Any electricians?

J

jc100

Well-known member
I'm going to make a wiring harness for some LED driving lights I bought. I have the individual leads from each light and I want to join them to one main wire to run through a dimmer unit and a relay for a switch etc. my question is , is there a rule for what gauge the main wire should be? Sorry, I'm a complete dumbass with this kind of stuff. I know that the main wire will carry twice the load of the individual lights so it should be thicker, but I don't want to over do things either. The length of this main lead will probably be less than 3 ft too and it will eventually end at an ignition switched fuse box on the bike.

cheers.
 
LEDs draw very little power but knowing the wattage or amperage of the new system would help. The gauge determines the load but also consider the heat if the wires are run near hot surfaces. The insulation type handles that.

Also if the wires are flexing, finer strands will stand up better.

With the LEDs I put in my rec room the temporary dimmers are fickle to set right. What are you running as a dimmer?
 
jc100 said:
I'm going to make a wiring harness for some LED driving lights I bought. I have the individual leads from each light and I want to join them to one main wire to run through a dimmer unit and a relay for a switch etc. my question is , is there a rule for what gauge the main wire should be? Sorry, I'm a complete dumbass with this kind of stuff. I know that the main wire will carry twice the load of the individual lights so it should be thicker, but I don't want to over do things either. The length of this main lead will probably be less than 3 ft too and it will eventually end at an ignition switched fuse box on the bike.

cheers.
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Most wires have the maximum amps stamped on them. The longer the wire, the wider it has to be.

With LEDs, I won't worry too much about wire thickness.

Remember
P=VI
 
Jc100, what size are you thinking of running?
As stated above most LEDs don't use much power, but driving lights aren't most LEDs. Wattage or amperage is needed to help you.
Make sure the dimmer you use is rated for enough current too.
 
GreyGhost said:
Jc100, what size are you thinking of running?
As stated above most LEDs don't use much power, but driving lights aren't most LEDs. Wattage or amperage is needed to help you.
Make sure the dimmer you use is rated for enough current too.
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The dimmer is remote controlled and came with the unit as a kit. I'll need to find the specs for the wattage or amps of the lights. I have a wiring diagram to use the dimmer and to also use a switch as a master control thing. Edit: Found the specs... 3A draw for both lights together. 1600 lumens.

Edit #2: I'll be running the wires from the top of my forks just under the front plastics on my Triumph Tiger 1050 then under the tank to the seat area where the fuse box will go. I'll be following the route of a cluster of wires from the dash and that bundle looks pretty well insulated with whatever they wrapped round the wires.
 
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Since you will likely have to buy more than 3 feet it might be better to go 16 gauge so you can use it for other things. Outside of the battery starter and alternator there isn't much on a bike that can't be fixed with 16 gauge.
 
Dammit, where's the best place to get 2 conductor 16awg wire preferably coated with heat resistant insulation? I tried crappy tire but they had a limited selection and lots of 18 gauge.
 
maybe sayal? I normally run single conductor to the switch/fuse block and short grounds to the frame.
 
GreyGhost said:
maybe sayal? I normally run single conductor to the switch/fuse block and short grounds to the frame.
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So..bear with me here as I mentioned I'm electrically a dumbass. To run wires to ground can I use any part of the frame and say use a loop connector on the ground wire to a handy bolt nearby? So all live wires would run to the fuse block, or in my case, one live wire that I've joined to the two +ive (one from each light unit), then one ground wire that I've joined to the two -ive (one from each light unit) to the frame.?
 
Yup, just make sure it's a good ground (i.e. I try not to ground to a random spot on the triples as the electrical connection between there and the battery may be poor). If you're not sure if it's a good ground, wire back to the battery is cheap insurance.
 
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