won't work fine.

Kevin
 

Nomad

Active Member
Play-Doh, it seems your asking if you should use a bigger guage wire for your buss, since your using 14 gauge for your feeders? I don't think that's needed. All the experts here seem to reccomend 18g for the buss and 20 to 22g for the feeders, so you should be ok just using 14g.
I would reccomend that you run your buss now and hook up the feeders one pair at a time as you install them. That way if you create a short, you will know right where it is.

Loren
 
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