wiring harness power consumption/limitations?

skinnay · Post by **skinnay** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:01 pm

So I will have about 80 12" strands of el wire around my tent, and now the most difficult part is making the wiring harness for this. I think I will have 4 main wires coming off the driver and all the other wires spliced into them. but some of the spliced extensions will be about 2 feet long and might be adding up to a fair amount of wire. Should I be concerned with any power loss with this amount of wire. I'm guessing the total harness will be about 200 feet of speaker wire with 80 plastic connectors.

motskyroonmatick · Post by **motskyroonmatick** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:06 pm

The charge that lights up the EL wire is Alternating Current which typically does not experience loss of power the way DC current does. I think you will be fine if you are running your EL Wire Inverter at 75% capacity or less.

BTW I have no electrical training what so ever....Just an accumulation of knowledge from my nearly 39 years.

Someone will be round to help you in a more precise manner shortly.

Key Man · Post by **Key Man** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 9:02 pm

In terms of power loss AC vs. DC is not really a factor. What matters is the amount of current. Higher current = more loss through the wire.

But EL wire is low current, high voltage, so loss through the wire resistance won't be a concern. Speaker wire should be fine.

Token · Post by **Token** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 9:59 pm

Thinnest wire you can solder is recommended.

El wire requires minimal current. It is 110V, AC , 2 - 4 KHz.

I recommend Ethernet (CAT 4 or 5) or telephone wire (CAT 3).

Good luck soldering 160 hair thin wires. Takes great tenacity. I would never use elwire this way. Too many failure points.

skinnay · Post by **skinnay** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 10:59 pm

did 5 so far tonight haha =]